Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Music Video Analysis – ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ by Green Day

‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ – Green Day 
The main message of the song and the music video is that we all walk alone at times due to inconvenient occurrence and sometimes we may let that past memory worry us and consequently we walk the boulevard of broken dreams which would be a metaphor for depression. The band us a punk rock/ pop punk and this video portrays this genre well through camerawork, editing, and mise en scene. This music video is an illustration in relation to music/ lyric and the visuals. The video portrays the lyrics “I walk this empty street on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams” however the video is quite contradictory as he is not actually walking alone as he is with the other band members. The video features the singer Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool the percussionist, and Mike Dirnt the bass guitarist. The reason I chose to analyse this song is due to the fact I will be using similar shots and also I have a similar concept of walking/ drifting away.

Analysis of the music video
The video begins with the band showing up in a stalling car, the first shot is a low angle shot trying to focus onto the car, it then cuts to a close up of the car’s bumper that appears to be letting out smoke suggesting the car has overheated, the is also an extreme close of the Green Day logo on the car which could represent the band’s image with the car being smashed, this shot could have also been used for promotional purposes. The car begins to stop and the band gets out of the car. There is then a three shot of the band in hierarchal order with the lead singer behind. As the music begins the cameras cuts and out focuses to different extreme close ups to match with the guitar being played. There is then a close up of characters legs as they walk creating a dramatic entrance to where the narrative follows.

We can tell the camera is always moving in this music video which is common convention for this genre. There is then close ups and tracking shot of the artist looking directly at the camera, tracking shots are predominant in this music video as it allows us to see the band walking and almost makes the viewer a part of their journey. A tracking shot is then used to show a desolated house and then the it cuts and the band is seen walking past a woman next to a opened empty mail box in front of a camera, this gives the impression of loneliness. The body language of the woman is similar to the singer’s as both their arms are crossed. The setting of this place appears to be in a desert giving the idea of isolation, the fact the woman is standing near a mail box looks ordinary as if she is standing outside her house which could suggest that “boulevard of broken dream” is her home.

We continue to see an exhibition of the mise en scene; the next cut shows a tracking shot of house ruins which could suggest a neighbourhood occupied by people who have lost hope or it could illustrate the loneliness of the singer. We often see close ups of the band pulling their blazers to muscle the harsh wind, there is also close ups of the other two members faces to capture their emotions as they move forward along the empty road.

As the band moves forward there is a transition of an empty desert to a desolated small town, they walk past other objects such as gas tanks, trash cans and also a vulture. Mid shot were used quite often especially when viewing the sing, often the camera would zoom out so the audience could also take notice of the other band members. Usually there would be a low angle shot angles shot of the band but not the conventional on the ground looking up shot suggesting the idea of rebellious punks. The camera cuts back and forth of the lead singer lip syncing, there also several cutaways to the location, and usually the camera will capture the left sides of the band when walking together.

On the second verse, the music video includes performance element with the band and they are in what seems to be a decorated warehouse with confetti and glitters, the use of location here is quite strange as it seems to be a transition from a gloomy desert to a fun but badly decorated warehouse, however because of the lighting it make the room look bleak and therefore continues to make the video look depressing.

As we continue on to the video there is another use of a tracking shot and close up of the band members, the location has changed to a melancholic city; the people seem to be depressed and lonely, this city I assume is the “boulevard of broken dreams”. More shots are shown of the grief stricken surroundings, the camera tracks along and we see extras stood in a morbid state matching the lyrics of the song. Near Towards the ending of the music video the lighting starts to darken adding a time element to the music video of travelling to daylight into night.

During the instrumental the camera cut back to the warehouse, here we see several close ups, quick camera movement, two shots, pan shots, low angles shots, medium shots, and there were also lots of out focused shots. The editing was also fast paced during this instrumental and was in beat with the music.

Mise En Scene
The video follows the conventions very closely in terms of costume; the band members are wearing similar clothing that can be considered pop/rock punk, the costumes are predominantly black matching the genre and also the theme of the music video. The use of mise en scene in this video is quite bleak, the use of location, extras, facial expressions, and props helps to convey the emotion of the lyrics and what the band is trying to give across. The lighting in this music video is quite dim creating a dark, gloomy and morbid atmosphere which is a direct link to the lyrics of the song and the music that accompanies it, the use of lighting is also common in most punk rock music videos.

Editing
The editing in this music video is fast (which you would expect in most rock music videos), this fast paced editing could connote there energetic performances or their style of music. Throughout the music video there is a scratchy overlay which contributes to the eeriness of the music video, this scratchy overlay effect quickens its pace toward during the instrumental near the ending of the video, and the shots almost look distorted and quite demonic which captures the powerful instruments visually. There is also the use of a filter making the video look old fashioned, as well as this the director chose to use rear projection instead of green screen. Dissolve transition was also used to change one shot to another as well as several jump cuts.


Artist Connection
Billie Joe Armstrong was centralised in this music video as he is the front man, there several tracking shots and close ups of him looking directly at the camera influencing the audience with his emotion. The video relate much to the punk rock as it demonstrates many of the characteristics such as the dark clothing, lighting, editing, etc. In the beginning of the video I noticed the Green Day logo on the front of the wrecked car which visually represents the band and also promotes them. 


Monday, 26 October 2015

Music Video Analysis – ‘Another Love’ by Tom Odell

‘Another Love’ by Tom Odell
This music video is performance of the artist lip syncing to his song, the video is an illustration of visuals with the music and the lyrics. Initially the message of this song is describing the pain that the singer is going through by not being able to love the woman due to his past relationship, this is demonstrated in the music video where the singer stays put on his chair neglecting the woman desiring affection. The beginning and the ending of the music video uses same shot creating a circular loop video suggesting to the audience that this behaviour cycles on and he continually neglects the woman over another love.

Analysis of the Music Video
The position of the camera remains noticeably still in this music video, mainly POV shots, cutaways shots, and tracking shots are used in this music video. There is also variation of the camera shots e.g. two shots, medium shots, medium-long shots, close ups, and also extreme close ups, these shots were used in order to enhance focus on what the artist is singing about. There were also variations of camerawork for example panning shots and also slow zooming in and out, this helped to hide and reveal settings also change ups which made the music video more exciting due to the enigma.

Throughout the video the artist stares straight at the camera for the duration of the video, he does not take a second to glimpse at his girlfriend showing him affection and aggression, and this illustrates to the audience how he is so caught up in his past relationship. The first shot in the music video is an extreme close up of the singer Tom Odell’s face; this reveals to the audience straight away the lack emotion of the singer this reinforced by the icy blue saturation suggesting his cold heart.

The use of two shot is common as it helps us to see both of their characters expression which is important when portraying emotion. In the first scenes we see him dominating the screen, the camera does not move to let the woman be seen more and almost neglects her presence, and this amplifies the emotion and also the behaviour of the artist. The video gradually and slowly zooms out to show more of the location, the woman is seen being affectionate to Tom Odell’s however he takes no notice; here the woman is seen being happy and loving however as the video progresses the emotion later turns to hostility and aggression, this is portrays in the lyrics “won’t flower like they did last year” which is indication that their relationship is not working out.

The shot gradually continues to distance itself from the characters; we then see the woman leaving the frame however her presence is reflected on the mirror, this is quite interesting as it allows the viewer to see the event from a different angle. The woman is seen changing her clothing therefore the costume transition is visible, which could be an indication of her revealing her true self in which case Tom Odell is uninterested, the woman confronts Odell and holds his hand however the woman is then edited out in dissolve transition as this takes place the music begins to get louder.

As the artist sings the second verse his facial expression becomes much more aggressive, the woman reappears with her reflection on the mirror wearing a new outfit, she is seen to be much more hostile and aggressive. A focal blur is used to centralise the singer, and the camera begins to move forward, this gives the impression that even with hostility or affection Tom Odell will continue his behaviour because of how much his past relationship has affected him. We see the woman holding a suitcase and placing it down to sit and confront Odell, this suitcase could be connotation of the relationship ending, and even though we cannot here the woman we can clearly tell she is shouting at Odell and once she’s had enough we undoubtedly see her shout explicit language.

The piano and the lyrics being sung becomes louder and the song starts to become more powerful with visual relation to this the woman is seen shouting and being inimical, the camera shot is edited to become shaky and chaotic which reflects the conflict between the two characters. The video intensifies with the lyrics of the song; the setting becomes distressing and the lighting becomes dim with an orange tinge, the narrative also becomes much more dramatic with the girl showing extreme aggression and ruining the set while the singer remains still on his chair.

The final part of the music video, after the powerful instruments and lyrics are over we return to a dark setting with the main character alone in a chaotic room which could establishes the idea of him after a hostile relationship. The camera zooms further out showing more of the room then gradually zooms out of the room where the door shuts and we return to the beginning shot of the music video which could be an indication of another relationship happening with the same cycle taking place.

Editing
During the first and a half of the music video there is no use of obvious editing due to the fact there being no cut in the video, the continuous editing is used to convey the day in his life, this is also reinforced with the lighting for example it foes from dim, to slight orange and finishes’ with a low-key lighting which could connote the cycle of a day. There is the use of fade in and out of props and also the characters which symbolise the idea of their relationship deteriorating, fades were also used when the background came in. The use of this fade editing is quite subtle and does not overpower your attention to the artist, even the shaky editing of the chaotic camerawork did not overpower the viewers attention.

Mise En Scene
The mise en scene of this music video is quite different to those within the pop genre, throughout the video the lighting is quite dark, his clothing does not stand out and blends in with the background as well this character facial expression is also very mute as well this the woman is also wearing subtle and mute colours. Tom Odell is seen wearing a casual jumper and trouser, however the female is seen wearing different outfits which could be to impress the singer and grab his attention however he is not interested. An interesting prop that has been used in this music video is the mirror which gave us a two point perspective, this prop enabled the viewer to see something else while the artist is still seen singing. In the first part of the video we see that the flower was the only ounce of colour, however these flowers were not red or vibrant in colour like the ones you would give as a gesture of love. This gives the impression that that these flowers may symbolise Odell’s plain, unfeeling emotion towards the woman. Towards the end of the music video there is a prop change, the transition of these props fade in which could give the idea of time passing or false commitment being made to the woman, at the of the video the setting is destroyed.

The Artist’s Connection
Tom Odell is centralised throughout the duration of his music video, he refuses to break eye contact with the audience making it seem that we are part of his struggle, even with the discord taking place in the background he remains the connection between him and the audience. Instead of showing natural occurrence of conflict between the two characters the narrative becomes much more dramatic which is a common convention for the pop genre; this genre is also usually about relationships which this video also demonstrates. There is a relation between the music/ lyrics and the visuals in and illustrative way and we see the song being fully portrayed in this video.

Friday, 23 October 2015

Animatic of an Existing Music Video – ‘Good Life’ by One Republic

Song Choice – ‘Good Life’ by One Republic
The band from Colorado Springs, Colorado and is within the pop rock genre, the band members include, Ryan Tedder, Drew Brown, Eddie Fisher, Brent Kutzle. The idea of this music video is to express the idea of experiencing new things that will make you happier, better, and more interesting as a person though you may have to leave friends behind and family. The overall plot is him travelling and enjoying life, the first scene shows him not remembering anything after a long night, he looks at his phone and realises that he had met new people, got phone numbers, and took photos. The morning turns to night and he’s in a different city, the video is in stop motion to illustrate different cities and photos being captured. The character gets the feeling that there may be something he has missed as he left his friend behind however it’s worth it because of how much he is enjoying life.

The Animatic

The above is a competed animatic of my chosen song by an existing band. For this task I had to produce drawings of the main shots taking place in the first minute of my chosen song, I coloured the drawing in order emphasise the mise en scene, once I the drawings were complete I took photos of them and imported it to iMovie, with iMovie I cropped the photos and applied a ken burn for extra movement. The reason I did this task is to prepare me for the planning of my own music video, doing this will helped me to understand the different type of shot, angles, and transitions. Another purpose of doing this animatic is to open my ideas of a storylines portrays the song, this animatic has also helped me to gather more ideas about what works with song and what doesn’t which will enable me to acknowledge it in my own music video.

Explanation of Images

  1.  The opening shots are establishing shots of countryside, the shot is still but the lighting is jittery.
  2.  There is then a mid shot of the artist facing back at the camera with his hand thumping in time with the beat of the drums.
  3. As the music starts playing there are close ups of the instruments, in this case it is a drum, there is a focal blur bringing clear attention to the drum and drumstick.
  4. It then cuts to a close up of a keyboard when the tune kicks in, as with before the filter/ lighting is jittery
  5.  There is then a cut to the artist clapping his hands onto his chest and hips, the camera tracks  the body upwards, as well as this the clap are in sync with the music, through out this performance sequence there is a vintage filter.
  6.  As the next instrument kicks which is the guitar, the video cuts to a close up of the guitar  in sync with the song, again there is a focal blur centralising the guitar being played
  7. The camera then seems to be moving out of the scene, as the camera goes further away the viewer realises that the video is being played on a wooden board that is being held by a person behind it. The effect is interesting as the video seems to be playing on board while the background is in stop motion. In this scene we also see the artist lip syncing.
  8. The next cut the location is different and there is also a different person holding the board, we still see the artist lip syncing.
  9.  The camera moves back into the board, the artist continues lip syncing and behind him is scenery; the director keeps in mind the rule of 3rds.
  10. As the chorus begins the camera moves back out of the board; the artist continues his lip syncing, there are various stop motion taking place with different locations and people holding the board.
  11.  Near towards the end of the chorus, the camera moves back into the board showing the band performing and playing there instruments in the countryside location. There is close up of one of the band member (wearing a green jacket matching the location) lip syncing and also playing his guitar behind him is another band member playing the drums.
  12. After the chorus the camera moves back out of the board, the board is then passed around to different people in a two shot while in stop motion.
  13. There is then a three shot of 3 people holding a board each, the people are in a hierarchical position.
  14. Lastly I drew a woman holding the board next to a pay phone, within the board you will see the band in line following Ryan Tedder, again the video continues in a stop motion.
Music Video for 'Good Life' by One Republic




Thursday, 22 October 2015

Music Video Analysis - 'Scientist' by Coldplay

The music video is a narrative based video that is told in reverse, the music video shows lead singer and his girl friend driving, they get into an accident and rolls down a hill consequently the girl goes smashing the windshield and dies. The lead singer (Chris Martin) walks out of the car and directs himself out to the forest and into the city. The video was initially shot in normal direction however Christ Martin sang the lyrics in reverse; the video was then played backwards.

Analysis of ‘Scientist’ by Coldplay

The video starts with a zoomed shot of the lead singer (Chris Martin’s) eyes, the camera then gradually and slowly zooms out of his face. The viewer is ambiguous of where the setting is. As the camera zooms further out it reveals that he is lying down on a mattress, this then leads to a dissolve transition to an aerial shot where we see the setting to be an urban desolated area. The clothing that the artist is wearing is very plain; the reason for this choice of clothing is to fit the slow tempo of the music as well to represent his emptiness, as if he is now in a blank state and identity lost this is also connoted by the location he is in. Following the aerial shot there is a dissolve transition to a mid pan shot, the camera slowly moves away, the main focus of this shot is to show the artist’s facial expression and body movement, to this point the viewer knows that the video is going in reverse due to the peculiar movement that is taking place. This visual image relates to the to the lyrical phrase of “let’s go back to the start”, this illustrates to the audience that whatever happened to in the past has lead him into this circumstance and we assume that this video will unravel his previous situation to what caused him to end up where he is.

The camera pans around the artist, this movement allows the audience to see the main character from all angles, this centralizes the artist and puts the audience to his full attention, and this would fulfill the demands of the record label by publicizing the artist. As well as this, it is also builds to a suggestion that he is wandering freely and following no direct path. Mise en scene is quite significant in this video; there is cutaway to a cyclist performing 360 wheel pivots in slow motion effect which reflects back to the slow tempo of this song, this cutaway further indicates the character’s location. A dissolve transition again occurs, this transition is used often in this video as it could signify a past event and also relates to the tempo.

Unlike most music videos this does not have frequent cuts and does not cut in sync to the beat of the song, instead camerawork is used in a variety of ways. A common shot that is used is a tracking shot; this is used to present the artist but to also bring the audience with him to the previous locations he had visited which unravels the enigma of how he to the place he is in now. The tracking shot also breaks the fourth walls making it seem that the artist is speaking to the audience, hence creating a form of communication with the audience as if the artist directly conversing to the viewer. The tracking shot also creates a more dramatic scene which is needed for this type narrative music video, using this type of shot also maintains the slow tempo of the song by keeping the camera slow and sometimes still in order to capture the interesting reversed movement, people, and the location without the viewer being distracted by the camera movement. The tracking shots films the character in different high streets, there is also the use of slow motion in combination of this tracking to create an emotional and dramatic effect and again contribute to the tempo. The character wanders place to place which suggest that something is troubling him; again with theses shots there is focus on mise en scene and other people’s activity for example, there was a scene that showed four men playing basketball as Chris Martin is seen walking through the game.

 Later the singer walks through the rail tracks with the same use of tracking shot and mid shot, there is then a dissolve black following an establishing shot of the artist moving through a clearing and into the abandoned forest, this shot highlights the sudden distance of the artist and also his loneliness. The video went on to showing Chris Martin in the forest seemingly distressed, during this scene there was a disconnection for day time to night time suggesting the character spent the night in the forest, usually with a dark lighting or scene set at night connotes the idea of mystery, or something unpleasant. There was another use of pan shot of the artist of him holding a tree while he emotionally looks around; it then cuts to a mid shot of him running to the camera in reverse however it seems as if he is running into the darkness, which could amplify the idea of him being trapped in his sorrows. Following this there is an interesting mid-shot of the artist watching the leaves fall to ground in reverse, making it look like the leaves are fluttering back to the trees which looks a unnatural and in way quite peculiar, this shot could reflect the abnormality in the artist’s life

The sequence returns to daylight, the video followed on with a shot of a black polo shirt on the ground; the polo gets thrown back to the air and into Chris Martin’s arm where we see him in a full body shot while the camera pans to the left, soon after there is a mid shot showing the artist redoing his buttons on his polo. Once again the camera tracks the artist who is now wearing polo and walking out the forest and into a clearing, an interesting shot is then shown of woman laying down while we see Martin walking behind her, the audience acknowledges that this woman is significant and suggest there is a relation between the artist and her. This follows on to the artist going into a black car with no windshield while the camera moves around it. At this scene we introduced to the female character, the editing used here is particularly clever; the female physically flies in reverse back into the car, the windscreen of the car reaffixes itself and the car roll reverses up a hill onto a main road, the camera here in this scene is in sync with the pace of the music. As you will notice the clothing of the characters is black as well as their car which represent the idea of death or grieving which could be the main concept for this song.


Overall I would say that this music video is amplification, due to the fact that the visuals relate to the lyrics of the song for example “oh, let’s go back to the start” which could be interpreted as Chris starting at the end and then going back to the start before his girlfriend died, also there is a line in lyrics where the artist sings “But tell me you love me, come back and haunt me” this could suggest the how the artist still loves her and he hopes that she’ll come back and haunt her just so he can be with her in some way. His notion of looking if often direct and he is portrayed as an emotive and passionate figure, this is also reinforced by his costume of basic black or white suggesting he is easy to read, open, and is very black and white. There is lots of close up and mid shots of the artist looking at the audience creating and inescapable connection which could be because of the demand of the record label to give more recognition for the artist.


Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Concept+Shots for My Music Video


Pitch for Chosen Song

Contacting my Artist

After identifying the artist and my chosen song to accompany my music video I had to contact the artist to avoid any legal issues, I made sure that I contacted those in ownership of the song. Below is a screen shot of my original email asking for permission to use the song ‘Morning’ by Shiloh.


Hello
I am a year 13 student currently on my 2nd year of Media Studies. As part of my A2 coursework project, I am required to produce a music video to accompany an existing song. The project is completely non-profitable and only for educational purposes. Through searching many existing artists in SoundCloud, I came across your songs and one in particular that gave the perfect chillwave vibes – ‘Morning’. I am writing to you to ask permission to use the Shiloh song – ‘Morning’ for the production of a music video that will be posted on YouTube. Your co-operation would be much appreciated.
Yours faithfully, 
Jason Sulit

Research Into my Artist


Finding my Artists