Storyboard to give a brief overview of expected result of music video. We decided to use a natural setting such as the sky & a forest to establish the fantasy scene. The narrative of the video to visualise an assassin stalking his target with a bow and arrow. By doing this we are able to establish key conventions of assassins and are able to make a link to the lyrics of "The Wolf" by creating a predator/prey feel to it. Furthermore, this idea is within our budget and could be successfully executed to not appear tacky whilst staying stay true to conventions that align with the fantasy genre. the final scene we are planning to show the a close up of an arrow being knocked back and for the music video to end on the final beat of the song - therefore making the audience wonder whether or not the assassin killed the mysterious figure.
And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.” I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner. And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar, I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.
And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner. I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner. And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar, I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.
You were sharp as a knife to get me. You were a wolf in the night to fetch me back. The wishes I've made are too vicious to tell. Everyone knows I am going to hell…
And if it’s true, I’ll go there with you.
And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.” I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner. And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar, I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.
I know my way through the night to your door. You know, the blood that I'm owed is all yours. The wishes I've made are too vicious to tell. The devil, already he knows me so well.
And if it’s true, I’ll go there with you.
And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.” I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner. And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar, I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.
And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.” I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner. And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar, I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.
Hey play that music Today, I’ll go wherever I want So I can get drunk in this night scent in this atmosphere~ ye-e-e-e
Think of me more than anyone else, like a queen Treat me more highly, when in Rome, do as the Romans do Cherish me, cherish me, cherish me, don’t stop~
Hit the lights let’s go Everyone’s party, party, party, mamma mia Today is the start of this night Mamma mia, shine the light~ like this! La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom (hoo!) La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom (hoo!) La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom Start it~ it’s time to be ok
It’s so amazing! So I can stand out So my black silhouette will shine more under the lights~ ye-e-e-e
Think of me more than anyone else, like a queen Treat me more highly, when in Rome, do as the Romans do Cherish me, cherish me, cherish me, don’t stop~
Hit the lights let’s go Everyone’s party, party, party, mamma mia Today is the start of this night Mamma mia, shine the light~ like this! La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom (hoo!) La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom (hoo!) La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom Start it~ it’s time to be ok
No one can predict it I’ll surprise everyone with my hidden image To captivate you on this hot night, burn it up!
Hit the lights let’s go Everyone’s party, party, party, mamma mia Today is the start of this night Mamma mia, shine the light~ like this! La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom (hoo!) La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom (hoo!) La-ppa-ppa-ri la-ppa-ppa-ri lom Start it~ it’s time to be ok
Contextually, this is one of the first songs and music videos they came after a star-payment scandal that saw the resigning of two well-known band members: Ji-Young and Nicole.
Following the scandal involving parent media company, DSP, the song was orientated around partying and celebration to signify and new era for the band after a turmoil that led to a significant drop in popularity in Korea and Japan. This can be seen clearly in lines such as 'Cherish me' which means, other than hailing the so-called party queen, the band's entire existence should be cherished by fans due to the fragility of the situation that befell it.
The music video follows standard K-Pop conventions that differ from Western music. It contains a set dance routine (which features in most K-Pop songs) with light, bright colours and upbeat, happy themes. It also features a number of costume changes notably for the slow song moments and the finale which presents the prophesied party.
Like most KARA songs and videos, the lead vocalist, Hara appears as the central narrator/character in the video and thumbnail. This is often a staple of K-Pop as groups often have a single representative who often appears as the cover of their material. These singers become popular in their own right and sometimes have parallel pop careers, e.g. Hyuna from 4Minute.
An alternate idea is to recreate Iggy Azalea's song work and focus on the people of the Lincoln Road area which is known to be a typically multicultural section of Peterborough. Due to the themes of achieving dreams through hardship and travel along with the hip-hop genre, a fly on the wall, remixed video would work well.
Fade into knight with
sword almost impaled into the ground, slow Mo of knight standing up and
standing with sword getting ready to fight.
2nd Scene
Switch to knight over
shoulder shot to show an approaching person, thief looking person that is wielding
a sword also.
3rd Scene
Slow Mo walk around
anticipating battle. Shots on both of the people and their points of views.
4th Scene
Knight swings his sword at
the rogue but the rogue dodges and the way. This then leads into a flashback
to give the story some back-story.
CHORUS
This will continue the fight scene with slow motion being the main
feature in this fight to fit the theme and pace of it.
5th Scene
The general
idea at this point onwards is to introduce backstory and not have the entire
video a fight scene but only leave that at the chorus.
The general plan is to add a side story involving another
character maybe a seller or a merchant. The idea would be the warrior character
would start making a friendship with this character from selling him new things
and the warrior going out and using these maybe tools to do things etc.
This will then lead on to the thief holding up the shop to
steal money or killing the shop keeper.
With the Moonsea, the original promo video is very abstract leaving ample room for creativity. Harry's idea was a fight sequence as we felt a slowed fight sequence to accompany the song fit quite well. To test the idea we ran several fight scenes ( 'The Dark Knight Rises', 'Captain America' and 'Game of Thrones') alongside the music and it did work well. We think that this may be a serious possibility as it's inventive, exciting and can tell and interesting story which are staples of promo videos. Choreography and location of the fight will be key to getting the video to make sense and also editing will be a large part as many fast cuts will be required. We will not do the whole video as a fight as we feel that it could become stale so more thought is needed into the opening of it and which direction we can take when leading to the fight. Due to so many possibilities, it is difficult to define a clear choice.
Currently the most talked about music has subsequently led to its widespread popularity due to the supposed 'wow' factor or typical rebellious nature of the material. Music videos that include large amounts of nudity do typically be removed from popular video sharing sites such as 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke but could be found on the artist's own site and less regulated sites. Despite lack of accessibility, the video made headlines and became highly sought after. Furthermore, the song itself became a summer 2014 hit and gained further success within holiday resorts such as Cancun and Ibiza. Artists themselves have become synonymous with explicit material and most notable of which is hip-hop artists such as Eminem, Iggy Azalea, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Jay Z and many more. Due to the adult nature of the lyrics within the music, hip-hop songs are often avoided on radio which has led to more outrageous promo videos to reclaim sales. Overall however, the explicit language do and could damage future sales of singles due to lack of accessibility that other songs typically receive.
In some cases, the songs that artists produce are often not the reason that they are censored (like 'Blurred Lines'). Recently, once Disney actress, Miley Cyrus has released a collection of widely available songs yet due to her live presentation of them and often sexually motivated promo videos, she has caused controversy. Last year with her release of the song 'We Won't Stop' the YouTube promo reached 584,342,863 views with yet over a million dislikes making up half of the overall ratings. Despite negative response and controversy with the alternative topic and style, it quickly became one of the most viewed singles of all time and this reflected in the sales.
The video contains a lot of conventions that are synonymous with the pop/hip-hot genre. The short cuts are in tempo with the music itself. A vast amount of flashing clips are in this video to display the angry that is expressed in the song lyrics and the video itself. This is then cancelled out by the clips of the little girl on the TV. The director has done this to display the artist looking back on himself (family videos), to bring a further meaning to a song.
The narrative is extremely important in music videos such as this as they are displaying a bit of their life/past. The premise of doing this is mainly to express themselves as an artist and/or appealing to their fans.
Inter-textuality is key in the production of this video. Flashbacks to past music videos and home movies add a personal touch to this music video and is what the music video itself is based around as a whole. This is then met with lyrics in the song referring to the artists past and showing his past through video.
This is another thing that the artist frequently does in his work. Refers back to past videos and songs. This is also the same for Rihanna the female vocalist. She refers to Eminem's past instead however as she is not known to do this in her music videos.
Movement, Narrative, Inter-textuality and Artist/Band
This video contains many conventions that are synonymous with the pop/hip-hop genre. The long camera shots are a representation of the pop genres role in the music video. The piano accompanying the long shots allow them to be justified and fit into the codes and conventions of the pop genre.
The expensive cars and the flashy lights are perfectly in-line with the hip-hop conventions that regularly appear in music videos such as this. This convention is then reinforced through the drum beat starting to fade into the background to show that it is a hip-hop feel the artists are trying to convey. The tone of the video changes throughout as the difference of fast paced and slow paced sections of the music video are different but remain in the codes and conventions that they belong in. This is most notable when it switches from piano playing to fast cars and scenes from Fast and Furious 7. This is then shown when the tempo of the initial song is match by the videos shot duration and the frequency of transitions throughout.
The idea of close-ups and celebrity cameos are extremely frequent in this music video as it was originally made for the specific purpose of advertising Fast and Furious 7. This is then shown through the scenes from the movie with familiar faces appearing in close-ups such as Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. They have also used a vast majority of famous super-car brands to advertise the themes of the movie and appeal to the product placement side of advertising in music videos.
The hip-hop convention of flashy cars plays a incredibly large role in the creation of this music video. The famous brands of super-cars such as Ferrari and Chevrolet feature frequently throughout the hip-hop sections of this music video. The actors of fast and furious are also included in this theme of frequently being shown in the music video. This is done to increase face and brand recognition and in turn promote and advertise the movie and car brands whilst using the recurring method of product placement to advertise.
The clear reference in this video would be the relation to the car brands and the film, Fast and Furious 7. The recurring faces of the cast and the recurring themes of super-cars and classic American landscapes go hand in hand in presenting the film and advertising the cars throughout the music video.
I called it the moon scene, It is a cruel dream, At the end of my day your gravity reaches Such a long way.
Here in the moon scene, It is a cruel dream, Don't share the past, if you won't share your heart, All that we share is the view of these stars...
There are diamonds on the floor you can't take back, There's an eyelash on the board, does she wear black? All the violence that I swore you could have back, There's red varnish on the door, I don't wear that...
I called it the moon scene, It is a cruel dream, From up so high, I can hardly decide, If you're waving hello, or waving goodbye, Here in the moon scene, It is a cruel dream, Don't share the past, if you won't share your heart, All that we share is the view of these stars...
There are diamonds on the floor you can't take back, There's an eyelash on the board, does she wear black? All the violence that I swore you could have back, There's red varnish on the door, I don't wear that...
And I'll be in the back of your mind, And I'll be at the front of the line, And I'll be in the back of your mind, And I'll be at the front of the line, Waiting for you...
There are diamonds on the floor you can't take back, There's an eyelash on the board, does she wear black? All the violence that I swore you could have back, There's red varnish on the door, I don't wear that...
Phildel Hoi Yee Ng is a British-Chinese national living in Chiltern, London.
She is currently signed with Decca Records which is a subsidiary of the Access Industries owned Warner Music Group (which despite the name has completely separated from the conglomerate Time Warner Inc.). This may pose an issue as being a signed artist, there may be more legal barriers in place to prevent us from using the music and said style. However, we have emailed Phildel's website through the contact section and hope to establish a correspondence which would allow us to receive input from the artist herself and send her the finished product.
Like many WMG label holders, she does not have a Vevo YouTube channel which many artists have through connections to the the MTV Network. Despite having her first hit/well known single being released in 2007 as part of the international iPad 3 marketing campaign, she is still considered a break-out artist.
Dance music is often accompanied by footage of the dance itself that goes with the music and they are often very colorful compared to Indie or Rock music videos. The most seen video in Human history was Psy's Gangnam Style, a K-Pop dance song. Despite being in another language, the dance and music itself became so internationally renowned gaining 2.3billion views on YouTube.
Dance music has become more popular in the modern age with more and more artists appearing from the genre with the typical title: DJ. The most well known of which is Fat Boy Slim who is now in his late 50s with a new album to be released compiling a collection of music from the genre.
Music video directors are not as well known as film or television directors yet still have the same typical authority over a media project despite it being normally no longer than 3 minutes. A lot of artists direct their own music videos to have total creative control such as Lady Gaga and Kanye West. Examples of their works can be seen below:
The most notable music video directors often have a large impact in popular music and their distribution. Following is a list of the most well known directors:
Spike Jonze
David Fincher
Micheal Bay - who also directs large blockbuster films such as the Transformer series
Jake Nava
Richard Ayoade - who is also a well known comic actor and writer
Many media institutions such as Time Warner have music label outlets. For example, conglomerate Sony have Sony Music as well as other predominant subsidiaries.
There are other companies that are solely dedicated to music and representing their artists yet the more well known artists are signed to the larger companies, e.g. Tom Jones is signed with Universal Music. Warner Music own a large number of individual record labels. To this end, not only has the subsidiary have its own conglomerate empire, artists and bands can be a part of more unique, smaller brands to portray individuality. They own a number of labels that includes: Alantic Records (which holds a large number of labels), Parlophone and Warner Records.
Signed Artists/Bands:
Green Day
My Chemical Romance
Red Hot Chili Peppers
White Stripes
Muse
Metallica
Linkin Park
Sony Music is another subsidiary of a large conglomerate. It has its own official label as well as ascertaining a number of smaller companies. Their labels include: Epic Records, RCA Records, RED and Columbia Records.
The video contains many codes and conventions that are synonymous with the pop/hip-hop genre. Fast cuts are constantly thrown in the video to keep the video at pace with the music. This is done extremely well when switching to different movie references and the club scenes as a whole. The flashy lights in the club appeal to the side of the song that could be identified with the hip-hop genre and the initial setting, in a bar, is also in the same conventions as the hip-hop genre. In the colour of the song there are many bright colours and unique visuals that appeal to the pop genre side of the song as a whole.
The relationship to the lyrics in this video is pretty obvious. When they mention the various film references such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Scarface, the same film is recreated in a shot on screen. This is used for comedic effect to the video and does this successfully which achieves the videos primary purpose. In the versus, there is a large theme on imagery to depict what is being said in the song. Such as when they mention themes such as alcohol and the bar of a club, the person rapping or singing the part will be in that exact setting. Another example of this would be when they are approaching the club and someone looks at them in time with the song saying so.
The tone definitely reflects the video due to the fast pacing of the music as a whole throughout the video. This is most notable in the club scenes where the shot duration of any one scene is no longer than 2-3 seconds. This allows the tempo of the music to be in time with the pacing of the video which allows the audience to identify this video with a hip-hop song as the codes and conventions are used in this.
The idea of close-ups and celebrity cameos seem to be a code and convention of the Lonely Island music videos. This is then always reinforced through a music video parodying something or making it more of a comedy sketch than a serious video. The light-hearted nature of the video is always reinforced through comedic effect and the artists have created many characters and motifs that appear in other music videos such as "Shy Ronnie", which is revealed to be Rihanna's partner in crime when they make a video together.
The idea of "Scantily Clad Women" is frequent in the club, Hip-hop, scenes in the music video. This is done to reflect the atmosphere the artists wish to go for and the initial codes and conventions of a pop video and a hip-hop video. The idea of looking is also reinforced through the idea of reflections off sunglasses and the spotlight being on them when they go on the club. Them pushing in line and no one caring is also a specific example of how the camera always revolves around them in the shots.
The references to other media is very clear in this video. Pirates of the Caribbean, Scarface, Erin Brocovich and Forest Gump. These are sung about in the song and the lyrics have done this in a way that it can remain comedic; the references to these films in the music video are also done to promote the idea of comedic effect and show that they are real fans of these films.
With music being a product, the purpose of a music video is to sell it along with promoting merchandise, maybe an upcoming film, the album its attached to or upcoming tour of the artist.
The music video is a form of promotion as the song is the product and not the video itself which often takes longer to produce than the actual song.
Before the digital age, songs were shown at specific times and places such as TV shows like Top of the Pops. With the development of new technologies, music videos became much widely available removing the need for said programs as they could be accessed on mobile devices. The new era proved problematic for the music industry as people were less inclined to purchase the music and more likely to download it from the third party viewing application such as YouTube. Most record companies have controlling conditions about the release and distribution of the music through these third parties. Copyright infringement is currently a big problem on these sites as there is a struggle between original content creators that use sound clips or video clips that belong to some one else and music labels such as Sony.
Use of visibly, intentionally dated effects such as a 'Tron' style grid
Focus of fighting
1980s fashion
Shared focus on story and lead singer
Relationship between lyrics and visuals:
'In and out of time' showing a CGI yet purposely dated scene of time travel using a 'Tron' grid as a basis
The chorus 'Action' is sung during the action sequences while the protagonist of the story is fighting someone or group of people
The love themes presented are shown through the pink lighting in the narration sections featuring David Hasselhoff
The 'true survivor' relates to the survivalist costume of the protagonist with the red bandanna and leather gear
The 'shadow from the past' section relates to the appearance of Hitler as the main antagonist of the music video potentially returning through presented time travel and basis of the crowd-funded film that the song accompanies.
Relationship between music and visuals:
The 80s synth-pop style has heavily influenced the costumes of the characters within the music video'sn narrative along with the lead singer's own costume
Furthermore, the technology shown also fits with this continuing theme of the 1980s and pop culture
High notes are shown with exaggerated movements by David Hasselhoff
Climatic sounds incur climatic moments within the music video
During instrumental moments the action shown is often in slow motion to create a varied sense of pacing within the video
The demands of the record label (close ups of the artists) and artist recurring motifs:
Focus on David Hasselhoff as a key narrative element
The links back to the film that the song accompanies are shown through clips of the lead actor
David Hasselhoff is shown to be a hero despite not being involved with the video's actual story
Lots of closeups of the lead singer and and emphasis on his movements
Reference to the notion of looking:
The main section of the looking notion occurs with the break in the action which covers several geographical locations. In it, David Hasselhoff is looking around acting as a watermark for this scene
David Hasselhoff is also walking down the 'crime ridden' street looking directly down the camera while glancing to the criminals around to build the story of the city requiring a hero to save it
Inter-textual references:
The car that David Hasselhoff stood next to throughout the video was a reference to the TV show that he was the lead of: 'Nightrider' where the car had its own personality. Being an 80s pop culture icon, this reference fit into the theme of the video. Furthermore, David Hasselhoff himself through his appearance on said TV show as well as 'Baywatch', he is a microcosm for the 80s theme itself and his fame brought about much connotations of the 1980s fashion and pop culture heritage.
A clear dance routine demonstrated during the first chorus
Use of revealing clothing
Focus on lead singer (Iggy Azalea)
Setting such as a strip club emphasising themes
Relationship between lyrics and visuals:
The opening shot of Iggy Azalea walking alone on the road in the dessert links to the journey from Australia to America (Miami) biographic story recounted in the first verse.
The strip club and demonstration of the lap dance shows the type of work described
The setting of the caravan park links back to what she used to live in while in Australia highlighting why she wanted to leave
In the opening shot while walking down the road, Iggy Azalea is wearing designer shoes which are described in the opening lines of the song
The location of the truck stop which is returned to several times, further relegates to the nature of what the narrator was trying to leave
The final shot of Iggy Azalea walking down an iconic street in L.A presents the goal that she wishes to achieve by working the way she has done which is described in the lyrics.
Relationship between music and visuals:
The slow build up has a correlation to the slow opening of the long road
The dance movements relate to the music as each beat is shown as a movement - particularly twerking
Each cut occurs at a beat 'drop' or a break
Silence allows for the inclusion of diegetic sound to influence the narration of the music video - car start up noise
Piano music begins in the strip club when Iggy Azalea accesses the jukebox
Cuts to the next shot in the strip club scene are emphasised by the music as they are in both correlation with the music and also the movements
The faster the music becomes the quicker the cuts become
The demands of the record label (close ups of the artists) and artist recurring motifs:
The twerking has become with Iggy Azalea music videos as the often recur
Lots of close ups and emphasis on the artist's rear - thus attempting to represent the sex appeal of the label
Focus on the artist as the protagonist of the story being told which is biographical of the artist themselves
Reference to the notion of looking:
The nature of the strip club and a lap dance is the provocative form of the looking notion and it is emphasised by the music and movement
Iggy Azalea herself is predominantly looking directly at the camera addressing the audience as a way of story telling and breaking the fourth wall of standard film convention.
The focus on the artist and backing dancer's rear demonstrates a provocative nature that relates back to the strip club scene and introduces sex appeal into the music video
Inter-textual references:
The L.A walk an iconic location used in many forms of media and thus, the starred pavement has become a symbol of success. This is the conclusion of the video and demonstrates the artist's subsequent achievements in America. This walk is based on the connotations developed by other media which the walk has appeared in such as:
Iron Man 3
Grand Theft Auto V
Beverly Hills Cop series
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Tom and Jerry
Scooby Doo
(Numerous Hollywood award ceremonies such as the Oscars)
