I have analysed this music video on our group blog in a few bullet points but here is a more detailed analysis.
There are many indications with the different types of shots that links towards the song title 'The Flood'. For example the quick shots at the beginning of the video are like a 'flood' so it could suggest a relationship between the visuals and lyrics.
Showing multiple shots of the sea suggests that 'the flood' is closing in on her and that she cant escape. The lighting when we shots of Cheryl in the house is lighter to suggest that she is safe from the flood and that the light signifies hope.
At 1:06 hands seperate because of the flood. This can suggest that the flood was overpowering the relationship and so the relationship broke because of the the flood.
When Cheryl burns out the fire at 1:52, it suggests to me that she is burning out the relationship because the fire can signify the relationship and love, so when its blown out the fire and relationship is over.
The use of close ups of Cheryl through out the music video help create a narrative in terms of how she is feeling and we the audience may create our own narrative because of the emotions that are shown to us because of the close ups.
Westlife's first album was released in 1999 when they were young their album cover represents that. By just having a simple background, the bands name and their faces on the cover shows that they are selling the bands look as new and simple and to shows those who may not know who westlife are, who the members are.
As they became older and became a 'manband' their albums had to represent that. By having the guys in suits can suggest that they are appealing to more older fans as they dont just want the young teenage girls, but also the older ladies. The dim lighting and suits in my opinion represents them as a more sophisticated, dedicated group compared to their first album cover which was just thei faces to help them promote the band.
As the group became older, their image changed so their album cover had to present that.When Brian left the band in 2004, it changed the band as a group in the way they presented themselves as they now had to re-present themselves as a 4 not a 5-member group. Their cover for their 2005 album 'Face To Face' was close ups of the remaining group to suggest that its a new beginning for them as a band. Their facial expression on the cover suggests they are going to be strong and confident on being a 4-menber band.
The band announced they were splitting up in 2011 and so released their final album with their most memorable 'Greatest' hits. The cover represents them thinking and looking back on their career as they are leaning against a gate. The background is simple as its the band we the audience need to focus on.
Miley Cyrus album cover design has changed for every album she has released as for everyone she has grown up and so the album cover is what represents that.
This album cover was Mileys first album released in 2008, aged 16 which could suggest her fan base and audience for her album would be teenagers and younger children as they knew her from starring in Hannah Montana. The layout of this album cover is simple as it has the image of the artist, the name and the album title which are the iconic features of an album cover. The use of the silver star in the middle can suggest that she is a star herself. I think overall this album cover is effective as by just having the artist look towards the fan who will buy the album may make them seem as though Miley is looking at them directly and want a connection with her.
An album cover should signify the sort of genre of music that the album features and in my opinion the use of bright colours, an image of a star and the artist smiling can suggest that the album consists of pop music.
Within the album booklet there are images of miley to promote her and her style. This image to the right has her standing on music movers to suggest she is an arist who really does care about the music as she is also "singing" into the microphone. The colours are the same as the album cover which helps the continutey and simplicity of the album booklet e,g with the whites and red.
All album booklets include the songs and lyrics in them for the fan to sing along to the song so they are able to learn the song through singing along. We can see the use of stars which was used on the album cover to show continuety with the artwork.
As Miley has grown up so has her style of music and fans. Her latest album 'Cant Be Tamed' has a more rebelious, rauchy taste as she has grown up and acknowledged who she is as an artist. This album cover shows that as the way she is standing the outfit she is wearing as she is showing more skin to suggest that she is becoming her own person. The colour scheme of this album cover also shows her fans/audience how she has gone from the sweet, innocent girly style she was portrayed as when she started with disney to a more grown up, contraversal artist who knows what kind of music she wants to release. As stated in the first paragraph, an album cover reflects the type of music that will be on the album. From this album cover i can see that Miley has grown up and so maybe as she has grwon up she has become a more R&B, pop rock artist as the colours are more darker and the outfit is more older, which can attract the older audience.
At the beginning of this video it sets the location and narrative. The location is a loud city because of all the lights being on and the narrative of Adele texting someone on her phone which suggests this video is about a current or ex boyfriend. The camera shows a shot of a close up of a building with Adele in one of them which can suggest she is feeling lonely and upset as she is in a big city, yet she is locked away in an apartment.There is a shot where Adele is looking out of the window and at the city to suggest she is isolating herself from everyone as she is feeling emotional.
There are many close ups of Adele which enable the audience to see her emotions aswell as focus on her the artist, as the close ups help sell her as an artist.
There is barely any narrative so we the audience focus on her with the close ups and mid shots. However there is narative with the beginning so the audience understand and match the lyrics with the visuals
The first five seconds of the video uses cutaways to entice the audience so they keep watching to see what type of music video it will be e.g one that tells a story a performance based video.
The toothbrush shot suggests the video is about a relationship as the colours represent that its about a boy and girl from the use of the pink and blue. This therefore is seen as a key feature of music videos, to establish the simple generic features.
There is not a specific beat to the editing of the music video as this in my opinion it represents the bumpiness of the relationship, as the video has no smooth beat and neither does the relationship.
The shots of Kate and her 'boyfriend' playing cards creates the sense of narrative as it may seem as though there is a relationship. We the audience understand from other shots that they have a relationship through the shot of the feet under the table as they play 'footsie' which can be seen as a romantic gesture.
A cutaway shot that was used was a shot of toy animals facing the camera, then being turned around so we the audience arent able to see the faces. This can signify that the relationship is over and either the girl or boy is turning away from the relationship.
The shots of them sitting on opposite sides of the table and on their own side when in bed can suggest that the relationship isnt what it used to be. It can represent that the relationship is tense.
The close up of playing poker and otu of focus on the guy to suggest his out of pic and need to focus on her so the relationship would last longer.
The close up of the hands drifting apart signifies the narrative of the music video; that the relationship, like the hands have drifted apart but the girl still thinks about the relationship. This connotation of the music video inspired us to use it in our music video.
The cut aways of the hands,animals and the bed show a narrative to the music video which is what we want for our music video, a sense of a story being told.
The fast forwarding of the socks being untangled and tangled in my opinion signifies their relationship because the tangled socks represents their messy relationship and/or how close they are and when the socks are untangled, it signifies that they have lost contact and they have gone separate ways, which the socks are a visual of.
This music video helps the lyrics become visual because of matching the visuals with the lyrics. For example at 1:23 Kate is eating lemons when she sings 'you said i must eat so many lemons'. Another example is at 1:34 when we see a shot of the couple arm-wrestling which is in sync to the lyrics as 'aggressive' is sung when we see the wrestling. A final example of the relationship between the visuals and lyrics is at 1.41 where we hear Kate sing 'wind up' and we visually see windup toys of babies.
At 1:45 there is a shot of the couple making a cake. I think this was used to create a sense of memory to the narrative to suggest that the relationship does hold memories.
When the watches come together at 2:46 it can suggest that they still love each other and want to together but maybe time is what they need or that they just don't have time for each other anymore. The watches therefore can represent the time wasted.
From 3:26 where we the audience see the watches, socks and toothbrush separate it can suggest that like the objects, the relationship has drifted apart and we understand from Kate's point that she wants to move on.
Overall, watching this music video has suggested that the cutaways is what helps tell the narrative of the video.
Cher Lloyd's 'With Your Love' video inspired us for our original song 'Put Your Hands Up' Cher's song inspired us with the concept of hanging out in the house/bedroom with friends having a laugh. We also decided to have shots on the street and this music video helped us understand how to shoot shots when following behind the artist.
The classic 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' video also inspired us because our concept was similar to hers, girls jumping around having fun. The use of narrative at the beginning also inspired us for our music video
At the beginning of the music video there is a instrumental which shows the narrative of the song and music video which can set the overall tone. This is to convey to the audience the sort of music video it will be. As this is quite commom in music videos we have decided to use this in our music video.
The chorus is mainly performance which is what we hope to do in our music video as music videos are made to sell the artist and if the audience ie fans see their favourite artist play instruments it can suggest that not only can they sing, but they can also play instruments.The use of midshots of them performing also show that they are musicans aswell as performers as we the audience can see them playing the guitar/drums.
This music video shows the typical conventions of a breakup song - performance in empty place, person thinking about the relationship, smashing things out of anger.
The lighting of the bedroom is dark to represent the misery and the shining light from the window can represent that the relationship is still there. Lighting in music videos can make the overal feel of the video and therefore when we make our music video, we are going to have to consider lighting options aswell.
Towards the end of the music video the build up of it has come which is shown through the narrative story aswell as the musical istruments as in the guitar and drums. This is due to the flooding of water in my opinion signifies how the guy who has been in the relationship is drowning of sorrow because the water is filling up.
At the end of the music video where the guy looks at the bed with the two pillows can suggest that he misses his ex and that they should be together as there are two pillows on the bed.
Overall this song is quite upbeat which is a juxtaposition to the music video as the narrative is quite lonely and upset.
I am analysing a Swedish artist, Eric Saade. I think the genre of Eric’s overall music is pop as most of his videos involve dancing which is a generic characteristic of pop videos. The beat of the music video is upbeat so it can therefore be seen as a pop song.
The lyrics in this music video are illustrated by the visuals. An example of this is ‘no one else can match those eyes’. This is illustrated by Eric looking in the mirror and we as the audience can see his eyes are focused looking at his reflection suggesting he is thinking about his girl and her eyes. ‘Were both in this masquerade’ also reflects the visuals because Eric sings this line as he walks into the masquerade ball. ‘A girl behind the mask’ is amplified as when this line is sung, the camera cuts to all the girls with the masks and the effects that added when in editing emphasises that there are so many girls in the room and he is trying to find one.
A line that I think shows the narrative of the music video is ‘stop this masquerade’ whish is illustrated by visuals as Eric takes off his mask to show he doesn’t like hiding and doesn’t want their love to be a masquerade. As he is frustrated with the situation, Eric screams ‘No’ which is shown through the visuals by him grabbing onto the walls to show his anger.
Towards the end of the music video the visuals illustrate the lyrics that eric is feeling as the emotion of confusion is shown. ‘I'm confused and I just don't know what to be for you’ is what he sings when in the jail cell and this visual illustrates why he feels confused and how his love for her has led him to a prison cell.
A clip of the music video, when Eric is in the cell, he looks directly towards the camera after he sings ‘need you to confess your love for me’ which can mean two things. One that he is singing it to the audience watching, which can attract more fans as his facial expression can make the audience sympathise and secondly, he is looking at the camera to suggest that we the audience are the princess and need to express our love for him.
Repeated visuals of Eric at the masquerade ball are used to illustrate that his love for the girl is a masquerade, so by repeating the visuals, the audience know the narrative of the music video.
A powerful scene near the end of the music video where there is a split screen of the girl and eric when Eric sings ‘Were both in this masquerade’ illustrates that both of them want to be together, but the situation of status is turning their love into a masquerade. The final scene of the video where Eric is about to get killed he sings ‘
I wanna get to know you,the girl behind the mask,I want a chance to feel you, the girl behind the mask’ shows through the visuals of his facial expression that he is scared of dying as well as upset that he didn’t get to know ‘the girl behind the mask’.
In the first few seconds of the songs, the beat does cut as the camera moves closer in so the audience gets a sense of the beat of the overall song and music video. At 1:19 the video does cut to the beat as in the previous 2/3 seconds the camera is still showing the ball,then when Eric says ‘Oh Oh’ the camera cuts to him on the beat entering the room. After he enters the room the beat of the music to me seems to speed up and the cuts of Eric looking for the girl represents that as he is trying to find the girl as fast as he can. At 1:47 as Eric sings, it cuts so we as the viewers are drawn closer into the scene as he is trying to talk to the girl. From 3:20 to 3:29 clips are cut to the beat as it is the tense part of the music video and so by cutting on the beat it amplifies the tension of the narrative. The clips that are cut to the beat are scenes from earlier on in the music to show the audience the trouble of a servant and royalty being together and how that has led him to being killed. From 3:47 onwards the cuts are quick as it builds the tension of the visual narrative shown in the music video.
There is no instrument performance in this music video as it is more focused on the narrative rather than the performance of the star. As it is a pop music video, the aim is to focus on the star ie their face, which is done in this music video through the close ups.
At the beginning of the music video, where the narrative is key, the instrumental isn’t the instrumental of the actual track but it is included to set the tone of the music video and to suggest what kind of the narrative this music video will become. However the instrumental of the actual track starts at the beginning and we know this because it cuts to the beat so every time it cuts, we the audience know that the song is about to start as we recognise the change in music, from sad classical to pop/dance rhythm.
As stated previously, the video does change to the pace of the music.At 0:32 when the instrumental starts playing, it changes from a calm mood to a upbeat tone which is shown through the cuts made.
I think the record label are looking to sell this track as a typical love story where two people from different ‘worlds’ try to be together but cant because of the status that both of them are; pheasant and a higher class girl. The image that Eric is showing is a loving, brave guy that’s in love because he knows he shouldn’t be going for a girl like that, but does anyway. By representing him this way in his music video, may allow fans to think he is this way in real life, so sympathise for him as they think from watchitng this music video that is a love-stricken bloke.
This music video relates to his previous videos as most of his previous songs are mainly about love such as ‘manboy’ ‘break of dawn’ ‘hearts in the air’ etc.
In ‘Break Of Dawn’ and ‘Maquerade’ the motif is ‘Eric Saade’ but it is displayed completely different. As ‘Masquerade’ is a Victorian themed music video, it seemed logical for the motif to set the tone so by having ‘Eric Saade’ written in fancy writing, it set the tone and story of the video and song right from the start. This is different to ‘Break Of Dawn’ motif which is a simple. plain motif. This can be seen as a change of image as he is more modern compared to his character in ‘Masquerade’.
There are two clips in this music video that gives the sense of sexual display. At 0:50 Eric shows his chest as he changes clothes which can entice the viewers as they like eric as he is attractive and by showing his bare chest, increases his, likability. Another clip that shows the viewers a sense of sexual display is at 2:23 when Eric and the girl are kissing and the camera pans down and shows Eric putting his hand on her leg and revealing it to the audience. This therefore attracts the male audience as they might not be the prime target audience for Eric.
There is a reference of ‘looking’ as in screen within screen. This is shown when Eric is changing and there is a mirror within the camera shot. This can give the audience the sense that they are not only feeling as if they are in the room with Eric, but also the feeling that Eric is looking at them when he is looking at the mirror.
