Geri Halliwell - It's Raining Men Analysis

This is a video we all analysed in class and made notes upon. Kelsey typed up the notes so that all of us didn't have to as we all had the same notes, these are them below.



This video is set in many different locations and is focused mainly on the physical body. It has a theme based around the musicals Fame and Flashdance.
Intertextuality- many themes are used including Fame and Flashdance.
The camera shots are nearly all from the front showing Geri Halliwell face on. Many people star in this production and it is very energetic and lively.
At the beginning the first words of the song are “humidity’s rising“and the camera shot moves upwards to match the lyrics. Later during the video when the words “getting low” are sung the camera shot moves downwards.
During the chorus more dancers join in, in a carnival style with lots of colour and dynamic dancing. But up until them the colours in the video have been mainly black and white.

During the first scenes the dancer is not identified. This video is based around the empowerment of women and launched Geri Halliwell as a solo singer. She used this opportunity to present herself in a new way and to show off her new slender and lean body.

There is a contrast between the judges being dressed in suits and the dancers dressed in leotards and leg warmers. The judges are dressed very formally in business suits and are looking at her over their glasses and frowning showing that they are not impressed. Half way through the video Geri kisses the head judge trying to break down any barriers that there may be between them.

The video is mainly a song and dance routine with excerpts from both Fame and Flashdance included in the sequences.
The record scene relates to Flashdance and enables her to mess up as the needle on the record slips. There are also shots showing other students ridiculing her from the doorway.

Diegetic noise of the dancers’ footsteps can be heard as well as traffic and the needle going around the record on the record player
The sequences of fragmented body shots create a feeling of anticipation.
The fact that a record is being played on a record player shows that this is set in pre CD era.

First close up
Formal made of address
As music starts she is looking at her feet or the judges.
The shot at foot level showing the judges tapping their feet is reoccurring all through the video and there is lots of movement of the cameras with her. There are also over the shoulder shots which show us the judges’ perspective.
There are many quick cuts to show the vigorous pace of the video.
The second half of the video is much more colourful and shows her in many different outfits, it also shows her doing lots of different physical activities including running down the corridor to rehearsals (links to American school), aerobics, curl ups ,kickboxing and even ballet. This is to depict that men can not be relied upon and women lead the way.
The last section of the video is set outside in a New York street with lots of colour including a yellow taxi showing an extremely up -beat mood and full of life, although the weather is raining. She is wearing a top with “famous” on it which looks like the Fame logo.

Bullet for my Valentine - Tears Don't Fall analysis

-Mainly performance with a bit of narrative - band playing instruments

-Close ups mostly - mostly of the lead singer

-Bluey/Grey lighting making the video pale and Gothic

-Editing gets faster on the instrumental

-Moving shots - the camera is hardly ever static

-The rain makes is more powerful and emotive

Girls Aloud - Biology Analysis

-The band actually performs through dance and singing

-There is no instrumental band

-There is no narrative

-Very stylised with 5 different costume changes

-Wide shots to include the whole band and closes ups to focus on the person singing solo

-The camera is quite static just panning when the scene changes

-Lots of cross dissolves which are common in pop videos

-Bright colours and lighting are used to create a happy up beat feeling in the audience

Inspiration

In class we watched a lot of videos from previous years and one of the ideas we liked was from one video where they filmed a rose blossoming. We wanted to do this idea but we wanted to have the rose blossoming and then wilting but we thought this would take to long. We have now adapted the idea so that we record the petals falling of the rose rather than it blooming and dyeing.

We also watched a lot of videos on Youtube to do with clowns, one of the videos I found was of Pennywise the scary clown for the film IT. It was clips from the movie and on of the clips was of a man in the back of a taxi and at the side of the road he sees Pennywise with a bunch of balloons and when he turns back to face forward he has a balloon next to him in the taxi. I showed the rest of the group this clip and we all agreed it would fit into our video nicely because it is strange. We adapted the idea to fit in with our video, instead of the girl being in a taxi we would have her walking past the clown in the woods and then she will turn round and find a ballon in her left hand.



One of the videos Georgina found was a music video of a song called The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson. In the video everyone are clowns apart from the main character, everyone thinks she is weird and laughs at her but there is one man who is in love with her and likes her the way she is. We took inspiration for the clown make up from this video and there is also a shot of the main character being held from behind by the clown in a loving way, we want to add this to our video but for it to be more menacing.

Music Video Conventions Depending on Genre

Pop: videos are usually very upbeat, bright and fast paced which makes them appealing to a young audience. If the lyrics and the tempo of the music is more sad the whole tone of the video will be brought down but it will still be quite bright and the artist would probably be in a more sophisticated outfit than if the video is more positive.
-Bright and colourful settings and lighting.
-The camera pans and zooms to catch the movement and emotion of the artist.
-Close ups of the artist are used to show the happy emotions.
-Artist or band perform in some way usually by actually lip syncing the words of the song.
-There is usually a dance sequence which illustrates some of the lyrics.
-There are not usually any instruments present as not many pop bands actually play their own instruments.
-Very stylised – there are often many costume changes throughout the video.

Indie: there is often a mixture of narrative and performance and sometimes the whole band performs and other times just the main vocalist sings. When Indie music videos do have a narrative they are often quite symbolic and do not literally follow the lyrics.
-There is a variety of close ups to show the main artist singing and other band mates performing as well as wide shots of the whole band.
-The colour of the video changes depending on the lyrics of the song and the tempo of the music it can be bright, dark and sometimes black and white.
-Special effects are sometimes used.
-Editing is usually quite fast paced depending on the music.
-The band wears casual clothing.

Rock/ Metal: the lighting and the setting is often very dark giving the video a mysterious, scary and edgy tone.
-The band usually performs in the video. The performance is often very dark and scary and the artists are usually dressed in black, with multiple piercings and dark make up on their faces adding to the scary stereotypical Rock/Metal look.
-Sometimes there is a narrative which will reflect the dark melancholy tone of the music and the lyrics.
-There is a variety of close ups to show the main artist singing and other band mates performing as well as wide shots of the whole band.
-Special effects are sometimes used.
-Editing is fast paced reflecting the hard, loud and fast music.

Hip Hop: there is never really a strong storyline in Hip Hop videos it is more about a massive party with attractive women in skimpy outfits and lots of expensive things such as cars, houses and gadgets. The colours in the video are often quite bright which usually emphasises all of the expensive things like jewellery and brand named clothing.
-As the setting is usually a party there is often lots of people dancing and alcohol is usually present.
-Close ups are used to show the artists assets like expensive jewellery and also to show them singing the words.
-Mostly wide and long shots are used so that you can see a lot of expensive things.

Music Video conventions

These are the 5 main elements which go into making a music video.

The Lyrics: are there to create a mood or establish an emotion or a sense of subject rather than a logical meaning. In ever genre of music there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics, within the video, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

The Music: maybe emphasised in the video by the band actually performing or dancing in instrumental parts of the song. The lyrics do not always match the pace and so the editing may reflect the music where as the shots match the lyrics. For example Crying Blood by VV Brown.

The Editing: always follows the pace of the music and so if the music is slow then the editing is slow and vice versa. Some music videos contain fast cut montage sequences which makes the view want to watch it more than once in case they have missed something the first time.

The Camera Work: will change depending on the genre of the music. The movement, angle and shot distance would be very different between Pop and Metal videos.

The Genre: of the music determines the conventions used in the video and the target audience. There are many different genres of music these days and they all have their own set of codes and conventions which a viewer would expect to see. The mise-en-scène, lighting, editing and camera work would be different depending on the genre of music is playing, for example a Rock video would not have bright colours and the artist in highly branded clothing like Hip Hop videos are.

Music videos today are used to promote the artist or band and help sell their records. When an artist or a band first start out they often have videos which do not have a narrative and just show the artists performing, this is so the artist can attract a wide range of viewers and the viewer can start to become familiar with the artist. When the band or artist is better known they can use a more of a narrative approach to their music video which allows them to interpret the lyrics in a more literal way making more of a short film then a music video. If you take Lady GaGa for instance in her first video “Just Dance” there was not much of a story and it was more about her performing. The camera shots used where mostly close up so that the viewer could familiarise themselves with her. As she has become more well known her costumes have become more extravagant and eccentric and if you take her latest video “Telephone” you can see that it is a much longer video, it has a storyline and there are lots of shots of her body parts and extra actors rather than her face.