Music Video Evaluation

By James Cummings

CD Front Cover

Stage 1 Stage 2 Final Product

Here is my development stages that I have gone through to get to my Final product. What I have tried to do is create a simple but effective CD Cover, I have looked at artists such as Coldplay, The script etc to gain inspiration for my CD Cover.

What I have done is gone for a simple back ground but done a robot shadow kind of thing with different colours to catch the eyes of my audience. This isn’t something a normal artist does but that what I have tried to do and go unconventional for my type of genre which is good because my song choice isn’t normal so this way I also have a link between my music video and CD Cover which I think the audience will really connect with.

CD Cover Back

Stage 1 Stage 2 Final Product

Here is my development stages that I have gone through to get to my Final product. What I have tried to do is create a simple but effective Back CD Cover, I have looked at artists such as Coldplay, The script etc to gain inspiration for my Back CD Cover.

What I have done is gone for a simple back ground but done a robot shadow kind of thing with different colours to catch the eyes of my audience. This isn’t something a normal artist does but that what I have tried to do and go unconventional for my type of genre which is good because my song choice isn’t normal so this way I also have a link between my music video and Back CD Cover which I think the audience will really connect with.

Inspiration for CD Cover

Here is some of the CD Covers I looked at to give me inspiration for the CD Cover I made. For Coldplay I looked at the way they have used different colours to create a figure, this is something I through looked really good every though there isn’t something amazing but still stands out.

I also looked at them all for the type of background they have to make sure the colour figure I am going to create works, I have gone for a natural green colour which matches with mostly every colour to make the figure stand out. My inspiration normally came from Coldplay however I have tried to go for a larger scale than Coldplay.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

How to analyse a Music Video

Andrew Goodwin's theory is all about how to analyse a music video. Andrew

Goodwin identifies 5 Key aspects of any music video that we theaudience should look for when watching a music video.

1. Thought beats – seeing the sounds2. Narrative and performances3. The Star Image4. Relation of visuals to song5. Technical aspects of music video

Thought beats – seeing the sounds

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory believes there is three stages that through beats - seeing the sounds requires.

Step One: The first step is to looks at the music itself. We must take into account the structure of the song. E.g. Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus etc.

Step Two: The second step is the Voice of the song. The voice of the singer is extremely unique and can form a certain identity for the singer and can create trademarks that work well with the stars image.

Step Three: Goodwin points out the artists mode of address. Many songs such like Katy Perry “The one that got away” and Foo Fighters “Walk” can be seen as a story and the artist is the storyteller. This makes the music video a two way communication device, this way it tells us a story and a song.

Narrative and performances

Songs fail to give us the complete narrative.

When listening to a song we only tend to get the gist of the meaning of the song and tend to make up are own idea of what the song is about by what we are told.

Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore the common narrative. This is because it is important in their role of advertising. Music videos should coherent repeatability. Narrative and performance work hand in hand it makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without losing interest.

The artist acting as both narrator & participants helps to increase authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of the music video. This means the audience needs to believe it’s real.

The Star ImageAndrew Goodwin’s third key aspect is the star image, The star image is a virtual aspect to any music video.

A Mega narrative which is a big story that will describe the star over a period of time and his/hers development as well. It has an important part to play in a music video, I think this is because it give the audience a person to connect with through the music video and makes the video more interesting if you feel you know their past and makes you believe you have gone through everything they have gone through with them.

Relation of visuals to song

Illustrate – Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meanings of lyrics and genre, this is the most common.

Amplify – This is similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision.

Disjuncture – This is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored.

There are three ways in which music videos work to promote the song.

Technical aspects of music video

Technical aspects hols the music video together through use of camera work, movement, mise – on –scene, sound, editing etc.

Speed, camera movements, editing, cutting and post productions are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colours according to Andrew Goodwin helps set the mood e.g. dark lighting will set a depressed, upsetting scene. It also emphasising key moments of the song and dramatic effects.

Mise-on-Scene, the settings of music videos is vital, it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism. Beats, music videos cuts to go with the beats or rhythm making the video more entertaining.

How my Music Video compares to Andrew Goodwin's theory.

The star Image in my Music Video

Because I have three singers in my music video I have had to give each of my singers a spot to shine in the music video. I have separated the song so that each person get a chance to have a star image. Andrew Goodwin believes that each music video has a star image and can create a story of the star.

However, mine does really do that because we are just making fun of something, this however is showing three guys having fun really. You also don’t see the characters develop over time until the ending when you see them all together at the end playing and ending the song.

In what way does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products. In my music video I have tried to challenge the normal conventions and also I have tried to do a spoof of the normal white background boy band style that every normal American band. I have not done the conventional approach and moved from different scenes and seen loads of different people and over exaggeration that story what my music video has done is done a spoof about that all of that and just shown me, lee and Ryan having a laugh. This is something that my target audience will hopefully connect with because they have all thought of this but we are actually showing them what they have thought of for years.

However, my Music video has also developed the normal conventions of a boy band doing a music video that means something, my music video is showing a story of three lads that find song funny, this is kind of following the convention that a boy band again is telling their target audience a story.

I have also used conventions such as the same type of camera shots, and slow motion shot which typical music videos of my genre use, I thought this is important to use purely because I felt if I go too unconventional it make look to cheesy or abit stupid and may put my target audience off.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Products

On my media products such as CD Covers, Back of the CD Cover, The actual CD and the poster. I have made sure that the name of my band and the title of the album is one every single of them. This makes all my products joined together.

All of these products have had the same type of theme green background and colored figures. This is a theme that I have wanted to continue the whole the way through the products.

For the fonts on my product I have tired to keep the same fonts through most of my products this way I will be have a connection all the way through to products and hopefully people notice.

The background of my products are all low lighting dark colours I have done this for a reason and it is to make whatever else is bright stand out more and make my products more eye catching.

The colour scheme I have really thought about and on all my products such as CD Covers, CD Back Cover and the CD I have kept the same background so it again make a connection through the whole products.

Music Video

On my music video I have kept the location really in about three locations only to the fact that on most American boy bands they normally stay in one place so what I have tried to do is take the fun of it and do the same but do it wrong. This is something that I think works.

At the beginning of the music video I have put the title and the name of the song at the beginning. Most music videos do this it creates a link between all of your products and helps the audience recognize the music video.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Continued ......

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Katie McDonald : “It’s funny but needs to be in more places”

Emma Bailey: “Made me laugh but needs more locations”

Ryan Bedson: “I like it just needs more things going on, but other than that very funny”

Ryan Gittins: “Mostly in one place but yeah its good”

Most of my feed back from my friends and media class mates are that I need more locations in my music video. During my music video I have stayed in two – three locations but that is purely because I am trying to make the fun out of the American music videos.

If I had more time I would probably research loads more American boy band videos and probably trying to make my music video and a new way of adding new clips to the music video and listen to my feedback.

How did you see media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used Windows 7 version of Windows movie maker. I have chosen to use this program because I have experience on this program and didn’t want to waste time getting use to the program when I could use windows. This may not offer as much as and iMac which other people may use but I found this easier for me.

Windows Movie maker also was helpful for me when I was creating a storyboard for my music video because you can set it as a storyboard style which allows me to put pictures on there and I can see easier how my music video would go and if it would work I found this easier than writing it out or drawing it out on paper.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Continued …….

Other programs that I have used is Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word which I used at different stages of the project. I used PowerPoint when I was researching to create a PowerPoint showing my how I have got my inspiration for most of my products.

I also used Microsoft Word to create questioners and used it to write down feedback. Both were very useful through out my project.

I have also used firework to create all my products. I used this so I could create Ancillary texts through out my work. I then also used fireworks to make things bold and stand out.