Music Video Paramore - Let the Flames Begin

We choose to do our media video to ‘Paramore – Let the Flames Begin’ as we both liked this song, and wanted to create a good atmosphere with a fresh take upon the forms and conventions of this typical pop/ punk genre. We have attempted to mirror the video narrative to comply with lyrics of the song, so we decide to take a fresh look at the storyline, and make it unique and add in our own individual ideas and hopes for what we wanted it to be like. As we wanted it to be quite individual, I had designed the make-up myself and I also had actually made the corset which was worn by the girl running through the woods in the music video, as well as piecing together the outfit and overall look of both the female characters which are seen within the music video.

The narrative of our music video is about a girl who is being rejected by her peers and has come to the conclusion of needing to escape, as she feels she has no way out, and has to try and run away. She finally loses control of how she feels when realising what an outsider she has become, trying to run away from her problems, to a place where she can get out and lose herself, this is represented when she is running through the woods, looking lost, lonely, scared and upset, accompanied with the quick flashing clips representing what is going through her mind, what is distressing and causing her all this pain and inflicting these strange characteristics upon her.

We chose this song in particular as we thought the lyrics fitted perfectly with the meaning that we wanted to portray in our video. They key lyrics that we think work well with the story; ‘What a shame we all became, such fragile, broken things...’, ‘ This is how we’ll dance when, when they try to take us down, this is what we’ll be’. This part of the song is the chorus, where we had edited very quick establishing shots of the party scene, contrasting with the quick flashing close up’s of the main character in great distress, explaining that all the teenagers dancing during the party scene are desperate to fit in with their peers and social norms. So the way they dress, dance and drink in the style that they do, we have suggested this is them all trying to feel socially accepted.

The video begins with a fast panning around shot through the woods, showing quick flashing clips of the girls face, focusing on her eyes and mouth where a large amount of a person’s feeling can be revealed, representing her vulnerability and emotional pain. Continuing quick shots of a lake and the forest, and more of the girl follow. We wanted to introduce the audience to the setting and the main character which they shall see throughout the video. After I decided to introduce another character of a second girl, who has the role of a more popular person who is getting ready to go to the party (which is later shown in the video), for this, We used some shots of both the girls inside using many reflections in mirrors which I wanted to represent the vanity of people in today’s society. This is shown flashing between a longer clip of a pan shot through the woods where the main character is running past lasting several seconds. For the next few shots I decided to use chiaroscuro lighting to possibly suggest an unseen side to the character in-between flashing clips of the lights at the party, showing what is going through her mind. After this it is the run up to the chorus, where I continually cut the clips in time with the music, using many close up shots and mid shots in twining then rapidly so that they seemed to overlap, which I hoped suggested the confusion of thoughts and everything that is happening at that moment in time.

We wanted to convey a sense of panic on the main characters part, the way in which she has been dresses is to represent how she is different to all of the other people. i.e. the people in the party scene and also the second female character that has been introduced. She has also been styled in this way to show a vulnerable and perhaps in attempt to seek attention and be noticed.

As the song progresses, we see the main character showing more and more emotional pain, through the close up’s and other shots used, as she is feeling increasingly rejected. Again, more clips of the party scene throughout the chorus have been shown with the people dancing highlighting the fact she is an outsider to this social group as she goes against the social norms. Throughout the versus we wanted the girl in the woods to be the main focal point, this is why when editing , I used flashing clips of the other scenes the keep it in the audiences mind that everything else is still going on around her. Another chorus follows repeating on screen what has been seen in the previous chorus, after this it is the bridge within the song where in slow motion I focused into to the main characters face in the woods as she breaks down against a tree and loses control, using an above shot, finishing the bridge scene with an extreme close up of her eyes panning across to her lips before the excessively fast clips leading up to the final chorus.

We see the video coming to an end as the music pace slows right down, with the girl running away after finally breaking down into an emotional wreck in the woods. With quick clips flashing in-between of what is constantly rushing through her mind, eventually fading into a black out which concludes the music video.

Poster

For our Advertisement Poster we wanted to keep it within the same theme of the Music video and CD album cover and relate them all together. We firstly ripped out pages from glossy magazine to create a collage of random different pictures which has also featured within our music video, representing the confusion and distress of everything which is happening within the main characters mind. After creating the collage of mixed photos I scanned the piece onto a computer where I used Photoshop to alter the piece, changing the lighting and contrast of the whole piece. After I added the same text which we used on the CD Album cover so that it could be recognisable to our target audience and also so that they can stay interlinked with one another, continuing to promote the music video and the song. When producing this poster I wanted to comply with the forms and conventions of my music video and the CD cover as the genre of the song I choose works well with the imagery which has been used throughout the production, we have done this so that the target audience would be able to recognise them all as being related.

CD Album Cover

We decided to design our CD Album cover with a flipped image of the main female character in our video. The picture itself is an above shot taken from a bird’s eye view when in the woods, we wanted to have a scenic atmosphere within the photograph we used, this is why we choose to use a screen shot of a close up of the girl looking vulnerable and is sitting in a crouched position against the tree.
We then flipped the image over to create a mirror of the picture, adapting this other half to be in black and white as it was the back cover of the CD Album with the titles of the entire track contained on the album, which we took our song from for our music video. We thought that this would be exceptionally fitting imagery for the product as it represents our video and also the poster. This is because the character of the main girl has been portrayed as a fragile, broken mess (hence the Paramore lyrics).
We feel this works well as the emotion that we see shown by the girl symbolises her being trapped on her own, only seeing herself, thus why we chose to use a mirrored image for the CD cover, linking well to the video, and how she is all alone in a world of her own.

Paramore's previous Media Involvement

The vastly growing band have been involved with the media by performing on BBC Radio1 in their live lounge various times, appearing on the cover of Novembers issue of ‘Big Cheese’, featuring as the stars of ‘NME’ magazine, and also the cover story of ‘Kerrang!’.










Paramore - BBC Radio1's Live Lounge, Performing an acoustic cover of Use Somebody, originally by Kings of Leon.




Paramore’s main attraction is its spunky orange-haired singer, Hayley Williams, with her powerful voice and charismatic stage presence it is the main ingredient in Paramore’s recipe for greatness, this is shown by their advertisements, as most of the attention is upon her, on all of the above, she has been made the centre piece of the magazine page.

Paramore - The Band's Previous Album Covers

The combination of musical energy between brothers and Hayley's bold charisma earned them instant attention, particularly from Florida indie Fuelled by Ramen, who signed the band and put them to work recording their debut.
The band has created five albums from when they started in 2004, from being an unknown band from small town Franklin, they have grown immensely in popularity within the past five years, constantly appearing within the media and in magazines such as Kerrang! on a regular basis.

Below are all their album's to date.


Paramore - All We Know Is Falling, Release Date 2005, Tracks 10




Paramore - Riot! Release Date 2007, Tracks 11




Paramore - The Final Riot! Release Date 2008, Tracks 15




Paramore - Twilight Soundtrack, Release Date 2008, Tracks 2




Paramore - Brand New Eyes, Release Date 2009, Tracks 11




Before creating the album cover for our Paramore music video, I decided to research into the band a little more, and their previous album covers that they have used which is shown above. This helped me have a greater understanding and clearer idea about how to produce our cover and what I could possibly include, so I decided that when filming I would take some pictures of the location and of Katie to possibly use as the photograph on the album cover.

Paramore - History of the Band - Research

Paramore are an American rock band, who formed in Franklin, Tennessee in 2004. Members are Hayley Williams (lead vocals/keyboards), Josh Farro (lead guitar/backing vocals), Jeremy Davis (bass guitar), Zac Farro (drums), and Taylor York (rhythm guitar).
This group released their debut album All We Know Is Falling in 2005, and their second album, Riot! in 2007. Brand New Eyes, Paramore's third album, was released on September 29, 2009, which is the band’s highest charting album to date.

Paramore's music has generally been regarded as emo and pop punk. Alternative Press magazine had commented that the band was "young sounding", while consistently being "honest." Paramore's first album All We Know is Falling had an arguably more "pop-punk" sound that was delivered particularly wellband the combination of the two had created a "refined rock infused pop/punk album." The band's second release, Riot! was said to explore a 'diverse range of styles," however, not straying far from "their signature sound."

2002–2005: Formation and All We Know Is Falling

In 2002, Hayley Williams, aged 13, moved from hometown Meridian, Mississippi to Franklin, Tennessee where she met brothers Josh Farro and Zac Farro. The band was officially formed by Josh Farro (lead guitar/backing vocals), Zac Farro (drums), Jeremy Davis (bass guitar) and Hayley Williams (lead vocals) in 2004, with the later addition of Williams' neighbor Jason Bynum (rhythm guitar). According to Lead vocilist Hayley, the name "Paramore" came from the maiden name of the mother of one of their first bass players. Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone paramour "secret lover", they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.
The band's first song written together was "Conspiracy", which was later used on their debut album.
John Janick, co-founder of the music label Fueled by Ramen signed Paramore to the label in April 2005.
After Jeremy Davis left the band, The remaining members of Paramore continued with the album, writing "All We Know" about his leaving, later deciding to base All We Know Is Falling around the notion. The album artwork also reflected Paramore's grief as Hayley explained, "The couch on the cover of All We Know is Falling with no one there and the shadow walking away; it's all about Jeremy leaving us and us feeling like there's an empty space." All We Know Is Falling was released on July 24th 2005.
Paramore released "Pressure" as its first single, with a video directed by Shane Drake, but the song had failed to place in the charts. The video featured the band performing in a warehouse, eventually getting sprayed with water sprinklers as the storyline of a conflicted couple occurs. "Emergency" was released in July as the second single, the video again reuniting the band with director Shane Drake and featuring Hunter Lamb (rhythm guitar), who replaced Jason Bynum. The video for "Emergency" showcased Paramore in another performance, this time fixing the members bloody costumes, as the director is telling them what to do, in some form or neglected building. The third single, "All We Know", was released with limited airtime, with the video consisting of a collection of live performances and backstage footage.


2007–2008: Riot!

In January 2007 Paramore began recording their second album, Riot!, ending production in March. Taylor York, who had been in a band with the Farro brothers before the two met Hayley Williams, joined as a replacement for Lamb. Paramore opted to record Riot! with New Jersey producer David Bendeth, releasing the album on June 12th 2007. Riot! entered the Billboard 200 at number 20, the UK charts at number 24, and sold 44,000 its first week in the United States. The name Riot! meaning "a sudden outburst of uncontrolled emotion", and it was a word that "summed it all up".
On October 11th 2007, the music video for "Crushcrushcrush" debuted on the United States television as the next single from Riot!. The video for "Crushcrushcrush" featured the band playing a performance in a barren desert, being spied upon, and later destroying their equipment. The single was released in the United States on November 19 and made available in the United Kingdom on November 12th 2007.
Paramore was featured on the cover of February 2008 issue of Alternative Press magazine and voted "Best Band Of 2007" by the readers. The band was nominated for "Best New Artist" at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards presented on February 10th 2008. Early 2008 saw Paramore touring the United Kingdom, supporting their album Riot!, along with New Found Glory, Kids in Glass Houses and Conditions.
Paramore's song "Decode" was the lead single for the novel-based Twilight film. Another song called "I Caught Myself" is also featured on the film's soundtrack. The band began shooting the video October 13th and it premiered on November 3.

2009–present: Brand New Eyes

Paramore wrote and completed their newest record Brand New Eyes in early 2009. The first single off brand new eyes "Ignorance" which was released July 7th 2009. The official music video for "Ignorance" aired on all MTV platforms, networks, and websites on August 13th 2009.
In January 2009, Josh Farro spoke about the band's upcoming third studio album. Talking to Kerrang!, he said: "We're going try to record it in Nashville. I think writing the album there will inspire us, and then if we record there too it'll be a lot easier since we can sleep in our beds at night rather than in hotels like the other 300 days out of the year! We're not sure who's going to produce the record yet. We did "Decode" with producer Rob Cavallo, which was a good experience, but we're looking around and don't want to make any decisions until we have a lot of songs and we know what we're looking for. We really enjoy our live sound and we want a producer who can really capture that."

Britney Spears-Everytime - Research

We have researched into different genres of music and the different music videos. Within this we looked at how they can influence the viewers and got more controversial for example the Britney Spears- Every time music video directed by David LaChapelle and produced by Guy Sigsworth, Which is about a girl who wants it all to work out, she wants everyone to like her, but realizes the world isn't fair. Not everyone is going to like you, and even though someone might make you mad, he could be the true one to you. It's more then she can handle, she is so sorry for everything she might put the guy through and she is "sorry if her weakness caused pain."

The clips of her in the bath tub drowning cut to her being in the hospital, where doctors and nurses are attempting to save lives whilst she it trying to end hers. We both believe this is an extremely controversial music video, the lyrics are mirroring the story of the video, this can be showing the extreme lengths of vanity and how selfish and self obsessed people can be in today’s society, how much appearance and image can change peoples opinions.



The Lyrics to Everytime...
Notice me
Take my hand
Why are we
Strangers when
Our love is strong
Why carry on without me?

Everytime I try to fly
I fall without my wings
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, it's haunting me
I guess I need you baby

I make believe
That you are here
It's the only way
I see clear
What have I done
You seem to move on easy

And everytime I try to fly
I fall without my wings
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, you're haunting me
I guess I need you baby

I may have made it rain
Please forgive me
My weakness caused you pain
And this song is my sorry

Ohhhh

At night I pray
That soon your face
Will fade away

And everytime I try to fly
I fall without my wings
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, you're haunting me
I guess I need you baby



The story behind this music video is the image of a girl who, in effect wants it all, wants everybody to like her, but comes to realise that that this isn’t possible in reality at the world is not fair. You can’t have everyone like you and you can’t always control everything. Brit wrote this song when she was going through a hard time in her life as the song itself is about her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, the lyrics in the song are in a reply to his hit single ‘Cry Me a River’ as he wrote that about her after the pair broke up.
The lyrics "I may have made it rain, Please forgive me, my weakness caused you pain, and this song is my sorry" are Britney’s’ apology to Justin.

The video opens with clips of the skyline in Las Vegas, cutting to a shot of Brit on a huge billboard showing her huge stardom and success. It then pans down to a shot of a limousine pulling up outside the theatre, obviously with Britney inside and being swarmed by the paparazzi. Then we see Brit sat inside the limousine with a man who looks to be her boyfriend. He looks downcast and fed up, and is not looking at her, as she is trying to get his attention and he seems to be rejecting her. Then we see a close up shot of Britney, she appears saddened by his reaction. Then we see a shot of the car pulling up and photographers surrounding them, and banging on the windows – another clue as to how famous and sought after the character Britney is in this video.

In the next shot Britney is getting ready to get out of the car she puts on some sunglasses and a cap, obviously in an attempt to try and shield her identity from the paparazzi, she gets out of the car and is immediately crowded by a huge flock of people waiting for her. We see lots of quick cutting clips of her being surrounded by her bodyguards protecting her and taking her to a building away from the rabble, in the end she is forcefully shielded from people trying to grab her and get closer.
Then a continuous reverse tracking shot is used as we see Brit walking down a long walk white corridor with her boyfriend and bodyguards. The man who appears to be her boyfriend is acting angrily and seems frustrated as he kicks a pile of boxes that fly and almost hit a nearby female nurse. The video then cuts to the scene of inside an apartment, supposedly Britney’s’ or her boyfriends. The couple are having a row and then he tries to hug Britney, but she rejects this and shoves him away. He then picks up a nearby vase of flowers and hurls them at the wall and the glass shatters everywhere. Brit then storms off into a different room and gets undressed and gets into a large bath. Contrasting with this delicate scene that shows the vulnerability of Brit’s character, are shots of her boyfriend in the lounge showing his anger and kicking over a coffee table. Both of them take off their shirt at the same time, although in different rooms, almost symbolising them both showing their weakness and vulnerability in unison. Then we see Britney emerge herself in the bath and then its cuts to the boyfriend sat on the sofa looking tired and miserable.

We see Brit in the bathtub, lots of close up shots of her face show her emotional pain, then she brings her hand down from behind her head you can see blood filling the palm of her hand, representing that she has self-harmed, to escape the pain.
The video then cuts to show Britney against a clean white background, wearing a white shirt, with damp-looking hair as if she has just had bath, I think this symbolises her on the verge of suicide whilst in the bath. The sterile, white looking background surrounding her seems to signify the idea of dying and stepping into a ‘white light’. She then begins to walk forwards as the camera does a reverse tracking shot and seems oblivious to the doctors, nurses, policemen and surgeons surrounding her, that appear to be frantically dashing around.
Then we see a close up shot of Brit completely submerging herself in the water, which then fades out to another tracking shot of Britney running down a brightly lit corridor and then appearing in a hospital ward where an about-to-be mother is having complications giving birth to her baby as doctors and nursing are anxiously rushing around her. Again we see the shot of Brit running down the corridor.
Then a mid shot of her boyfriend is shown in their bedroom, going into the bathroom and in seeing what Britney has done, leaps into the bath and picks her up.
Then it cuts back to Brit in the hospital ward again where we see a nurse hand a mother hew newborn baby. This shot in contrast with suicidal Britney in the bathtub is suggesting the idea of reincarnation i.e. as one life ends another begins.
After this, a panning shot across a street shows the scene crowded with police cars flashing, people panicking and photographers all trying to look at the stretcher being wheeled out to an ambulance – presumably with Britney on it.
Then the camera does a tracking shot, showing Britney running, this time away (as opposed to towards) us, symbolising her subconscious decision that, perhaps she does not want to lose her life, thus runs away from the ‘white light’.
Then an above shot shows the mother in the hospital holding her new born baby in her arms. The video then fades out and to end with a close up shot of Brit emerging from the water, as she takes a deep breath, as if a sigh of relief, lays back and smiles.

We think that this music video was aimed at older viewers, possibly for the larger audience that watch the music channel and also the growing audience of the YouTube population. We do not think that it was made for younger people to watch in particular as it could perhaps be seen as sending out a negative message of self harm, and although this is featured in the video, that is not the entirety of what it is based around and certainly does not promote it. We found this quite a controversial video to most others that we watched as a lot of others are usually quite upbeat and of optimistic content, whereas as this video portrays death with reincarnation and pain.

Choosing the Song for the Music Video

Before starting to make our music video my partner and I Katie had to decide upon the song that we will create a video for, it was vastly important to pick this well, because if the track we used was too mainstream, we believed that perhaps the audience would think we were attempting to duplicate something that has previously been done. Frequently watching the music channels and listening to the radio to see what was currently in the charts and what popular genres and artists were about, to help make the decision of the song to select. I made lists of various songs and styles of songs which I thought would be good for our music video and as I am working with Katie on the music video, she also made a separate list, after both getting together and talking about what was on our lists, we originally decided to create a remix between two songs, one being ‘Foals – Hummer’, and the other ‘The Gossip – Heavy Cross’. ‘Hummer’ is the Foals second single which was released in April 2007 and featured as their bonus track on their album ‘Antidotes’. As the Foals music genre is relatively alternative often being said that they have an upbeat, poppy, math rock / past punk sound we thought this would work well with The Gossip- Heavy Cross, as they are a punk trio, who include indie rock into their music. "Our mission is to make you dance, and if you're not gonna dance, just stay at home and listen to the oldies station." As both these bands emphasize on their dance-punk direction we thought they would combine well. However, once we had remixed the songs together, we found it was all too instrumental, and felt how we had planned the video to be, would not give such an impact as we had hoped. So after this we looked at the rest of our previous lists and decided upon the band Paramore, who started up in Franklin, America in 2004 with their not so well known song ‘Let The Flames Begin’. As we both incredibly liked the band Paramore, as there pop/ punk style is relatively individual. With choosing this song we felt that we could totally create a visual show that works in harmony with the song.

Let The Flames Begin - Song Lyrics

Below are the lyrics to the chosen song for our media video Paramore – Let the Flames Begin. When deciding upon this song I found the lyrics were very important and helpful for the planning and making of the music video as it was a support to direct the main narrative within the story, as some of the clips we filmed were inspired by the lyrics, which when watching the video, these clips should be relatively apparent to the audience. When filming we had our plan, story boards and these lyrics with us guiding the actresses how to perform with their emotions and mannerisms.

What a shame we all became, such fragile broken things,
A memory remains, Just a tiny spark,
I give it all my oxygen, to let the flames begin,
so let the flames begin,

Hoch Glory.... Ohhh Glory!

This is, how we'll dance when,
when they try to take us down,
This is what we'll be ohh glory.

Somewhere weakness is our strength,
And I’ll die searching for it,
I can't let myself regret, such selfishness,
My pain I know the trouble caused, no matter how long,
I believe that there's hope,

buried beneath it all, and,
hiding beneath it all and,
growing beneath it all and...

This is, how we'll dance when,
when they try to take us down,
This is how we'll sing out...
This is, how we'll stand when,
when they burn our houses down,
This is what we'll be Oh Glory!

Reaching as I sink down into life.
Reaching as I sink down into life.

This is, how we dance when,
when they try to take us down,
This is how we'll sing out.
This is, how we'll stand when,
when they burn our houses down,
This is what we'll be Oh Glory!

Gwen Stefani–What You waiting For? - Research

Within researching the forms and conventions of the pop music video genre, we have looked at a broad range of videos with the genre and also a range of subgenres by a wide range of artists, looking at the camera shots, representations, genre, mise-en-scene, lighting, sound and audience.
One of these videos which we have looked further into is Gwen Stefani – What you waiting for?, the song was written by Gwen Stefani and Linda Perry for the 2004 debut solo album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The video was Directed by Francis Lawrence and produced by Caleb Dewart of DNA Incorporated.

The music video opens with Gwen Stefani arriving in Los Angeles after No Doubts ‘Rock Steady’ tour. Receiving several calls from her manager, who is progressively attempting to push her on within her solo career, she responds that she is tired, and has no inspiration. This video has an unusually long non-musical introduction in the extended version, which gives the audience more of an insight as to the narrative of the music video.

A failed studio attempt leads Stefani to take a break where she sees an advertisement for a writers’ block, once she gets there she fills out several unusual questionnaires and is then informed that she will be sent the bill upon finishing the project. Before she could ask any other questions she is already back in the studio by herself. An oversized pocket watch is sitting on top of the piano, next to a small pink rabbit figurine, which suddenly jumps across the room, knocking her as she falls backwards on the chair she is unexpectedly transported into a strange fantasy world based upon the theme of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’.

This video is frequently cutting back to the scene in the studio where Stefani is singing and performing to her Harajuku girls in semi-synchronisation from the fantasy world. Whilst being in this imaginary world, Stefani adopts the roles of the following characters: Alice, The White Queen and The Queen of Hearts. As she is in the characters of the fantasy world, back in the studio the song itself is being recorded, as she is rediscovering her lost confidence, ending with her full awareness back in the recording studio, where she finds herself dancing and singing in front of her four Harajuku girls; Love, Angel, Music and Baby who smile and laugh with admiration. Finally the consultant from the writer’s block hands her the bill after she has been fully inspired.

This song is from a new wave genre, although containing influences and elements of Electro-Pop, with this single reaching the top 20 in many countries, topping charts in Argentina and Australia. Also containing references to Gwen’s time with No Doubt. As she repeats this phrase ‘Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock’ throughout the song this is symbolises the pressure she is under to produce something new and fresh.

We see cutting clips of Gwen when she’s in the ‘Wonderland’ as all the different characters, several close up shots are used here to display the individual’s expressions, with bright lighting used. Many references are made to the Alice and Wonderland film, one of these being when she is trapped in the house as she has increasingly grown too large to escape from it, and the Mad Hatters tea party, where she is jumping on the table singing, this is where is cuts back to the studio scene. Once she’s fallen down the rabbit hole she lands in the maze, where one of the Harajuku Girls who is signifying the White Rabbit, Gwen is chasing this rabbit through the maze as this happens many flashing clips are shown which are cut well to the beat of the song. This tells us she is confused, trying to work something out, and trying to escape and get back to reality.

This is an example of an unorthodox music video as it does not follow the usual forms and conventions held within a pop genre video. It is almost an adaptation of the film, taking the visual scenes of Alice in Wonderland and incorporating them into a music video, with a modern quirky edge, It has often been referred to as a short film. Appealing to a large target audience because it not only attracts Gwen Stefani fans but also can interest the people who admire ‘Alice in Wonderland’,’ Alice through the Looking Glass’, or ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.



‘’This video is an audio – visual experience, an extravaganza’’

Lady Gaga-Bad Romance - Research

Lady Gaga aged 23, has established herself as someone who is impermeable to predictions especially within the music video department. She makes statements with her music videos as they are all wild, theatrical, often tongue in cheek and frequently labelled as ‘Shock Art’ performances. “It’s not just about the music. It’s about the performance, the attitude, the look; it’s everything. That is where I live as an artist and that is what I want to accomplish.” –Lady Gaga.



Bad Romance is the first single from when she re-released ‘The Fame’ changing the name of the album to ‘The Fame Monster’ and the music video which accompanies this is the product of her ‘weirdest and most psychotic ideas’ as she has told MTV. The Album has been split into two parts, on being electro-pop and the other part rock convoying with disco and burlesque and ‘generously poured it into the figurative martini glasses of the world in an effort to get everyone drunk with her fame’.

Throughout the video of Bad Romance Lady Gaga is concurrently paying respect to two of the most well known film directors of all time; Stanley Kubrick the American director, producer, writer and photographer where visually she emulates one of the scenes from his award winning film ‘The Clockwork Orange’, and Gaga lyrically appreciates Hitchcock’s work as she take the names of several of his most classic films (Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window) incorporating them into her lyrics ‘I want your psycho, your vertigo stick, want you in my rear window’.

Francis Lawrence directed her Bad Romance video as she said ‘I knew his ability as a director is so much higher that what I could do’. The popular American music video director has worked with the likes of Britney Spears, Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, Will Smith, Aerosmith, Janet Jackson, Gwen Stefani, and Pink.

The main story behind the video to ‘Bad Romance’ is to demonstrate the cause and effects of sexual trafficking within Europe. Opening the video is an establishing shot of Gaga positioned on a white throne surrounded by both men, women and also a dog all dressed in outrageous outfits and all wearing some form of mask shielding their face, possibly to hide their identity. Perhaps suggesting her being in a position of authority as she is the centre of the scene and appears to be protected and is of high importance or adoration. This vastly cuts to the ‘Bath Haus of Gaga’ showing several white pod-type cocoons which look to be coffins, several people begin to emerge from within these ‘pods’ wearing white futuristic PVC body suits and a white crowns. As they come into sight their mannerisms suggest that they are almost non human as they jolt around and display jerky movements. Throughout this clip chiaroscuro lighting has been used which we believe to be suggesting another side to this story, a twist that has not been yet seen. This conveys with the forms and conventions of Lady Gaga’s previous work, however the mise-en-scene of the video is more shocking than any of the rest that we have so far seen of her music videos. As the people in the PVC suits begin to dance its continually cutting to clips of Gaga in the bathtub in a white enclosed room which appears to be sterile and spotless, perhaps suggesting she has been sectioned and put in a psychiatric asylum or hospital.

Her hands seems to spasm out of control whilst in the bath and her eyes are extremely immense and her pupils are massively dilated showing effect of being intoxicated by drug use. Contrasting with the dancers in the bright white room the next shot is of Gaga standing looking at her reflection, where she is seeming to be admiring herself. She is dressed all in black and is wearing black sunglasses and a black crown which symbolises royalty and importance. As black and white are opposites and are often seen as good and evil, here Gaga seems to have taken on the role of both sides.

After showing Gaga in a bathtub, symbolising her “washing away her sins” she is then kidnapped by a group of supermodels who force vodka down her and drug her up before selling her off to the Russian Mafia. The representation of the supermodels is negative here, as they are shown as the bad people who force the alcohol down Gaga’s throat before she tries to rebel and spits it back out. Many close up shots have been used here to show her emotion, as it flicks between this clip and shots of her looking naturalistic with no make on this illustrates her vulnerability.

This next scene is where she is restrained by the models in white leotards, she shows her moves in strategically placed chain mail, in several skimpy outfits while wearing some killer heels, in another establishing shot. The scene rapidly switching between shots of the group dancing and Gaga shown in what appears to be a contemporary shower cubical, where her vertebrae is exposed from her back, in this shot she looks extremely gaunt and emaciated, which reflects upon the subject of the importance of image whilst being a supermodel, giving out a negative message to the younger female audience, as they may feel pressure has been put upon them to make themselves fit in with this category of women. We see her dancing in front of a group of men watching her, as if there judging her in some way, It seems as though she is being made to perform to the group of males, whilst they are bidding over her, which is a form of sex trafficking. Here she is represented purely as a sex object, promoting the fact that sex sells, which is one of the main attractions for the target audience. Later in this scene she approaches one of the males in a seductive manner and begins to perform a lap dance on him. Which then sends the bidding contest up and we see a close up shot of the computers being shown, flashing up with the word ‘sold’. This again is continually backing up the fact that sex sells, and showing Lady Gaga as just an object.

In the following scene Gaga is wearing black revealing lingerie covered in diamonds with black 12” heels on. Here a panning shot is used to circle her as the Russian mafia are all seated around her. The narrative of this is to show the audience she is being sold, the mise-en-scene let us know this because of the way she has been dolled up, in skimpy underwear covered in diamonds and jewels, also, she has some form of mask caged around her face signifying she’s now been branded and sold.

Subsequently the next scene is different in relation to the rest of the music video, it can almost be viewed as a bridge scene. Gaga has been made up to look like a model in and outrageous and unusual outfit that a model might be made to wear for a catwalk or a fashion shoot. The atmosphere makes its feel as if she is under pressure to walk perfectly down a catwalk and there are flashing lights going off as if they are camera flashbulbs. The clips are cut precisely to the beat of the music giving a new edgy feel to it.

After this gaga is shown walking toward the bed where there is man waiting for her, looking expectant. She is wearing a real polar bear skin fur coat and there are also two dear heads mounted on the walls in the room, these things symbolise the male showing off his wealth and power and the fact that he now ‘owns’ the character of Lady Gaga. This is why she is now wearing expensive looking clothing and in contrast to the previous shots of her naturalistic look from earlier on, she is now obviously covered in make-up and is wearing thick red lipstick which is emphasising the fact of her sex and how he only wants to use her as an ‘object’.

Within this scene the male is sitting at the edge of the bed with his legs positioned spread far apart, this psychologically suggests that he is looking to have sexual relations, for this a long shot is used. Contrasting with this, the last part of the scene is where she ends up in bed with pyrotechnics shooting from her breasts alongside the charred skeletal remains of a lover, showing just how bad a romance can be. The scene has changed from being a crystallized white to a burnt, polluted bed set. This is representing quite literally a ‘bad romance’.

The forms and conventions displayed within this music video have been diverse in comparison with her other music videos as it has shown the true quirkiness of her personality and peculiar side to her character. In some way it has been quite similar to the rest of her music videos, but this is only because of the dance scenes and the extravagant costumes used. By far this is the most eccentric music video Lady Gaga has produced. The purpose has been to entertain yes, but also she has performed a visual show, and informed the audience of the dangers of sex trafficking. The music video is not just about the music, it is more about the cabaret and the art within that.
We think that these types of extreme music videos are graphically shocking, from researching this we believe that Lady Gaga makes her music videos as individual and excessively dramatic as they appeal to her target audience and they are attracted to the bizarreness of her video’s, the public want to be shocked, seeing something fresh and controversial is what they get from Lady Gaga’s music videos.

Madonna-Die Another Day - Research

We researched the forms and conventions of the different genres within music videos, we have looked at a broad range of videos with apposing genres and subgenres by a wide range of artists, focusing on the camera, mise-en-scene, sound, lighting, genre, audience, and also representations.



The single Die Another Day by Madonna is the theme to the James Bond film, Die Another Day. The single which was released in late 2002, immediately shot to the chats in the United States and also the United Kingdom, selling over 167,863 copies. This made it the most successful Bond theme since Duran Duran’s – A View to Kill. Whilst Die Another Day, the single marked Madonna’s 20th career anniversary, the film marked the 40th anniversary of the James Bond franchise. Techno techniques and the fusion of dance have allowed this song to be more typical of a James Bond subgenre, as it has an aggressive beat which the clips have been cut to.

The music video was filmed form August 22nd – August 27th 2002, directed by a Swedish directing team named Traktor. It was filmed at Hollywood Center Studios in California. This was produced by Jim Bouvet and edited by Rick Russell. Overall the total sum of the production costs for the video was over a staggering $6,000,000, which makes this the second most expensive music video ever made after the hit music video Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson – Scream.

Throughout this video, it has references to several of the classic Bond films, including Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, The Man With The Golden Gun, and Moonraker. This even contains a striking reference to the light saber battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from one of the Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back.

The main narrative of this music video is based upon Madonna being captured, interrogated, with intent to kill her before she manages to escape. The video is divided into two main parts; one with Madonna in real life being interrogated, the other is her dream which is representing her fighting her inner demons, as one is dressed all in black and the other all in white, both of which are her, the editing has allowed her to play the roles of both fencers. These symbolise the fight between bad and good in her mind. It dives straight into the action from the beginning of the video. The two characters are fencing and getting increasingly more violent, as they inflict more pain upon each other the real damage appears to materialize mentally and physically upon Madonna in real life. She is forcefully restrained and suffers, in a vicious struggle. In the video Madonna adopts the role of spy, almost a ‘female James Bond’ and is being interrogated by hostile forces. The villains are violent to Madonna unattractive, and are all Oriental or Asian males. Representing the film where in ‘Die another day’ the ethnic origins of the opposition is Oriental or Asian.

This music video goes against the usual forms and conventions of the Bond films in the way that the presentation of Madonna’s character is unglamorous, as she is covered in blood, bruises and is continually fighting. The perception of Madonna in this video is the complete opposite of a Bond girls’ usual appearance and mannerisms, rather than signifying her character as a ‘Bond Girl’, she has been represented as a female James Bond.
Madonna is her own institution and very much in control of her own image, with this being so, the violence and fighting within the scenes of this music video are stylised, as Madonna’s own quality has been added to the picture.

A common feature within music videos is that the song is regularly a straightforward story made complex by the narrative of the video. This is what has happened here, so in a way it is following the forms and conventions of a video with that narrative. This attracts a much larger audience of both James Bond and Madonna fans. However, the audience may be challenged with this video as it has been criticised as having an unconventional presentation since it may provoke disagreement because it features her progressing an interest in religious practices of Kabbalah which is a form of Jewish mysticism. This is the scene when Madonna is wrapping a leather band around her arm, which could possibly be suggesting self harm, drug abuse, or just the effects of what has happened to her whilst being interrogated. When Madonna is in the cells, she is addressing the audience by miming toward the cameras, which can convey to the typical style of a music video.

Contrasting the looks between the two main scenes, one being when she is interrogated in the dark, damp and dingy cells, showing her to be all bloody, dirty and sweaty where many close up shots were used to show the sentiment within her face and the damage to her body. In comparison, the black and white fencers fighting, is all very brightly lit, no blood is ever shown in this scene even when they have been injured, it always appears on Madonna in her external struggle, not the internal fight. Continually throughout this video it is dark versus light, which represents good versus bad.

As the fighting gets more forceful in her dream, especially when they are in the venation glass museum, all the smashing and breaking of the glasses symbolises the violence reaching a more severe point in Madonna’s reality. A mirror is broken, which can suggest seven years bad luck and this can faintly propose that she has a fractured personality. Extremely quick flashing clips have been used and many different close ups of Madonna.

Madonna is breaking the mould, as she is suggested to be a females Bond within this music video, making this not follow the Bond tradition. Toward the end of the video it has caused some debate as to how Madonna escapes from the electric chair, which is possibly something to do with the mystic Jewish practice she performed. The Hebrew expression לאו which means ‘great escape’ or ‘freedom’ was tattooed on her shoulder and also left marking the chair she had escaped from. The video ends with her running away from the chair which then turns into the classic gun barrel sequence with her silhouette in the middle.

This video could be seen as controversial and inappropriate in some particular clips, as it is based very much on the James Bond films, which can be brutal at times. When she is being victimized and smashing things, I can imagine this not being suitable for a younger audience, as parents may believe it can influence them.
The unusual perception of glamour and sex has challenged those of the forms and conventions of any other Madonna videos. However as the purpose of this music video is to advertise and sell the song and movie. I think it has done a good job of catching the audience’s eye, which it has done so by the woman taking over the male for the character of Bond, standing up to the opposition, and escaping, making it a large success and insight a popular music video.

Music Genres

Music can be divided into a genre which is a categorical constructor that identifies music as a member to a particular category of music which can be distinguished from many other types of music. These are often controversial and the closely related styles can frequently overlap with each other.

Several regard the terms style and genre as being the same, stating genre ought to be defined as pieces of music which share a particular style of ‘Basic musical language’. Others have previously said that style and genre are both diverse terms, where other inferior quality’s for instance the subject matter can distinguish between the genres.

When music is branded with different genres, it does not always follow a certain tradition, a specific race, culture, or even a time period is not always reflected, the larger genres tend to consist of more explicit subgenres. The subgenres can be used to almost direct the audience, helping them to recognize the music which they are listening to generating a stereotype around the genre.

A music genre or subgenre could be defined by the techniques, the styles, the context and the themes content, spirit. As well, environmental origin sometimes is used to define the music genre, though a single geographical category will normally include a wide range of subgenres.

Kembrew McLeod suggested that in electronic music, "the naming of new subgenres can be linked to a variety of influences, such as the rapidly evolving nature of the music, accelerated consumer culture, and the synergy created by record company marketing strategies and music magazine hype. The appropriation of the music’s of minorities by straight, middle and upper-middle-class."

When creating my music video, I need to think specifically about the genre of my chosen song, look into songs and artists with the same type and also explore into music video’s which have this genre or subgenre. This can help me with the forms and conventions of my own video enabling the camera, mise-en-scene, lighting, sound and editing to be better suited and help distinguish the type of music that’s been used.

Forms and Conventions of a Music Video

Once making up my mind on creating a music video I decided to research into what a music video is and what the forms and conventions of a typical music video are, so that I have a clearer understanding helping me on what to include and how to start creating my video.
A music video is a short film or video which accompanies a piece of music or a song. Most contemporary music videos are mainly made as a marketing tool used to promote the sale of music recordings. The term ‘music video’ came into use in the early 1980’s, prior to this they were described as ‘filmed insert’, ‘promotional film’ ‘promotional clip’ or ‘film clip’. In the 1980’s MTV based their format around the medium, and they were responsible for bringing music videos to popularity. A wide range of film making techniques are used within making music videos, including live action filming, animation, documentaries, and also non-narrative approaches such as abstract film which are used continually throughout the planning, filming, and editing.


The general theory of forms and conventions of a music video have been said to be:


 Lyrics: establish a general feeling/mood/sense of topic rather than a meaning.
 Music: tempo often drives the editing.
 Genre: might be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
 Camerawork: has an impact on meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band.
 Editing: the most common form is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience.
 Intertextuality: not all audiences will spot a reference, which would not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product. Many music videos draw upon cinema.
 Exhibitionism: The apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualised gaze.



Some constricted views on the forms and conventions of a music video have been:


Andrew Goodwin’s Theory
 Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music.
 Genres often have their own music style/iconography.
 Close-ups should always be included.
 The artist/band might want to develop their own star iconography, which becomes their star image.
 Voyeurism is a common theme within music videos.
 Intertextual references are also popular.
 Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified principally for display purposes, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star.


Steve Archer’s Theory
 There needs to be a strong and logical relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.
 Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band.
 A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor.


John Stewart’s Theroy
 The music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and illumination being used to focus on the star’s face.
 He sees visual reference in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
 Stewart’s description of the music video as ‘incorporating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the essence of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
 The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.


Laura Mulvey’s Theory
 Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women in films is often solely for the purposes of display rather than for narrative purpose.
 The purpose of this displace is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a ‘male gaze’ one that is a powerful domineering gaze at the female on display, who is effectively objectified and passive.

Brief

In A Level Media Studies, we had to compleate a piece of Coursework for each year. For Media Studies AS Level we were set a brief to complete two exercises:

First the Preliminary exercise - A continuity task, involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialouge. Demonstrating a match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
Secondly the Main task - The titles and opening of a new fiction thriller film, to last from a minimum of two minutes to a maximum of four minuets. Where all video and audio material must be original, and produced by us as the candidates, with the exception of copyright-free sources.

Below is a link to my AS Media Coursework Blog, which includes my Preliminary exercise, and also the main task which was the opening scene to a thriller, which I named 'AMansLaughter'.

http://amanslaughter.blogspot.com/


In A2 Level Media Studies for our coursework we have been given a choice out of two briefs as to which one to do.

One being :
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
- A website homepage for the band
- A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
- A magazine advertisment for the digipak (CD/DVD package)


The second brief being:
An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:
- A radio trailer for the documentary
- A double - page spread for a listings magazine focused on the documentary
- A newspaper advertisement for the documentary


After watching various music videos and documentary’s as well as finding out some information about them both, I decided to produce the music video as I felt I could create a much stronger piece with the video, seeing that I am into many different genres and styles of music, and take a great interest within the topic. I also believe that studying Art at A Level and having a creative personality could help me generate the strongest piece of work I can possibly produce.