Music Video Moodboard

Andrew Goodwin Theroy

The theory Goodwin puts forth states that there are 5 key aspects of a music video;

-Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in the viewers audience)
-Relationship between the song and visuals
- Narrative and performance of the song
-Technical aspect of a music video
-Star image (protagonist)

Thought through beat

The first of this step according to Goodwin is to analyse the music structure understanding the chorus and verses.
The second step is to ensure that the voice of the artist is unique compared ti others and should give the person a for of identification that can be related to the star image or singer
The third step is the story if the artist, the message which he is trying to expand and tell within the song. the final aim is to establish the artist as a story teller. And the music video can aid this by showing us the visual representation of the vocals in the song

Relation between the music and visuals

There are three ways visuals are used to promote a song;

Illustrate,
Music videos use certain images and camera shots to illustrate or expand on he meaning of lyrics of the song.

Disjuncture,
In this situation, the meaning of the song is completely ignored in favour of a more abstract visual aesthetic.

Amplify,
This is when images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly through out the music video.

Relation between the music and visuals

Andrew believed that a music video can promote a song by the way it analyses and visualises the lyrics. this can either be done extremely literally or not at all. for example, if the lyrics in the song say JUMP!, than the actors on screen could jump.

Analysis of Music Videos

The first music video i analysed was "No surprises" by Radiohead, the band from which made my chosen film "National Anthem"

The first thin we notice when watching the video is its simplicity, The entire video is a static close up, with no variation in shots or camera angles, whilst at first this would seem like a negative, we quickly realise that it perfectly captures the songs melodic, fairytale sound.
If we analyse the lyrics of the song, we understand that it is essential the story of a man who commits suicide by C02 inhalation, and the visual aesthetic captures this perfectly.
Water fills what appears to be a glass helmet around the subjects head, as the water rises the subjects head becomes distorted and magnified. Whats interesting about this is the fact that no camera techniques or editing choices were used, this was all physically done. By using physical techniques that dont rely on a camera, the video immediately connects with the audience, as this is so different to essentially every music video, its almost eerie static camera mimics the audience, unmoving, a fly on the wall as we watch this subjects helmet slowly fill with water.
The lighting of the video is also worth mentioning, rather than a clear source of light, the video is lit up by almost entirely coloured l.e.d lights, the result of which is that only certain parts of the screen are lit up, further distorting and shadowing the subject, its only half way into the song where tungsten lights outlining the glass helmet are turned on, white washing the subject. The use of these lights create an almost cold calculated atmosphere to the video, which does indeed represent the lyrics of the song.

If i were to incorporate anything from this video into mine, it would be how simplistic and experimental the visual aesthetic is in the film, however i will have to analyse the lyrics in the song in more detail before committing to any visual style.








This music video is entirely different to the previous piece is analysed earlier, the purpose of the piece is to push a political message onto the audience, it does this by creating a literal map of mass shootings that took place in America in 2017.

Due to the fact that this is an animation rather than a recorded piece of live footage, it is never the less interesting to analyse. If we pay attention the drum beat of the song, we can se that every flash on the map is timed perfectly so that it corresponds with a drum beat, i found this particularly interesting, the idea of cutting to music or atleast using the main beat of the song as a guidance point to work my editing around. Doing this means that the pace of my video feels natural and free flowing,  rather than having violent cuts throughout the piece which would distract the audience from the song itself.







This song by Rage Against The Machine almost exclusively features footage of news reports, political rallies and protests which all portray the corruption in government.

The found footage in this film at first seems to be completely unrelated to the story, the opening shot is of a 1960's B movie, however as the song progresses we gradually understand the use of this footage and how it relates to the songs message. the music video does show a live performance from the band, whilst this is visually interesting and breaks up the monotony of the video it is not crucial to the song.
The use of political figures contrasted against the seedier underbelly of the power creates a violent opposition between what we are presented with in media, against what actually happens when these people are in power.

The idea of showcasing the political unrest and struggle we face everyday is deeply interesting, i feel that this subject could be perfect for an experimental music video, both literally and metaphorically. I intend to use this subject as the basis for my piece.

Music Video Research

Research findings

 i conducted some initial research into music video productions so that i would have a developed understanding of what makes a music video successful when it came to creating my piece. I analysed the theories of Carol Vernallis and Andrew Goodwin and applied them to music videos which were of the same genre as my chosen song. Collecting these findings will in no doubt give me a more solid foundation to begin effectively planning my piece. Vernallis and Goodwins theory will help me to develop a more expansive understanding of the various styles of music videos, there editing techniques that they use in there own work.

My first step was to apply the theories put forth by Goodwin and Vernallis to a selection of music videos, from the same genre as my chosen song, to videos from other genres of music. Doing so will help me to produce reliable results, as exploring only one genre of music video will severely limit my findings. Accompanying this i conducted an analysis of the other aspects of the video's, camera shots, editing choices, mise en scene, and how they impact the video itself.

I also created a short survey or questionnaire which allowed me to gather primary date alongside the secondary evidence recorded in analysis of the music videos. The survey results rely heavily on the participants personal choices and preferences, and some clear trends were obviously highlighted.

Above are the questions i featured in my questionnaire, i wanted to ask the participants what the favourite genre of music was, and from there, analyse what the enjoy from a music video from each genre. The data i find here will directly influence my music video. 

The Date 

A week after i published and shared my survey i went back to check how many participants completed my survey. 23 people had completed my survey, whilst this isn't exactly enough participants to call my data 100 percent reliable,  i think it will give me a strong enough average to expand upon. 

(Q1 What age range do you fall under?)

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(Q2 What is you're preferred genre of music?)

(Q3 What is you're preferred style of video)

(Q4 Do you think the songs creators should be featured within the video)

 (Q5 Should the visuals on screen be a direct representation of the lyrics in the song)

(Q6 Where do you most commonly listen to music)

(Q7 On which platform do you most commonly watch music videos)

(Q8 Which of these are more important?)

The data i received from my questionnaire provides me with a deeper insight into an audiences personal opinions on what makes a music video appealing to them, and provides me with a deeper insight into what i should incorporate in my my music video, and what genre i should explore for the unit.

After choosing and analysing several music videos revolving around my chosen genre (Indie), I created a basic outline plan of what i intended to create for the unit. I sat down with a focus group with my HNC classmates (all in the same age demographic, with there own personal tastes on music videos).

After showing them my plan i received various suggestions of how i could improve the video,  one of the most important suggestions i took from the group focus was that the visual aesthetic of the video would have to be experimental, due to the cryptic nature of the song itself, attempting to create a narrative for it would be extremely difficult, and would lean more to the unintelligible rather than the "open to interpretation" that resonated with the questionnaire participants. Another suggestion put forth by the focus group was that the song was extremely long (6;43 second), and should be cut down slightly. At first i disagreed with this but after discussion i realised that by cutting the song down i would be following the experimental style both visually and with audio.

The research i conducted for my music video has proved invaluable, the primary research has shown me exactly what resonates with audiences, what styles to take with my editing techniques and what Music services they use to watch music videos. 

And my secondary research provided me with an expansive list of re occurring traits that flow through my chosen genre.

National anthem music video + evaluation

When making my music video, my number one priority was to capture the meaning behind the original songs lyrics, the distrust and paranoia, the rising anxiety of social unrest of the individual. This piece was made with the disorientation of the audience in mind, the rapid succession of the images and clips are here to confuse those who watch it.

I wanted to contrast the society we are told to believe in, the utopian, clean, problem free society we see in mainstream media against what we actually live in, the almost dystopian, filthy, paranoia filled we inhabit. The lyrics of the original song speak of a man who has been awoken to the rising social tension around him, whilst not visible, he can sense it. This music video is a physical representation of what he sees.

As mentioned earlier, the video follows a compare and contrast formula, i show the world as shown to us, the impeccable politicians, cold and calculated in there image, against how the general populace sees them, precise and deliberate, surgical with there words and essentially, heartless. The piece is very literate with its metaphors, but for such a meaningful subject matter, i felt that this was the only way to represent it.

The video starts with a static shot of a Tv playing feedback of an old Vhs. This was filmed myself, the purpose of which was to show the foreshadowing of the video itself, how all of the clips shown after are products of the media, lies and exaggerations force-fed to us by the media to lull us into a state of complacency, this also gives the benefit more intellectual weight when i contrast the two versions of the clips against each other.

Every clip i use in this piece (excluding my own) was ripped and downloaded from youtube, this prove to be awkward to do however as every clip varied in quality, the more professional shots such as the speeches given by politicians are well shot and of high quality, whereas footage recorded on an individuals phone such as the grenfell fire video was recorded hastily and therefore, lacking in quality.

For every shot i showcase in my video i created a reverse for them, i manipulate the RGB tones and disrupt the placement of the multiple levels of colour of the video, the result of which produces this ethereal, corrupted visual effect, this was intended to be a representation of how the individual in my analysis of the lyrics see's the world, the distortion intended to be a visual representation of how the society around him refuses to see or even acknowledge the world around them. After this i went frame by frame of footage which clearly shows peoples face, and added Black lines across the eyes and mouth of the subjects, this was incredibly time inducing as every single frame had to be manipulated, i couldn't reuse the lines i used previously, as the individuals of the footage were constantly moving, meaning that the placement of the lines would have been altered. 5 seconds of footage would take 20 minutes to manipulate.
The lines over the eyes of people in the video was intended to be a representation of the individuals recognition of the world around him, anyone showcased in the media is presented as a two dimension individual, there motives and methods dont matter, only them and there actions. This works for both ways, a political figure is presented as a crusader for progress, no matter what there opinion, and a protester in the street is presented as a blight on society, a tool for destruction. I wanted to show the audience that we are all fighting for a cause, we may not agree with each other, we may fight each other, but at its essence, we fight, and we fight for ourselves.

At the halfway point in the music video my own recorded footage is shown, i filmed an abandoned industrial complex just outside of Nuneaton, in the 80's the complex was a hub of industrial might, now it means nothing, a once proud and defined building is now derelict. This was intended to be a visual metaphor for social unrest with our society, how issues and criticisms are spotlighted, then fade forever with no change being granted.

After the halfway point i begin to reverse the footage, i made sure that the cuts were ever so slightly off the beat of the music, this was in order to install paranoia with the audience, to make them feel the disruption to the established formula of the video, just as the individual in my analysis of the lyrics feels. I also begin to fade in tv static as the song progresses, subtlety at first, but then dramatically, and with great intensity. the reversal of the footage and the static of the tv as intended to be a metaphorical and technical representation of a supernova, how under great intensity, everything collapses upon itself. This is obviously a metaphor for how under social tension, at some point a boiling point is hit, upon which total and grand civil unrest, anarchy is met.

Due to the fact that my piece was so time intensive, i had very little time to make fine adjustments to my piece, the cuts on some sections are slightly off compared to the beats of the song, with more time i would have gone over these and altered them so they are set perfectly against the audio. The fact that i used found footage for the majority of my piece disrupted my own filming, no matter i tried i found that all my footage was violently different to the majority of the film, the contrast between found footage and own footage was blatant, and went against my ideas of blending the two seamlessly, with more time id record more footage and select footage which fit perfectly, rather than settling on footage that was only passable.