Saturday 21 September 2013

David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj // Turn Me On



At the start of the video, we see straight away that the video uses Goodwin's theory of music match with the visuals, as we see a CGI female robot miming along to the lyrics of the song. This could also been seen as an intertextual reference to Bjork's music video for "All if Full of Love" as they use a white skinned robot in both videos, and they both share distinct visual similarities.

Also, David Guetta features within this music video, which is uncommon for a dance genre music video. This approves of Goodwin's theory, as he stated that the artist features within the video, with close-ups which is true for this video of David Guetta's. David Guetta does not feature in all of his videos, with examples being "She Wolf" and "Titanium".

This video also complies with Goodwin's theory of the lyrics matching up with the visuals, due to the fact that Nicki Minaj says "Make me come alive, come on and turn me on" as he appears to be constructing her, and being this robot he is making her come alive. The use of this gives the song a better meaning due to it fitting closely with the narrative of the video.

This video can be seen as a performance, due to the fact that the singer, Nicki Minaj, is miming along to the lyrics. This supports Goodwin's theory, as he stated that music videos are performance based, narrative based or concept based, with this video being performance based. This can also be seen as a narrative based music video, as it is about a doctor who creates people, which is shown through the video of having him create Nicki Minaj's character and also the lyrics stating "Make me come alive, come on and turn me on".

To conclude, I believe this video works well with Goodwin's music video theory more so than other dance music videos, as this features the artist with close-ups within the video (this being uncommon for this genre), also having intertextual referencing to another artist. This video still managers to come across as a dance music video, due to the style of song, the unique narrative and CGI it uses and people are now aware of who David Guetta is, and what kind of music he produces.




Friday 20 September 2013

Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch // Sweet Nothing



At the start of the song, we immediately see the artist who is singing the song. This is not a common characteristic of the genre of dance, as they usually have actors playing their role throughout the music video. The way the setting is created, makes it appear as if Florence is performing the song too an audience of people, which supports Goodwin's theory as he suggests that music videos are performance based, narrative based or concept based music video, with this video being performance based with a bit of narrative also.

Not only does the singer feature in the video, but so does the artist - Calvin Harris. This complies with Goodwin's theory of the artist featuring in the video, with close-ups. They use some close-ups of Calvin Harris, which is not a common genre characteristic of dance videos, as they tend to not even be in the video. In previous videos, he has not featured in his music videos like he has done for this video.

In this video, there is also a link between the music and the visuals, being complementary, which again is supporting Goodwin's theory, as as soon as the beat drops, Calvin Harris is punched in the face at the same point. This emphasises the fight, making it more dramatic. There is lots of cuts between him arguing with Florence and the fight scene, and with the music being played over the top makes it more fast paced, frantic and makes it come across as more violent.

The video also uses Goodwin's theory for link between music and visuals, but this time it contradicts, as it uses very dark lighting which goes against the song, due to the fact that the song seems upbeat and fast. This gives the narrative a darker tone.

As a whole, I think that this music video complies with Goodwin's theory more than most dance genre music videos, as it features the artist who made the song and who sings the song together, and they are both part of the narrative of the video. It also features miming, various close-ups of both Calvin Harris and Florence Welch, but still manages to come across as a dance music video, due to the visuals not particularly matching up with the lyrics, which again, is a common genre characteristic of dance videos.




Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith // La La La



Since the genre my group has selected is dance/house, I have decided to analyse La La La by Naughty Boy. At the start of the video, we are introduced to a young boy and his father. They seem to be having trouble, as the father is shouting at the boy. After this, there is a part where the video supports Goodwin's theory of lyrics matches the visuals, as the young boy places his fingers in his ears and then this matches up with the visuals as the lyrics state "La la la" and the young boy places his fingers in his ear and mimes this - as if he is trying to cancel out the noise from his father.

The video also has intertextual reference to the film Wizard of Oz. Throughout the video, the kid is walking around meeting various people. He first meets a dog, which is meant to represent The Cowardly Lion. After this, he stumbles across a man, who is almost all silver, whom is meant to represent The Tin Man. The video continues with the kid coming across a man working the traffic in a street, as if he is dancing to the beat of the song, who is also meant to represent The Scarecrow. With all of this, the kid maybe represent Dorothy. This gives the story a narrative, and acts as a tribute to the film Wizard of Oz. At the middle of the video, there is a shot of them all together, which again, is further showing the intertextual reference to Wizard of Oz


Due to this being a dance genre music video, there isn't much that matches up with Goodwin's theory. The artist of the song does not appear in the video, so there are no close-ups of the artist to try sell their brand. Also, the narratives of the music video tend to not match up with the lyrics, and tend to have completely random ideas. This have became a genre characteristic of dance music videos.

Overall, I believe that this music video shows what type of genre this belongs too, due to the music itself and how the narrative isn't as closely matched up with the lyrics as songs from the pop genre would be. Also, how the artist doesn't feature in the music video also shows what type of genre this is, due to the fact this has become standard with dance music videos and is becoming rare to see the artist feature in their own videos.

Thursday 19 September 2013

Journal #1 // initial ideas


We were ask to create a spider diagram for our artist, and then share this for the class to give us some ideas about our artist, and feedback on what works and what might not work. We used the headings of genre, video idea, song choice, possible names, the look and inspiration to help the class give us the best possible feedback. 

Our feedback was very good, with everything being said to work except for the possible names. We took this feedback, and opted to use a random name generator where we came up with the new name "Scott Garcia".

The Brief #2

Here is the changes we made to the Magma brief. We opted to change the name to Scott Garcia, as we felt that current trends show DJs using their own names. Also, we liked the sound of the name and felt it fitted well. We also changed the song choice to The Prodigy // Warriors Dance as we thought this song would work well with our music video idea. Here is the new brief.


The Brief #1

The brief my group has chosen (Lucy and Kate) have decided to go with the "Magma" brief. We decided to use this brief as we felt that the genre of dance/house would allow us to have a unique video idea, due to the conventions being free and loose of this genre. We also like this genre of music. Below is the music video brief. After much consideration, we have decided to change the name of the artist and the song choices. Our artist will be called _____ and the song we selected will be The Prodigy // Warriors Dance.


Tenacious D // Tribute // Goodwin Analysis

The Tenacious D // Tribute video is two band members telling a story. The whole music video is inside this singing booth where they are performing their own song, but has cuts to clips that match the lyrics. An example of this is where the lyrics state "Long time ago me and my brother Kyle here, // we was hitchhikin' down a long and lonesome road." This is a convention of Goodwin's theory, as he states lyrics and visuals match together - and here shows this as they are walking down a "lonesome road". This occurs throughout the music video, with another example being a mention of a demon and then a demon appears in the road. The use of this makes the video act as a story, and we are able to follow them through this story.

The video also complies with Goodwin's theory as the video features two-shots of the band members. The camera is positioned where the screen in which they select of song was, thus making it the notion of looking as it appears we are watching them.

This is also a close-up of the band. Close-ups are important for a music video as it helps the audience see who they actually are, creating an identity, make the audience feel closer to the singer and most importantly, help sell the artists brand.

Throughout the entire video, the lyrics are matching up to the visuals, the use of notion of looking is present and the use of close-ups all support Goodwin's theory.