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Avril Lavigne - Rock N Roll
Music Video
Time
Any notes?
What style is the video? [narrative, as live,
performance, other] and why has this been used?
Punk rock, narrative
Give a definition of what a narrative video is and then explain What is the narrative in this video....
What genre specific conventions are present in the
music video?
clothing
performance
mise en scene
attitude
theme of video
colouring / grading
Dark Makeup, fingerless leather gloves, pink highlights.
Rebellious (shown by tattered clothing, she wears outfits that aren't necessarily based for her age group and her attitude swearing, sassy, hand gestures. Disrespectful (can do what she wants)
Implicitly state in your voice over that these things are the codes and conventions of the genre.
How does the video relate to the lyrics, is it
illustration, amplification, disjuncture and why do you think this?
The lyrics don't really link in with the song, but in a way it gives you the feeling that the story is a personified interpretation of her feelings and her rebellious attitude.
Are there anyintertextual references? (where the video references another film/music video / book)
None
Are there any incidents of voyeurism?
Yes, there is a scene where Avril kisses her friend. This could also link in with the rebellious side.
2 minutes 53
What editing conventions are present? [jump cuts,
cut to the beat, frequent cuts]
Cut to the beat, fast cuts. Because it synchronizes the music video with the song, and helps the audience to move along with the song.
Why use these techniques?
What shooting conventions are present? [close-ups,
low angle shots, different styles of camera angle]
Close ups and medium shots, makes you feel like your part of the story.
How has star iconography been achieved?
Goo goo dolls - Iris
Music Video
Time
Any notes?
What style is the video? [narrative, as live,
performance, other] and why has this been used?
What genre specific conventions are present in the
music video?
clothing
performance
mise en scene
attitude
theme of video
colouring / grading
How does the video relate to the lyrics, is it
illustration, amplification, disjuncture and why do you think this?
Are there anyintertextual references? (where the video references another film/music video / book)
Are there any incidents of voyeurism?
What editing conventions are present? [jump cuts,
cut to the beat, frequent cuts]
What shooting conventions are present? [close-ups,
low angle shots, different styles of camera angle]
What would you consider to be the main purpose of a music video?
In my opinion the main purpose that artists decide to make music videos is to make money by selling their song, this is because a music video can be anything and in a way it can be used as a fall back to give the target audience something else if the song isn't doing so well, or even just to bring it up a level. The way they usually do this is by making the contents of the video entertaining and something that will be different and appealing to the audience, sometimes that will mean that the video might include a narrative to it or even just have slight elements that link in with that groups background.
What other purposes might there be of a music video?
Other purposes that a music video might have is to invoke a reaction from the viewers, the reason that the artist might want to do this is to get across a message or advertise about themselves that the audience may not have known. Sometimes when doing this it is common for the artist to go way over board with the type of content that is shown; ranging from very graphic violent scenes to almost pornographic content. The artist will usually dress and act in an obscure way which will be totally different from how the audience know them. An example of this is Miley Cyrus with her music video 'We cant stop'.
In this video compared with her older videos, the style has changed and you can see the obvious rebellious side that she is trying to get across. The is an example of how she has used voyeurism which has been used to definitely invoked a reaction from the audience; in this video alone Miley Cyrus has changed from her usual innocent pop singing style to now an artist who is seen drinking alcohol, wearing hardly anything and smoking drugs. By changing dramatically like this and doing all these things that are seen as bad she is gaining more attention by her audience, by newspapers and TV programmes which is making more and more people watch her videos; which makes her more popular, even if its not in the best of ways.
An artist could also use a music video just to accompany the song, the main reason being to act out the story that is being told through the lyrics of the song. Other than giving the audience something more that they could watch it gives the audience a greater understanding of what the artist is trying to sing about, this is important because if the artist can create storyline's which can make the audience compare and relate themselves with the storyline they could potentially create a wider fan base for themselves.
As you can see with this artist, she is very good at playing with people emotions in her music videos. She uses narrative to give the audience a bigger image of what her song is actually about and makes it seems more like a movie; being an illustrative music video means that it is also a lot easier to understand. In this video she used intertextual references to the play Romeo and Julliet this makes people feel familiar with the story line and want to watch the video more because it has suddenly become more than just understanding the music.
Although some artist try invoking a reaction from the audience using voyeurism there are artist that use completely different methods.
As you can see in PSY's Gangnam style video; this artist has used this amplification video to invoke a reaction through comic ways. He has created a video which will get attention in a positive way and this will therefore gain him more of a fan base and make him more popular. This video uses a lot of close ups of the singer this is used to increase his star iconography; the more popular the song is as he is seen a lot it will increase his star image and make him more known to the audience. This is why I think that the video works well with the music as the song seems to be quite up beat and crazy and the music video seems to completely show this style. I think that the way that the singer has made this work together is a good use of creative flare and it really shows how his imagination has managed to get attention as he has over 2 billion views.
How might an artist extend their income through having a music video?
There are many different ways that music videos can help to extend an artists income, one way they can do this is by using their videos to advertise and promote different products; they could either promote other company's products by product placing or they could decide to use it as an opportunity to sell their own products. The type of products that the artists could try promoting are things like their own branded products like perfumes, clothing lines etc. This is a good way to increase an artists income; because if the artist can create a video that can get a lot of views it means that they can get more popular which gives them a chance to sell huge amounts of their products.
This is a very good example of how music artists use product placement in their videos; Avril Lavigne's video to her song Rock N Roll starts off with her sitting down beside a mobile phone floating in water; she states the mobile phones name and answers it after zooming into an extreme close up of the phones brand. This is a very obvious example of product placement but at the same time the video she uses is quite shocking as the way she is acting in the video is far younger than she actually is so this is a way she can seek more attention from her video; which gets her more views and by having such an obvious product advertisement at the start it means a lot of people are going to be seeing the product.
Describe how and why music videos have been used to fill in for bands on tour or when otherwise unavailable.
Because music videos have become so popular nowadays it means that it's quite easy for bands to get away with using music
videos to show at concerts when they are unavailable. This is because music videos have come quite far and they are used to synchronize with the music to tell a story; but the music
videos don't even necessarily have to link in with the song such as disjuncture music videos. Also by using music videos instead of dancers or actors; it puts a mark on the video and therefore it makes the audience aware of who the music video belongs to. It is also far more interesting for the audience to be played the music video as it can give more narrative story line and meaning to be taken in and they'd probably find it more interesting to.
This is an example of Top of the pops where dancers have been used to cover a song; In my opinion this is not very interesting.
But this is an example where top of the pops have used a performance music video; as you can see here this music video featuring David Bowie is much more interesting and it also uses close ups of the star which is increases his star image as well as low angled shots which is also emphasizing how powerful he is as a musician.
Thinking back through history and presently.. how have music videos enabled an 'extension of outlets' (opened up ways to get music to the masses?)
