After finding the song Ohio (come back to Texas) by bowling for soup I had some friends listen to it for feedback, everyone who listened said that they pictured a group of friends mucking around in cowboy costumes, having fun like the pop punk genre style, I took this idea and used it to create a video in that style whilst using elements from cowboy films and giving the video an old west look.. It initially started off as an idea of a few mates messing around dancing in town and in different locations wearing cowboy hats just having fun. During the time of filming however we were mid storm so was limited to locations and also the hats I bought online came super small like novelty photo hats..
During the filming process, i found it difficult to film shots the way we envisioned due to my budget, small spaces to work with, the weather and the amount of time we had left to film and edit. However, I am pleased with the cinematography overall but feel like we didn't have enough footage or different camera angles of the same scenes to keep the music video interesting with enough cuts as the song is up beat and has lots of opportunity for lots of cuts. During editing, I also added a sepia and grain overlay to the video to make it look like an old photograph, I also used some footage from the opening sequence of an episode of Rawhide to have the intertextual reference of a western film.
One main challenge we found in a group was getting everyone together over a half term to get enough footage but also with the wether filming was hard as the ground was wet and so was the play area and health and safety issues came into play
I'm extremely happy with the feedback I've gotten from my music video. Friends and family have said they love it.
However the music video could have been a lot better, if id have done this again I would have done a lot more planning, having a contingency for anything that went wrong that ended up going wrong with lack of actors and bad weather, following this contingency plan id have also shot a lot more footage so that I could include the fast paced cuts seen in most of bowling for soups videos, id have also looked into getting better costumes and shot in a wider range of locations. all in all my planning let me down for this music video task.
doing a re shoot and using more locations and better costumes would help convey the cowboy and texan theme I tried to get across in my music video, but also help play along with the comical aspect by having fun in serious areas like supermarkets etc.
all in all the video could have been a lot better than it was if I had stuck to my gant chart and organised everything properly.
The music video ‘The Pretender’ by Foo Fighters shows several features of Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory. The video opens with the singer and main guitarist walking into an empty hanger and picking up their instrument and wrapping their hand sharing connotations with a prep like a boxer does before a fight, Grohl too looks like he's preparing for a fight, as the theme suggests it fits in with this idea of political unrest, the hanger is all white except one red wall and appears as a stripped back stage for the band, this is to bring focus on the band but also on the emotion behind the lyrics and video, as he starts singing the rest of the band join him, as the drums kick off we get fast jump cuts and close up of the band with the footage cutting to the beat of the drums and stabs on guitars, showing this star iconography and amplification of the lyrics that Goodwin suggested are seen in music videos. As we see them playing the instruments and also singing along, promoting this amplification we also see that Dave Grohl is wearing his guitar low down on his body and is in a sort of power stance this is a demonstration of genre characteristics, guitarists like Robert Trujillo from Metallica are known for their wide stance and low hung guitar, its a common association with rock music to see the main vocalist and guitar player to be in that stance. For a good 30 seconds or so we get this content stream of cuts ands close ups of the band; this is heavily enforced by the record label. It creates a persona for the band and helps them create specific motives that set them apart from other bands in the same genre as them. Low angel shots of Grohl and his guitar at the beginning make him look tall and powerful signifying he is the most important member of the band as he is the one people always associate Foo Fighters with.
Although the video is composed of mainly performance a stable feature of most music videos in the genre, linking together lyrics and visuals forms aspects of a narrative. “I’m what’s right, I’m the enemy” is showing disobedience towards society seen about a minute in with the start of the riot squad walking in in a full suit whilst we get shot reverse shot and cuts between the band and the riot team. with the band wearing white and the riot squad wearing black we get this idea of binary opposition, with this in mind the riot squad is placed further away from the camera than Grohl is when looking towards them making the audience side with Grohl in this confrontation. we see towards the end of the video that a line has been crossed that was holding everything together has finally snapped and that he has given up being ignorant towards the police and has deiced to make a stand, illustrated and amplified by the lyrics ''never Surender'' and also seen by the fact that the police literally cross over a black line in the floor in slo motion as the music itself slows down,
Goodwin also states there is a relationship between the music and visuals. The very first sounds are the lights coming on after this the music starts. also towards the end of the video the red wall behind them explodes and showers the room in a red liquid. The red liquid could be seen to represent the sheer passion and anger behind the song, but also the climax of the video. Visual editing can be seen to match that of the tempo close ups of the instruments being played in sync with the music shows the audience that the band can play. This can also be applied to the lip-syncing which amplifies the lyrics.
the camera also darts about frantically throughout the video amplifying the fast paced nature of the genre and the music being played
In relation to Carol Vernallis however when describing her theory particularly the narrative aspect, suggests that the video is a visual response to the narrative yet may not be complete sparring disjointed or disconnected much like the video above, where we have no idea the narrative behind the video yet there is something driving the story on.
in an interview Dave Grohl said himself the the video is massively open to interpretation and by looking what both analysts say cwe can see how it isn't clear on the meaning behind the video, but as Grohl himself said it was to make people aware of a political unrest at the time of writing.
PUNK ROCK 101 - BOWLING FOR SOUP
Following on using Andrew Goodwin’s Theory, the video opens with a shot of an airplane hanger, with the text punk rock boot camp, playing to the name if the song punk rock 101this is the only bit we can see what Goodwin said about the relationship between the music and lyrics as it doesn’t show much of what the singer is saying and instead throws a montage of different clips of a rock-like boot camp which doesn’t relate to the lyrics at all besides the Punk Rock 101 aspect of this song which is about teaching people how to be generically into the rock scene. cutting again we see a bus arrive and a close up of someone with spiked hair, already showing this punk rock look, that the band have and so many other bands of this genre had back in 2009 when the sing and video was released. we get content cuts following the fast paced beat of the song and genre, the video then cuts to a performance of the band, giving us closeups of the lead singer and the guitarists, as they are icons of the band, Goodwin referred to the star image a as a very vital aspect of a music video, they making the music video look more appealing to the audiences and bring a unique style to the video, they usually have the singer, if not the guitarist appearing in the spotlight for the majority of the performance and they are known for their guitarist to be an icon. we cut back to the narrative and see more of this boot camp, cutting back to the band and then back again, in the next bit they are all dressed in the same white top and pants, both men and women, alluding to the idea that we are all the same and that punk rock is universal. the video cuts between the narrative and performance in the fast paced style showing this video of thought through beat, when you listen to the song you can imagine, lots of cuts and fast paced camera action or character movement. the song and lyrics then slow down while the lead singer performs with a mosh pit behind him, showing this idea of intertextual references to the genre of punk rock and the bands in this genre such as Bon Jovi as he quotes the words ''like tommy and gina they're living on a prayer’. both people mentioned in the song Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi as well as the mise en scene showing very typical rock clothing and actions. This video also shows a clear genre characteristic of rock videos by having this very rebellious clothing and hold a similar stage-like performance to most rock bands generally out there but in a comedic way. The comedic mode of dress comes from the band itself as they are known to be funny and upbeat as are most bands in this genre that like to have fun with their videos and performances, one main one that comes to mind is blink 182's all the small things, the video is a mashup of different parody scenes. having fun and being up beat, as the genre dictates. there is a relationship between the music and visuals which is evident from the video due to the fact this video slows down and speeds up a lot with what we see on the screen is the same as what we are hearing and flows very well with pacing and transitions. seeing the band perform amplifys the lyrics and the sound, as we are getting content closeups seeing them lip-sync and play. The video doesn't really have much of a meaning like the lyrics, my interpretation is that its just a parody of bootcamps like in full metal jacket but its having fun and messing about teaching punk rock behaviours like reeling, instead of teaching people conformity.
This video also fits in with what Carol Vernallis was saying about camera movement and framing, she states that establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently throughout a music video as well as close up shots. The style of framing of the video again is quite distinctive to the video and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics. Extreme shots also known as master shots are also very common, all seen throughout the video. as well that she also talks about editing saying that a clear convention of music editing is that the video may disrupt or break the conventions of continuity editing. The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visible and not hidden apposed to the invisible style of continuity editing, this is evident by the constant jump cuts and extreme changes in pace.
however unlike what she said about the video being a visual response to the narrative of the lyrics, they didn't do that, they did it with the name of the song instead.
ROCKSTAR - NICKLEBACK
the video opens with a boy lip-syncing the lyrics cutting to a man a woman and an older woman each time on the beat, agin cutting to more people like a police officer and a model, the video is a montage of clips of people lip-syncing, from famous people to the everyday person, while hearing the lyrics we all wanna be rockstars this narrative/performance style video tells the story of different people and how anybody can be anything if they put their minds to it. having everyone sing along shows this universal idea that the band is trying to get across, not only doing that its also both amplifys and illustrates the lyrics. there is no performance from the band at all yet by using some famous people like gene Simmons, chuck Liddell billy gibbons, kid rock and the crew form American chopper. It eludes to Goodwin's theory of star iconography instead of it being the band its famous people from film and tv that everyone knows, by using this montage of clips all cut to the beat and the lyrics it gives the video a more unique look which overall makes it more interesting than other videos. Furthermore there is a strong use of voyeurism as every character is looking straight into the camera, at the audience, making the audience feel more involved.
there isn't a lot of interpretation to this video, and there isn't much going on with the video however if you look at what Carol Vernallis says when describing her theory particularly the narrative aspect, suggests that the video is a visual response to the narrative. Therefore whatever is happening onscreen reflects the choice of lyrics that the artist is singing and that although the video may have a theme or narrative, it is probably displayed in a montage style, rather than in one clear focus. she also goes on to talk about a clear convention of music editing is that the video may disrupt or break the conventions of continuity editing. The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visible and not hidden apposed to the invisible style of continuity editing. Meaning the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinctive to that video. The whole video with its use of this montage of clips is evidence of her theory more than what Goodwin suggests.
looking at the video itself there are moments where we get lustration of the lyrics within the Performance for instance with ''playboy mansion'' we get plaboy models, ''be great like Elvis'' it cuts to an Elvis impersonator, and even with the mention of rockstar we get a shot of Gene Simmons surrounded by a wall of records and awards, shot at a low angle showing his rock god status, the video makes use of the juxtaposition between having and wanting this life, and showing connotations of this life, with kids in a music studio, security guards, models and bikers. it uses Goodwin's idea of Voyerism too using models film stars and celebrities to make you watch the video and selling this aspiration life that the band has, but by not having the band in the video it helps sell this idea of a universal want for fame and the idea that you can be and have what you want in life.
Taking inspiration from the fact that Bowling for soup is part of the Pop Punk genre, which has music that is upbeat and silly, so the video will also be up beat and silly, as the song is titled, Ohio (Come Back to Texas) the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Texas is cowboys I'm going to shoot a video using my mates dressed as cowboys having fun around town and shopping centres and parks, dancing to the music and pratting about, similar to the video for what's my age again by blink 182 that has a similar style of fun up beat and silly, to both their videos and music.
also want to give the video a grainy look with a sepia overlay to look like an old western photograph thats moving.
She said she needed a break
A little time to think
But then she went to Cleveland
With some guy named Leelan
That she met at the bank
There's nothing wrong with Ohio
Except the snow and the rain
I really like Drew Carey
And I'd love to scene, the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame
So when your done doing whatever
And when your through doing whoever
You know Denton County will be right here waiting for you....
Come back to Texas
Its just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lonestar State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sux north of here anyway
I think I made a mistake
Its not that easy to take
She went to make a deposit
Then she cleaned out her closet
Guess I'll sit here and wait
For her to come back home (I'd wish you come back home)
It shouldn't take very long (so long so long)
I bet she misses the sunrise
And Mrs. Baird's fruit pies but I could be wrong
So when your done doing whatever
And when your through doing whoever
You know Denton County will be right here waiting for you....
Come back to Texas
Its just not the same since you went away
I bet you missed your exit
And drove right on through the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sux north of here anyway
Troy Aikmen wants you back
Willie Nelson wants you back
NASA wants you back
And the Bush twins want you back
And Pantera wants you back
And Blue Bell wants you back
I got a premonition
I'm taking a petition
And the whole state's gonna sign
Come back to Texas
Its just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Come back to Texas
Its just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sux north of here anyway
Besides the Mexican food sux north of here anyway
Besides the Mexican food sux north of here anyway
looking back on the survey the results I got show a clear trend upon what people like to see with a music video, in hindsight with an idea in mind for a music video of my own I could have made the question more subject specific aiming the questions to produce a response towards the ideas of my video rather than the subject as a whole, however saying that the data that I have received was helpful in deciding what sort of video people respond to and what they like. to see. all in all the survey was helpful.
by using a mixture of qualttative and quantitative data it was easier to to get a general response for what people like and expect to see in a music video, making it easy to analyse yet with the quantitive data it would have been better to show it as a word cloud or something where similar responses were paid together instead of as a list. the sample size was large as I sent it out to multiple friends across different platforms yet only got 40 responses, I think limiting it to 20 would have been substantial.
using open ended questions helped to see what people wanted more clearly yet made it harder to analyse as I had multiple responses from 1 person, limiting it to 1 response would have again made it easier to analyse.
the target audience for the survey was my target audience for the video yet a few others liked other music as well, with made results different.
FOCUS GROUP
alongside the survey we also did a Focus group between our peers on the course, my original idea of doing a narrative video looking at relationships to Halestorm's I Miss The Misery wasn't the best idea of video if I was to do it I would have to have looked at contrasting themes etc and the group decided I should take an easier course and do something simple yet effective, that is when we came up with the idea for my current music video doing a pop punk song and having people acting like idiots.
all in all the focus group was really useful in helping come up with an idea that would work and wast too demanding of time or expenses.
The theorist Carol Vernallis is known for her theory based on music editing. Carol Vernallis theory is based around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is manufactured, these concepts are:
Narrative
Editing
Camera Movement and Framing
Diegesis
Narrative
Carol Vernallis when describing her theory particularly the narrative aspect, suggests that the video is a visual response to the narrative. Therefore whatever is happening onscreen reflects the choice of lyrics that theartist is singing. However Vernallis then goes on to say how the narrative may not always be completed and can be partial with the video appearing disjointed, disconnected and appear in fragments. The video has something driving it forward but this may not necessarily be the narrative, it could be the music itself or other elements in the video. However if the video is left uncompleted it can lead to many questions about the narrative that wont always be answered throughout the video. Finally although the video may have a theme or narrative, it is probably displayed in a montage style, rather than in one clear focus.
Editing
Carol Vernallis states that a clear convention of music editing is that the video may disrupt or break the conventions of continuity editing. The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visible and not hidden apposed to the invisible style of continuity editing. Meaning the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinctive to that video. For example you may see:
Jump Cuts
Breaks of the 30’ Degree Rule
Cutting with the lyrics
Extreme changes in pace
Juxtaposed Frames
Graphic Matches
Camera Movements and Framing
Carol Vernallis states that establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently throughout a music video as well as close up shots. The style of framing of the video again is quite distinctive to the video and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics. Extreme shots also known as master shots are also very common.
Diegesis
In terms of media the diegesis is the world of the music video. Carol Vernallis explains how the diegesis will be revealed quite slowly. The actions in the video wont always be completed and may be disrupted in someway. There will be many repetitions throughout the video and some frames will appear more important than others due to the way they have been shot/framed.
Andrew Goodwin’s Theory (In relation to music videos)
Godwin’s theory states that there are 5 key aspects to a music video.
Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in your head)
Relationship between the song and Visuals.
Narrative and performance of the song.
Technical aspect of a music video
Star Image (protagonist), lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention.
Thought through beat (seeing what they mean or represent in your head)
The first step of this process is to analyse the music structure understanding the chorus and verses. Then the second step (main voice of the song), the voice of the artist would be very unique compared to others and will give the person a form of identification that can be related to the star image or singer. The third step would be the story of an artist which he is trying to tell within his song. It can establish him as a story teller. And the music video can aid this by showing us the video through the vocals of the song.
There are three ways visuals are used to promote a song :
Illustrate. Music videos use certain images & shots to illustrate/explain the meaning of lyrics to their song and the genre.
Contradiction. In this situation , the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video.
Amplify. This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly through out the music video and is drummed into our vision. Relation between the music and visuals
Relation between the music and visuals
Goodwin believed that a music video can promote a song by though the way it analysis the lyrics. This is shown in many music videos when a character does exactly what the song says. Example is when the song lyrics are jump! Jump! Jump! And on the music video there are characters/actors actually jumping.
Narrative and performance of the song
Andrew Goodwin believed that it was important for an artist to be involved in the music video by performing or acting out a role as the main character or singer. It helps to make the song look more realistic and also giving the audience a special connecting and good understanding of the song. A good example of this is the song ROAR by Katy Perry She is the main actor in the song an also the singer and it helps the video by making the song and video look more realistic and this also help to engage the audience.
Star Image (protagonist)
lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention. Goodwin referred to the star image a as a very vital aspect of a music video, they making the music video look more appealing to the audiences and bring a unique style to the video in the way he is portrayed. The start image is always very unique in the way he presents himself, the costume, moves and appearance. This help to promote the artist/star’s image in public and also helps to promote the video and helps to build a public reputation.
Technical aspect of a music video
Andrew says that the technical aspect helps to hold the music video together through the use of Mise-en-Scene, Special effects sound and editing . Lightening and colour helps to set the mood for the music video and create emphasis on significant parts of the song to create a dramatic effect and thrill the audience. Mise-en-Scene is also very vital to the production of the music video, it can help the artist gain authentication and also make his work appear more professional. The beats of the song are also very useful as they can help to create effective cuts that go with the rhythm of the song to make the music video look more entertaining.
