MUSICVID #11: Lana Del Rey - High By The Beach

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The loop cuts
• The jump cuts
• The insert cuts
• Can't really just stick to a single performance and performance in one, but have the performers walk around while the lyrics are playing
• neither would it maybe bring out as much potential not having the singer sing towards the camera, but having him/her not doing it first and then going straight to the audience would give the narrative a nice journey and can have a jump effect for the audience 

ACT: Lana Del Rey

TRACK: High By The Beach

ALBUM: Honeymoon

YEAR: 2015
DIRECTOR: Jake Nava
GENRE: Power pop, Trap-pop
LABEL: Interscope, Polydor (both owned by UMG)
SINGLE?: Yes, lead single, released 5 weeks before the album

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT:

• Lana Del Rey is an American musician with retro-style, dealing with very long-drawn and issues 
• She started out by directing her music videos by herself, however as she has gone on to major label status she follows the norm of having other directors do it (did her label force her to do it?)

PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE OR CONCEPT?
Performance and concept, however as is often typical Del Rey performs in the same space of the narrative/concept with a seamless flow, playing the usual persona she has created for herself.

INTRO

We start with a diegetic intro with camera in extreme long shot tracking forward across the sea, there is diegetic sound of water.

The camera zooms in

The song starts more or less as we can see Del Rey steps out onto the balcony.

Newspapers falling out of the wreckage, press paparazzi. 

There was later even a case of a fan being sent to prison due to following Lana Del Rey

PHOTOGRAPHY THEORY #1: Henri Cartier-Bresson

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

Still plan things through thoroughly, but still keep an eye out, one image on the digipak may come through serendipity. 

From a beginner's guide to photography by The Telegraph 

In his own words:

“We photographers deal in things that are constantly vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth which can bring them back again.” 

“Composition must be one of our constant preoccupations, but at the moment of shooting it can stem only from our intuition, for we are out to capture the fugitive moment, and all the interrelationships involved are on the move.”  

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression.” 

What's it about? 

"The decisive moment", an idea that has defined street photography and photojournalism as we know it, was first outlined in the preface to a book of photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson. The essay starts with Cartier-Bresson charting his life so far as a photographer – from messing around with a Box Brownie as a child to co-founding Magnum Photos – before talking through his approach to photography. According to Cartier-Bresson, there is an almost magical split-second in which events in the world – interactions between people, movement, light and form – combine in perfect visual harmony. Once it passes, it is gone forever. To capture such moments as a photographer you must be inconspicuous, nimble and attentive; working on instinct; responding to reality and never trying to manipulate it. Composition cannot be planned, nor can it be added in afterwards. Cropping will invariably make a good shot worse and is unlikely to make a bad shot better. Camera settings shouldn't be something the photographer even thinks about – taking a photograph should be like changing gears in a car. 

How to sound as if you've read it: 

Be ready and reactive. Don't get hung up on kit and, most importantly, keep it real.

EXAMPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Click here.

TECHS iPhone: Google Calendar TBC

I hope this will help me much more with planning

*Insert screenshots of downloading and setting up app*

DIGIPAK RESEARCH - Best Hits Lists

THE GUARDIAN

Interview with designers with music critic Dave Simpson:

...

• The Beatles: The White Album 
• Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa 
• Kraftwerk: Autobahn
• Hawkwind: In Search Of Space
• Iggy Pop: Lust For Life
• The Pixies: Doolittle
• Tbc

.,.,


MORE LISTS

• https://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/music/50-coolest-album-covers/77005
• Some abstract images among this one.
• http://www.billboard.com/photos/6715351/best-album-covers-of-all-time
• Still some fine art in 2016 with album covers.
• https://www.discogs.com/lists/Rolling-Stones-100-Greatest-Album-Covers/25102

AWARDS FOR ALBUM ARTWORK DESIGNERS:
https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/illustration/best-album-art-2017-nominees-past-winners-of-best-art-vinyl-awards-be-exhibited/

MUSICVID #14: Sigala - Sweet Lovin'

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The urban locations

ACT: Sigala 

TRACK: Sweet Lovin'

ALBUM: Non-album single

YEAR: 2015
GENRE: Tropical house
DIRECTOR: 
LABEL:  (owned by UMG)
SINGLE?: Yes

NARRATIVE ENIGMA

White fading in Extreme long shot, mist stopping full view of woman, signifying she is going to be important for the narrative. 

BRANDING

REPRESENTATION

ETHNICITY: ...

AGE: A late teen/early 20s something character reading a newspaper, very countertypical image, one would expect a smartphone, like the extra in The Pixies's Bagboy

GENDER: Only women dancing at the end.

POSSIBLE TRACK: Depeche Mode's Slow

Take it slow. Slower track, slower editing.


...

GENRE RESEARCH #3 - Popular Genres of music

There are always new subgenres developing, some not always welcome:

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/entertainment-arts-39512463

While there are some overlaps with art and traditional music, popular music as defined by AllMusic can be divided into following genres:

• Pop

• Rock

• Electronic

Acts: Depeche Mode

Industrial: Nine Inch Nails

• Jazz

• Blues

• R&B and Soul

• Hip hop
• Avant-garde 
• Latin
• African
• Asian
• Caribbean and Caribbean-influenced
• Country
• Folk
• Easy Listening
• Comedy

ORIGINAL ARTIST VID #2: John, Im Only Dancing

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES: 

• Character of Ziggy Stardust, sci-fi influences
• 
  
• 
  

ACT: David Bowie
TRACK: John, I'm Only Dancing
ALBUM: Non-album single
YEAR: 1972
GENRE: Glam rock
DIRECTOR: Mick Rock
LABEL:  RCA Records (owned by SME)
SINGLE?: Yes

BACKGROUND

• Life On Mars and Space Oddity, this video is less known, it being his first proper one.
• Details his love for Japanese Theatre
• Was banned on Top Of The Pops 

...

MUSICVID #13 Depeche Mode - Strangelove

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The scenes with the women 

ACT: Depeche Mode
TRACK: Strangelove 
ALBUM: Music For The Masses
YEAR: 1987
DIRECTOR: Anton Corbijn (the band's stalwart director)
GENRE: Electronic, post-punk, synth-pop
SINGLE?: Yes, lead single released five months before the full album. The version used for the video was the single version, different on the album (same as the third single, Behind The Wheel)
LABEL: Mute Records (owned by TBA)

The MTV carried out censorship on this video due to overly sexual material of nudity

In the USA, MTV objected to some of the more revealing footage of the models and the video was edited to replace them with images of the band.

IN SUMMARY

• Use of lip-synching interesting not always when lyrics are playing and the band is on screen, there are some pauses, similar to Lana Del Rey's High By The Beach.
• Voyeuristic use of camera angles, reminds me slightly of Peeping Tom.
• The end looks like outtakes/bloopers, the band and models laughing, takes away some of the dark themes hinted at throughout the video of sexual depravity. Reminds me of what the Year 11 students Neo and Ruslan and Olivier and Christian did as part of their GSCE coursework)
• Representation of ethnicity (choice to have a non-Caucasian model, was this still challenging then?)

References to their other videos.

Dave Gahan falling down, reference to Shake The Disease video?

Mundane, casual characters walking by, also used in Corbjin's visualisation of their 1997 single Useless.

AUDIENCE THEORY #5: Uses + Gratifications Theory

Uses + Gratifications Theory is a more active audience theory in direct contrast to the hypodermic syringe model. 

1. Diversion
2. Personal Relationships
3. Personal Identity or Individual Psychology
4. Surveillance

POSSIBLE MV INFLUENCES #27 - CUs + ECUs TBC

That is simply beautiful. Very good way to start the video and keep it there for a bit, not to give the audience too much exposition so you've got nowhere to go.

Here is colour-coded, Sonic Youth's Kool Thing:

Could have it projected on a screen. Maybe ask the Cinematheque for permission to film there.

Suede's Barriers, close-ups of bodies and instruments.

MV RESEARCH - Parody Vids

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:
Audience members might do parody UGC videos of my video. 

A parody music video from the BBC comedy sketch show starring Rowan Atkinson before his Blackadder and Mr Bean international fame, echoing already some concern that video is becoming too dominant over song? This is from 1982, a period when the music video was in a high creative surge.




In the last season two years earlier the comedy team had also written and composed their own song and put visuals to it.

MUSICVID #12: George Michael - Outside

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The Cam-Corder recording, theme of surveillance/voyeurism

ACT: George Michael
TRACK: Outside
ALBUM: Ladies and Gentlemen
YEAR: 1998
GENRES: Nu-disco, dance-pop, funk, house
DIRECTOR: Vaughan Arnell
LABEL: Epic Records (owned by SME)
SINGLE?: Yes, lead single.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

• George Michael is a solo singer
• This was George Michael's fight back to being arrested by the police in the USA.  From wiki: The song was seen as a fine self-deprecating public relations exercise by Michael, as it was the first single since he was arrested for engaging in a lewd act six months earlier by an undercover police officer in the public lavatory of the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, California – an incident which prompted him to declare his homosexuality, which had been rumoured for some years but never publicly confirmed.^[1]Michael took a swipe at the incident in the lyrics, claiming he wanted an alfresco sex life because he was bored with lovemaking behind closed doors. Reference to the Beverly Hills affair came with the line "I'd service the community, but I already have, you see" (he was sentenced to 80 hours of community service for the offense) and direct samples of radio reports of his arrest.The song was recorded at Sarm West in London with a string section and arrangement by Andrew Skeet.

• 
  

PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE OR CONCEPT?

...

EXTRA SOUND:

...

TITLES:
...

NARRATIVE ENIGMA:

...

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS:
....

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUND AND VISUALS:
....

GENRE SIGNIFIERS:
...

INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES:
...

OTHER NARRATIVE THEORY:
....


BRANDING:
...

REPRESENTATION:
GENDER: ....

ETHNICITY: ...

AGE: ....

SEXUALITY: Mainlz representing Michael's sexuality, added in sexualised women. There is no sex 

CLASS: ...

AUDIENCE REPRESENTED/TARGETED:
Lesbians and bisexual women will quite likely feel left out.

AUDIENCE THEORY #4: 2-Step Flow

Wiki entry:

says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media. In contrast to the one-step flow of the hypodermic needle model or magic bullet theory, which holds that people are directly influenced by mass media, according to the two-step flow model, ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population.

...



...

WEBSITE Ideas #1

Image of the artist going through all the vinyls, if I were to do Eurythmics or an act where I have several vinyl tracks that would be ideal

If possible I could reprint the digipak cover as a vinyl cover.

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• ...

ACT: Disclosure
YEARS ACTIVE: 2010 - present (currently on hiatus)
GENRES: House, deep house
LABEL: PMR Records (owned by UMG)
LINK: 

I really like the simplicity and beauty of this image

...

POSSIBLE IDEA/ARTIST #3: Eurythmics

Eurythmics are an inactive duo who occasionally meet up (recently in 2014), 
So a Greatest Hits album for them would be ideal with a comeback music video, and they've only done two so far, I could add in the live performance of The Beatle's The Fool On The Hill, and maybe add songs from their solo careers where on for this they will have sung on each other's.

AUDIENCE THEORY #3: Hypodermic Syringe Theory

The idea of a passive audience.

EXAMPLE:

Orson Welles's adaptation of HG Wells's sci-fi invasion literary classic War Of The Worlds made some inhabitants think aliens were actually invading.