Gorillaz is a British musical project set up in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn, and Jamie Hewlett, a cartoonist.
They produce music of an alternative genre, which has reggae, hiphop, punk, cuban, dub and electronic music influences.
The band is portrayed as animated characters: Noodle, 2-D, Russell, Murdoc.
A wide variety of artists have produced music with Gorillaz, such as Blur, Snoop Dogg, D12 and The Clash.
Since 2001 they have had 3 album releases, Gorillaz was their first release, followed by Deamon Days which reached number 1 in the UK Album charts. Their new release of 2010 is Plastic Beach which is currently nominated for iTunes album of the year. This album shows that Gorillaz have returned to the music scene since 2006.
The band are signed with the Virgin Records
The band have seen major success globally, with sold out tours across the US
Their key target audience would be ages between 15 - 24 as this age bracket would have been their predominate fan base when the band first became successful in the early 2000's.
The music video pitch by Beth Cooper for this track included these ideas:
Initial Ideas for 19/2000 (Soulchild Remix) Gorillaz
Music Video
- Concept music video
Opening shots being at a house party, the morning after. Exposition into the lifestyle - empty alcohol bottles, cigarette packets, people asleep on the floor etc.
The music builds in with either alarm or his phone ringing. - Male lead sits up in bed - answers phone and brief conversation of "yeaah I'll be there.'
Then following of him going out of the house, walking down the street and meets a friend
They then get in a car and various shots of them driving. Pick up a generator and pack up the car
Elliptical editing. Shots of wooded area and flash lights, sudden floodlight/strobe lighting and people dancing.
Male lead is behind decks, various shots of him and people around.
Fades out on vinyl spinning on deck.
I chose this pitch as the one to use for my coursework because the genre will be an interesting one to work with, and there are many clear conventions which we can work with.
I like the conceptual idea of her pitch, i also think there is scope to produce a video with a wide variety of interesting shots.
The Soulchild remix became a popular track after being featured on an 'Ice Breakers' advert and also on EA Sports FIFA Football 2002.
Question 1. Is your artist signed to a major or indie record label?
FatBoy Slim is signed to the record label 'Skint entertainment' which were set up alongside another record label 'Loaded' in the 1990's. The label remains an independent indie for artists working in the underground dance genre. Other well known artists working for them are: BYOB and Freemasons.
Question 2. Is your artist successful in the UK or USA alone or globally?
Norman Cook was a relatively well know DJ in the UK since the 1980's, but his biggest break through as an artist came in the 1990's as he adopted the stage name FatBoy Slim. An article written for the BBC news in 2004 states that due to the beach parties he is well renowned for hosting in Brighton and Rio, attracting up to 360,000 fans, he has achieved global success. His work with major artists such U2, Madonna and The Beastie Boys have all contributed to his success as both a UK and global star.
Question 3.
Does your artist have a record of chart success?
Since 1995, FatBoy Slim has had one UK number one single, with 'Praise You', from his 1998 album 'You've Come A Long Way, Baby'
This was his most successful albums it reached UK top ten album status and stayed there for 19 weeks.
Other FatBoy Slim chart topping hits were:
Right Here, Right Now - reached number 2 in UK singles chart
Gangster Tripping - reached number 3 in UK singles chart
The Rockafeller Skank - reached number 6 in the UK singles chart
Weapon of Choice - reached number 10 in the UK singles chart
As well as Norman Cooks success in the charts he has also won a Brit award for 'Best Dance Act' He also won 3 out of 4 nominations for MTV's best video for his single 'Praise You' and has won 6 awards for his video for the single 'Weapon Of Choice', which stars the incredibly famous actor Christopher Walken.
Another way in which FatBoy Slim's popularity has grown is through the use of his singles in numerous films and also adverts.
Question 4. Is your artist associated with any particular era's? e.g. 80's
Though his music isn't necessarily associated with a specific era, he reached the peak of his fame in the late 90's, and his music in the dance genre was revolutionary at this time. Alongside a fellow Big Beat band 'The chemical Brothers' their sound and style of music was new and individual at this time.
Question 5. What genre(s) has your artist worked it?
Norman Cook has worked in numerous genres dance over the past 3 decades, but his work as FatBoy Slim has focused on the following genres and sub-genres:
trip hop
big beat
house
electronic
techno
rave
Question 6. Who is your artist's main target audience / secondary target audience?
The main target audience of FatBoy Slim's work will be fans of dance music, these typically are those aged between 15 to 35, however as he was big in the 90's this would make his fan base fans of his previous work for 'The Housemartins' or 'Freak Power'
Question 7. Is there and leitmotifs in their videos and lyrics? Watching a variety of music videos for Fatboy Slims work, there is a common theme in a majority of the videos, being dance. Praise You, Weapons of Choice, Rockafella Skankand Wonderful Night are 4 out of the 6 that I watched which follow either a group of people or one person dancing to the song. This signifies the genre of the music, and when the audience watch the video they feel it is an uplifting song and inspires them to dance too.
They lyrics seem to be fairly different in each song, but similar instruments and overall sound of the music is similar, with a strong beat and various instruments.
Question 8. Write a synopsis of your artist's career
Norman Cook began his music career as a teenager when he first set up his own punk fanzine called 'Peroxide', it took inspiration from other punk fanzines which were popular at the time such as 'Chainsaw' whilst he was a sixth form student.
It was at sixth form college that he met Paul Heaton, who he later joined in Hull in 1985, to become the bassist for his band 'The Housemartins'. They had one big hit single with a cover version of 'Caravan of Love' which reached number one in 1986. Following this they split two years later in 1988.
From here Norman cook began to persue a career in dance music, he set up a band called 'Beat International' which had one number 1 single dub be good to me. Though shortly after this Cook became depressed and left the band.
The following year he set up another band called 'Freak Power' with jazz player Ashley Slater. They had a big hit with 'Turn on, Tune in, Cop out'.
Following this Norman Cook began to produce under different names such as Pizzaman and Mighty Dub Katz, before he finally adopted the name FatBoy Slim permanently. He then signed up with his current record label Skint Entertainment.
As FatBoy Slim, Cook began DJ'ing at some well known London nightclubs, until he eventually decided to set up his own in Brighton, where he later organised and performed at his hugely successful beach party.
His first album to be released under the name FatBoy Slim was 'Better Living Thru Chemistry' in 1996. This album was no where near as popular as the next one to follow, 'You've Come A Long Way, Baby' which stayed in the the top 10 UK album charts for 19 consecutive weeks.
Since FatBoy Slim has made Cook such a successful artist he has been approached by many big named artists such as Madonna, who have requested he remixes their singles. Question 9. Spike Jonez directed 2 of Fatboy Slims music videos, Weapons of Choice and Praise You. Praise Youis guerrilla-video (one which does not obtain permission to use the location), filmed on a basic video camera, with only a few different angles which are cut between, the use of the camera zoom. All in an effort to create a music video which goes against the rules of video making, by avoiding luxrious settings and props, glamorous people, instead replacing with a simple concept of a group dancing and expressing themselves to the song
Snow Patrol are a big Indie rock band in the UK, this is one of their biggest tracks, it was covered by X-Factor winner Leona Lewis in 2007.
The video begins with a fade in from black, to an establishing shot of an evening flat landscape with a lone man pushing a motorbike silhouetted against the sky. This shot fits nicely with the sober atmosphere and context of the songs lyrics. The long shot cuts to a close-up shot of the man's feet walking, this shot then pans up to his face; during this time narrative enigma is created as the audience doesn't know who the man is. As the lyrics begin he starts lip syncing and looking directly into the camera, this signifies to the audience that he is the lead singer of the band. As is typical for music videos in the rock genre, the focus is predominantly on the front man.
The following sequence of shots follow the front man as he walks along with his bike, the shots are long takes, varying from close-ups to medium shots. As the pace of the song is slow the shots are cut more to any changes between instrumentals and vocals than to the beat. The lead singer then discards his bike in the bushes and continues to walk on.
The shots become darker, signifying that time is passing into the night. The lyrics match the concept of the visuals as the song reaches the chorus. On the line 'Light up', the lead singer lights a flare which brightens up the shot, the audience can see that the the lead singer is stood in water, he then discards the flare in the water. This repetition of discarding objects could be a message for the unimportance of material goods.
There is more elliptical editing as the sun has risen to signify morning, and the lead singer is back in the forest, and suddenly again it is night-time. The main focus of all the shots up until this point has been the lead singer until this point when there is a cutaway shot; a medium close-up of another man with his hood up, this signifies youth. Another flare is lit by somebody else in the background, and now the lead singer is not longer alone.
The lyrics of this song are about a goodbye, therefore this video would be classified as a concept video because the visuals don't match the narrative. A possible alternative to this video could have been to signify a relationship between two characters and have them say goodbye to each other, possibly in an airport or at a train station.
Friendly Fires' music is an eclectic mix of numerous sub-genres such as; alternative dance, electro and disco house.
The video begins with a long shot which is not focusing on the background, instead it focuses on the plant in the foreground. The focus then switches to the blurry figures so the audience can make out the men dressed in brightly coloured clothing holding tribal drums, one of the men is dressed all in black, and two of the others are dressed in black and white this makes them stand out.
The next shot is almost an extreme close-up of the lead singer, this is signified by his lip syncing to the words. The use of an extreme close-up isn't that conventional as usually, despite the focus being on the lead singer, the camera tends to focus less closely on their face, as their image/style is important, and that involves their hair and clothes.
Cut away shots in between the close-ups are cut to the beat and very short. They feature more close-ups of instruments being played, this is a common convention of performance video. The instruments and the dancing create an energetic atmosphere for the audience which is expected of a dance video, as the aim of the dance genre is to get the audience to want to dance.
There are some longer shots of the band together in the frame following this, the lead singer is dancing, this is something which for this band is a famous signature move in a similar way to artist such as Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley but on a far smaller scale; however this may be where the front man took his inspiration from. This section of the video is also in slow motion. The shot cuts to a girl doing a similar dance, also in slow motion, she has blonde hair and skin on show, which attracts a male gaze, however her face is covered by a mask so this is counter-typical of that.
This would be classified as a concept video, despite the other band members playing instruments, they aren't playing specifically the instruments which can be heard on the track, this is a common convention of the dance genre videos. Though there are some common aspects seen in pop videos and performance videos such as focus on the lead singer. The concept of the video is based around the location, and the backing dancers which are dressed peculiarly with brightly coloured clothes and gold, hooked nose masks. The video is quite simplistic and could therefore have quite a cheap production cost, however the beach location looks as though it is in a hot country and as Friendly Fires are an English band, this would suggest they would have had the cost of travel added to their video.
Elliptical editing is used, this is signified by a silhouette shot of the lead singer where the sun is clearly much duller and has set further than the previous section of the video where it is very brightly lit.
This video uses a wide variety of shots and has relatively fast paced editing, the shots are not chronological or even similar at times, towards the end it's a complete miss match of shots used. Some of the shots are quite artistic, such as shots of a girls eye behind the masks they're wearing, this is more common of an indie genre, this highlights the difficulty of matching common codes and conventions to a genre, when there are so many sub-genres and so many artists produce music which is of a slightly different style to their previous work each time they release new songs.
This is the official sound track for the first film in the twilight saga by the band Paramore, their music fits within the punk, indie rock genres.
This video is a performance video, set in the middle of a forest with no audience. The location is obscure but using intertextual references from the film it ties quite well, as many parts of the film are set in a forest which looks very similar to the one the band are located in.
As the video is the official sound track for the film, the producers have legal access to clips of the film, and these are used throughout the video.
An unconventional aspect on this video is that the lead singer, and therefore front (woman) of the band, is shot from a high angle instead of a low one, creating the opposite affect to what is typically seen in performance video. She is made to look small and vulnerable.
We see a lot of rotating panning, this could signify that there's something unusual happening, as this would fit with the theme of the film and also the video.
Aspects of the film are mimicked by the band members, such as vampires ability to run at high speeds, through the use of shaky camera work and sped up clips the other band members are made to appear as though they're also vampires.
The lead singer Hayley Williams is in many shots alone, thought other shots of the band members are not two shots which she is also in, this shows that there is less focus on the font woman and more equality between the band members
When the beat picks up there is some very fast paced editing, with the shots cut to each beat of the drum.
This song is by Hanson, they are an American band and their music is of the pop rock genre. This song was released in 2004, from the video it is clear that the clothing worn by the band members is slightly outdated.
The opening shots are edited into 4 separate screens, and the shots consist of close-ups of nondescript items such as electrical wires, a road, road signs, a guitar being strummed, decks, headphones and
a sofa. These then change to some shots of a girl, they are framed unusually such as extreme close-ups or the camera is positioned for high angle shots.
A common feature in romantic comedies, where the screen is split in half and the two characters 'destined for each other' are on either side of the screen alone in their homes acting out similar things, is used this video. This signifies to the audience that there is a romantic link between these two characters on screen. Cut between the narrative sections is some performance shots of the band.
A lot of the visuals are of the girl driving, the images are not clear because of the sun, this helps to signify a relaxed atmosphere. The girl they have cast for this role is an actress who at the time was acting in the teen drama 'The O.C'. This could help draw in audiences as Hanson's predominant fan base would be teenagers.
This would be classed as a concept video as the visuals don't necessarily match the lyrics, the lyrics of the chorus and the title of the song 'Penny and me' would suggests there be two people together, but this isn't signified on screen.
During the performance sections the editing is relatively fast paced, and there is a wide variety of shots. The shot changes are cut to the beat. There is also an example of product placement, as the speakers in the background of the shot are made by Marshall.
Bruce Springsteen was a huge American star in the late 70's and the 80's, his music is of the soft, folk rock genre.
This video is a performance video and is stereotypical of most performance videos i have looked at by artists such as, Guns 'N' Roses and Magnetic Man. E.g. there is a stage, a live audience and various shots of the singer and the band throughout.
The opening shots use narrative enigma as there are several shots which are cut just below the head and another from behind so the audience is unsure of who is on the screen. The first shot of the artist's face comes as he begins to sing the lyrics. The sound on the video is not diegetic sound from the performance but the track laid over the video instead.
The artist is wearing a simple and plain outfit, jeans and a white t-shirt, this is signifying that he isn't glamorous just an average American singer/songwriter.
Frequent shots of the crowd are shown throughout, this helps to signify that they are enjoying themselves and therefore promotes the music, the artist and encourages fans to pay to see him live. It also shows off the size of the crowd which signifies his fame.
There are a variety of shots used, including close-ups of the artist, medium shots with the band in the background, long shots with the crowd in the background and shots from the artist's point of view of the crowd, almost every single shot has Bruce Springsteen in, there are only 12 shots in total throughout the entire video in which he doesn't feature. The shots are all cut to the beat.
Towards the end of the video, the artist gets a crowd member up on stage, this is quite an original idea for a performance video. The fact that this crowd member is the actress Courtney Cox however suggests that this was planned out and staged for the video. She also happens to be wearing a 'Bruce Springsteen' t-shirt which again helps to advertise and promote him as an artist.
The fact that this is a performance video for a big star, with a large venue/stage and crowd suggests that this video had a relatively high budget.
The opening shot shows the band, blink-182 walking into a garage set up with musical instruments, what this could signify is that they aren't a mainstream band, however existing fans would be likely to follow a preferred reading that they are reverting back to the days when they were practicing in their own homes. This could signify to the audience that the band haven't forgotten their roots or let fame 'go to their heads'.
The opening also begins by not going straight into the intro of the song, instead their is a bit of diegetic dialogue between the two band mates, this adds a comical element to the video, which is maintained throughout. blink-182 are renowned for their slightly immature humour, especially during their stage performances, this is also something they like to add into their music videos as it helps to attract their target audience, which is predominantly teenage males.
Following the opening, the band begins to play, and from here there are common codes and conventions of performance video seen, such as constant camera movement, focus on the band members to showcase their instrumental talents and close-ups of the front-men. This is an unusual aspect of this particular band, that there are two front-men, Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, as they both play guitar and both do lead vocals, they also share the amount of screen time and the amount they each speak on stage and in videos, pretty evenly between them.
The video is set in the 70's, this is clearly signified by the titles on screen 'El Segundo, CA 1974, but also the outfits, especially the hairstyles and mustaches which are clearly outdated, and also the props used, such as the old VW wagon, predominantly seen driven by 'hippies' in this era. The purpose of setting the video in the past could be to provide their audience with some variety within their music videos. From this section the visuals contain more narrative than performance, making this more of a concept video than a performance video, which is a common aspect of rock video's to mix the two together.
The concept of the video isn't visuals which match the narrative, which are based on a 'first date'. Instead the aim seems entirely to provide the audience with a humorous video.
Again to attract their audience of teenage boys, there is much objectification of women seen in this video, there are many medium shots which focus on the female form from the neck down, of women with a lot of their body on show. This is also seen in the Guns 'N' Roses video 'Welcome to the Jungle' suggesting that male gaze is a common aspect of rock genre videos. Also with the use of p.o.v shots the band members are shown to be 'checking out' girls from their van as they drive by.
This Guns 'N' Roses video is set in Los Angeles, the city which Axl is metaphorically referring to as a 'jungle'.
This is a concept video, as the visual narrative relates to the lyrics indirectly. The narrative focuses on Axl as he goes from a small town into a big city. The opening shot uses narrative enigma as he gets off the bus as the shot is framed so he is facing away from the camera so the audience can't see who it is, the straw in his mouth signifies his small town background, but it becomes clear as he turns to face the camera.
As the front man Axl is the main focus in the majority of the shots, his appearance is stereotypical of the heavy metal subgenre, glam metal: Long hair, tattoos, leather trousers. He is also wearing his staple baseball cap worn back to front.
The target audience for this genre would be teenage males, they are targeted imediately in this video, less than 30 seconds into the opening there is an example of the male gaze, as a close up of axl's face looking toward something, is cut to his point of view, panning up the legs of a young woman wearing stockings and high heels, nothing above the waist or from the front is visable in shot which is an example of how this genre encourages the objectification of women, spreading the message that her face is irrelevant if she has a 'hot' body.
The next character to appear on screen is the lead guitarist, drinking on the pavement under some television screens. This could signify they lead a rock and roll lifestyle which typically involves abuse on substances such as drugs and alcohol.
From this the shots zoom closer and closer in on axl's face on the television screen, then cuts to a close-up of him with the same tortured facial expression whilst singing on stage. From here the video becomes a performance video and follows many of the codes and conventions of performance videos. [see blog post]
Cut into the performance scenes is footage from various sources on television which are relevant to whichever lyric is being sung at the time
TheScript are a band from Dublin, their music is mainstream indie pop, this song was one of their biggest selling records in 2008.
The video is set in New York, we can tell this because of the setting. The opening shot of his shadow uses narrative enigma, then it is quickly revealed that the shadow belongs to the lead singer. This shows that the key focus is on him, as is a common convention of music videos in the pop, indie and numerous other genres. The editing is very fast pace and there are a variety of shot types and angles, which is unusual for the introduction of this song as it is slow tempo classical guitar.
As the lyrics kick in the lead singer begins lip syncing, which would signify to anybody who hadn't heard of the band before that the man we see on screen is more than just a central protagonist in the video's narrative and is the front man of the band. He frequently looks into the camera as though he is singing directly at the audience, this helps to draw the audience in.
This would be described as a concept video as the visuals have a narrative. Throughout the opening scene, the lead singer continues to walk through the streets, which matches the lyrics 'Going back to the corner where i first saw you' because it signifies he is returning to the street where he met her.
When the track hits the chorus the street scene switches to a performance video, though there is no audience present. The setting appears to be in a brightly lit multi-story car park. This fits with the urban setting of the previous scene. Here we see the typical codes and conventions of performance video, with close ups of other band members playing their instruments to convey they're talented musicians, and a slight low angle on the lead singer to portray his iconic status as front man of the band.
The video then cuts back to the narrative section, at which point the lead singer has reached his destination, and camps down with his sign, this again shows how the visuals match the lyrics. Many point of view shots from the singer's perspective are used, as there are low angled shots of pedestrians walking past looking down at him. There are numerous shots of a police officer with their head out of the window of their vehicle, in order for the visuals to match the lyrics; 'Policeman said, "Son you can't stay here."'
There are a couple of shots where the camera is panning slowly around the singer, this could be to signify turning of the earth, or seasons, and of the time passing.
There are also close-ups of the crowd which grows around him as hit sits at his corner, this conveys their emotion of confusion, pity and general interest in his strange behaviour.
As the lyrics 'Maybe I'll get famous as the man who can't be moved, and maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news' are sung, the shot changes to being one from a television, with broadcast borders of 'LIVE' and 'BREAKING NEWS' on the screen, again this continues the matching of visuals to narrative.
Following this, the shots begin to speed up, we can see that the car headlights become blurry and the light of day fades to the dark of night within seconds, this continues for a couple of seconds, we also see a change in weather conditions and the hands on his watch spinning rapidly, this signifies more clearly that a lot of time is passing by as he remains in the same place.
Throughout the narrative there are still cut away shots back to the performance, this might be an attempt to not detract from the fact this is a band, and keep some focus on the other band members as well as the lead singer.
As the last chorus kicks in, the editing pace picks up and there are a lot more shot changes, until the final shot which lingers for a 8 seconds as the song ends. The narrative remains unresolved as the audience never find out if the girl ever comes to find him.
This song by solo artist Katy Perry would fit within the 'Pop' genre, it also has a slight dance and electro beat to it which is represented towards the end of the video, as there is a group of young people dancing at night, with lighting used to create a club-like atmosphere despite the setting being outside. Also the editing becomes quicker paced to match the beat of the final chorus as the dance element of the track kicks in.
There is a variety of shots used in the car scene, including some close up shots of the sun reflecting in the mirror, the speedometer and the driver's foot pressing down on the gas pedal. This is more abstract than the usual content of a pop song video. It's clearly signified that the video is set in America, as the artist is from California, by the left hand drive of the car.
The concept of teenage years comes across in the video through the visuals, such as the use of lockers signifies school corridor, and the stereotypical conventions of American teenage life, such as the jock giving the girl his jacket which is seen toward the end of the video. Therefore this would be a concept video. Some of the lyrics match directly with the visuals, for example, 'We drove to Cali' and got drunk on the beach, got a motel and built a fort out of sheets.' These are two settings used within the video.
The main focus of almost every shot in the video is the artist which is a common convention of the genre, especially seen as she is a solo artist there is little need to focus attention on anyone else. There are a range of shot types used, in most she is lip-syncing.
As seen in the Taylor Swift video, again they have cast an attractive male role to star alongside Katy Perry, as this will attract a female audience. The artist herself is likely to attract male audiences as she is considered to be attractive, in many of her videos she also complies to male gaze theory as she often wears little clothing, a good example of this is 'California Gurls' in which she is shot entirely naked. On top of this, in the beach scene we see numerous young attractive girls jumping around in their bikinis, and similarly for female audiences the same is seen with the male extras.
A romantic connection is connoted in the video between the artist and the co-star, as this again matches the theme of the lyrics which is love, and how it feels like teenage infatuation again. Sexual activity is also heavily connoted in the video though nothing beyond kissing and removing clothing is actually shown, this helps to keep the audience age range broad as it would be unacceptable for anyone under 15 to view the video if more sexual activity was shown, it would also affect what hours the video could be viewed and therefore affect the video and single's popularity among the younger fans, which is the prodominant audience for the pop genre.
This video is by the band Chromeo, there music is conventionally electro with aspects of funk and techno. The band consists of two members, the lead vocalist who plays the guitar and the other plays the keyboard.
Together their image is entirely opposite, with the piano/keyboard player dressed as a typical black gangster and the lead vocalist dressed as an upper class 'geeky' white boy.
The video opens with a title scene, including the band's i-dent and the song title, the introduction then plays over this. The shot then cuts to the pianist playing the intro on a grand piano.
The style of the video is animated in black and white, highly contrasted outline throughout, this shows they have used CGI and possibly suggests quite a high budget. The style of the animated video means there is a lack of shot variety and editing, many of the drawings flow into each other from one scene to the next instead.
The animation has a true likeness of the two band members which will help attract fans of the band. This also shows that the focus is on the lead singer which is typical of almost every genre.
The visuals within the video are a mix of both performance and narrative. The narrative section fits with the lyrics of the song, set in a cinema which is a lyric within the song. The performance is not conventional, this is due to the style of the video, it isn't easy to achieve close up to show of musical talent with instruments with animated images, similarly it's not possible to include fast pace editing, tracking or panning shots, or much shot variety.
Other songs by Chromeo such as, 'Bonafied Lovin' have also used animation in their music videos.
These are used to demonstrate the singer's point of view whilst on stage, such as other band members and the crowd. They are cut in following shots of them looking in that direction.
Constant camera movement:
Often the shots are all either tracking, panning or zooming, this constant movement matches the tempo of the music and helps create a feeling of energy within the audience and aids their enjoyment of the music
Shots of the Front Man / Singer:
This is because he is the main focus of the band and will catch the attention of the audience. The are often framed as low angle shots to make them appear even bigger and more important.
Shots of the other band members:
The shots they feature in tends to be cut in whilst they play the instruments matching the soundtrack, this helps to show off their talent and ability.
Shots of the crowd:
These shots serve the purpose of displaying their target audience and demonstrating how they're enjoying the music.
This video is a perfect example of a low budget production, the band have used one camera set up on a tripod and taken a continuous film with no editing what-so-ever, of their dance routine using treadmills.
This would fit in with Goodwins' music video types as the band have performed a dance routine, this is counter typical of this genre as it is more usual for dance routine performance's to be seen in pop or dance music videos and OK GO are more renowned for their 'indie rock' and alternative styles of music.
However, it has now become stereotypical for the band themselves to do dance routine performance videos' and almost all of their subsequent music videos have been done in a similar, individual fashion.
The set is basic, with a silver curtain behind then and nothing else. Their costumes are their everyday clothing, this may be an attempt to convey their style to their audience.
A music video like this may have taken numerous attempts as it would be relatively easy to mess up the routine. The routine its self isn't difficult but would have required practise to perfect timing etc. It also fits well with the tempo of the music.
The bands' target audience is likely to be teenagers possibly of both sexes, but males are most likely to find this video amusing.
This innovative style of video helped to gain the band fame on youtube as the video became more popular, so did their music. This style of video could be used as a counter-argument for post-modernism, as this is original and creative, nothing had been seen like this before this video, although now it has been released anything performed in a similar style will be a creative copy.
The band Guns 'N' Roses were famous in the 80's as a glam rock band, this track is one of their biggest hits.
The video is set in a studio and the main focus is on the band as they practise the song. This type of video would fit in with Goodwin's music video types as it is a performance video. The difference between this and the performances we see in other Guns 'N' Roses videos such as 'Paradise City' and 'Welcome To The Jungle' is the absence of a crowd.
The simplicity of the video; without any narrative scenes such as the ones seen in 'November Rain' the bands highest production cost music video of $1.5 million, suggests that this video, in contrast, had a low production cost.
The opening shots focus mainly on Slash, the lead guitarist as he plays the intro. There are other shots of the band members, including lead singer Axel Rose, and other people who are unknown setting up the instruments and other equipment. This gives a sense of realism, the audience feel as though they have this opportunity to witness Guns 'N' Roses backstage as they practise their set.
The shots are cut in time to changes within the beat.
According to the wikipedia entry on this song, the video features all the band member's girlfriends; including Axel Rose's then girlfriend Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly. The dog seen in the opening shot belongs to guitarist, Izzy Stradlin. This suggests a rather personal aspect to the video.
The scenes in the video change between colour shots and black and white, the use of black and white sometimes signifies the past, this may be a negotiated reading although it is more likely the change between colour and no colour has been used to make more obvious the difference between the bands' performances and fame and the bands' private life, as it is in the black and white shots that the bands girlfriends feature. In one short shot a sexual relationship is conveyed as a hand is seen sliding up a woman's thigh, their faces aren't seen so their identity remains anonymous although we can predict it will have been one of the band members and their girlfriend.
This song, by Junior Senior is a mainstream dance record and therefore would also appeal to fans of pop. The main target audience for the pop genre is the younger generation, and therefore explains their choice to use an video using only CGI.
In contrast, however, the graphics of the animation are largely pixilated in a smililar way to old fashioned computer games of the 70's or 80's which are more likely to have been played by a much older generation. This suggests they are aiming to appeal to wider audience.
The retro video, contrasting with the modern style of music may reflect the bands image of 'Junior' and 'Senior'. This links with Goodwin's music video types as the visuals are linked in some way to the music. The visuals also link with the lyrics very closely, as certain clips match directly with the lyric being sung at the exact moment they appear on screen. Also throughout the characters in the video are all dancing, which is the key focus of the lyrics.
The graphics present cartoon interpretations of the band members although they're not easily recognisible. It is not uncommon in the Dance genre to not have the artist themselves within the video, as they're usually well known in association with their music instead of themselves as an artist, however in the Pop genre, the artists as individuals are the focus of most if not all of their music videos.
An animated video like this could easily have been achieved with a relatively low budget, which is likely as this was the bands only hit single.
This video is unusual because they've taken elements of the older style of music video's from the 70's and used images which look as though they have been filmed with an old camera, as the pictures far less clear than today's high definition videos.
They have then mixed that with the style of video we would be used to seeing from Snoop Dogg's more recent videos, featuring semi-dressed women to appeal to a male audience.
Snoop Dogg's target audience and fan base would be young males ages 15 - 35, most probably of black origin, and it is clear they have tapped into that audience with this video, using an all black cast of young females.
The video its self could have been produced quite cheaply as the visuals have been edited in such an old fashioned way. However aspects such as costume and props, which again fit with this theme of the 70's era suggest a higher budget.
The video has been compared to 70's porn [by FHM magazine] which, by using Goodwin's theory we can suggest that the lyrics have been matched to the visuals, as the lyrics are based entirely on sexual activity.
Snoop's character in the video may also show some intertextual reference to his character 'Huggy Bear' in the remake of 'Starsky and Hutch' set in 1974.
This track is different to Snoop Dogg's usual music which is much faster rap than this, it may be for this reason that he has gone for an old fashioned style of video to highlight the difference, as his other music video's focus more on the modern style of Rap eg, cars, bling etc. this contrasts with that.
The artist is the focal point of most of the video, the rest focusing on the females and the old fashioned CGI, this is typical of solo artists as they're selling only themselves to their audience.
This track was Taylor Swifts first hit single, her music falls into the Pop genre, although it is described to have a slight 'Country' edge. Her immediate target audience and fan base would be young female teenagers.
Using Goodwin's music video types we can clearly see a direct link between lyrics and visuals within this video, the lyrics themselves based upon a love story and the video straight forwardly following the tale told by the lyrics.
An imaginary past is used instead of present, verisimilitude is achieved through the use of setting and costume.
The main focus of the video is the tale, however there are frequent cut away shots of the Artist lip syncing, this is a common convention of the Pop genre as the Artist is who the audience want to see. It is also a common convention that the main character in the plot of the video is also played by the Artist themselves, which again is seen in this video.
There are no special effects within this video as that wouldn't fit with the narrative, though a large production budget is clear from the use of settings, costume, lighting etc.
As the target audience is prodominantly young females, they have cast an attractive young man to play the role of 'so-called Romeo' as this will draw their attention and keep them interested. In opposition to this there is very little effort made to attract a male audience, the clothes worn by the Taylor Swift are entirely modest and not revealing.
The style of music matches the pace of the editing and the action withing the scenes, eg. the dancing. We do not see examples of modern dance routines as is common in music videos of the pop genre, instead we see traditional, old fashioned dance scenes to match the lyrics and narrative, which has intertextual reference to William Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet'.
This track would fit within the R'n'B genre which has fast become one of the most common genres in the music world, alongside Pop. It is currently ranked; Number 3 in the UK Top 40 chart.
For this reason the main target audience would be young female teenagers, as their music preferences tend to dictate which songs reach chart topping status.
This video begins with scenes of young women using power tools, this has intertextual reference to the video for Benny Benassi's 'Satisfaction' which was well known at the time for it's sexualy explicit material. Since then it has become more common for women to be seen in a similar way within music video's, particularly within the Dance genre.
In this one the music doesn't begin until 25 seconds into video, this suggests that the visuals in some way link to lyrics or music. Further into the video we see the women handling some dynamite and further on again we see some large explosions, this matches the lyrics directly and perhaps more literally than the lyrics mean. They have most likely used explosions for visual effect, and to advertise a large production budget.
As a solo artist with no accompanying star performances most of the shots are of Taio Cruz himself lip syncing, the others focus on the womens body's.
To this we can apply the male gaze theory, as it suggests the producers are aiming towards a male audience with this video.
Another target audience would perhaps be of black origin as a large proportion of the cast and the Artist himself are of black ethnicity.
This track is the first solo release by 'The Killers' lead singer Brandon Flowers. His music fits within the subgenre of rock; indie rock.
One instant give aways that this video has a substantial budget is the guest star Hollywood actress, Charlize Theron
The focus within this video is between the Artist and the Actress, this is typical of the rock genre as it is both a rich and glamorous genre in comparison to those which are less mainstream.
The Artist's assossiation with 'The Killers' means that despite this being his first song ever to be released he is already very well known and therefore, shots of him are frequent within the video.
Goodwin's music video types can be applied to this music video as there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, they don't match them, instead they portray a concept within the lyrics in a different manner. The concept of emotional conflict which is instead shown through physical conflict and fighting. However it rejects the theory that rock songs feature performance viduals as this video does not.
There could be intertextual refernces relating to Lara Croft Tomb Rader within this video as the Actress plays a character dressed in an almost identical way, and her female character is shown as a strong fighter and defeats the males in battle. This also ties in the male gaze theory.
Both males and females will watch this video as indie rock appeals to a wide audience, typically a youth audience ages between 15 - 35
This video features some special effects, such as the explosionsand there is alot of damage to the sets etc. The fight scenes will have required alot of editing and the stage make-up to suggest the Artist has be hurt is proffesionally done. Again, this all suggests a high budget production.
This track is from the Dubstep genre, typically only mainstream tracks within this genre will produce music videos, it is more common that dubstep artists release music which doesn't reach chart topping status and therefore they don't waste money on producing videos.
For this reason it seems appropriate that the video uses only footage of Magnetic Man's live performance. For this reason it has a very realistic and unglamorous feel, suited to typical audiences of dubstep.
The clips are tinted purple, which creates an atmosphere for the audience of being within the crowd, as similar lighting would be seen within the performance arena.
Usually the audience for the dubstep genre is young male's, however this video has not tapped into the typical 'Male Gaze theory' featuring in most modern video's.
Simplistic editing styles such as straight cuts between shots and blurring and rewinding of certain clips.
Some special effects have been used but again these are simple, nothing more elaborate than would be achieved with lighting within the performance arena this is because the artist has only a small budget for his video and similarly his music suits this style of video, anything more elaborate would appear out of place.
There are many variations of shots such as close ups of crowd members, long panning shots of the crowd as a whole, and long shots of the stage. However the pace at which they change is relatively slow because the changes match the beat, this is a relatively slow song in contrast to others within the dubstep genre.
The video for 'I Need Air' is almost identical to Magnetic Man's only other mainstream single 'Perfect Stranger' featuring Katy B. This suggests a reccuring style or image the artist is striving to achieve.
Similar to the Dance genre, the focus in the video for 'I Need Air' is not on the artist themselves. Shots within the video are of the crowd instead of the artist, and keeping the audiences main focus upon the music not the artists appearance.
This is one of the key differences between this and the dance genre in comparison to other genres such as Pop, R'n'B and Rock
This style of video relates to Goodwin's music video types, as it demonstrates some relationship between the style of music and the visuals, plus there is the performance aspect aswell.
