Lyrics for Music Video: Ke$ha- Blind (Lyrics Analysis)

I will begin to analysis the lyrics of my chosen song to begin to script a image of what I want my final product to look like. I will look at the use of timings to help with my story board.

Lyrics for Music Video: Ke$ha- Blind

KE$HA - Blind

I think you got the best of me
You’re sleepin’ with the enemy
You left me alone alone alone alone

The beat drops; I’m so low
My heart stops; I already know
You left me alone alone alone alone

I’m sick and tired
of the mess you made me
You’re never gonna catch me cry
(oh whoa)
You must be blind if you can’t see
You’ll miss me ‘till the day you die
(oh whoa)
Without me
You’re nothing
(oh whoa)
You must be blind if you can’t see
You’ll miss me ‘till the day you die
(oh whoa)

[Verse 2]
I’ve let go; finally over you
This drama that you put me through
I’m better alone alone alone alone

The beat drops; you’re so low
It’s last call and it’s gotten old
Now look who’s alone alone alone alone

I’m sick and tired
of the mess you made me
You’re never gonna catch me cry
(oh whoa)
You must be blind if you can’t see
You’ll miss me ‘till the day you die
(oh whoa)
Without me
You’re nothing
(oh whoa)
You must be blind if you can’t see
You’ll miss me ‘till the day you die
(oh whoa)

[Bridge]
I trusted you
You were the first
Then you lied
And it gets worse
You broke me down
Now just look around
Who’s all alone?
Who’s all alone now?

I’m sick and tired
of the mess you made me
You’re never gonna catch me cry
(oh whoa)
You must be blind if you can’t see
You’ll miss me ‘till the day you die
(oh whoa)
Without me
You’re nothing
(oh whoa)
You must be blind if you can’t see
You’ll miss me ‘till the day you die

Music Video Analysis 3: (Love Songs & Use of Cinematography)

Alesha Dixon: To Love Again

Length: 3:57 Minutes.

For my final textual analysis I decided to look at the genre of love songs as I am doing a break up song I decided to look a contrasting genre to look at how I could possible parody the genre to create a narrative for my own music video, the main use of a love song music video is to create a sense of happiness within the audience, also to exaggerate the use of love, therefore we see main elements of this in the music video. I chose to look at Alesha Dixon ‘To Love Again’ in the video the artist is walking through central park with main other couples singing about her love for somebody, she then finds the love she was looking for and the final scene is show which features, the artist and the other couples shown letting go of lanterns, over the sky line of New York.

The main mise-en-scene is focused around the location in then video which seems to be a location in New York (Possibly Central Park), as we can see the back drop of the city. This adds to the genre convention of love songs as the video is set some where romantic in contrast to an average park. Along side the use of location, we have the use of lighting which gives an angelic appearance in the video, again a use of a genre convention giving the feeling of love towards the love song and again aimed at the audience. The use of the lighting becomes a main factor of the video as we see it with most of the shots and it becomes an apparent fixture of the video. When the scene becomes dark and we are given the shot of New York at night the light again gives an angelic look however it becomes much stronger. We also have the use of the mist/fog to give a dream like impression within the diegsis again is convention of the genre as it gives a fairytale type feel to the video. Furthermore we get a feel of romance from the use of mise-en-scene within the video, with the aid of the couples walking past Alesha, also the use of the lanterns being let off at a night by the couples becomes a romantic icon giving the audience a feel of romance through the means of the diegsis. We also see this with the use of the wind and the leaves blowing, however the use of the leaves and fog is juxtaposed against the theme of love to give a better image of the genre with the autumn theme contrasting with the theme of love.

The main focus of the cinematography is the use of the tracking shot, in which we can see the artist walking towards the camera as it back tracks, while she is walking down central park, with the fog/mist behind her and the use of the leaves blowing in the wind. The use of the shot is to create a tranquil scene within the diegesis; the use of tranquillity in the video is a main convention of the music videos to love songs as seems again slow and romantic; however I will try and contrast this idea to create a juxtaposed shot for my video. We see the tracking shot throughout the video, creating this imagery through out the video. Alongside the use of the tracking shot we also have the use of the main conventional sequence shots which are; Long shot (establishing), Medium shot and Close up. The long shot is mainly use in the video to give the viewer a establishment of where the video is set, we can se this in the video with the use of the long shot detailing that the video is set in the New York with the use of a long shot on a crane giving a high angle shot of the couples releasing the lanterns into the night sky. Although we get a scene of where we are we also get a sense of romance with the use of this shot. We also get this with the use of the close up of the singer and a man kissing within the diegsis, with the use of this shot we see the love and emotion between the artist and the male character again giving a over all sense of love within the video.

Next I will look at the use of the sound and editing in the video and see how I follow the conventions of the genre of love songs. Firstly the sound in the video is only focused on the use of the track in the video and is the only main focus of sound in the video. On the other hand the use of editing becomes a strong focus of the video as it has a romantic feel to the video. For example the main use of the editing comes fro the use of fades within the video, such as the fade from the close up the artist to the close up of the characters kissing the use of the fade gives a soft, romantic feel to the video, we also get the use of the fade with the shot changing to the couples letting the lanterns go, therefore I will convert this to change the shot from been romantic and soft to the shot been more hard and emotionless to contrast the genre of love songs to the genre of break up songs.. Furthermore the main use of the editing is continuity as the events seem to all take place on the same day in the same location allowing the audience to follow the narrative easily. The second predominant use of editing is the use of the basic cut to switch from scene to scene, this it to give a light feel to the video alongside the rest of the editing.

Music Video Analysis 2: (Break Up Songs)

Kelly Clarkson 'Since U Been Gone'

Length of video: 3:12

The second textual analysis I will do is Kelly Clarkson ‘Since U Been Gone’ I will look at this video as It will help my to look at the genre of break up songs and how I can construct my music video as its is the same genre, I will be able to take inspiration fro the video to develop my own ideas. When looking at the genre of break up songs/videos there are two different ways in which a artist can be perceived, these are the traditional break up video which features the artist grieving for there loss, then there is the video in which the artist is getting their love back by means of revenge. This video falls in to the category of the revenge. The main narrative of the video is that the artist is destroying what is presumed to be the former home of her and her ex and leaving a heart shaped necklace behind for him that she has returned. I will look at how the four stylistics; Mise-en-scene, Cinematography, Editing and Sound help to create the over all video and capture the genre conventions in the video.

Firstly I will look at the mise-en-scene in the video, there are two main distinct elements to the mise-en-scene, first we have the apartment in which the artist cause the damage to the rooms, on the other hand we also have the nightclub type area in which the artist performs the song, this shows the contrast in the ways the artist is expressing her feelings in the video through the use of mise-en-scene, for example when she is smashing the glass table in the apartment, we see the side of her person which wants to get even with the ex, where as when she is on stage singing we get the persona that she is getting over what has happened to her and having a good time. As shown the use of the mise-en-scene can embed different character persona in music videos. Again looking at the use of character persona’s within the music video is we look at the mise-en-scene element of costume we can see that one version of Kelly (the one in the apartment) wears quiet plan clothes become a representation of the average woman, appealing to the mainstream audience (16-25 year olds) that her music genre (Pop) is aimed at, however when we move to the night club we see a more powerful version of her with the use of the colour black shown in her costume and well as the darker tone to her make up and appearance. Futhermore we see the power been shown in quite a feminine way in the nightclub scenes, with the use of bright feminine coloured strobe lighting along side the use of a red draped curtain behind her we get the impression of a powerful female presence. Within the elements we also have the use of the silver heart chain in which we see her hold through out the video. At the start of the video we see her holding the chain in a manner which suggests shes thinking of letting got, through out the video she continues to carry the chain (as she makes more destruction) she then leaves it hanging on a table as she walks away, this gives the representation that her relationship with the man is finished.

The use of cinematography is to create a representation through the use of camera work. One of the main elements of cinematography within a music video is the use of close ups for artist recognition, to allow the audience to identify the artist in the video, on the other hand the use of close ups also allow artist empathy depending on the nature of the narrative. For example in the is video we have close ups of the artist to show who it is however we also have close ups to allow the emotion of the character/artist to be shown to the audience allowing them to make a connection with personal experiences and the video. In the video we also have the elements of medium and medium close ups, mainly see this alongside the use of jump cuts. The use of medium shots allows use to identify the artist is a section of the diegsis, such as the bathroom of the apartment we see Kelly in the mirror from waist up. Further more the use of medium close ups combines the elements of a medium shot alongside that of a close up to give detail yet still show detail of the location where the character is. We also have the presences of dolly/tracking shots as Kelly makes her way around the apartment causing destruction. We see this in the scene where she walks in to the wardrobe and tears up the clothes the track follows her in and pans around to she what she is doing. Furthermore we see the use of a dolly shot when she if leaving the apartment and the camera is put on a moving angle while she is walking. Usually there is a long shot (establishing shot) to open a sequence, however here we have the presence of a low angle into the apartment revealing the artist this gives a voyeuristic effect as the artist doesn’t directly look at the camera, show it seems to the audience as though were watching something with out the artist knowing, however as the song begins to pick up pace the camera angle move higher revealing her face showing her performing to the camera. The final main element of cinematography in the video, is the use of a crane shot above the auidecne as Kelly performs in the night club, the camera moves over the audience giving the literal interpretation of her fan based and that in the video she has a audience to give support through her transition into a new version of herself.

The final two stylistics in the video are editing and sound. The stylistic of sound plays the biggest role in the video as it is the soundtrack to the video. The main and only element of sound in the video is the use of sound track as there is no other format of sound in the video. The use of editing in music videos is to create a syncronization with the pace of the track. We can see evidence of this in the video as we have a sense of montage editing with the contrast and change of the apartment scenes and the night club scenes, we have a change in time and location, therefore we see the video as a reflective form as it shows what has happened and was is happening. We also have the use of cuts from one shot to another shot, whilst along side this we have the use of jump cuts to emphasis the change in shot, we can see this in the sequence were we have a, medium shot of Kelly, then a jump cut of a medium close up and finally a close up of her. This is to help create the pace of the video the same as the track. On the other hand a another way of looking at the chosen forms of editing is the use of pace of cuts changes when the location changes, for example the amount of cuts in the night club greatly increases to show more energy in contrast to the apartment. Finally we have the use of slow motion which acts as a way to extended the amount of damage Kelly causes to the apartment, further more we can con notate is as a description of the relationship of the characters it began to slow down and destruction was caused, much like in the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxRS_GyBbM

Music Video Analysis 1: (Female Power and Icons)

Lady GaGa ‘Alejandro’.

(Time Length: 8 Minutes 44 Seconds.)

The genre of the video is dance due to the use of the track. The representation of Lady Gaga in this video is portrayed in many different ways as she is mimicking the styles of other artists (with the use of intertextual referencing) to give a over all representation of herself. Before we can break down the way in which she if perceived we have to look at the representation of the song as she draws her inspiration for her image from the songs meaning. The song ‘Alejandro’ is a narrative story within itself; telling the story of sexuality and friendship, however GaGa’s character can’t be with the fictional character of Alejandro because of his sexuality. Therefore she adopts the character personas of musical icons/representations of the gay community, such as; Madonna in her Vogue video (the same dance style and the bra) and George Michael. She also uses the video as a way for self promotion for her charity campaign for homosexuality within the Military (Don’t ask, Don’t tell), therefore adopts the character of Joan of Arch as a fictional leader within the video. The artists persona is also based around the idea of homosexuality and homophobia in wider society, she is raising positive awareness in a blunt manner, with the use of mimicking the actions of homosexual sex through the male dancers and also the representation of negative stigma towards religion with the use of the invert cross and the more traditional cross placed within the mise-en-scene. All the aspects of the artists persona suggest the main focus of power and attention is focused of her.

The main aspect of mise-en-scene which is made the focus of the video is the use of monochromic colours in the video such as; black, white and grey. This is also due to the use of low lighting to give a over all feel of darkness and sadness to the video. Giving an over all dull feel to the video however becoming a convention with in its self due to the one of the various themes within the narrative structure of the video, the theme of war/homosexuality in the military is seen as present through out the music video.

This means the artist (Lady GaGa) gains the role of a main lead in the theme through the use of her character of Joan of Arc. In the video we see her in a latex robe of which Joan of Arc would have worn expect it has a modern twist, she is seen as influencing the men as she is surrounded by them as if they are praying to her. Furthermore we also have the presence of the inverted cross (in the colour red symbolising danger) on her robes showing he stance against religious views (we also see this at the beginning of the video when the men are carrying what appears to be a star of David made of metal) again showing how she is seen as a powerful figure in the digesis of the video however she is not only seen as powerful in the video, but also outside of the filmic world as she is back by hundreds of millions of fans due to the way in which she makes her political views relevant in her work. On the other hand GaGa’s use of costume can also be seen as not only a leader but as a icon through the use of mise-en-scene for example we see her replicating the video ‘Vogue’ by Madonna a huge icon within the gay community, again a way in which her female power in presided in the video and in the real world. If we look at the other aspects of mise-en-scen we can see that a pattern begins to form in the ways of which GaGa is represented as a strong woman, especially with the use of the military theme e.g.; the men dresses in military clothes, GaGa’s machine gun bra (Again a intertextual reference to Madonna), we also see this when she is wearing a leather jacket and sun glasses in which she is referencing to George Michael, the use of the screens as he dancers perform show flames and fire giving the impression of danger again a connection to the use of war in the video. However the main reason the artist has chosen to use the Military mise-en-scene is also to help raise awareness of her own charity camping against homophobia in the military, giving self promotion of her work, therefore we she her as a strong character within the context of the video as she is seen to be standing up for a cause. As the main focus of the mise-en-scene is based around the idea of GaGa’s costume she herself has become a iconography of her image and her brand ‘The Haus Of GaGa’ therefore we ever her produce is consumed people automatically know who, what and why they are consuming the produce. Furthermore this is apparent in this video as the use of costume plays a main role in how the artist is perceived.

The cinematography in the video is mainly used through the means of performance videos, whereby the main shots are, long shots and medium shots which show the dancing of the artist and dancers, with the use of the long shots it allows all the elements of mise-en-scene to be seen. The next main use of camera work is the use of tracking shots and crane shots along side the use of the long shots and is matches the beats of the song. As the video is mainly dancing and narrative the main use of shots is focused on the use of long and medium shots with the aid of dolly/tracking shots to enhance movement. On the other hand there is also the use of close ups to give a look of emotion on the artists face and allowing use the audience to know who the artist is.

L.I.I.A.R

Language- The terminology we use for our product, an example of this could be the media terms for our music videos, such as the type of camera angles and the mise-en-scene.
Institution- An organization, such as a media company like the BBC. A example of magazine institution would be a well known production company who creates the music videos such as scorpitone.
Ideology- This is the ideas, values and morals of our target audience. In other words reflecting their ideas and views through the use of the artists image, for example Lady GaGa's image is created on the use of many aspects of the audiences values.
Audience- These are the consumers of media, this means its in the producers interest to appeal to them. music videos appeal to the audience as their ideologies are represented back to them. We must decide on a genre to that appeals to our audience.
Representation-Representing society back to the audience through our product, for example the representation of there values and ideas can be seen in many artist and videos.