Carol Vernallis develop her theory of Music Videos in her book The Kindest Cut – Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing (2001)
Vernalis’ theory centres around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way the music video is constructed:1. Narrative
2. Editing
3. Camera Movement and framing
4. Diegesis
CHOOSE A VIDEO TO ANALYSE.
GO THROUGH THE CRITERIA BELOW AND EXPLAIN HOW CLOSELY YOUR VIDEO CHOICE DEVIATES OR ADHERES TO VERNALLIS' CRITERIA.
There's a lot to get through so to make your response less and written essay, you could take each point (or a selection) take a screenshot to back your point and then write a relevant caption.
For example:
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.
The narrative of the video is a day out at the beach for One Direction which they spend with a group of girlfriends. We see the day through a montage of shots of different types of activities (playing in the surf, running) that do not flow in a conventional narrative sense. The idea of a day passing is established by the sunrise at the start of the video and the footage of the boys arriving.
1. NARRATIVE
The video is a visual response to the music
There is not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance
The narrative is not always complete – it may be a partial, fragmented narrative
The structure of the video may appear disjointed
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.
There may not always be a clear resolution (closure) at the end
The video may pose questions that it doesn’t actually answer
There may be a narrative or theme running through the video, but in a montage style
2. EDITING
Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat
The video may break or disrupt many of the ‘rules’ of continuity editing – this is a clear
convention
of music video editing.
Editing may become ‘foregrounded – the edits may be really obvious, to draw attentionto themselves as opposed to invisible, continuity editing
For example, you may see:
Jump cuts
Breaks of the 30 degree rule
Breaks of the 180 degree rule
Cutting against the movement
Cutting within the lyrics
Fancy edits or cuts
Extreme jumps in time and space
Extreme changes in pace
Juxtaposed framesGraphic matches
A style of editing that runs through the video and is distinctive to that video
You may not see:
Smooth transitions
Matches on action
An even pace throughout.
3. CAMERAWORK
When it comes to shot types, extremes are very common.
The style of framing and movement may run through the video and is distinctive to thatvideo
The camera may move in time with the music
The camera may move on the lyrics
The master shot (or other establishing shots) is used frequently, as are close-ups
4. DIEGESIS
The diegesis may be revealed quite slowly
Actions are not necessarily completed – they may be disrupted or interrupted in someway
Character or object movements may move to the music
There may be gaps in the audience’s understanding of the diegesis – in time and space,music, performance and narrative
Some frames may be more important than others
There may be many repetitions
eg musical phrases, the beat, other musical elements, themes, lyrics, performance,images, colours, camera positions.
STUFF YOU NEED TO DO OVER HALF TERM
Enjoy yourself. Get lots of fresh air. Eat well. Spend time with your friends and family. See Skyfall. AND…
1) ROUGH CUT AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
In order to understand what you’ve created and to see if it matches your audience expectations you have to show your rough-cut to people and get feedback.
It’s up to you how you do this – put in on Facebook, tweet about etc but here’s a suggestion:
Find a way of showing your video – put it on your phone, on your laptop, email the link to people and record peoples responses. By record you could:
Get them to write down their responses. Or they talk and you write.
Take a recording (audio/video) of them talking about it.
Suggested questions:
Does the video match the genre of the music? What would improve it?
What type of audience do you think this will appeal to?
What aspects of the video do you feel were effective and why?
What areas do you believe need improving and why?
How could the video be made more authentic/professional?
Does it remind you of existing videos?You’re looking for information and responses that will help your improve your video.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AS:
a) It will help you improve your video.
b) One of the Evaluation questions is ‘what did you learn from you audience feedback?’ – so if you don’t have audience feedback – you’ll struggle to answer this question.
Who to ask?
Preferably people of the demographic (age etc) associated with your genre, but just as important is getting people who can give constructive opinions and back them up.
“It’s ace”, “I don’t like it” is feedback that isn’t very helpful.
THE MORE PEOPLE YOU ASK THE BETTER IT WILL BE SO IT HAS TO BE AT LEAST MORE THAN FIVE. IF YOU CAN GET INTO DOUBLE FIGURES EVEN BETTER.
Once you have the feedback you must respond to it to show what you have learned.
Is there is a pattern in terms of criticism and praise (i.e. do people pick up on the same things?)
Are there any good, practical, interesting ways of making the video
Use this information to develop ideas of what to do in terms of reshooting and re-edting.
2) ANALYSE YOUR VIDEO
Start a blog post – call it Rough Cut Appraisal - and pour your heart out in terms of what you feel about your Rough Cut. Pick out all the details you don’t like, all the little niggles and general grievances. Be specific – take screenhots, mention timings etc
Then look at all the good things and explain why you like them.
THEN COME UP WITH A PLAN OF HOW YOU ARE GOING TO USE THE TIME AFTER THE HALF TERM TO MAKE ALL THE IMPROVEMENTS NECESSARY.
This planning could be notes, storyboard, new influences, new techniques – if so blog about them.
YOU HAVE SIX LESSONS, THE CHANCE TO TAKE THE CAMERA OUT FOR ONE EVENING, USE OF THE CAMERA IN LESSON TIME, TO MAKE YOUR VIDEO ALL YOU WANT IT TO BE. SO YOU MUST BE PREPARED FROM THE START OF THE VERY FIRST LESSON BACK.
OTHER STUFF TO KEEP YOU BUSY
You should have completed the following:
Six Stills
At least one Goodwin analysis
Digipak analysis
Technical analysis
Genre research
Codes and conventions of video in your genre
Audience Research
A Pitch document – and at least one post on each of the areas of preparation (location, costume etc) on the blog.
A completed planning file (that bunch of paperwork I gave you)
Detailed updates of your process (filming, editing, workflow etc)
IF YOU DON’T – WHY NOT? YOU’VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE SEPTEMBER SO NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO CATCH UP. IF IT’S NOT ON THE BLOG IT DOESN’T EXIST, IT CAN’T BE MARKED. IF YOU DON’T DO IT YOU’RE CHOOSING TO DO BADLY.
IF IT WAS A GROUP POST THAT HASN’T BEEN DONE – DO IT YOURSELF AND GET THE MARKS.
Go to G324musicvideo.posterous.com for advice and guidance on the above. Click on the ‘TASK’ tag to see has to be done.
IF YOU HAVE COMPLETED ALL THE ABOVE – STUFF TO KEEP YOU BUSY
Go back on your old work and make sure it is complete, is a fully developed response and has videos and visuals embedded.
Tidy up the blog making sure everything is tagged by the author and looking pretty.Do a Carol Vernallis analysis of a relevant video and your rough cut – see blog for details.
Do a Star Analysis - see blog for details.
Digi-pack Research - Review your initial ideas for your ancillary products and write a post about how you intend to combine your ancillary texts (digipak and magazine advert) with your main product (music video). Ensure you reference design aspects, mise-en-scene and institutional information. Include visuals.
Promotion: Consider the ways in which artists use social media, facebook and twitter etc to increase consumption of their music. Write a blog post that evidences you have researched your artists facebook presence and twitter use and have considered how these are used to connect with their audience and also to communicate their star persona. Also consider how you might use facebook and twitter to increase consumption of your music video. Include visuals.Exhibition Task: Research TV and internet channels that exhibit music videos and write a post containing your research and a discussion of why they would or wouldn’t exhibit your music video. Include visuals. PART OF THE BLOGGING PROCESS IS FOR YOU TO BE CREATIVE SO IF CAN THINK OF ANYWAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN DEVELOP YOUR BLOG FURTHER THEN GO FOR IT
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GENRE RESEARCH TASK
FIRSTLY IDENTIFY THE GENRE OF MUSIC TRACK YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO DO FOR YOUR VIDEO:
The objective of this research is two-fold:
To show to the examiners that you understand the genre you are working to the extent that you can clearly identify its codes and conventions
To show that you have researched the genre in order to have a comprehensive knowledge of who is the potential audience.
Here’s a few tips and activities
ORIGINS
All music genres grow and develop from other types of music genres as musicians blend different styles and influences together. So where does your genre come from – which styles is it melding?
Who is seen as the main practitioner? Who are the main influences? Does the genre come from a certain scene/place/time?
When you’re researching this think about how all these influences work together – do the various musical influences affect the style/fashion/iconography of the genre? Does it influence what sort of audience it attracts?
Tips: Start at Wikipedia – use the references down below
Look on google videos – are there any relevant documentaries about the genre?
Have a look at this amazing Guardian Music Timeline.
FASHION
Is there a certain look to the genre in terms of clothes? How can you describe it? Why do they dress this way? Are there any key influences? Are there any key labels? Is it a DIY culture? Is the music used to advertise certain brands?
Tips: collect images of fans and bands of the genre – line them up and look for common threads and themes?
COMMUNITIES
Are there any key scenes for the music (for instance is there an acknowledge capital of the genre (think Seattle for Grunge, London for grime etc). Why do you think this is the case?
How do fans communicate – is it a local scene? Is it a global scene – do fans have specific websites? Which ones are they What makes them different?
Are there Facebook and Myspace pages? What sort of people are fans of this?
Tips: Look at the Myspace pages for the bands – look at the sort of people who are fans of this – what do their myspaces look like? Are there key colours, images, interests? Is there a certain language that they use? Are there common references? Are there any clues to types of films/comic/books/tv they are into?
TV AND FILM
Are there any films that use this type of music as its soundtrack? Are there any practitioners of the genre that act? Find them – look at the trailers and clips – is there a theme/content/style that is relevant to the genre?
Where are fans of the this genre represented on TV and film? (for instance, the main characters of Juno all like folky-indie stuff, is there film where they all are like R’n’B or Britpop or Pop Punk)? What do they look like? What are the stories about?
Tips: look for the key artists on imdb.com where do they show up? Is this any use? Is the film influenced by the style of music? Is it a mainstream film? Is the film designed to attract fans of the genre?
RADIO AND TV STATIONS
If you want to hear the genre of music, where do you go? Where is it visible? Are there key radio shows or stations, or TV channels? If so look them up – how are they marketed? What images/fonts/iconography are used? What colours? What sounds? What references?
Who are the key personalities promoting this music? How do they represent themselves? What interests do they have?
MAGAZINES & FANZINES
Where do you read about this genre or find out about new artists?
Tips: look for links off fansites? Type in specific searches in google – search creatively.
CLUB NIGHTS & GIGS
Are there key (or even local) club nights that play this music? How are they marketed? What are the called? What sort of venue do they use? What sort of people go? What sort of stuff do they wear/drink/talk about?
Are there key festivals? How are they promoted?
Tips: Look for official sites – take screen shots of the web pages – look at the images and the set lists.
LABELS
Are there key brands associated with the genre? Clothes, shoes, drinks, snacks, hair products, hats, anything?
ACTIVITIES & LIFESTYLE
Is the genre all about good living? Partying? Being political? Angst? Productive? Silly? Creative? Being active? Being rich? Being poor? Being angry? (A lot this can be seen in the videos)
TECHNOLOGIES
Are there key technologies – either in the music (electronic instruments – think autotune for current r’n’b and pop) or related to the lifestyle.
Tips: Read reviews about music, look for tutorials about how to replicate the sound, look at the videos and at the mise-en-scene.)
Find yourself a video - it can be any video at all but the more mainstream/conventional types (pop, performance etc) may offer more to talk about than other more abstract, less conventional videos.
Embed the video.
Briefly introduce who Andrew Goodwin was, what he has written about and how he has identified several aspects that most music videos have (see the above slides). Then use his SIX points as headers for SIX different paragraphs. Use screenshots from the video to help you illustrate your points.
Develop your answers - use full sentences, don't bulletpoint and always try to incorporate relevant media terminology (think about the way you answered the TV Drama exam question).
There's plenty to do but it's supposed to be tough - these are A Levels - the A stands for 'about time you did some work'.
YOU MUST DO AT LEAST ONE OF THESE - BUT FEEL FREE TO USE THIS FRAMEWORK TO ANALYSE ANY VIDEO THAT HAS INFLUENCED YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS
1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, with the visualS illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
Find the lyrics online - read them and get an idea of what the song is about? What are the themes? What is the tone?
Does the 'look' of the video suits the themes (love: soft focus/lingering shots, anger: dark filters/violent camera movement/fast editing).
Has the video a narrative? Does it fit in with themes of the lyrics?
Is there a direct relationship between some lyrics and the video?
If NOT could they be described as contradictory?
Very rarely you get a literal interpretation of the lyrics like here (it's not 'like' he's in a cage - he literally is.)
2. There is a relationship between the music and visuals, with the visual illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
Is the editing relatively in time? Is the tempo of the editing similar to the track?
Is the relationship between the visuals and music explicit like this or this video?
What is the tone of the music - soft, romantic enlightening, stirring, powerful, spiritual, soul reaching, inspiring, calming, soothing? Is this reflected in the visuals?
Is it contradictory - calm music but with frantic imagery.
DESCRIBE THE RELATIONSHIP
3. Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography.
What is the genre of the music?
What are the codes and conventions/expectations of the audience, for a piece of music for this type.
Look at similar artists/tracks and try to identify common performance types, mise-en-scene, iconograpy, use of micro elements, locations.
e.g. Gangsta rap - parties, glamourising criminal lifestyle, objectification of women, low camera angles, ostentatious uses of wealth.
Boybands - close up on faces of the band members, cherographed dance moves, cut aways to moments of relfection, shots of the band 'off stage'/'off camera'.
4. Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of their star/performers.
This is relative to the type of artist/genre you're working with. If it's a freaky looking dude like Skillrex the music video isn't there to sell him as a 'star' - it's the music that is supposed to do that. But you would lose your job if you directed a One Direction video and didn't have copius amounts of the boys leaning on each other's shoulders and looking earnestly in the camera.
If you have a star there will be a multitude of shots of them attempting to build a representation that is in line with their star persona. Artists' launch video is always very telling in how the record company hope to position them - think Ollie Murs (jokey), Connor Maynard (authentic), Cher Lloyd (nuts).
Some type of shots can lead to objectification: seeing a human being as a thing disregarding their personality, self or capabilities. Objectification tends to take the form of 'sexual objectification' so the 'thing' the person is reduced to is an instrument of sexual pleasure, for use'. This usually takes the form of the camera lingered and focusing upon body parts of the artist.
The idea of sexual objectification is often used to suggest that female artists are 'controlled' by the camera. This idea has developed as some theorists believe female artists can self-objectify using their sexuality as a strength as it allows theme to express their sexuality publicly. Think Beyonce - a hugely successful artist that seems in control of her representation but is still objectified.
How is the artist represented (sexy, cute, fun, daft, serious, tormented etc)? How do the micro-elements combined to create this representation - what aspects are focused on?
Is the artist objectified - how?
5. Voyeurism
Definition: A Voyeur is "one who looks". Voyeurism is the practise of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviour.
We often see activities in music videos of an intimate nature - tender moments between lovers, people getting ready for a night out, episodes of reflection etc. - basically a private activity that people don't usually invite the audience of MTV to spectate.
Voyeurism has a base appeal - having an nosey into others' lives and often has sexual context, but it's often used to show a different side to the performer, their 'off-stage' persona that fans want to have access to.
Also pop songs are often about intimate subject matter: love, hearbreak, anger, loneliness - so there is a thematic connection to the content of the video.
Have a look at this lovely Neyo video about him trying to seduce a girl with low self esteem - 36 seconds in - that's voyeurism, even the camera has a 'peeking-through-the-pot-plant' look to it.
Is there any content of a voyeuristic nature? Describe it. What effect does it have on the video/representation of the artist?
6. There are likely to be intertextual references to other music videos, TV shows, books, movies, games etc. Have a look here for more help.
Intertextuality: shaping of texts meaning by the other texts that may include an authors borrowing and transformation OR a reader's referencing.
There may be explicit use of intertexuality such as this Foo Fighters video which is just a shot for shot remake of Falling Down.
Or a mix of references such as Azelia Banks' 1991 that somehow manages to cram a bit of Crystal Water's 100% Pure Love, Madonna's Vogue, Veronica Lake and the photography of Horst P Horst.
Then there's the fact that videos are made of imagery, scenes, context we've seen before using meaning/framing we see in many other texts - soft focus, narratives, costume. So think of what the video feels like to you.
What references are there in the video? What does it remind you off? Have you seen similar treatments before - where? How does this all influence the effect and impact of the video?
Adele - Rolling in the Deep
In the Adele video you get seven different set-ups established early in the video - Adele on the chair, Ninja in the dust room, drummer under the stairs, room full of glasses, paper cityscape, breaking crockery. The rhythm in the cuts, switching between the set-ups, is at first consistent and slow. However, as the song and the on screen action builds to a crescendo the editing becomes quicker. This is a compelling video despite the lead performance being done from a chair. The trick is to have a performance that has passion/integrity/authenticity and keep the editing moving to hold the viewers interest.
USING THE ABOVE STRUCTURE ANALYSE A VIDEO OF YOUR CHOICE AND DECONSTRUCT IN TERMS OF THE SHOT TYPES AS THOUGH YOU HAD BEEN ASKED TO RECREATE THE VIDEO
Here's a few examples of good performance based videos:
Green Day - American Idiot
Super Junior(슈퍼주니어) _ SORRY, SORRY
Alexis Jordan - Good Girl
Identify the music genre of the track that you have chosen for your music video.
Next research into similar bands – look on wikipedia for associated acts, looks on the record label for institutional info, use Spotify and Last FM for recommendations, reviews for mentions of similar acts.
Make a list of bands that are similar:
Look at the videos of these bands and try to identify patterns and similarities in terms of the following:
REMEMBER TO EMBED VIDEOS AND TAKE THE NECESSARY SCREENSHOTS TO BACK UP YOUR POINTS
PITCH DAY
You will pitch your idea for your music video on Tuesday 2nd October. It doesn’t have to last longer than 5 minutes but you must have answers for the following.
BASIC IDEA
What is the overall idea for your music video? Is it performance based? Is there a narrative? Is it conventional? Is it abstract? A GENERAL INTRO INTO YOUR IDEAS.
INFLUENCES
Is this similar to any existing videos? Or films? Or books? Or anything else?
PERFORMERS
Who’s going to make the magic happen in front of the camera?
COSTUMES
Your performers have to look like stars – how are you going to dress them? How many costume changes will you have?
PROPS
Do you need musical instruments? Props for the narrative? Props for symbolism?
LOCATIONS
Where is going to shot? How many locations are you going to use?
EQUIPMENT
Lights? Dolly? Something to play the track?
SCHEDULE
When are you filming? Do you need a weekend or a few evenings?
EFFECTS
What are you hoping to do in post-production (Photoshop, Final Cut, After Effects)?
A camera will be available for this to be filmed and then place on your blog – but only if you’re comfortable with this.
To make this a more visual and envigorating presentation you can either write this pitch on a blog post but better would be a Prezi or maybe a Powerpoint.
The benefits of you going through this process are as follows:
1) You’ll have a pitch on your blog – 2 if you allow me to film it and upload it.
2) You’ll have thought about and prepared for the main challenges for filming.
3) It will force you to form a solid plan for the production – you don’t have to stick with it.
4) You’ll get really good feedback from your peers that will help you, either with fresh ideas, highlighting potential problems, offering solutions.
5) It’ll be nice to test your presentations skills which are useful for real world stuff.
DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT – JUST BE PREPARED – YOU’RE AMONG FRIENDS – IT’LL BE ACE