'Breast Is Best' Vallis Ft. Kezia

Breast Is Best by Singer102

This is the song we have created and therefore chosen to visualize in a music video. The song itself is Novelty Synth Pop, with comedic lyrics that we wish to elaborate on as a metaphor for the plastic surgery/perfection obsessed  society we live in.

Ultimately it will establish  a representation of young teen girls and their struggles to cope with their bodies in light of celebrity culture and peer pressure to be perfect.

"Epilepsy Is Dancing" by Antony and the Johnsons

As a piece of art this music videos is an explosion of colour shown through the use of Misé-en-Scene. The way in which colour explodes onto the pallete is envoyaged with the grey, cold hue of the establishing scene. I could connote this setting as a communist state, as stereotypical as it is, the concrete, smashed glass and delapidated buildings connote rebellion and a distopian society, the females clothing ~(costume) is also suggestive of a cold space. The metaphor of the imaggery is obviously of an epileptic fit, subjectively managed by a bright light and a female figure having a reaction to the brightness of the environment, a dear symbolizes freedom that perhaps the figure desires. With the diegetic sound of birds taking flight and birdsong  that combat with the non-diegetic metalic scrapings like the mehcanicns of our females mind, there is a soundbridge between the setting of the communist state and forest scene.

Seductively the next scene is suggested as a dream like state of being. A contrasting scene from city backstreet to deep forest creates a mysticism that recreates iconic folklore like states of imagery (almost Shakespearrean). There are dancers represent animals like butterlfies and stags that interplay to tease and tanatalise our female lead. As a relation to image and sound the folk like tones of the song are the driving force for the fol like imagery. The forest location is warm (lack of clothing) and saturated in colour, the nakedness of the dancers is suggestive of innocence and liberation. More conclusively with the costume there is a strong sense of stylisation, the balletic minimalist clothing and dramatic combination of body pain, feathers, wood and metal create a plethora of textures on the eyes and add a sense of fullfillment to the audience who expect extravagence from the band, who are known for lavish productions.

Interplayed with the interprative dance, which in itself suggest sexual desire and freedom (flesh on flesh, intimate caressing and teasing glances) are segments of performance from the lead vocalist Anthony. This motion of Diegetic to Non-Diegetic sound interplays with the verismilitude of the situation, confirming its unrealsitic and heightend state of being. In cinematographic use there are alot of close ups and mid shots of figures that relate the audience to a sense of intimacy with the situation and again with the characters, this also increase the loneliness of the isolated female who we return to at a long shot.

The Gossip - "Standing in the Way of Control" Kill Rock Stars

Today our group experimented with the idea of a feedback loop in visual media to create one-off effects that would be perfect for the performance element of a music video.

The results gave use abstract images like that of Kandinsky's synthenasia driven artwork, a blend of vibrant colors and radiating shapes.  When use in tandem with production effects in Adobe Premier Pro the contours of lights reminisce the visualizers commonly distributed with media players like Windows Media Player.


I also experimented with these effects when used with ordinary footage. Effects like Colour Replace are brilliant for manufacturing a retro feel video, when used in conjunction with bright colors much like the video 'Standing In The Way Of Control' By 'The Gossip'

Album Cover - Paloma Faith 'Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'

The cover of Paloma Faith's Debut Album is a good example of a contemporary album cover. It combines concept with the simplistic use of the artist as a central figure.

Objectively, one can see the pair of doves resting on Paloma's hands perhaps a symbol of freedom, a reflection on the music, or an artists perceived personality, in this instance it is a correlation of the name Paloma that translates as dove in English. Similarly, the subjective connotation of the denoted rose like halo would suggest a beauty and innocence in the representation of Paloma Faith as a musician and as an audience one would expect this explicit use of misé-en-scene to derive the sounds of the music.

The costume that she is wearing is a mixed media based design, the black lace brassiere is indefinitely sexual in her target audiences age group although, this is counteracted with body art in the form of a black, tribal/floral tattoo. This contrast of white skin with dark ornamentation is sensual and seductive in representation, a reflection of the common stereotype of women in the popular music industry. Simultaneously, the deep red and quiffed hair are iconic in the modern stereotypical image of a woman in the 1940s/50s and this amalgamation of old and new is actually attributed to the vocal style of the artist and the genre of music, Popular Soul.

In Cinematographic terms there is a brilliant use of the rule of three, in which the doves head direct a triangular point to Paloma's face, establishing her as the important figure in this medium shot. The contrast of the foreground to the background of this image, a 'doll like fantasy' image in the foreground is opposed by a common Parisian bathroom (stereotyped wooden shutters, blue walls, steam and an old radiator). Perhaps the image director decided to compose the image in this way to promote a sophisticated elegance in a overstressed environment, connoting the artists position in the popular music scene and charts.

As a starting point the visual coordinator for this artist had probably already designed the brand icon for Paloma Faith as is reflected in the font used for the title of the singer and album. Consciously they denote that of a music hall in 1920's - 40's America, again a throwback to the sound of the album but also this particular use of font relies on an audience pre-composed representation of that time period and assumes a level of intelligence from her audience of teenage/youthful 20's to 40s in the working context.

Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

As part of our music video we would like to take reference from viral identities on the internet and demonstrate a use of convergence in distribution techniques

Hedwig and the Angry Inch - Origin of Love

Initial Idea

The first idea we spawned revolved around the concept of love and its growth through time. The theme of love and its movement is demonstrated through a combination cinematography and mise-en-scene.

In the setting of a two pathed street we start a long continous tracking shot that intorduces images of the a pair of devolping children that come together in time in the centre of the street. The metaphor of the street is life and the couples coming together is a story of love. Consequently, we then introduced the concept of alternate realities if the couple had never met.

The interaction with song will come in the lyrical interpretation and a match of speed to tempo.

Dream Theater - Lie (Music Video, 1994)

From out initial thoughts, the idea of a continous tracking shot combined with a narrative 'evolution of love' in the peripheral of the audiences vision. This music video uses a similar technique to create a fast paced video, our version would be slower to match the tempo of the chosen track.

First Post - Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyoncé

This is the first post in my Media A2 Coursework Blog.

This Blog aims to categorize, accumulate and store my wealth of research and planning over the coming months.

Having chosen a brief previously, that of which to produce a Music Video (and the ancillary tasks coincident with this choice), here is an example of a related media text from the real world, the first of many:



This example is Lady Gaga's 'Telephone'. The beauty of this video is the extensive use of narrative form, we have the equilibrium of Gaga entering prison and henceforth becoming an inmate, the challenges that she rises too and overcomes are in the form of disagreement with Beyoncé on the phone, breaking out of prison, murdering diners, and a re-established equilibrium comes with the pair escaping into the distance, seemingly safe. It is also crucial that narrative outrides performance in the video somewhat elaborating to the meaning of the song and allowing the video to integrate into viral market with simplistic progression ornamented with the performance elements the audience takes ownership in replicating.

As an unusual music video the reliability on the story is somewhat novel in its parodies and homages to Quentin Tarrantino as a film director, references in the misé-en-scene (Gaga's hair in prison - cola-cans, the 'Pussy Wagon' and the diner setting) are all taken or hinting at films from Tarantino's repertoire. As a gimic the way in which Gaga has used these references she attracts fans of the Tarantino brand a diverse and youthful market but also pleases her own fan base with a contemporary and sophisticated knowledge of popular culture.

Part of the Gaga branding is the outlandish clothing (MES) that is laced throughout the production from the nipple taped Gaga in the cell to the shrouded almost nun like Gaga we see at the end, a complete if irrelevant conversion for the character. Appreciating the costumery is important to the grandeur and allusiveness of the lavish production values this filmic music video creates.

Henceforth, music executives had established a collaboration of artists through the song and video, we have a vision of combined star power in the form of Beyoncé's enormous popularity (and acting ability) with the strength of Gaga's die hard fans. When a video uses the potential of two artists to an extent it would be usual to rely on their performance and brand image but the video actually represents the representation we as consumers have obtained of these two musicians. Most importantly Beyoncé swears (although bleeped) in the video. A common representation of Beyoncé, even though sexual, is a modest, intelligent, motherly like figure and her use of language is degrading in this video. The only real reason to do this would be for shock value and to recreate her image in a later move for the musician. A shock value for a video distributed online would give it viral capabilities on a wider scale as it allows the audience to consume with others in a shared environment, giving ownership and a sense of responsibility that the audience appreciates.