Artist Analysis

As I've decided to do a song by the band Daughter, I thought it would be interesting to look at the promotion package for their album 'If you leave'. Daughter are an English indie pop band from London. As there is no music video for the song I want to do, if looked at the music videos they have for other songs on this album, like 'Still' and 'Youth'.

Youth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QT5eGHCJdE

Still:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUWrcFpmI5U

These two videos are very different, as one is narrative based and the other is performance based. Although both videos do have images of the band performing. I like how the video for 'Youth' is very simplistic and reflects their newer style. Whereas the video for 'Still' reflects their slightly older style. 

Their album cover also reflects their older and newer style: 

This album cover is for 'If you leave' and is very simplistic. There is an image in the background, which appears to be of a woodland areas, with the silhouette of a person that is hidden by a bright flash of light. The writing over the top is very simplistic, with the name of the band, 'DAUGHTER' and then the name of the album underneath. 

This cover is for their single 'Get Lucky' (a cover of Daft Punk). This cover has the mid shot of the main singer, in black and white, with the name of the song, 'GET LUCKY' and the name of the band underneath. This cover reflects the video for 'Youth' and also mirrors their website.

As you can see, the cover for 'GET LUCKY' is the same image as their website. Their website is the large image in the middle, with links to other pages down the bottom. The main singer is placed in a close up in the middle, with the instrument players blurred out in the background. This is likely to be done as the main thing the audience will recognise is the main singer as she is the person they hear and see singing a majority of the time. At the side there are links to their facebook, twitter and other social networking pages, in order to allow their fans interact with band in a more personal way. 

I really like how simplistic their products are, and how a lot of it links together- depending on what time they were created. I prefer their later stuff, as it ties together better and the simplicity of the ancillary products. I like the idea of using an image of the artist/band with simplistic writing over the top. 

Artist Analysis

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Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLdTcr98fSs

This music video for Panic Cord by Gabrielle Aplin is mainly narrative with elements of performance. The narrative is broken up with her singing to the camera, occasionally playing the guitar. I have noticed how music videos of this kind of genre are often a mixture of narrative and performance and often feature some kind of love story. The narrative for this music video is Gabrielle thinking back on a previous relationship, going through objects that mean something about the relationship and then showing their significance. Lots of natural sunny light is used during the happy flash backs and when she's singing to show how happy she was at times. Then as the memories turn bad, it gets darker and this could be symbolising her relation turning sour. 

One of Goodwins 7 is a relationship between lyrics and visuals; this is done a lot in this music video as the song is a kind of love story, the video fits it. For example when she sings 'we're just a box of souvenirs' there is a shot of her pulling objects out of a box. There is also evidence of the visuals matching the music, as when there is a guitar solo, you see her playing the guitar, and there is lots of cutting to the beat. There are also a lot of close ups of Gabrielle (another one of Goodwins 7), possibly as a requirement of the record label but also because she is singing about how it's her fault and there is a lot of emphasis on her. Therefore the close ups suggest that is effected her personally, not him.

The location is important for this music video as it is easy for people to relate to. The fact that it is set in places around the home and other places people can relate to means that the audience are more likely to emotional connect to the video, the song and therefore the singer. This can be important for video's of this genre as it mostly girls that listen to these kind of songs, and therefore they can prefer it when they can connect with songs, especially songs about love. For the singer this can be important, as she needs and wants her fans to connect with her as they are more likely to buy her albums if they feel connected to her in someway. 

I really like the balance of performance and narrative in this music video, and would like to use the same kind of narrative-performance format in my own music video. However as my music video is not a love story, I will clearly have to think very carefully about how to make my artist appeal to the audience. I am also hoping to make my video a little bit concept based as there are some strong meanings behind the lyrics that I feel should be expressed in my music video.

Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC-_lVzdiFE

Florence + The Machine- Spectrum

This music video is a concept video with elements of performance. The video seems very symbolic, and although there are many ideas around what the video symbolises, there is no definitive answer. The costumes used in the video are very extravagant, over the top and bright. The costumes worn by Florence are extra over the top, and clash/mix with the props, setting and other costumes. I really like the idea of having over the top, extravagant costumes as it makes the main character/singer stand out from the rest and draws the audience's attention to the main band member. This is reinforced with lots of close ups of the most important character, and long shots to completely show off the outfit!

I really like the dancers in this video as the routine they do seems very ritual-like, which helps tie in with the strange costume and makeup, creating a more symbolic image for the audience. I'd like to use some kind of dance routine in my video, perhaps a routine as ritual-like as the one used in this video. I like the representation of women in this video, because it does not objectify them. Florence manages to still look attractive whilst wearing elaborate, full costumes.  

The use of light in this video is interesting as a lot of Florences costumes, settings and props are metallic and reflects the spotlights used. Despite the backdrop being black most of the time and the contrast between light and dark is quite strong, the light seems to stand out a lot and the colours seem brighter and more important- linking in with the lyrics.
This music video has given me loads of idea for themes, costumes and lighting for my video.

Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZt2cILcCU

Train- Marry Me

The music video for this song is mostly a simple narrative with elements of performance. I like this video as it has an introduction before the song and main video begins. There is also a link between the lyrics and visuals, which I believe is key for this genre of music.
Most of the camera shots are mid and close up shots to emphasis the importance of the characters in the narrative. The characters are clearly the most important part of the narrative, and the importance of certain characters is shown through the amount of close ups and shots of the characters. The camera angles used is also key for the narrative as it makes the audience sympathise with certain characters, for example the waitress in this video is shown in high angle shots a lot, emphasising how vulnerable and depressed she is.
In terms of the Goodwin 7, there is a relationship between the lyrics, music and visuals as the theme of being in love in seen throughout, along with the lyrics relating to meeting someone in a cafe. When the instruments are more prominent than the singing, shots of the instruments being played are shown to link the music to the visuals
I like the idea of having an intro shot before the song actually starts, and think that could be a good technique to use for my music video. I also like the simplistic narrative used in this video, as its easy for the audience to follow, but think I might use a slightly more complex narrative for mine.

Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ3ZM8FDBlg&feature=player_embedded

Pinks Sober video has elements of both performance and concept based music video's. There are several scenes of Pink emotionally singing to the camera in many different locations, however there are also many scenes, props, effects, costume elements and symbols that would suggest that the video has a symbolic meaning behind it. At the beginning of the video there are clips of a church or religious building, suggesting there is some kind of religious aspect to the video. Later on, near the end of the video there are again clips of christian crosses.

In the video there is a strong contrast in the colour choices, in costume, location and lighting. Pink has several outfits during this video, especially as she has a 'doppelganger'. One version of herself is dressed in white lingerie and is 'sober', representing a pure, good side of herself, whereas another version of herself is dressed in black lingerie and is drunk or 'high', suggesting there are two sides to her. However in both costumes, the lighting is very dark and occasionally a red light is flashed on her, which could symbolise the devil or evil. This combined with the religious aspects of the video could be suggesting that the sober Pink that is trying to save her drunk, reckless Pink is either God or the part of God in herself.

The scenes where Pink is trapped in a completely white room, wearing a white pageboy wig and old fashioned costume could be symbolising how trapped she is, by her recklessness and addiction. The pageboy wig could be trying to suggest she is like a pageboy, (a pageboy was traditionally a young male servant for a noble men). The fact that she is trapped in this room could be symbolising how she is a servant to her addiction and can not escape it, no matter how hard she tries.

The scenes where Pink is making out with her 'doppelganger', who is essentially representing herself, could be symbolising a few things. Firstly it could be symbolising how she is the only person that can make herself feel happy, but as she is representing the drunk version of herself, it could be suggesting that she can only be happy when she is intoxicated. However it could be symbolising how she is the only person that can help her beat her addication, as she is finding relief from addiction through sex. It could also be symbolising the church again, and could be illustrating how drugs and intoxication can led to things they consider to being against religious law (same-sex love).

Music Video Analysis

Passenger- Let Her Go

This music video is of the acoustic folky genre and is mainly a performance video, but also contains a very simple narrative, which is very typical for this genre of music.. It is set on a stage as it is performance and the costume is casual clothing, suggesting that he is generally a casual performer. The narrative parts of the video are giving a short insight into their preparations for performer.
The back drop for the stage is very similar to their album cover, meaning a theme is continued throughout their work- as a kind of motif- linking all their products together. There is a lot of close ups in this video of the artist- which is one of the codes and conventions of music videos, created by Andrew Goodwin in his Book (Dancing in the Distraction Factory), as part of the 'Goodwin 7'.The close ups help us to identify the artist, which is the main reason we watch music videos and buy music. Another one of the Goodwin 7 that is used in this video in the relationship between the music and video. For example, at the beginning when there is just the sound of the keyboard being played, the video shows the key board being played, in the correct notes. This creates the feel of an actual performance, but one that we can see close up, making the audience of the video feel as if they have an insight into the artists life.
The lighting used in this video is very typical performance lighting, spotlights in the key singers and instrument players.  I like how the lights change colour in accordance to the beat and tone of the music.
I think that as the song for my music video is of a similar genre, I will have to have a some kind of performance- either instruments or singers. I like this video, but would have preferred to see more narrative and less performance.

Iconic Music Video

This rock music video is quite iconic and groundbreaking as the images on screen do not match the lyrics of the song. It was one of the first videos to be comical and to show men dressed as women- this was a very new idea in the 1980's. This music video is unlike many of the video's from the 80's as it's not just a band playing and singing on screen, but actually involves other arts (dancing and acting). 'I want to break free' uses a lot of 'special effects', which had not really been done before in music videos and was a very new concept in the early 80's.

I personally feel this video, although slightly dated, is a good iconic music video and is actually better than some modern music videos as it contradicts the traditional method of matching lyrics and visuals!

I like how its unlike any of their early videos, which just feature them performing on stage or signing to the camera.

I think it's really interesting how this music video goes against several of Goodwins key features of music videos. Firstly, it goes against the conventions of rock music videos as it doesn't show the band on stage playing instruments and performing. There is also very little relationship between lyrics and visuals which is unusual for music videos. However there are intertextual references to current events in this video. The part where Queen are surrounded by miners, singing the chorus line of 'I want to break free', is a reference to the miners strikes in 1984. This may have been usual for over 'POP' bands of the time, but for Rock bands in the 1980's it was unusual. This video is also controversial in terms of the image of women, as instead of using women to attract male attention they are doing the opposite by dressing the male band members as women (it's not pretty!!). 

Music Video- Representation