Music Video Research: Product Placement & Synergy

Product Placement is the act of placing real life products into fictional media texts. Product placement is commonly used in the most famous media pieces across the planet, the most famous of these is the countless brands of lager that are shown in James Bond films.

However, product placement is also found quite often in music videos. Examples of this are in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" which showcases different brands such as "Wonder" bread, the "Beats by Dr Dre" and "Miracle Whip".  The products she has chosen to place within the video have been carefully selected to show a representation of the artist and the type of brands in which she would wish to be connected with i.e. Diet Coke; a drink that is seen as being stereotypically for younger women etc.

As well as these examples, this music video also shows examples of synergy as it references other media texts. The video for "Telephone" pays homage to pieces of film by using the "Pussy Wagon" from Kill Bill and by copying the final scene from the film "Thelma and Louise", the female protagonists in each of these films are represented as being strong and independent which would suggest that she wants to be associated with such characters and films.

Synergy is the act of placing references to other media texts into a specific media text. For example, a music video could use a scene within it that is a direct reference to a film etc.

Music Video Research: Focus Group

 

Below I have shown the focus group that we carried out to gain ideas for how we should carry out our music video.

We collected together  a group of our target audience and pitched the ideas that we had for our music video to them and asked them to give us their feedback on the ideas they found that they would like the best and why they thought that way. We used this as a platform on which to build the main idea of our music video.

 

Music Video Research: Digipak Analysis

 

Below, I have shown the video of myself and my group analysing the digipak for David Guetta: Nothing but the Beat 2.0.

 

 

Music Video Research: Intertextuality

"Intertextuality is the shaping of a texts meaning by another text. Intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche and parody."

Intertextuality can be used for numerous reasons. One way in which it can be used in music videos is in the way which shows the artists cultural standpoints. For example in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" music video, the Feminist film "Thelma and Louise" is strongly referenced in order to show that she is a strong and independent woman and feels strongly towards feminist vies.

Another way in which intertextuality can be used is in a way to make a mockery of other media texts. Artists sometimes create scenes which look similar to other music videos etc. within their own music video but change vital points within that scene to make a mockery of the original. For example, in "Energy" by Drake, there is a single scene in which he mocks Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" by creating a makeshift Miley Cyrus character which he as morphed with his own face.

Music Video Research: Focus Group - Music video idea presentation

 

Below, I have posted the emaze slideshow that myself and my group will be presenting to our focus group to help them decide the best idea for our music video.

We have created this presentation in order to gauge an idea of how our target audience feel about the genre of the music that we are creating a video for as a whole and to give us an idea of the music video that would suit it best, in their eyes; we feel that our target audience are the perfect people to request feedback from as they are the people that we are aiming to please with our video. This will give us a base on which we will be able to build our music video from.

 

Music Video Research: Conventions of Music Videos and Electronic Music Videos

Within each genre of music, there are codes and conventions in which the music videos for certain tracks commonly follow. This is the same with indie, rock, rap, folk etc. and each genre of music will have different conventions that are commonly used within its music videos. For example, in indie rock videos, an audience would expect to see live instruments such as guitars and drums being used in a performance; black and white, gritty scenes and locations and dark colours being used etc. Good examples of this would be music videos from bands such as Arctic Monkeys and Royal Blood.

The genre of the track that I have chosen to carry out my coursework on is Electronic music. This genre of music has many sub genres within it such as House, Drum and Bass, Dubstep etc. and so Electronic Music videos seem to carry the same conventions with them. These conventions include things such as:

- The use of live performances within Electronic Music Videos is a common theme throughout. Often, huge crowds are shown to be dancing wildly at live gigs that the particular artist is playing; whether this be at a festival or a gig at a certain venue. This convention is shown in music videos such as Benny Benassi - House Music.




- Commonly, electronic music videos do not make a lot of sense to the viewers. This convention is shown in music videos such as Rudimental - Feel the Love.




- However, in some electronic music videos, there is a large emphasis on narrative and often when narrative is used, it is a narrative about a couple and a relationship. Examples of this are in Passion Pit - Carried Away and Wilkinson - Afterglow.

Music Video Research: Analysis of 4 Music Videos

Above, I have analysed 4 music videos, 3 of which relate to the genre of the music video that I plan to do as part of my coursework and 1 that does not but was good for me to analyse.

Music Video Research: Andrew Goodwins Theory of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin devised a theory in which all music videos could be analysed by using. This theory includes 5 technical aspects that are used to analyse music videos; these are;




1. Thought Beats


2. Narrative and Performance


3. The Star Image


4. Relation of visuals to song


5. Technical aspects of music videos





I will be using this in the future to analyse a variety of music videos that do and do not relate to the genre of music that I have chosen to carry out my media coursework.

Music Video Research: Electronic album cover

 

 

Above, I have shown my initial research into electronic music album covers and the similarities and common trends throughout them.

Introduction

As a form of preliminary task for A2, we are going to be recreating the music video for "Little Things" by Good Charlotte. We are doing this in order to improve our skills with camerawork and editing when it comes to syncing up the lyrics with our footage.