Research in to music video production

The first half of this video gives a good insight into the process of planning for a music video shoot, from breaking the song down for visuals and a narrative to the planning of how to shoot the video. What was interesting is that he essentially used his own video production process as a case study for producing a music video, not only does it illustrate in a step-by-step manner the ways in which the video is created, but by doing this it juxtaposes the end product with the process of production which illustrates how the use of camera, mise-en-scene and framing can create meaning; it's also helpful in the way it shows how you can be creative whilst working with the conventions of a genre.

Research and planning: Cinematography Techniques

This video will help the project in that it provides a good insight in the manipulation of shots to help further the narrative transposing layers of meaning through composition; displaying a variety of these methods (with clear examples) is helpful in gaining a wider knowledge of meaning behind film language, this will be helpful to project given that the video will be a narrative music video and therefore the utilization of these techniques will help to make the narrative clear to the audience.

Audience Profile

The typical audience for this music video will be that of the punk audience, stereotypically teenage to 35 year old male, either student or middle class- usually with quite a bit of disposable income (however that isn't to say there isn't a strong female presence in the punk audience, it's just the majority are male). How they dress will depend mainly on what they listen to, almost splitting into factions, from the teenage pop-punkers with their dyed hair, skinny jeans and Hot Topic style T-shirts, to the hardcore punks with spiked hair (usually coloured), army boots, leather jackets (with excessive studs), along with black jeans (which may be covered in band patches).

The video will probably appeal more so to the hardcore punk demographic, as it will be more in line with the type of music they listen to, that being fast, hard and abrasive punk rock, such as Black Flag, The Descendents, Bad Brains and Fear, though they do listen to more melodic type fare, like The Dead Kennedys, which whilst being a punk band, it did have quite an experimental attitude, and the fact that the band didn't resort to three power chord songs.The hobbies of this demographic, can range from that of watching TV/films and reading books, to that of brewing their own beer and playing Warhammer (according to the punk subreddit).

Though the video may even attract some of the folk-punk demographic, being that they mostly got into that genre through being fans of more abrasive general punk rock and still holding a reverence for it (this is even true of some folk-punk artists, for instance Andrew Jackson Jihad even reference by using iconic riffs in certain songs (the key riff from California Uber Alles in Joe Arpagio is a Punk)), whilst also celebrating the more experimental side, as shown by the fan base for The Taxpayers (which at times goes into jazz-punk). The folk-punk demographic is just like that of the hardcore, with anarchistic tendencies and a similar choice in fashion, so it wouldn't be stretching too far to say that it would attract that demographic.

Mood Board

https://uk.pinterest.com/kyleholden263/mood-board/

Punk Music Videos Generic Conventions

Music Video Generic conventions

Textual Analysis of Devo-Beautiful World Part 1

Textual analysis for Devo-Beautiful World
The clip opens with close up of a control panel being toyed with, by some unseen character, this is synchronized with the synth beats denoting to the audience that the videos is for a synth-pop/new wave band, furthering this point id the fact that the control panel itself does look like a synth; given the look of it, it's use of bright colours (blues, reds) and lights is evocative of '50s atomic age sci-fi, the video uses this iconography throughout the video to mock the '50s idealized view of the world.

The video then cuts to close up shots of flowers blossoming in time-lapse (and in time with the rise of the synth beats) , this creates connotations of growth, innocence and new beginnings, this all fits in with the audience's preconceptions of what an ideal world is and is therefore used (as most of the footage is in the video) to create this conventional view of a "beautiful world"- this is playing on a superficial interpretation of the song's lyrics to play with the audience's conceptions , though this is later subverted by use of harsher imagery (with the common theme of war, death and intolerance) that is used to challenge this idealized view of the world as the sardonic nature of the song is made all the more clear; this could be seen as an attack on the way the media represents the world around us (these images are after all shown via a large TV), and the rejection of reality in favor of an artificial idealized representation.

The opening of the video also introduces the character of Booji Boy to the audience, by way of a medium close up, the fact that the character is edited between the clips, and seems to react to them makes it clear that he is meant to be an audience cipher, this point is further strengthened by the way he seems to control the images via the panel (shown here by the lever he pulls), this is a reflection of how the audience would be viewing the video. In keeping with Goodwin's theory on the conventions of music videos, it is also creating a star image that is recognizable to the audience.

These two shots of flowers blooming in close up again carry on this "call and response" editing between Booji Boy and the screen images; the use of colour carries on the running theme of the mise-en-scène, that being of pastel colours, which connote a sense of happiness, but whilst also being artificial. By framing them in close ups in the center of the frame, it makes it the focus of the shot, this is heightened by the shallow depth of field which renders the background in decipherable- this could be read as encapsulating the message of the video and song, that being with something pretty in the fore, it is distracting us from what is going on in the background.

Also, in the second shot, featuring the flower releasing white buds that take over the screen, this is then used as a graphic match to a shot of rolling clouds.

Cinematography wise, the shot pulls back from the image of the clouds to reveal the set, this creates the idea of pulling back ans looking at the whole image, this is central to the message of the song.
The mise-en-scene, both alludes to the band's recently released album at the time ("New Traditionalists"), by way of incorporating Roman pillars in the background of the video- these recur in the other videos supporting this album, almost forming a motif throughout them; this is then conforming to Roy Shuker's 2001 theory, stating that music videos are "promotional devices" used to encourage record sales. Though given the way in which the video is presented, it lends itself more to being a far more artistic venture, given the nature of message of the video, the sardonic nature of the lyrics and the general way it is delivered (via archival footage)- this would then put as a conceptual clip in Sven E Carlsson's (1999) types of music video- this is shown in the music video in the mise-en-scene by the use of pastel colours which are put into direct juxtaposition with the black and white visuals on the monitor. This is used by the video to contrast the initial idyllic view of the world that is presented, with that of the hate and intolerance that is shown in the video later.
It also introduces the idea of Gerald Casale being a televised bard, guiding us through the plethora of images, using the song's lyrics to provide some context.

The next shot is a closer shot of the monitor, this focuses on Gerald Casale as a televised bard; his positioning makes him appear to be talking directly to Booji Boy (looking to the left of the screen), before making a direct address towards us while stating "it's a beautiful world" (breaking the forth wall). His hand movements during the sequence reprise the imagery of the opening, that of flowers in bloom, creating connotations of the happiness and new beginnings, but it could also be seen as drawing the viewers attention to the images that appear on screen- which is '50s stock footage of women and leisure; this almost seems as though it is criticizing the use of the male gaze and women as stock items in other videos.

The Booji Boy character moves in time with the lyric "for you", this further stresses the breaking if the forth wall and directly addressing the audience. He also pulls down on the lever in time with the synth beat, this again links back to the mechanical nature of the music production.

Initial Ideas For Music Video