Analysis of Previous Student Work

Is He Really Coming Home by The School

The video starts with fridge magnets which are very unusual. they fit in well with the beat which shows it was well edited. the planning must have been well done as there are other magnets on the fridge as well as the letters spelling out words. We see this consistently throughout the video. when we see the girl we hear her voice which both go well together.

Goodwin referred to BARTHES when talking about grain of voice, how artists have a particular 'fingerprint' to their voice when you hear them. We hear this in this song and this fits in perfectly with the girls image. the look of the girl is innocent which can b seen in her hair and makeup. This is also what we hear in the voice as it in smooth. The colours she wears such as green and yellow are bright. Yellow has connotations of happiness and joy which we hear in the song. The colours contrast well with the background so you only focus on the girl as she stands out.

The iconic images are very useful in this video. The cat's cradle, the dominoes, the Jenga blocks and the egg timer represent how the girl is frustrated by waiting which shows Goodwin's theory of illustrating and maybe amplifying the lyrics meanings as she is waiting for her partner to come home. Although the lyrics do not exactly tell us this, the images help us to imagine what the song is really about her waiting.

The camera angles and shots are smooth. This can show the audience it is a  happy son. If it was distorted or shaking it would suggest it was unhappy. The lip sync is also very good and in time with the music. This is also true of the keyboard, trumpet and guitar. This is quite hard to edit and has been done well.

The locations used are very traditional and simple which fits in well with the theme of the song and the character. They are homely and warm. This shows the mise en scene was selected carefully. The editing in this is video is also very good, for instance when scenes are blurred or split into four to mark a transition into a new line or verse.  It if filmed very stable throughout, however there is only one point where the camera shakes a little.

You only see her in the video and no other characters which suggests to us that she is lonely which links in well with the lyrics. There are a lot of shots which suggest she in alone and feeling lonely such as the shot where she is leaning through the hole in the wall which suggests she is alone in that frame were the frame represents her in the house just waiting.

Although we know this is a happy song from the connotations of the colours and the camera movement, there can be a double meaning to this song. Firstly we can look at Mulvey's theory of women being suppressed, the traditional woman stuck at home doing the washed etc. which we do see in the video. We know this as we often see the camera moving towards her eyes, smile and body, putting the character on display. We can also see women being suppressed as the song sounds like an old fashioned song. Although it came out in 2010, it has traditional, old fashion instruments and tune used. We can then imagine the song is maybe about her husband coming home from war and her sitting at home being sad and waiting, This was a time when women were seen as a low status. If this was the true meaning of the song it would mean the whole mise en scene is a contrast to the true meaning. However i do believe that this is not the true meaning of the song, it would only be the true meaning if the video was set in the past.

The balloons show happiness and are almost child like. We can compare it to be a symbol of how a child sees a balloon and gets excited, instead it is her getting excited because he is `coming home`. The colours of the balloons are also happy and colorful with positive connotations such as yellow being happy, red being romance, orange being pleasure, green being fresh, harmony and peace, blue having faith and purple being feminine. All these colours represent her personality and how she is feeling. They come at the end of the song where she is feeling more and more excited.

The narrative has an end to the door opening and her getting happy and excited. However it is left at a cliff hanger and the audience is left in suspense so you do not actually know if the ending is actually how we suspect of her partner coming home and we think what happens next.

This video is just as good to the original music video, in fact i think i prefer it as it has a narrative unlike the original which is just performance and a lot of editing. Overall the video is pretty good and the mise en scene, camera, editing and sound have all been presented well and work well together. By watching and analysing this I feel more motivated to do well in my own music video.

Applying Goodwin's Theory of Music Video to Adele - Chasing Pavements

I will be analysing ‘Chasing Pavements’ by Adele.  It was directed by Mathew Cullen of production company Motion Theory and earned a 2008 MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Choreography. The genre is soul or blues but could be classified as pop. Soul singers use a variety of tones from gentle and smooth, to raspy and harsh, in order to properly convey this range of emotions which is exactly what Adele does in her songs and so the music would suggest it is from the soul genre. This comes from Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ which is a trademark sound that immediately sets the artist apart from other singers. However it shows many codes and conventions from pop music videos.

This video holds a lot of evidence from Goodwin’s music video analysis. He suggests that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics that run through the music video. The codes and conventions of a pop music video are that there is usually a sex appeal of the main artists. This video does not do that, however it focuses on other conventions such as no performance and only have one location. There is always a clear narrative. Adele does not always have a clear narrative in her videos. You sometimes have to think deeper into what iconic images represent.

Goodwin also says that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. I believe that in this case, the lyrics are illustrated through the visuals of the video at some points. For example when she is leaves the car where her partner is representing her leaving the relationship. We also see her walking on her own which shows how she is lonely. I think the narrative of the video represents her relationship. The couple in the car crash come to life. The camera angle changes as an aerial view which suggests the song is moving towards the chorus or bridge.  The couple re-enact their relationship of how they met. They seem happy at first but then they have problems which they resolve. In spite of all the dancing and happiness at that point in the video, the bodies are lying there motionless on the pavement when they are wheeled away in different directions. This represents Adele’s relationship of her and her partner moving away from each other. The setting is at a car crash which suggests that the song is going to be sad before we even hear it.

As well as the lyrics, there is a relationship between music and visuals, illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. It helps the audience to identify the pop genre of the video as is just the artist singing with no performance, just Adele and the narrative helping us to relate to the song. However, the artist is in one outfit, with the same hair and makeup is common in the Soul genre. Her style is old fashioned and unique and shows the meaning of her lyrics and songs in a deeper manner than the stereotypical pop videos where the narrative is based on the sex appeal of the characters in the video.  The use of slow shots and dull natural light can embellish the real meaning of the song. This is by creating a sense of gloom and dreariness when the lyrics are portraying sadness. We also get this sad feeling by hearing the tone of music which gives us a generally sad feeling or mood as we listen to it.

Goodwin suggests that the demands of the record label will include the need for a lot of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work creating a visual style for that artist. We see this as she is mostly shot from her upper torso and face using close ups. Her voice in the song has a very powerful quality throughout which we see in all her music videos. This sort of represents her character in a way as trying to be a strong and powerful and independent woman. This contradicts her videos as they are sad. It represents the star through use of iconography; her style appears very elegant and mature with clean cut hair and makeup going into an old fashioned look. She is a role model to younger girls as a strong and successful artist. The lighting places a crucial part in this music video. It highlights the emotion of the song and the style of the artist, so she stands out from the background. This is her visual motif of black and white videos. We see this in all her videos and they are all emotional and about love, where the black and white shows connotations of no hope.

There is frequently a notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body according to Goodwin. This occurs in the video as there is several extreme close ups of the artist showing emotion when not signing and she frequently makes eye contact with the camera. This makes the audience feel like they are involved in how the artist is feeling and so will feel closer to her creating a rapport between the audience and the artist. Adele is a good example of how star image is created. The inspiration to this video is found to be by an incident Adele had with a former boyfriend. One morning, after finding out he had cheated on her, she went to the bar he was at and punched him in the face. After being thrown out, Adele walked down the street alone and thought to herself, "What is it you're chasing? You're chasing an empty pavement.” And from then she wrote this song. This shows how her songs actually have a personal meaning which is unique these days to artists as they follow what the record label want but Adele is unique and I don’t think there is an artist out there who is quite like her.

I think there is intersexual reference to Amy Winehouse who had a lot of videos similar to Adele’s. Her videos were usually black and which and were usually about love and cheating. Her genre was soul and blues as well.

The music video is narrative-based. It tells a clear story and makes you think about its deeper meaning. There are elements with are concept-based. However, narrative in songs is never really complete. The story can be fragmented. They only suggest its meaning leaving the viewer with the desire to watch it again and again to catch what they missed out.

I think this video is a good example to show an example of Goodwin’s theory in a music video. Every part of the song and its video helps us to understand it and by looking at Goodwin’s theory we understand why images are being shown and the reasons behind everything.

Kate Nash 'Foundations' Video Analysis

I worked with Sarah to look at a music video. We made an analysis of the video and presented it. The purpose was to show how we can learn more during the course and evolve our understanding of music videos. 

• Playing the game sets up the narrative that they are together but they don’t look happy to suggest the relationship isn’t working
• The bright happy colours contradict/juxtapose with the unhappy relationship
• She is half out of the shot sometimes which suggests she is close to leaving the relationship
• The lyrics have a deep relationship to the mise-en-scene, as the lyrics are portrayed through images for example “wind you up” a wind up toy is shown “let go” hands let go”
• Flowers in a beer bottle, reflects the idea of trying to make the best out of the relationship
• Her style is shown through the costume and the mise-en-scene
• Objects used to symbolize their relationship e.g. toothbrush and socks
• Happy colours build expectations of happy relationship which brings a contrast with the lyrics and real message of the song and also brings out light heartedness of the song
• Socks moving away from each other and back reflects their relationship making up and breaking up
• Shot on stairs to symbolize her inability to leave and that she can’t go back
• Competition between them shown through arm wrestling, again following the idea of  their relationship as a game
• Cake- symbolizes happy families and warms but they obviously aren’t. the idea that it’s a façade trying to be happy but it’s not working
• Boxing gloves the shadow the camera angle and the long shot suggests the idea she is fighting with herself, as to the decision of whether to stay or whether to go
• The camera is quite shaky and moves quite a lot, which suggests the realism of not only the relationship but also of Kate Nash as an artist showing she is not a glamorous, glossy artist she is more indie
• Changing colours represent the changing of her mind, torn as whether to leave or whether to stay
• Teddy represents comfort she is not getting from him
• Positive lyrics to angry lyrics after second chorus
• Anger building as the video shows couple annoying each other
• Contrast between them shown through healthy and unhealthy food
• Photograph shows how things used to be and bringing a contrast as to how they are now as a couple
• Objects separate e.g. watches and socks to show the couple separating
• Props seem to be from a different era reflects Kate Nash’s style and also the idea that the couple is stuck in the past
• Cassette their story together
• Camera low angle shot of suitcase to emphasize that she is leaving
• Finally leaving she looks back for the last time
• She walks out of the door and the frame showing her leaving for good
• Bright colours trying to be happy but it’s a façade
• Evokes sympathy from the audience
• Literal images of lyrics brings out humor which is represented in the lyrics e.g. “you said I must eat so many lemons cause I am so bitter”

To what extent can Goodwin/Mulvey’s theory of voyeurism be applied to music video?

Voyeurism comes from Freud and is used to explain the gendered pleasure and can be used to sell the artist's music through sex appeal. For a male, it refers to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. There is a powerful controlling gaze at the objectified female of display. This idea can be closely linked to the idea of scopophilia, which is the desire for looking. Most music videos we watch will create this desire to look. A good example of this can be from Robert Palmer, addicted to love.

Goodwin argues that the female on display will often be objectified through a combination of camera work and editing of fragmented shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star. An example of this is Beyoncé – Single Ladies where she is showing herself to make a statement by the way she dances and shows off her body. The low angles point upwards enticing men to look.

Females are also used in male artist’s videos with the use of dancers flattering the male star. However the male body is also on display such as in Lady Gaga’s video Born This Way we see the male body on display and women in control. She also dresses in a way that encourages men to look and here is no problem for her to do that as women are used to being looked at in that kind of way. In Nicki Minaj’s video Superbass, there are topless men as well as girls showing off their body which sells her as a star image. She uses men in her video to entice female viewers as well as women to draw in male viewers which will increase her views and promote her as an artist.

Laura Mulvey says that the camera is the male’s view, so all the camera sees is what it wants the men to see. Women get used to the male controlling gaze and women learn to be looked at. This is another way for an artist to sell her image to the audience.

A good example of voyeurism is in Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed, for instance, when the video shows crowds looking in on her as a caged animal, parodying the public's voyeurism of her as a famous person, or to enhance the message of the lyrics. This shows both Goodwin and Mulvey’s theories of voyeurism.

The idea of voyeurism is also evident in music video through ‘screens within screens’ with characters shown watching performers on television or on webcams etc. as on a video camera or CCTV.