Digipack Drafts

This Digipak is good as it links the title of the single to the imagery used whilst also having a midium close up of the artist which helps to promote his image. The way he is standing gives him a nonchalant look and helps to promote his image as cool and relaxed. The layout of this album is very simple and basic which will help the audience understand what they are seeing as it is not over complicated.

Our Track

We found an independent artist who has written and produced his own backing track. We will use this track for a majority of the film. As the lyrics tell a story we thought it would be a fantastic idea to introduce the song with a bit of dialogue. The song's story is about a man's depression after being left by his lover. We have a range of ideas for our music video and we have made a storyboard to give us a general guideline of what we would like our video to look like. However the artist is an soloist and i think this song would look better if it was performed by a band, so we have put together a band using people from school and using Will (the original artist) as the lead singer. I've talked this decision through with Will and he agreed that this is a good idea

Sven E. Carlsson's music video theory

• Music
- Sometimes the musical elements such as the tempo and the rhythm of the music shape the moving pictures.
- To create a link between the visual image and the music movements are often synchronised to the beat, such as footsteps and clapping, so that people in the music video seem to move in sync to the music.
• Lyrics
- The lyrics and the visual imagery on screen interact and create meaning.
- The lyrics of the song can take on new meanings through the use of metaphors, similes and other linguistic techniques.
- The greater the distance between the content of the lyrics and the visual imagery in terms of the linguistic techniques used, the more difficult it becomes for viewers to understand, and the harder it becomes for the audience to connect with the musician
- The environment is made to mirror the feelings of the lead characters, (pathetic fallacy)
• The image
- The visual imagery is supposed to represent the musician and his appearance. By manipulating colour, motive setting, story footage, clothing, etc the music video director is able to create ideas which are repeated and varied throughout the music video.
- The concept is to rearrange visual motifs so that the work forms a whole.

There are three forms of visual tradition in music videos they are: performance clip, narrative clips and art clip.
• Performance clip
- When a music video is mainly live filmed footage then it is a performance clip, which shows the vocalist in various scenarios such backstage at a concert or on stage or dancing or singing in a studio. There are three types of performance clip; song, dance and instrumental.
• Narrative clip
- A short silent movie to a musical background, a visual story that is easy to follow and usually relates to the lyrics of the song.
• Art Clip
- An art clip includes no visible visual narrative or connection to the lyrics and contains no lip-synchronized singing. This style of music video is usually stylist and is generally used in specialised genres, such as electro-acoustic

Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos

Andrew Goodwin has identified some key features which differentiate the music video as a form:

• There is a clear relationship between the visual images and the lyrics of the song, with the visual imagery exemplified, strenghtened or contradicting the lyrics.
• The genres in music videos are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography
• Record companies usually like to see lots of visuals of the main artist or vocalists as it helps to promote their image.
• A common feature within music videos is voyeurism, especially in the treatment of females. Examples of this are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, photos etc.
• There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.

Music Video Design Breif

The common themes within a music video are:
• The production is often a narrative or a performance

• There are often intertextual links. The best example of this is telephone by lady gaga. The links are usually things such as other songs (paper gangster, playing in exercise yard), films (kill bill, the intro font and the car they drive is the same as in the film) or other artists (Michael Jackson, Gaga performs a trademark dance move of Michaels as she leaves the prison).


• The visuals that we see on screen are often synchronized to the music to make it easier for the audience to understand, such as in ‘hey ya’ when the lyrics of the song correspond with the people on screen shaking poloroid pictures, as well as the dancing being in time with the beat.



• In nearly all music videos there are frames within frames, for example in Paramore’s video ‘hallelujah’ the use of a collage helps journey the audience from one scene to the next.

Music Analysis... Outkast- Hey Ya

This music video by the band Outkast is a narrative about a band’s first time performing in England. One of the most outstanding features of this music video is the fact that all members of the band are the same person. This is because it gives the artist maximum exposure on screen and will help to promote his image. Throughout this music video there are many shots shown within other frames, such as a television or a Polaroid. This feature helps the audience to relate to the things they are seeing on the television. Finally this music video successfully relates the lyrics and rhythm of the song to the moving images on the screen. An excellent example of this is when the lyrics say “shake it like a Polaroid picture” whilst the audience is shown a woman shaking a Polaroid. This makes the music video easier for the viewer to watch as all the words of the song are backed up by the moving images.

Music Analysis... Lady Gaga- Telephone

The next music video I am going to analyse is Telephone by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce. This video has got a huge amount of references to other texts, especially with the film ‘Kill Bill’. This is obvious as the opening sequence is the same font as the film’s and also the plot of both texts is a woman seeking revenge on a man. Also the truck driven in the music video is the same as in kill bill. This allows the audience to relate to the music video and the storyline. Also this music video is very sexual as it shows women dancing around the jail in their underwear. This is done to attract a larger male audience. Also there are many shots of lady Gaga in bizarre outfits which is a common feature as her style is very eccentric helping her to become unique and have a unique selling point. There are also links to her previous songs such as 'paper gangsters' which is playing in the excercise yard which will help attract her existing fans.