Music Video Analysis: 'Jenny' by Studio Killers

The music video for 'Jenny' utilizes the characters and artistic look for the stylized pop group, Studio Killers. 

The conventions of a Studio Killers song includes the representation of their lead singer, Cherry, seen throughout the music video as the admirer of 'Jenny'. 

Narrative plays a large part in this music video as it boasts both  physical and metaphysical elements starting with the escapism that the two characters experience within each others company. 

Due to the nature of the cartoon style, shots often are heightened and exaggerated to dramatise and highlight certain moments. Furthermore, the art style itself is arguably a convention for the band being typically bright, modern and featuring some psychedelic imagery such as that in a club environment. 


  

Music Video Analysis: Iggy Azalea 'Team'

The music video is highly representative and arguably somewhat autobiographical of Iggy Azalea's life in recent times.

The first car scene/chase is representative of the artist trying to escape the media (paparazzi) and the people who try to control her, such as: her record label and critics.
In the next scene, the artist is tracked through airport security which represents her life under scrutiny by the public and the constant judgement that she receives via the press.
The scene featuring the private plane and the graffiti is representational of her life becoming distorted in her own mind. This relates to the distorted 'clone' versions of herself representing the misinterpretations of her personality by people, i.e. her unwanted persona that have come about from the allegations of racism and cultural appropriation.
In the final scene, Iggy is dragged onto the plane and is forced to face her situation which is a reference to her own suicidal thoughts and her hiatus from both music and social media due to the harassment against her. 

Narrative

Some music videos are longer and have a higher production value than others. This is usually a feature of these types of music video. Length. The general premise is to tell a story that correlates to the song and whilst doing this the music video promotes the artist that the video is about.

A pure narrative music video will feature no lip-synced singing. The narrative usually relates to the song in some way. The lyrics are often reflected through the story.

Music Labels

A record label is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Often, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the centred of a vinyl records which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

Examples of music labels: Atlantic Records, Young Money, Def Jam, Columbia Record are just a few mainstream record labels who have signed popular mainstream song artists such s Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Rhianna.

Digipaks

Digipak Conventions

Digipaks usually consist of 6 panels(or more) that include bonus information that a CD would not offer usually. A track list at the back is a staple for both CDs and digipaks. However, digipaks are often more stylized as a result of the digipak being in a cohesive theme.

There is also usually bonus information and lyrics throughout the panels located in insides of the digipak.

Bar code and every licensing information is always located on the back  of the digipak. The song names are on the back also just above this, this is a common convention of these digipaks. The spine of the CD is also usually uncluttered and black or white in order for the CD to stand out.

Phildel Album Covers

Digipak Research

Since our chosen artist is Phildel, I thought it'd be best to investigate the codes and conventions of a typical Phildel album cover.

Considering there are only 4 collections, the conventions are relatively clear. 

With the anomalous 'Qi' not featuring Phildel, herself and diverging from the typical plain colours of the background in favour of a more ancient look, gives us breathing room creatively.

The typical logo for Phildel is simply her name in thin lettering spaced out or squashed depending on the placement of the central image of the album design.

Noting that we have to use only original material and focusing on the song 'The Wolf' we are currently set on basing the cover of our digipak on said animal. My personal view is that we use 'Qi' as a style model for our work: minimalistic in design yet remaining true to the dream-pop form of being somewhat ethereal. 

A clear nature theme is throughout all of the albums with each containing some form of either bird or tree homage. This could benefit us as we may integrate this into our wolf themes cover perhaps featuring a forest environment while remaining as minimalistic as possible. Furthermore, with the exception of 'The Glass Ghost', the tones of the covers have been all relatively earthy, boasting shades of brown to compliment the naturalistic theme.

Phildel: CD Cover

CD Cover - Clear picture of artist/photograph that makes it instantly recognizable to the specific artist, similar to a signature

Artist's Name - The artist's name is commonly in one of the four corners on the front of the CD

Album Name - Almost always takes the main/centre of the album over the image in a text colour that stands out

Story Board

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.

Chosen Song Lyrics

"The Wolf"

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.

Music Video Analysis: Mamma Mia by KARA

Translated Lyrics:

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.

Alternate Idea : Iggy Azalea

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. 

Idea - in depth

1st Scene	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.

 

Potential Ideas for Music Video (1)

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. 

Explicit nature and its effect within music videos

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.

House Music Mood Board

Dance Mood Board

Analysis - Eminem - The Monster (Explicit) ft. Rihanna

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.

Music Video Analysis - Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth - See You Again

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.

Dream Pop mood board