Analysis of 'J Cole - Crooked Smile'.

"Crooked Smile" is a song by an American hip hop artist and record producer J Cole, which was released June 4 2013., with the group TLC also featuring in the song. The song won impact track of 2013 BET Hip-Hop awards. The song would fit in the genre R&B/Hip- Hop.

The music video begins with a mid shot of the artist himself sat in what seems to be a police car, which then cuts to a flash back of what we assume to be the the morning before the events of him being arrested with digetic sound, which then jump cuts to another male whom is anonymous and unidentified who is later seen to be a police officer to the audience participating in the same activity, of brushing his teeth which is shown by another mid shot. The video jump cuts back and forth of both males showing their daily morning routines which differs from characters with a variety of camera shots such as long shots, which is shown when J Cole is seen to be mowing his grass which would be seen to be a domestic normal activity,which then cuts to several other mid shots if him carrying on his domestic duties such as preparing a birthday cake and setting up a bbq, which allows the audience to assume he is going to be having some kind of gathering/party, whilst non digetic sound of the song is playing in the background.

The video then cuts to a mid shot of a shot reverse shot of the other male on a dinner table eating breakfast with whom we assume to be his daughter. A jump cut to another mid shot is used of J Cole stuffing what seems to be marijuna in the sole of his shoe, which the cuts to an extreme close up of a police officers uniform and badge which we later learn is the other male, therefore allowing clues to the audience of what the video is about. An establishing shot is then used to show what seems to be the family of J Cole coming to visit him, which then shows a mid shot of his sister jump in his arms, which could suggest the don't see each other on a regular basis which is expressed through their facial expressions. Another mid shot is used to show him greeting his other family members which are shown to be his mother and father. A close up is then used of sparklers which suggests celebration. A dark mid shot is then used of the other male still dressed in his police uniform in a van speaking to others in his environment, also containing digetic sound of walkie talkies which gives hints to the audience.

Another establishing shot is used to confirm the celebration of the young girls birthday as she is sat on a table blowing out candles, whilst digetic sound is used as her family members sing happy birthday to her. A jump cut of a mid shot with the use of digetic sound of the others singing happy birthday continues, the other male is shown still in the dark lighting transporting in a van, speaking to others however we can not hear as a listener what he is saying. The establishing shot is then used again showing the young girl to be blowing her candles out, which then continues showing her family members cutting the cake and passing it round the table, whilst jump cuts are still continuing of the other male.

An establishing shot to an extreme close up shows the house where the celebration is occurring, to a black van pulling up outside of the house, which then uses another establishing long shot of several males in black uniform run up and rade the house. A mid shot is then used of the young girl in bed holding tight to her teddy bear, which then cuts to a long shot of the male played by J Cole being arrested, by the male we have seen throughout the video. There is a long shot of an officer who is also holding a gun when this event is happening. Digetic sound is then used which creates a tense atmosphere which then cuts to a close up of another officer entering the hallway, as the young girl comes out of her room, a mid shot is used of the officer firing down the young girl. Which uses the digetic sound of a gunshot and then cuts to a black screen, which represents death. A flashback is then used of the young girl in a mid shot of her playing with a sparkler, which represents the previous celebrations and events that occurred for her birthday. A mid shot is then used of the police officer who shot the young girl standing at the door way, which then cuts to mid shots of sparklers being set off emphasizing how quick the events have occurred taking a young girls life.

A close up of the male played by j cole is used whilst he is sat in a police car, showing his emotional state. Which then cuts to the male officer in a mid shot showing regret and sadness as a facial expression. A two shot is then used of two girls which have been seen previously in the video the young girl who was seen at the breakfast table and the young girl who was killed by a police officer in a light environment, drawing colorful pictures suggesting they are now in heaven and have become friends. Or it could be seen as the two young girls attended school together and were friends. An establishing shot is then used of  the young girls body being carried out of the house. Which finally cut to a mid shot of the male sat in a police car watching the young girl be carried out.

The artist of this video tributes this video to a young girl whom this happened to in reality, and states her name at the end of the video. This video is therefore an illustration video as the video represents the lyrics.

Analysis of 'When I'm Gone - Eminem'

Released in march 2005, by Shady records on the album 'curtain call: the hits'. The song relates extremely well to Goodwin's theory as the lyrics have meaning to the video, as the lyrics pertain to Eminem's life as a celebrity musician and how it interferes with his family life, and the effects on his daughter. Eminem uses imagery to evoke a feeling sadness of his family falling apart, but also due to his daughter being a narrative voice. The genre of this song would be categorised in the rap genre.

The song is gently introduced by light bell sounds followed by numerous violins which make the listener feel emotionally involved with the lyrics, but also the artist and his struggles, which gains a relationship between the two. Also the lighting throughout the beginning of the video is dim and dull, to represent the meaning behind the lyrics.

Music Analysis Using Goodwins Theory "The Kooks - Naive"

The Kooks "Naive"consists of an indie music sound, with elements of rock. The music video is predominantly narrative based with lip syncing during the narrative by the lead singer of the band (no other members feature in the video). The music video tells a story of a girl that is cheating on her boyfriend but he is afraid to leave her as he believes he is the one to change her ways, meaning he is the one who is naive. The music video conforms of Goodwin's theory in the way that it is iconographic of an indie genre in the way that it is simple and the lead singer is usually present in the narrative.

The music video conforms to Goodwin's theory in the sense that there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics. Which is shown in several different cases throughout the videos narrative. For example, when the lyrics say 'pretty face' a young pretty girl is presented to the audience. The young girl is presented to be fare, blonde and pretty which stereotypically represents her as an innocent, when in reality she is seen to be doing 'an ugly thing' as stated in the lyrics, which would be presented to be drugs and alcohol, as these feature within the video. There are also bright light frames which feature in the video, as the girl steps over a person lying on the floor, which is stereotype for 'the night after the party', suggesting it is the day after the party. In contrast to the lighting when the lead singer is walking through the party looking for the girl the lighting is much darker, suggesting a flash back. The contrast of the lighting also demonstrates the different time periods to the audience.

The different camera shots start with the camera tracking the lead singer, as he walks through the party, involving the audience as they know his environment making them feel involved. Goodwin's theory is applied in this music video in the sense that voyeurism is used to create fandom. This is shown through the different camera work such as close ups, allowing the audience to gain a relationship with the lead singer as they can experience his variety of emotion.

Overall the music video conforms to Goodwin's theory in the sense of voyeurism illustrating the lyrics and the videos style.

Music Analysis Using Goodwins Theory- Beyonce 'If I Were A Boy'.

"If I Were A Boy" is a song from an album called "I Am…Sasha Fierce" by an American singer Beyonce. The song is considered to be in the genre pop. This music video is a good representation of Goodwins theory, as the lyrics relate to the video, as it is a woman with a mans role, with the perspective of a mans characteristics.

Analysing "If I Were a Boy" Using Goodwins Theory.
As the lyrics and the name state about being a boy, the music video features a strong male dominant role throughout the video, and a typical view on males, which would be seen from a females perspective, due to the artist being female, also due to the narrative being female. The beginning of the music video shows a mid shot of a male and female, whom are stating the words "Intermarry","Honesty", which we immediately relate to a relationship between the two, which later relate to the lyrics. This opening shot is effective as in the setting the tone for the rest of the music video, and gives clues and references to the overarching narrative behind the inspiration for the events which will follow in the video.

Cutting to another mid shot of the female artist, but in this shot she is seen to be wearing a police uniform, which is stereotypically known to be a male role, the lyrics and the soundtrack of the song starting to kick in. Immediately "if i were a boy" is spoken by the singer, there is a literal connection between what is being sung and what we are seeing on the screen. The music video conforms to Goodwin's points in that the song's lyrics are related to the on screen imagery, and also that the tone of the song is reflected by the mise en scene of the footage we see.

Animatic- Taylor Swift Bad Blood

This animatic is for the music video for Bad Blood by Taylor Swift. The genre of the particular music video is pop, however this music video challenges the stereotypical conventions of the genre pop. The target audience for this music video would be the younger generation from the ages of 15-19. The beat is very up- beat with a fast pace, which is not normally a beat Taylor Swift confronts as she is known for her slow love songs.

Lip-Syncing

In preparation for editing and filming for my own music video, I completed a lip syncing task in order to practice my ability to edit and gain a variety of shots, all on timing with the lip syncing. This allowed me to create a music video which looks like the song was sung by the actor(s).

The song chosen for this task was 'Somebody I Used to Know' by Gotye, with a male and female fitting the roles of the vocalists. The task began a difficult task, as to get the lip syncing on time with the music was a task which seemed impossible. After a few more attempts the male actor (Joe) sang the song aloud, which allowed the timing and lip syncing match, also making the video look more realistic. We then muted the clip whilst editing and added the backing track.

The intentions for this task were to imitate the actual music video, therefore myself and the other actor (Joe) remained still in our shots, in order to get the acting and lip syncing on point. Filming this task was difficult as myself and Joe were not professional actors and we had never done lip syncing before, therefore to get in to the role of the characters seemed to be a more difficult than it should of been due to; laughing and coming into the shots at the wrong time which essentially ruined the lip syncing. However after our first few attempts we quickly picked up the role and gained successful shots allowing us to create the video we did.

I believe we ultimately created a successful, clean and effective produc. This task also allowed me to gain experience skills to edit music videos which would help me in the future whilst creating my own music video, therefore helping me feel prepared to create a successful music video for my chosen genre.

Influential Music Directors

Goodwin's Theory

The 6 points:

Goodwin had presented 6 key points that are present in music videos:

1. A relationship between the images shown and the music heard.

The music of the song, will in some form, have a relationship to the images displayed in the video whether the images will be relevant or contridictory to the music. For example , you may expect to see dull dark and seemingly improvised stage surroundings when listening to heavy metal/rock music as this is a stereotypical view on the genre.

2. The visual content of the video will, in some form link to the lyrics of the song.

This has an effect of making the lyrics and the video relate to one another and therefore allows amplification of the lyrics and the videos content. The relationship between the visual and audio can also strengthen the narrative/message presented in the song.

3. Music Video s generally conform to genre characteristics

Stereotypical views are a major impact on this topic, for example a rap artist will often produce a music video which represents the rap genre- so for this topic the main features would be wealth and objectified women, also popular brands and technology when the video was made and released. In abiding by these characteristics of their music genre, music video creators can establish their target audience and in term allow the same target audience to relate to the music video they are watching and identify the genre of the music, however due to the explicit content some videos have a pre warn message or set a age limit as to when you can view that particular music video.

4. An iconic image will often be present and focused on

The popular boy pop band "One direction" will produce music videos that focus on all five band members as they are all well know and well liked by the majority of their listeners whom are interested in the genre pop. Music videos focus well on respective iconic imagery as this defines their identity of the music video and assist on gaining as much attention and popularity in order to gain as many views as possible.

5. The demands of the record label will demand for close ups of the of the artist and the artist may develop motifs within their work. This is often achieved through 'visual style'.

6. Intertextual references are often present

Music videos often contain intertextual referenced sourced from other music videos or other media such as films. These references allow for the music video to be tapped into the culturally relevant trends/ideas circulating in the viewers mind. In including intertextual references in a music video, a kind of synergy occurs when the viewer thinks about the film that the music video has referred to. Ultimately this boosts the popularity of the music video through relating the audience and appealing the culturally/significant themes present in the respective target audience.

Codes and Conventions Of Music Genres

Rock:

Forged in the 60s onwards, the rock genre has many influences including the rhythm of blues. Music videos that fall under the rock genre often show cases the bands live performance, which is often fast paced as the energetic performance is being recreated. It isn't common for rock music videos to have any kind of background story, however in the modern day rock video this is becoming more common. Within a rock music video you will see each member of the group at least once, however it is more than likely that the lead singer will take up most of the camera time, cutting to the audience at certain points of the video sells the experience of seeing them live from your living room, also this potentially sells the experience that some people may choose to attend the bands next performance.

R&B:


Also known as the rhythm and blues started in the 40s, it emerged when African music became more popular. The videos that fit this genre often showcases the singer as rich by displaying large amounts of money and other expensive props such as jewellery and the most modern technology. These videos are also seen as powerful due to the use of background dancers (which are often seen to be attractive women), make up artists and other stylists are often used to gain as what society would see as perfection. It is common for the main singer(s) to be centre of attention. The topics R&B which are most commonly used are love, lust and relationships.

POP:


Similar to an R&B music video Pop will centre the maim singer(s) to make them look as attractive as possible to appeal to their target audiences, for example Justin Bieber will want to appeal to younger female fans. Pop meaning popular it'll show the artist(s) that most people enjoy, often they are not too complex making them enjoyable and easy to listen too. Justin Bieber is a good example of this as his fan base is widely spread. Pop videos often focus more on the production of the song, rather than the live performance, Pop will often portray a party atmosphere giving a sense of social belonging. The videos are often colourful and a little cheesy.

Hip-Hop


Hip-Hop has originated from places in African and the Caribbean where music like jazz, soul and blues have majorly influenced the genre. Hip-Hop explores the themes of love, relationships, everyday struggles, prejudice, inequality and gang culture. They tend to be set in an urban environment often surrounded by graffiti, tall buildings used at a low angle shot to make the artist(s) look powerful and superior, also a popular setting for many hip hop locations is local neighborhoods showing the possible struggles of everyday life. Dress codes in hip hop videos is stereotypically hoodies, hats and trainers. There is often voyuerim used and music videos tend to use a lot of lip syncing, even if there is a strong narrative and it is not all performance based the lead artist(s) tend to take up most of the camera time. Clubs, alcohol and drugs are also stereotypically found in hip hop music videos.

House

The history of house music is short as it begun in the early 1980s in Chicago latter and became much more popular in the UK in the mid 1980s. The sound of house music is well known for its electronic sound and beat. It is usually played in clubs with the target audience of the age range of 18-25. A stereotypical house music video would illustrate dancing, love, sexuality,flashing ligths and drugs, which all relate back to the club environment. A house music video may also contain a DJ as a typical convention due to the beat of the genre which would be related to a set of decks, also due to the schedule the video would be filmed which would be seen to be at night.

History of music videos

Music videos have a history dating back to the earliest days of sound, early promotional shorts were sometimes set to music and many early Disney films, which were based around the songs. 

1940s- Another early form of music videos was were one song films called soundies made in the 1940s for the panoram   visual jukebox. Thousands of soundies were made, mostly of jazz musicians. These were short films of musical selections, usually just a band on a film set bandstand made for playing. These jukeboxes were in restaurants and bars and people paid to watch the clips whilst the music played. 

 

1950s- The very first short musical films in the USA made specifically for television were the Snader Telescriptions more than 1000 short musical presentations were filmed for use as television filler between 1950-54. Music centered films, with performance clips in them became popular in the 1950s also. For example Elvis Presley movies with the music Rock around the clock.

1960-70s- Videos began to be produced for music programmes such as Top of The Pops in Britain Hulloballo in the USA. Promotional clips for groups began to be produced, especially The Beatles in the 1960s and other groups in the 1970s. 

1980s- In 1981, the US video channel MTV was launched, beginning an era of 24 hour a day music on television. The first ever song to play on MTV was, The Buggles 'Music Killed the Radio Star'. many of the earliest MTV videos came from Great Britain. The effect of MTV and music videos can bee seen in the British band Duran Duran. This band had great visual appearance and appeal, and made interesting music videos but was not receiving radio airplay's of 1981. Showing of the bands videos on MTV made it immediately popular.  This is a short film of the history of music videos, a music video is a short film integrating a song or imagery, produced mainly for promotional purposes. 

 

Present day- Music videos are central to to marketing popular music. MTV continues to be dominant and now reaches over 320 million TV sets in 90 countries and over five continents. Downloading of videos off the internet is now much more common and this is seen as a threat to to the dominance of the MTV. 

What is a music video?

A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional purposes. Modern day music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the scale of music recordings.

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animations, live action filming, documentaries, and non narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, whilst others may be without a set concept, being merely filmed version of the song's live performance.

Music videos are categorized in the terms of the style they use these can include;
1. Performance
2.Narrative/story
3.Mixed performance and narrative
4.Cameo(artist features in the narrative nut does not perform)
5.Animation- digi

Different techniques are used in the editing and sound of music videos including;
1.Editing to the beat of the song
2.Split-screen
3.Effects
4.Jump cuts
5.Straight Cuts
6.Inclusion of digetic sound as well as the track itself
7.Changes in the volume and level of sound