How do music videos speak to/interpolate their audience?

Cherry Glazerr - White's Not My Color This Evening

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

   We are introduced to the protagonist of this music video within the personal and private location of her bathroom, establishing an intimate connection between her and the audience. Over-the-shoulder shots of her looking into her bathroom mirror and applying lipstick (see figure 1) further position the audience with her, showing us the reflection which she sees - this also enforces an element of Andrew Goodwin's music video theory as the prop of a mirror references the notion of looking. The lipstick and tampons could be iconographic props, speaking to the band's target audience of predominately teenage girls due to their typical connotations of femininity. A sense of aspiration is also created for the audience by the close-up shots of her slightly eccentric but fashionable costume as she walks to her car (figure 2), emphasised by the use of slow-motion; these are complemented by an extreme long-shot (figure 3) which displays her entire ensemble, plus the character's car which has a retro aesthetic which would appeal to the 'hipsters' in the Californian band's target audience. The audience are also positioned with the protagonist by a focus pull when the character's 'love interest' enters the bakery which she has traveled to, directing us to follow her gaze and shift our attention to him as he comes into focus. Close-up shots, such as figure 5, further encourage the audience to relate to the protagonist and empathise with the emotions she conveys.

Figure 5

Declan McKenna - Isombard

Figure 5

Figure 6

   The audience is interpolated through the narrative of this video because it begins with the camera following the artist into a music venue (see figure 5). The use of handheld camera makes this more immersive. The music video's audience are also positioned with the audience within the video who are presented watching the artist perform, especially by shots like figure 6 which is a long shot of the artist on stage so seems to be from the point of view of an audience member. The use of direct address when the artist lip syncs (see figure 7) further interpolates the audience by suggesting a personal connection with the artist. Direct address is also used in clips within the music video which seem to be filmed on a phone, reinforcing the sense of a personal and friendly connection with the artist.

Figure 7

Our music video

   Like 'White's Not My Color This Evening', we will establish a personal connection between the audience and the protagonist of our music video by beginning in the intimate environment of her bedroom. We will also similarly use over-the-shoulder shots to position the audience with her. Additionally, we will use handheld camerawork for some shots, like in 'Isombard', to immerse the audience. Furthermore, the performance elements of our video will include direct address to establish a connection between the artist and the audience.

Treatment

We will be making a music video for the indie pop-rock song 'He Never Shows' by Pom Pom Squad. Our video will combine both elements of narrative and performance.

The lyrics of the song are suggestive of unrequited love and we will try to convey these feelings of longing and disappointment in our narrative, which follows a teenage girl who gets stood up. The protagonist in our narrative receives a text from her boyfriend asking to meet up – she is especially eager to see him because their relationship has recently been conflicted and she is hoping for reconciliation. In her bedroom, where props such as photographs will signify their relationship and suggest that the character is romantic and sentimental, she gets ready to go out. She travels to the location where he suggested that they meet, passing locations which remind her of happier times with him and seeing affectionate couples who she envies. However, after waiting for him, he doesn't turn up; this links to the lyrics, specifically the chorus of the song. We will cross-cut to performance throughout our video, fulfilling a convention of indie rock music videos and creating a sense of authenticity to appeal to the band's audience. We will especially use lots of close-up shots and fast-paced editing in the performance parts of our video to make our video more dynamic.

We are influenced by many music videos of the same genre, which use performance and lip sync to create a sense of authenticity and promote the band's live gigs. This includes bands such as Cherry Glazerr, an indie-rock band, and Pale Honey, an indie band with riot grrrl influences. Cherry Glazerr also has narrative in several of their videos such as 'Nuclear Bomb' and 'White's Not My Color This Evening', which follow similar young female characters. 

Moodboard

What are the uses and implications of genre for producers and audiences?

Theory

   Genre can be used by media producers to provide them with a set of codes and conventions to follow in order to try to replicate previous successes. According to Denis McQuail, this helps "any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently". This suggests that levels of production can be increased due to the ease of following conventions, which "makes economic sense" according to Nicholas Abercrombie because it gives "economies of scale". Furthermore, Christine Gledhill has said that "differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to"; this suggests that, as well as making production easier, the ability to follow a formula of conventions helps media producers to target the specific audiences who favour these different genres by including the conventions which most appeal to them. However, by describing genres as "ideological closure", John Hartley suggests that a negative consequence of following the codes of a genre is that creativity can be stifled.

   Christine Gledhill said that "Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience". Genre can be used by audiences to develop a sense of identity and community, as they align themselves with or against specific genres. Genre can also help audiences to access related products.

   Despite the conformity which genre can encourage, Nicholas Abercrombie suggests that "the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable". This is demonstrated by the proliferation of hybrid genres, which can be more marketable because they can appeal to several different audiences.

   The increasing permeability of genres is demonstrated in music videos, which often develop and challenge genre conventions. As many songs are a hybrid genre, their videos are able to utilise conventions from a combination of genres. This means that the artist can market to wider audiences. Furthermore, by developing genre conventions, artists can create unique branding.

Application to my production

Cherry Glazerr - Told You I'd be With The Guys

   The song which we have chosen to make a music video for is an indie pop-rock song. The song is a hybrid-genre, which can aid marketing by allowing several different audiences to be targeted.

Mitski - Your Best American Girl

   Placing our song in genre context enables us to use and build conventions of the genre in order to appeal to its audience. For example, we will use elements of performance, which is an important convention of rock and indie rock music videos because it promotes the live aspect of the bands (to boost ticket sales of their live gigs). As well as shots of the band's instrumental performance, we would also include close up shots of the lead singer lip-syncing (like in many indie pop music videos) which can create a sense of connection with the audience and suggest authenticity. The use of close-ups of the artist is an element of Andrew Goodwin's music video theory, which suggests that this is also common due to the demands of the record label who want to establish the artist's brand.

Hayley Kiyoko - Gravel To Tempo

Echosmith - Cool Kids

What can we learn from 'The Pretender'?

'5 Years Time' Evaluation

Our class worked as a group to recreate a popular music video in order to practice our production skills. This involved planning our shoots, filming and editing. We decided to recreate the music video for the song '5 Years Time' by Noah and the Whale. Below is our video, which has the original in the bottom right corner so that the two versions can be compared.

Technical: 

Due to the precise storyboard which we worked from, our group’s technical ability was strong in regards to camerawork because we knew exactly what shot types we needed to recreate. We had printed copies of the storyboard with us whilst filming so that we could easily refer to them and check our accuracy by watching our footage before moving on to the next scene. We filmed multiple takes of each shot so that we would have more options when selecting the best shots later in post-production. Furthermore, handheld camerawork was used in the video which we were recreating which meant that a lack of steadiness in our camerawork was acceptable. 

We did encounter some technical issues in regards to our lighting – one of the two lights which we used on one of our locations broke during filming, so the lighting was not balanced throughout. However, the warmth and brightness of these lights was appropriate because in the original video the lighting is similar, creating bold shadows behind the actors. Additionally, I would argue that the natural lighting in our shots outside was effective (we were lucky to be able to film on a sunny day, like the weather in the original video). Unfortunately we had no control of the lighting in the pub scenes, but I think that the ambient lighting available was sufficient. 

Editing our version of the video was difficult because the original included a variety of unusual transitions. However, we have been able to approximate many of these. Although it was difficult to match the dancing and lip-syncing elements of the video to the song, we have been reasonably accurate and successfully achieved continuity in cuts during the dance sequences. Although we do not know the exact style of font which was used in the original music video, we have found and been able to include a similar font in a similar colour.

Aesthetic: 

We experienced some difficulties in recreating the aesthetic of the original music video because we had no budget so could not afford to buy many props or costumes. However, because we were working in a large group we were able to find most of the items which we needed among us; a member of our group brought the sunglasses which were required for some of the costumes and a couple of the members of our group brought in instruments (we borrowed the other instrumental props which we needed from the school's music department). The only props which we bought were the helium balloons – like in the music video, we got a balloon in the shape of the number five, but we could not get a balloon in the shape of a whale. To find the main parts of the costumes, the actors looked through the clothes which they already owned to find something similar to the costumes which they needed – a weakness of this is that the costumes which they did wear were not the same colours as the originals, so we could not maintain the colour scheme, plus we could not achieve the uniformity of the costumes which the men wore. 

It was also difficult for us to find locations which would look like the ones in the music video which we could also get to easily within the school day. We did most of our filming within school – for the shots set outside, we filmed on the school's field. This meant that we did not have a path in some of the shots like in the original music video, but the foliage of the hedge at the edge of the field was effective for the background which was originally composed of trees. For the scenes set on a stage with a backdrop of a yellow curtain, we had to use a white sheet which was a further error in following the colour scheme. Another problem is that the sheet was not wide enough to conceal the walls of our classroom which we filmed in. However, we were able to film a few shots in a local pub to more realistically recreate the ambience conveyed in the scenes originally shot in a pub.

Chosen Song

Lyrics

You are the shadow in the doorway
Gently bleeding on your pickguard
And I wanna be the band-aid
Wrapped around your finger

You said you wanted to steal me away
So I packed a bag but you never came
And I know that you don't owe me anything
I'm just sick of loving meaning waiting

And you are so hard to hold
He'll call you up but he never shows

Why do you act like you don't when you do?
Just because I used to like you back in high school?
You've got your checklist of shitty excuses
And I've got a habit of making boys like you my muses

And you are so hard to hold 

He'll call you up but he never shows

  The song which I have chosen to use in my music video is 'He Never Shows' by Pom-Pom Squad (from their EP 'Hate It Here'). Primarily, I think that the song would be a good choice because it fits our brief - it is by an unsigned artist and does not have a pre-existing music video. Additionally, the song has a high-quality recording which would enhance the quality of the music video overall. I also think that it would be an appropriate choice for my project because the song has a clear genre - indie rock, with some influence from riot grrrl - granting many opportunities to include generic conventions in the creation of a realistic music video with consideration of potential appeal to a target audience. Furthermore, the lyrics have great potential for inspiring narrative elements within a music video, with themes of romantic betrayal. Plus, the clear beat of the song means that synchronised editing could be used; cutting to the beat is conventional for rock music videos and can enhance the dynamics of the music video, conveying energy. I have downloaded the song and contacted the artist, receiving permission to use it in my project.