Change In Concept: 'Menswear' to 'Shimmer'

My original idea to make a music video for the song 'Menswear' by The 1975 hasn't worked out as the locations I intended to use are not accessible. For this reason I am changing songs to a new concept, 'Shimmer' by the emo-punk band 'Moose Blood'.

My idea for this video is a guy who is missing an ex-girlfriend, the video shows close-up and extreme close up shots of the girl in environments such as wooded areas, the moors and in a bedroom. In between these shots I will have takes of the guy (potentially the lead singer of the song) walking down a dimly lit cobbled street - as mentioned in the song. I will also have the guy laying on the sofa, lip-synching with the lyrics at that point in the song. At the same time he will be staring out of the window at a street light outside - the camera will be at a low angle that shows the 'protagonists' face and the street light in the same shot. I am not 100% that this narrative is the intended meaning of the song but it is the narrative I have created in my head. At the end of the song there is a gap in the song where I wish to have a faded blackout. When the heavier music drops back in, I am going to have car headlights behind the lead singer with a guitar playing the 'riff' and moving in time with the music. Up until the last line of the lyrics where it cuts to the lead singer stood in-front of the headlights and the girl walks into the centre of the shot to meet the guy. As the music fades out, the shot will fade out.

Target Audience Research Analysis

100% of the respondents from my questionnaire were actively interested in music music videos and in the age range of 16-24. Therefore making all of their responses valid to my research.

Firstly, 40% of the people had Pop as their favourite genre of music, same for Rock. However, only 20% preferred the Indie genre. This means I may have to adapt my music video to contain more Pop and Rock themes rather than Indie. I could have sections in black and white and sections with bright colours.

Secondly, 100% of respondents access music videos from the internet, this suggests that they are involved in technology and can relate to that aspect of life. Therefore I should attempt to include technology within my video. I should also make sure that this video is accessible on the internet, for example on YouTube.

Additionally, 60% of respondents prefer narrative music videos to concept videos. This isn't an overwhelming majority and therefore I could attempt to include both concept and narrative elements in my video. Maybe I will deviate slightly from the meaning behind the video to display some conceptual ideas within that.

Finally, my narrative video will relate to the lyrics because it is easier to create a narrative based upon a narrative that is already being told, plus, 100% of respondents prefer music video visuals that are related directly to the lyrics.

Menswear Music Video Lyric Annotation

"Well I only brought 3, what you lookin' at me for?"

She's dressed in white and putting off crying.

"Well you're the best man, so what's the plan?

Why don't you talk to Matty about it?"

I said, "I only brought 3 like I told you before,

We're gonna have to ask about."

Free bar, that's the point.

Spilling Amaretto 'cause of previous joints.

I'm sitting with a girl, fortunate placing.

Preceding railing racket off a porcelain basin.

Who's he? Giving it the lips?

I've never seen him knockin' about.

He looks just like me, but 6 foot 3,

So I reckon you could knock him out.

"Well, I think I'll say a couple of words if you don't mind...

I never really got on with your bird the first time

I met her out, dressed in nowt, telling everybody you were shagging about."

Well, who's this? Going for the kiss,

I'm probably gonna yosh in your mouth.

Because it's 5 past 3, I can hardly see and I'm on the verge of passing out.

TIME	LYRIC	SHOT(S)	FX
00:00 - 00:10		high angle, main character passed out on the street	slow motion
00:10 - 00:19		reverse tracking shot of main character stumbling up a road	slow motion
00:19 - 00:39		reverse tracking shot with a bright light/band rectangle flashing filling the screen on the beat	slow motion
00:39 - 00:42		when the clicks happen, the focus should be pulled away from the character and then back on	slow motion
00:42 - 00:49		the main character walks up the steps of a hotel and as the beat changes, the main character walks reverse through the door into the hallway of a hotel	slow motion
00:49 - 1:14		a few tracking shots following the main character walking through the hallway, at 1:14 when the beat changes again, the character walks through the door and into the main reception for the wedding	slow motion
1:14 - 1:43		reverse walking through the reception away from a woman with people around him looking disgusted at the main character. Possibly with a fight also in the background (the main character is always the focal point of the shot)	slow motion
1:43 - 1:48	Well I only brought 3, what you lookin' at me for?	an interaction between the main character and another male who is asking him about drugs but the main character is attempting to get away from him	none
1:48 - 1:52	She’s dressed in white and putting off crying	at the end of this argument with the other character, the main character points towards  a woman (the bride) looking distressed in the corner of the room with a group of other women	none
1:52 - 1:57	Well you’re the best man, so what’s the plan? Why don't you talk to Matty about it?	a panning shot with motion blur to the male character talking to the best man. the main character (Matty) is out of focus in the background of the shot.	none
1:57 - 2:02	I said, "I only brought 3 like I told you before, We're gonna have to ask about."	over the shoulder shot of Matty leaning on a bar with a drink. that character comes back behind him. However he doesn't turn to look at him when he’s lip-synching the words.	none
2:02 - 2:07	Free bar, that's the point. Spilling Amaretto 'cause of previous joints.	main character being followed by the character from behind still with the drink, he drunkenly puts down the drink with force on a table and at the same time sits himself next to a woman sat a the table	none
2:07 - 2:13	I'm sitting with a girl, fortunate placing. Preceding railing racket off a porcelain basin.	over the shoulder shot, facing Matty and over the woman’s shoulder. Matty is clearly not listening and the woman gets frustrated but carries on talking.	none
2:13 - 2:17	Who's he? Giving it the lips? I've never seen him knockin' about.	two shot of Matty talking to the woman still but he turns behind him to the best man from before to point out a man getting rowdy by the bar	none
2:17 - 2:22	He looks just like me, but 6 foot 3, So I reckon you could knock him out.	mid shot of the main character lip synching into the camera. punching the air, the shot changes as the character spins and his back is facing the camera.	none
2:22 - 2:30	"Well, I think I'll say a couple of words if you don't mind... I never really got on with your bird the first time I met her out…”	Matty turns from facing away from the camera to facing towards at a medium shot. lip-synchs these lines in his speech accompanied by drunken dance moves. He is holding a drink in the air like a ‘toast’ and is surrounded by the people previously seen in the video, sat down.	none
2:30 - 2:37	“…I met her out, dressed in nowt, telling everybody you were shagging about." Well, who's this? Going for the kiss, I'm probably gonna yosh in your mouth.	main character moves away from the ‘toast’ while still lip synching with related actions. when he gets just behind his chair is the the woman he was talking to earlier throwing herself at him but he pushes her away.	none
2:37 - 2:43	Because it's 5 past 3, I can hardly see and I'm on the verge of passing out.	final bit of lip synching with the protagonist walking towards the camera, stationed just outside the door of the reception. he walks from medium shot to close up.	none
2:43 - 2:52		fade to a black out
2:52 - 3:00		first person shots, of the main character walking to the bathroom	slow motion
3:00 - 3:02		referencing some of the lyrics that aren't already referenced, such as, the main character will do a line of cocaine in the bathroom of the hotel.	sped up
3:02 - 3:26		similar shots to the opening section but in first person and in forward motion.	all of these shots switch on the beat from having a red filter to blue filter.

Music Video Analysis 5: Stressed Out - Twenty One Pilots

Stressed Out - TØP (Mark C. Eshleman) 2015

The music video 'Stressed Out' has a connection between the lyrics and the visuals throughout the music video with certain shots  having a direct link to what is seen on screen, while having this link it also features a lot of performance from the band. In the chorus of the song the lyrics say 'Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days, Whenever these lyrics are sung in the chorus the visuals will link, they link by showing stereotypical activities that were done when you were a child, things that are acceptable to do as a child. These are some examples: 

 In this shot the artist is riding a tricycle, riding a tricycle is stereotypically a childs activity which is linking back to the lyrics that they wish they could go back to their childhood and relive activities from their past, when they didn't have to care about anything but playing out in the street.         

 Here they are doing a long handshake which is something children do as a greeting when they meet. 

They are sat on the pavement drinking juice which is another children's activity.  

The band are in a bedroom playing music which is something that they most likely did for fun when they were children. 

All these things are activities which are done when you're a child, when you didn't have any worries, this links to the lyrics 'now we're stressed out' because they are no longer playing games with no worries they are now adults living a life which has lots of responsibility which has caused him to become stressed. The artist is clearly not happy and would prefer if they go back to when they were not stressed again linking to the lyrics 'wish we could turn back time'. The whole idea of the song is about how he wishes he could go back to when he was younger because things in his life are a lot harder now and the music video links to this and keeps reminding the audience of this meaning throughout the video

This music video doesn't follow genre characteristics, the genre of music in this video is pop. Pop music videos are usually bright bold and colourful, they usually feature lots of dancing and performance. In this video it is mainly dull and boring colours not like pop videos which are very colourful this is more sad, this is not following the usual characteristics of a pop music video. It is also not very fast paced which is often the case for pop music videos and the amount of performance isn't has much as which would feature in a normal pop characteristics. 

                                               

Stereotypical Pop Music Video                                                 

Stressed Out

There is a little bit of performance involved in this music video but it is different to a usual performance, it is less professional because they are performing in a bedroom with just a drum kit and a mic. Throughout the video the artist is singing a lot at different parts but he is just singing so the performance is very stripped back. 

Shot Types:

In the music video for stressed out there is a variety if shot types used, a lot of the shot types are usually repeated throughout the video, here are some examples:

Long Shot

 Mid Shot

 Over the shoulder

 Two Shot

 Medium Close up Shot

 Wide Shot

Close Up Shot

In this video there is references to 'looking' this is when the singer directly looks into the camera lens, this happens in Close Up style shots, doing this can create a sense of direct connection with the audience. Linking to this is the use of star treatment, the singer is singled out in a lot of the shots used, this is done with many shot types and the editing will keep returning to shots of this person.

Pace:

The pace of the video changes appropriately throughout the video. The video is edited to fit the change in music, for example when it is the verse the shot change will be slow and shots will last a long time on screen but when the song reaches the chorus this changes and the shots change a lot quicker fitting the pace of the music, this then repeats when the song goes to another verse.

Mise-en-Scene:

Looking at the mise-en-scene the video includes a lot of red the video is discreet places such as all the cars in the background are all red. The colour red links to the colour of the band, the colour red also appears on the clothing of the artists, this is to remind the audience who they re watching and listenig to when they are looking at the video.

Music Video Analysis 4: Thriller - Michael Jackson

Thriller - Michael Jackson (John Landis) 1983

The relationship between visuals and lyrics: 

In the music video for thriller there is a direct connection between the lyrics and visuals, it is a mix between a concept video and performance, it tends to switch between the two. The visuals and lyrics do link directly for example 'Its close to midnight, and something evils lurking in the dark' as this lyric is sung the visuals match it because it is at nigh and the scene looks very spooky. All together the visuals and lyrics constantly link together which means the audience can understand what is going on in the video easily and can follow the story without struggling.


Intertextuality: 

There isn't a huge amount of intertextuality in this music video but it does link to the cinema, film and horror films. The video switches from a movie to then the audience watching people watch a movie. It links to film culture and horror films, the music video shows a snippet of a horror film which the main characters are watching at the start of the video. This is referencing the horror film culture.

Performance: 

In this music video there is a mix of performance and concept and it switches between the two throughout the video, because the video is not just music and a lot of it is concept there is about an equal balance between the two. The performance part of the video is very good, the artist is portrayed as the main character and the lead role, the whole performance is around him. It is a lot different from a common performance meanig there is no band just normally playing. The performance is linked into the concept and is threaded through instead of the performance section being a completely different shot and scene eg the woman is being chased by zombies in the story but then they change to the zombies dancing. 

Part of the Story (Being chased by zombies)

 Performance ( Zombies dancing)

There is a lot of dancing done in this music video, the dancing is done very well and instead of it just being normal dancing, it is done in a very unique way with a specialized dance which became iconic. During the performance there are many shot types used for example wise shots, long shots and close up shots. The dancing was very organised and choreographed well and clearly had a lot of time spent into making it perfect.

Narrative: 

There is a clear narrative in this music video, the director clearly wanted to make the narrative easy to follow so the audience didn't struggle when watching and just enjoyed, this is why they included the start and last bit to add more of a story and make the video not just the music. There is narrative closure and the story ends meaning the audience have closure on the plot.

Mode of address/Star treatment: 

There are moments in the music video when characters look into the camera, this doesn't seem to be done to address the audience or tell them anything, it is simply just done for the effect. At the end of the video there is an iconic stand out point when the main character turns their head and looks straight into the camera, this creates an effect of cliffhanger because it makes the audience ask more questions and think more about the story of the video. There is a clear use of star treatment used in the thriller video. The star is singled out very obviously and it is made obvious to the audience who the main character is. This is done by the editing, there are mainly more shots which include the main character then the other character and the shots keep returning to Michael to make the audience understand who is the most important to follow.

Example of mode of address

Pace: 

The pace of the video is more or less the same speed throughout the majority of the video. Each shot usually has the same amount of time on screen, there aren't any really long shots or really quick shots until the chorus of the song. At some points in the chorus there is a change in pace and it it speeds up with faster shot changes and more shot variety.

Shot Variety: 

There is a lot of shot variety used in this music video, every shot type is used more than once, in just the opening minute most of the different shot types are used. Below are some examples of the different shot types used.

Close Up

Medium Close Up

Close Up

Extreme Close Up 

 Wide Shot

 Long Shot

 Extreme Wide/Long Shot

Mise-en-scene/location:

 The mise-en-scene and location was clearly very carefully though about when making this music video and it is also very important, if it was not done correctly the director wouldn't have been able to create the same spooky effect and impact the audience as much as it did.