street art photography

I am looking at examples of street art photography to give me ideas of themes or creativity that could be used in my music video.

The purpose of a music video

1) sell the song, and invoke a reaction so that the audience remember the song

2) To give the audience a better understanding of the song

3) To entertain and show off the artists talents

4) To sell CDs, DVDs and the downloads by creating memorable visuals and build the artists online profile

5) Marketing for the purpose of exposure and expansion of the artists's profile. The aim of the video is ultimatley to do the following:

The music video promotes a song which in turn promotes an album, sells an image of the artist to the audience and aims to generate money for the record company and then the artist.

This is an example of a music video selling the star image of the artist in this case Eminemand at the same time promoting his album 'Marshall Mathers'.


 

Music video tips

-The main idea of what we are trying to achieve is manufacturing a band for a song, and this will be that bands first release, and it is our job to make the video successful .

-We will start with the image of the band, en

Common generic conventions of popular music promo videos

-The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artists 'image' as specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption.

-The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)

-A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement

- Repetition of reoccuring thematic elements and generically specific icongrapahy (One key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)

-A possible narrative structure

-A possible performance element

-The flexibility to disregard realism

- Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track

- Use of special effects (lighting, animation, CGIs, in-camera effects)

- A carefully constructed Mise en scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track

-High impact instantly!

Micheal Jackson- Image overtime (Prezi)

Analysis of year 13 music video

Narrative is not entirely clear, but is alluded to through the lyrics as she goes shopping to get over a boy. Therefore the lyrics match the visuals on screen demonstrate kissing and allude to the notion of love.

The video sells the artist as innocent and sweet, but the visuals sell the artist as being more indecent and not sexualised.
Through the visuals she is sold as a mixture of Taylor swift and Florence and the machine and the backdrop of graffiti and urban streets help reinforce her independence. These are used to help sell the tiger as organic rather then a synthetic pop star aimed at a mainstream teenage and pre-teen audience.

Quick cuts and whip pans help sell the authenticity of the artist and maintain the video is cut two beat.
clothing and close-ups also reinforce the artists image as it helps sell her as the girl-next door type who is sweet and not constructed to sell her sexuality like Britney/ Nicky Minaj/ Katty Perry.

The promotional brief for year 13

A promotional package for the release of an album to include a music promo
video, choosing one of the following three options:
A website homepage for the brand
A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
A magazine advertisement for the Digipak (CD/DVD package)

Pros:
-You don't have to necessarily worry about making any music or sound
-you can use an artists song if it isn't copyright
-The lyrics in a song can give you pssoibel ideas for shots or even a narrative
-You don't have to have a narrative it can be performance based
-You like watching music videos and listening to music
-You have London which gives you a host of stunning locations to use to film
-You have freedom to make a shape an artist into what you want them to look like/act like

Cons:
-It can be hard to edit and lip sync if you decide to include this in the music video
-You have to have good actors which can be hard to find
-The narrative can sometimes be limited in the song style

narrative theory

Todorov

Equilibrium -the beginning when everything appears normal
disruption- something happens to disrupt the normality
recognition- when the characters realise something has happened to them and they decide to act upon it.
attempt to restore- the act of trying to restore the normality
new equilibrium- everything is back to normal- except its not- as its a new normality as things have changed after their journey txt

All narratives are structured in the same way be it films, tv dramas, radio plays or novels. All narratives have a beginning,  middle and end although they don't necessarily come in that order.

Examples of this not being true:
kill bill
The usual suspects

How does hero follow Todorov's theory:
Hero
The video does not start at equilibrium but starts at disruption as they re clearly on the run with a suitcase and trying to runaway from there problems. This is followed by recognition occurs when he realises he has to fight in order to win the heart of the girl he loves. The attempt to restore normality is during the fight when he is trying to defeat the girls ex-lover and win the girl and not have to fight for her anymore. At the end there is a new equilibrium where the fight has finished and he has won the girl but it has come at a price as he is about to die so all the disruption is behind them but now he is going to die and she is on her own as her ex-lover is going to jail and her new boyfriend is going to die.


The narrative sells Enrique as a heartthrob, sexualised and make girls want him. the target audience is mainly females and the budget shows it is aimed at a worldwide target audience.

 Band of horses- Dilly

This starts at equilibrium, it exists for the bikers and the town people as neither have met at this point and don't see incoming danger, which we see through the cross cutting that we know they are going to meet and be a disruption. The disruption occurs when the bikers enters the bar and we see there reactions and the bikers like to be violent and so do the town people. The recognition is the realisation that they both don't like each other and there is violence towards each other. Then there is an attempt to restore which is the shoot-out. Hippies use their fingers whilst the rednecks use their guns. Hippies come in peace, but are faced with violence and so have to react. Lastly the new equilibrium is when the hippies ride off into the sunset and the town is faced with devastation.

The narrative of the music video fits with the image of the band and helps sell their star as alternative, country rockers.

Chase and status- let me go

It starts at equilibrium when he is doing his normal job hosting his tv show and preparing to go on stage to host. The disruption comes when he goes back home and gets kicked out by his wife and he leaves the house by slamming the door. The recognition is when his life starts spiralling out of his control when he is up all night doing drugs, sleeping with prostitutes showing his life is no different to the lives of the people he is trying to persecute on tv. The attempt to restore is him going back to his job and trying to forget his problems by doing what he is best at and is use to doing. Lastly the new equilibrium is him doing the same job as he always has but in his head knowing he has a drug problem, messed it up with his wife and kicked out his home.

How does this help Chase and Status image:
This helps sells there image as a band who does drugs and plays in nightclubs this rock and role image that sells worldwide to a large audience.

Literal music video

A literal music video, also called a literal video version, is a parody of an official music video clip in which the lyrics have been replaced with lyrics that describe the visuals in the video. ... from the literal version of Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels").

Stars and Stardom

The concept of stars and star image was first developed by an academic who works at Warrick university in the 1970s called Richard Dyer. He wrote a book called stars 'the mythology of stardom'- he analysed the appeal of different stars to the audience and came up with the notion that stars are bought and consumed on the strength of their meanings.'

What they symbolically represent to the audience and what they stand for e.g. they project an image and the audience chose which bits they consume or reject.

In order to understand the relationship the music industry and its audience, it is important to consider the roles of music

The term 'star' refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audiences

An image of a star needs to develop over a period of time- in order to keep the audience interested

Some common values of music stardom.

Youthfulness
rebellion
sexual magnetism
An anti-authroitarian attitude
originality
creativity/talent
agression/anger
a disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviour
conspicouus consumption, of sex, drugs and material goods
success against the odds

e.g 2Pac was youthful, he offered rebellion for his music, he always and his top off making hin have sexual magnetism. Agression and anger clearly against authority, against the odds and mum in black panther movement

Richard Dyer 

Stars depend upon a range of susidary media- magazines, tv, radio, the internet- in ordwr to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences.

The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audience

Fundamentally, the star image is incoherent, that is incomplete and 'open'. Dyer says that this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes

Paradox 1
The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer

The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer

The star image

The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to 'complete' or to 'make sense of' of the image.

This means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to complete their image.

Keith Negus-organic and synthetic ideologies of the music industry

Keith Negus says there are two ways to think about artists within the music industry. Both ways shape the artists image, how their careers develop and the way they are marketed towards their target audiences: Organic or synthetic ideologies.


Synthetic:
synthetic artists are manufactured by the record industry, they tend to have a shorter career, less freedom from record companies and have their songs written for them and their image chosen. These artists are designed to appeal to a younger target audience. Artists that would be considered synthetic include all the people on X-Factor, former Disney stars such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry. synthetic artists tend to appeal primarily a young female audience and have a 5 year career at most (because their audience grows up)

Organic: 
Organic artists in contrast, tend to be given longer time to develop their career and focus more on touring and album sales traditionally, to prolong their careers. Artists such as Cold play, Ed Sheeran and Kings of Leon write and play their own songs and are given more freedom from the record companies to construct their own image. These type of artists tend to have a more mature media audience and rather than loose fans as they grow up like synthetic artists, they maintain and grow their fan-base overtime who grow with them through the years. organic bands tend to appeal to a wider range of people and are allowed to develop their star image over time.