Genre

The genre of music, me and Taylor are most interested in exploring is Future Garage/electronic, that's why we've chosen a song by Jamie XX, an electronic garage influenced DJ. Girl creates a very surreal and euphoric atmosphere; experimenting with colour, lighting, dynamics and general creativity will fit the song perfectly, as well as our genre characteristics. 

Conventions of Electronic Music Videos

Camerawork - Lots of mid shots to show the artist performing the music; DJ's make music through electronic instruments i.e the Synthesiser, which involves upper body movement and this instrument is positioned mid torso/ hips so this shot is most complimentary.

Editing - The shots are cut to the beat, and Girl has a fair amount of beats so there will be a lot of different shots to make the video coherent. Around the 3rd into the music video there is some kind of change, and the song changes slightly, so the pace of the cuts will alternate and something new will be added/change.

Setting - Dependent on what the narrative is, or what the lyrics connote. Girl doesn't have many lyrics, but begins with the dialect "Most beautiful girl in Hackney" so according to Goodwin, we should have the setting in Hackney to begin with in order to make the video make sense to the song. Electronic is generally aimed at a 'younger' audience, so urban settings would compliment the genre.

Performance - A mash up of the artist and the actress/actor. There could be a somewhat narrative as electronic music doesn't usually have much lyrics and mayb

e a voice over instead, so the performance could literally be anything upbeat.

Music Questionnaire Results

Here is a screenshot of the results from the questionnaire I posted online.

First ideas and concepts for my music video

For my music video this year, I want to represent the stereotypes and ideologies of the younger generation - aged 17-20. The ideas that they're reckless, wild and fun will be my most portrayed factors, since as I have most experience of this demographic, I could easily depict this to the best of my ability.

Narratively, although I haven't picked a song yet, I have an idea of a girl who embodies the portrait of a realistic representation of the typical British urban/rave girl from South London.  For example for costuming ideas so far which I believe best represents a carefree, effortless attitude -

Dr Marten

Ripped fish nets, "careless" 

Moreover, I like the concept of drug-taking and the rave environment as this community is often looked down upon, so I want to show the vulnerability of these girls as they put themselves in very dangerous situations. Create empathy with the audience, which will create quite a buzz for teenage girls on social media like - tumblr, twitter and pinterest. As girls often aspire to be cool, rocky and careless, a perfect example of this will be Effy from Skins (kaya scodelario) as she has a very natural and effortless beauty about her. 

Effy, Skins.

Aesthetically, I want to achieve a VHS effect that I could attain in post-production. With inspiration from the movie Trainspotting, that's 90's set, grainy and gritty feel I think this would be the perfect interxual reference that the audience will easily pick up. Although this movie was released almost 20 years ago, it's still very popular with the urban/grungy teenagers on tumblr etc. What I like about this movie is the closeness of the characters, again the rave scene is a strong community and also the rave / drug setting. 

Toxic relationship / carefree girl

The effect I want to achieve. Muted colours, softness.

Overall, to sum up the ideas I currently have in this early stage is:

• A careless girl, showing her tough facade but seems very vulnerable.
• Urban setting, to tie in with her gritty attitude. Perhaps wandering the streets?
• Music ideas - I want a dreamy, upbeat type of song. 

Cross-Media Case Study

The target demographic for Wolf Alice fans are predominantly teenage fans as the band themselves are very reflective and nostalgic of their teenage life. The glitter, reflective gold and upbeat music also makes me instantly think of the younger generation (14+)

First song ideas

For the music, I want it to be dreamy and very atmospheric, with not a lot of lyrics. Although, if I want to include lyrics, I want them to relate to the portrait I want to create of this girl - youthful and carefree.

1. Ben Khan - Savage.

What I like about this song is the technotic beat, the bass guitar that creates the jarring refrain and then the crazy sound effects. I also love the lyrics to this song:

"We’ll feed them acid

But we’re dancing dancing"

"Stabbing stabbing

A hole in the very fabric

Of

Society

Well it’s eternally"

The idea of drugs and dancing instantly reminds me of the rave culture in the movie, Trainspotting. Also the idea of society’s actions are self destructive, people’s violent nature results in the destruction of the entire society/community. 

2. Jamie XX, Girl.

This seems as a strong contender for my final choice, ultimately being called "Girl" it's already perfect for us. It's the perfect mix between barely any lyrics and dream-dance beat. I love the recurring beats as it kinda shows a routine in life i.e. a girl falling for the same type of boy or a girl living in the same area who can't escape it. The only lyrics, firstly starting with "She's the most beautiful girl in Hackney you know" immediately sets the setting idea as Hackney is in London and is slightly run down and urban which is exactly what I wanted to have for the feel of the music video. As well as the other lyrics:  "Give me your love / I want your love" sets the mood of the video, that this girl is idyllic for some (the man at the start) who's chasing for her love. As well as love being very important in teenager's life as it's when they first experience the concept of love in all forms.

I love the atmospheric feel, the tempo and the pauses in the beats. It really makes me think of drug abuse and the effect it would have on the brain - we could even use slow-motion effect to help exaggerate the lasting effect of drug use.

3. Swim Deep, She Changes The Weather. 


The long intro is the favourite of mine, it also has the dreamy tone to it. The soft talking in the background could be implemented into the music video very well as it could act as the people around her. What's also good is the late start of the drums which uplifts the mood a little bit, just before the singing comes in. Even by the use of the pronoun in the title, "she" works in our favour as we want the idea of focusing on a girl. "She changes the weather" proves the impact this girl has on this boy, she's able to change the weather, in other words the mood / emotion of this boy. The lyrics "She makes me trip" the use of the term "trip" has annotations of the effect of drugs, again perfect for our idea.

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

Andrew Goodwin came up with a theory based around the idea of music videos, what he demonstrated is that music videos mostly include key iconography of genre characteristics and conventions. For example, a rap music video will mostly likely include weapons, money and drugs; whereas a pop video tend to include dance choreographies, multiple costume changes and also green screen effects in post-production.

What Goodwin also revised, is that some genres link to other popular cultural mediums - such as film or books. This is what you call "Intertextuality" where two or more mediums reference each other. For example, heavy metal tend to include horror film links - they do this because they know their target demographic will pick up this cross referencing.

Here is a few more key points Goodwin included in his book, "Dancing In The Distraction Factory".

1. There is a relationship between lyric and visuals. Which will be obvious as some music videos may include a narrative, if the song said, "He's got his gun" the visuals will most likely show him picking up the gun. This is a way of gaining an understanding of the song/narrative for the audience. 
2. There is a relationship between music and visuals. So for example, a dubstep song that includes a lot of escalating beats that tend to lead to a "drop" may include unique special effects that exaggerate the jar in the music, as it adds to the entertainment factor.
3. The demands of the record label. Some record labels will really focus on the main selling points of their artist, with any pop superstar from Miley Cyrus to One Direction, the record label intelligently knows their fans are obsessed with their looks; consequently leaving them to demand for more close ups of the artist. What else the label will look out for is any key iconography of that artist, that they can stress upon and make a motif. In other words, keeping the audience engaged and wanting more. A relevant example is Lady Gaga in her crazier era, where she wore a lot of creative and quirky costumes that brought her to the center of attention. It's what gets the people talking and is one way of obtaining a buzz.
4. There is frequent uses of notion of looking and voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Similar to point 3, the notion of looking portrays the artist - male or female - as very alluring and seductive, as if there is direct eye-contact to the audience by breaking the fourth wall. The use of props such as mirrors, cameras and computer screens, can all be references of the notion of looking. Moreover, voyeurism is predominantly used to sell the artist's sex appeal, presently it's mostly done by female artists as they're considered more "sexy". Or perhaps, the only male artists that rely on their good looks over musical content (One Direction, Justin Bieber and The Wanted) their audience are made up of young teenage girls and their parent's wouldn't appreciate crotch shots and sexual camera movements. 

99 problems - 

Jay-Z 99 Problems Analysis

By using Godwin's Music Video Theory we analysed 'Hip-Hop/Rap' artists Jay Z's music video for his single '99 Problems'

• The setting was in an abandoned run down environment in Brooklyn New York, Jay Z's hometown, which enforces Rap Culture and is recognised as highly black community. New York is a very iconic city and it's clear Jay Z wants to represent his hometown in his music video.
• There are  numerous close ups of Jay-Z lip syncing to the lyrics and of his chains and clothing to represent how rich he is. He of course wants to make himself represented positively in his own music video, so materialistic things that make him look better will be shown on camera.
• Glamorous half naked women where shown in the video which brings in a lyrics and visual relationship as the hook of the song is 'Got 99 Problems but a bitch and aint 1' This is a way of voyeuristic / scopophilia as it's representing women in a sexual manner.  
• He also shows racial discrimination by police by showing prison brutality towards black people. This is a sensitive topic, especially for people of colour because of the history of police brutality, especially in a place / ghetto like brookyln.
• The editing was synced with the song, fast paced and a lot of jump cuts. This goes with the genre characteristics that rap music is all fast etc.

Moodboard

Our mood board ultimately portrays the atmosphere we want to represent in our music video. As you can see, the bright colours are still prominent as we want to keep this a recurring theme. The purpose of the photos of Trainspotting is inspiration for our music video, where lighting, iconography and camera movement is sophisticated to reflect the life of the teen boy, of which he tries to get out the drug scene. Intertextuality will be evident by the use of similar lighting and setting to Trainspotting that our target demographic will understand.

The mood we want to achieve are explained by the words: "dreamy" "careless" "teen love".