Questionnaire Examples

Questionnaire

I had also created a questionnaire which I will give out to random people in order to get more accurate statistics and to compare it with my blog poll to achieve clearer view about the music video which I am planning to do.

Initial Ideas (3 Concepts)

List of Props, Locations, Costumes and Cast

Props List:

·         Camera (Sony Carl Zeiss, Vario-Tessar Optical Zoom 40x)

·         Tripod

·         Water

·         Paint (Black)

·         Cigarettes

·         Umbrellas

Costume Ideas:

Cast List:  

    Kevin Lyszczak– main character (protagonist)

 Adrianna Paradowska – shadow character (antagonist)

 Location Ideas:

Lyrics Analysis

Lyrics (Timing)

Radioactive – Imagine Dragons

Whoa, oh, oh (0.00-0.06 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh (0.06-0.12 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh (0.12-0.18 sec)

Whoa (0.18-0.28 sec)

I'm waking up to ash and dust (0.28-0.32 sec)

I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust (0.32-0.36 sec)

I'm breathing in the chemicals (0.36-0.39 sec)

(Inhale) (Exhale) (0.39-0.43 sec)

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out of the prison bus (0.43-0.50 sec)

This is it, the apocalypse (0.50-0.54 sec)

Whoa (0.54-0.54 sec)

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones (0.54-1.00 sec)

Enough to make my systems blow (1.00–1.03 sec)

Welcome to the new age, to the new age (1.03-1.06 sec)

Welcome to the new age, to the new age (1.06-1.10 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive (1.10-1.16 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive (1.16-1.24 sec)

I raise my flags, dye my clothes (1.24-1.28 sec)

It's a revolution, I suppose (1.28-1.31 sec)

We're painted red to fit right in (1.31-1.35 sec)

Whoa (1.35-1.37 sec)

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus (1.38-1.46 sec)

This is it, the apocalypse (1.46-1.49 sec)

Whoa (1.49-1.50 sec) 

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones (1.50-1.55 sec)

Enough to make my systems blow (1.55-1.59 sec)

Welcome to the new age, to the new age (1.59-2.02 sec)

Welcome to the new age, to the new age (2.02-2.06 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive (2.06-2.13 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive (2.13-2.20 sec)

All systems go, the sun hasn't died (2.20-2.27 sec)

Deep in my bones, straight from inside (2.27-2.33 sec)

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones (2.33-2.38 sec)

Enough to make my systems blow (2.38-2.41 sec)

Welcome to the new age, to the new age (2.41-2.45 sec)

Welcome to the new age, to the new age (2.45-2.49 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive (2.49-2.56 sec)

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive (2.56-3.03 sec)

(3.03-3.06 sec – only music)

Blog Poll Questionnaire

In order to get an idea which type of audience specifically I am applying to, I had created a blog poll from which I would take a thoughts what type of target audience I will apply my product to. Also, I made a decision that my questionnaire would apply just to 15 different people, if that would be possible to achieve. This questionnaire purpose is not only to determine my target group but also their age, gender, and every different aspects of the music video for alternative rock/rock. After enough amount of voted people I will create a charts which would present the results which I had end up with.

Types of QUESTIONS:

1.       What is your gender?

2.       In which age group are you?

3.       What is your favourite music genre?

4.       What is the most important convention in a music video for you?

5.       Which type of music video do you prefer to watch?

6.       How do you watch the videos (what type of resources do you use)?

7.       Which cinematography do you prefer?

8.       How often do you watch the music videos?

Genre Conventions “Music Video”

Andrew Goodwin in Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) identified the following features of music videos:

·         There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

·         There is a relationship between the music and the visuals

·         Particular music genre may have their own music video style and iconography

·         There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist/vocalist

·         The artist may develop their own star iconography

·         There is likely to be reference to voyeurism

·         There are likely to be intersexual references

Whereas, the Pete Fraser stated that:

·         LYRISC – Established a general mood, key lines may only play part in the visuals.

·         MUSIC – Tempo of the track drives the editing.

·         GENRE – Reflected through mise en scene, themes, performance, editing and cinematography.

·         CINEMATOGRAPHY – Camera may move to accompany performance, or circle them, to create a drama. Lots of close ups to create viewer intimacy and emphasize voice.

·         EDITING – Generically fast-paced, but slow-paced could be used to establish mood.

·         INTERTEXTUALITY – “Music video as incorporating, raiding and reconstructing” (John Stewart). Music videos often incorporate what a viewer will be familiar with.

·         NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE – Suggest storyline, and offer fragmented, non-linear narrative. These leave an audience with a desire to re-watch the video clip.

The conventions for music videos depend on their genre:

·       Rock/Metal - The hue of the videos are usually quite dark, but with high contrast levels, to give the video an overall dark and edgy tone. The music videos are usually incredibly performance based, shots covering the whole band playing, yet focusing mainly on the front vocalist. Narrative music videos are also used; however I would say it is very likely that a narrative video would also show many shots of the band performing. The story lines are usually dark, to match the dark sound of the music, and dark meaning of the lyrics. The performance it's self usually has a dark and 'scary' tone to it, the performers are usually dressed in completely in black, appearing as stereotypical rock/metal listeners/performers with multiple piercings, dark makeup, and a dark and edgy demeanour. The editing is usually snappy and fast paced, to match the normally fast tempo of rock/metal songs.

·       Pop - Music videos that belong to the genre of pop are usually extremely performance based, with the singer, or band lip syncing throughout the song, as well as performing via dancing or in a narrative story that reflects the meaning of the lyrics. The overall tone and hue of the video will be very bright, with the artist wearing bright trendy mainstream clothing. If the lyrics are or a more sad nature, the overall tone of the video may be brought down a little, but will still be quite bright. In pop music videos the main artists are almost always present in their music video in some shape of form. Pop music videos are usually fun and light hearted to appeal to a younger audience.

·       R&B - This genre of music video usually has a light tone to it; the hue is usually bright similar to pop videos. Typically the video will involve the artist in a narrative setting or simply performing in a setting such as a nightclub, mansion, beach etc. There are usually dancers present, to reflect the sound of the music. The clothing is usually revealing on women, and shows the wealth of the artist, with lavish jewellery and expensive cars. The narrative of the story usually reflects the lyrics of the song, and like pop videos usually the artist will lip sync throughout the video. Again similar to pop music videos RnB videos have a good, positive, light-hearted feeling to them.

·       Indie - This genre of music videos has a huge variety of conventions; the hue can be dark, bright or black and white depending on the tone of the lyrics. Indie music videos are also split generously between being solely narrative, and performance based, sometimes the artists do not even feature in the music video for their songs. However Indie music videos can be performance based either featuring the entire band, or simply featuring the main vocalist. Narrative music videos in the Indie genre are typically quite arty, and symbolic, rather than spelling out exactly what the lyrics say.

History of Music Video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980's, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980's, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip".

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance

The first steps toward the music video have been made by George Thomas in 1894, when he worked with sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern on promoting their song "The Little Lost Child".

While in 1926, the technology has been developed and many of the short videos has been produced. At that time they were called “talkies” which were musical short films. Vitaphone shorts (produced by Warner Bros.) featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs, which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball", which is similar to a modern karaoke machine.

Early 1930's cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia, which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music.

Later, in the mid 1940's, musician Louis Jordan made short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into a feature film Lookout Sister. These films were, according to music historian Donald Clarke, the "ancestors" of music video.

In the late 1950s, the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Jacques Brel, and Jacques Dutronc to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented.

In 1961, for the Canadian show Singalong Jubilee, Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-synchronising, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and the location shoot "videos" were to add variety.

In 1964, Kenneth Anger's experimental short film, Scorpio Rising used popular songs instead of dialogue  Also, in 1964 The Beatles starred in their first feature film A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester. Shot in black-and-white and presented as a mock documentary, it interspersed comedic and dialogue sequences with musical ones. The musical sequences furnished basic templates on which countless subsequent music videos were modelled. It was the direct model for the successful US TV series The Monkees (1966–1968) which similarly consisted of film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs. The Beatles' second feature Help! (1965) was a much more lavish affair, filmed in colour in London and on international locations. The title track sequence, filmed in black-and-white, is arguably one of the prime archetypes of the modern performance-style music video, employing rhythmic cross-cutting, contrasting long shots and close-ups, and unusual shots and camera angles, such as the shot near the end of the song, in which George Harrison's left hand and the neck of his guitar are seen in sharp focus in the foreground while the completely out-of-focus figure of John Lennon sings in the background.

 

In 1965, The Beatles began making promotional clips (then known as "filmed inserts") for distribution and broadcast in other countries (primarily the USA), so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances.

By the time The Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, their promotional films, like their recordings, had become highly sophisticated. In May 1966 they filmed two sets of colour promotional clips for their current single "Rain"/"Paperback Writer" all directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who went on to direct The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus and The Beatles final film Let It Be.

The colour promotional clips for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", made in early 1967 and directed by Peter Goldman took the promotional film format to a new level. They used techniques borrowed from underground and Avant Garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and colour filtering added in post-production. At the end of 1967 the group released their third film, the one hour, made-for-television project Magical Mystery Tour; it was written and directed by the group and first broadcast on the BBC on Boxing Day 1967. Although poorly received at the time for lacking a narrative structure, it showed the group to be accomplished music video makers in their own right.

The monochrome 1966 clip for Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" filmed by D. A. Pennebaker was featured in Pennebaker's Dylan film documentary “Don’t Look Back”. Eschewing any attempt to simulate performance or present a narrative, the clip shows Dylan standing in a city back alley, silently shuffling a series of large cue cards.

Many "filmed inserts" were produced by UK artists so they could be screened on TV when the bands were not available to appear live. Pink Floyd were pioneers in producing promotional films for their songs including "San Francisco: Film", directed by Anthony Stern, "Scarecrow", "Arnold Layne" and "Interstellar Overdrive", the latter directed by Peter Whitehead who also made several pioneering clips for The Rolling Stones between 1966 and 1968.

During late 1972–73 David Bowie featured in a series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock, who worked extensively with Bowie in this period. Rock directed and edited four clips to promote four consecutive David Bowie singles "John, I'm Only Dancing". The clip was turned down by the BBC, who reportedly found the homosexual overtones of the film distasteful, although Top of the Pops replaced it with footage of bikers and a dancer. Whereas, the "Jean Genie" clip, produced for just $ 350, was shot in one day and edited in less than two days. It inter-cuts footage of Bowie and band in concert with contrasting footage of the group in a photographic studio, wearing black stage outfits and standing against a white background. It also includes location footage with Bowie and Cyrinda Foxe shot in San Francisco outside the famous Mars Hotel, with Fox posing provocatively in the street while Bowie lounges against the wall, smoking.

The Australian TV shows Countdown and Sounds, both of which premièred in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of music video clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts.

In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show. In need of material for the show, Webb approached Seven newsroom staffers Russell Mulcahy and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips for example: Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talking". Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a full-time director, and he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus, Marcia Hines, Hush and AC/DC.

After relocating to the UK in the mid 1970's, Mulcahy made successful music videos for several noted British pop acts, his early UK credits included XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" (1979) and his landmark video for The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" (1979) which became the first music video played on MTV in 1981.

In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980's, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna, owed a great deal of their success to the skilful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.

Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image compositing. The advent of high-quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the New Wave era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film. However, as the genre developed, music video directors increasingly turned to 35 mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video.

During the 1980's, music videos had become de rigueur for most recording artists. The phenomenon was famously parodied by BBC television comedy program Not The Nine O'Clock News who produced a spoof music video "Nice Video, Shame About The Song".

In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to explore and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding a storyline or plot to the music video.

Occasionally videos were made in a non-representational form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980's examples are Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet's video for David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure", and Ian Emes' video for Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur". One notable later example of the non-representational style is Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince's "Sign o' the Times" influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics.

In the 2000 music videos are made as a most expensive one as the artists spends millions on producing them. As technology has development with the past years every artist try to break the boundaries and creates something new with every new release.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans (Textual Analysis 3)

Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans

Written By: Lana Del Rey, Emile Haynie, Dan Heath

Director: Yoann Lemoine

Genre: Surf Rock

Structure: Narrative

The video of the song “Blue Jeans” contain the elements of the film noir which is a convention for Hollywood crime dramas. Also, this particular style used emphasize of cynical attitudes and seen in the video sexual motivations. As we can see in “Blue Jeans” music video the convention of a classical film noir period has been followed same as the cinematography as the director used a low-key and black and white visual style.

The low-key convention is a style of lighting used in the video in order to gain a chiaroscuro effect, which highlight the contrast between light and dark. Director has used a low-key light emphasizes the outlines of an object by throwing areas into shades while a fill light was illuminated the shadows areas in order to control them contrast. The effect which has resulted is fantastic and breath taken as whole video has been shot in retro and moody style what perfectly match with 1940s and 1950s style.

Also, the video used a black and white cinematography what creates a nostalgic style. As the video talk about love and hurts, this way of shooting makes the audience more understanding the feelings of an artist. In most of the shootings the shades has been darker or lighter, what depends of situation and feelings of an artist at this particular moment. The contrast of the lighting depends of the character which is presenting as when a fictional boyfriend of an artist come into a shot the lighting become darker what gives an audience perspective of seeing that he’s a dark character whereas Lana Del Rey is showing in lighter light as she is the one who is in love and has been hurt.

While the artist sung the words “… love is mean and love hurts, but I still remember that day we met in December…” has been underlined by convention for surf guitar by using the twangs. Also, the string instruments used a low fidelity and soar over the refrain while artists belts “… I will love you till the end of time...”

Director of this music video has used a slow motion brooding and smoking scenes which underline the tragic love story about which the artist is singing. The discography could be compared to the murder ballads as it’s following the conventions of Hollywood home at 1950s, especially when the scene take place at the poolside. Audience has a clear view what is happening in their relationship as the most romantic and erotic moment’s shades as they were drowning in the smoke. The appearance of a crocodile makes the video dangerous and allowed viewers to think that this is the way in which the characters seen their love/relationship. Referring to the words “… I will love you till the end of time…” could be possibly understand as she fully understand the risk which she is taking and she is still letting herself sink in it.

The storyline of this video is very popular for Hollywood, as mostly songs about love refer to drama and danger. Also, the general convention for it is that one of the lovers is hurt or dies. As the video make audience feel quite cynical and dark about it, this has been underline by black and white as this style makes the video look vintage and old fashion mellow tone.

The used of costumes in the video regard its style, as the artist fictional boyfriend reminds her about “… James Dean, for sure…” who was a Hollywood star at the beginning of 1930s till 1950s, and he had his unique style of clothing. The character in establishing shot smokes a cigarette, wearing skinny jeans with large, black t-shirt and old fashion, black boots. He is covered with tattoos and he has fairly long hairs which wave on the wind. In other words, he could be possibly described by the audience as a bad boy who is able to hurt a girl. In my opinion this was a result which director wants to gain as its match the scenery and location of shooting and the video on its own.

“…But you fit me better than my favourite sweater…” refers to the fact that black and white is perfect combination which matches with itself perfectly, same as he matches her. While he is presenting as a bad boy she’s standing in the window observing him taking his clothes off what is erotic and sensual. Artist wears a white, retro, one-piece swimming costume with light make-up. Again this style has been conventional for retro Hollywood home.

The scene when character of fictional boyfriend swim in the pool has been edited with swimming crocodile, what indicate his danger side and gives even more clear view for audience. In the scene when she kissed him, the editing changes the cuts one after one, letting audience see how she is sinking even more as the crocodiles swim around her. Also, Lana Del Rey is then in the shot and it gives the illusion of her dreaming, the style of blurry footage represents a figure of her imagination and how her love is confusing and giving her mixed signal.

The blackout and change in the scene introduce the protagonist character which face is shade in a dark light what even more underlines his role in the video.  When we see the next shot showing Lana we can then see the contrast of the bright light that is reflecting on her face against the dark light the male character was shown in, this could be a link to good versus evil and signify the difference between the two characters.

At the end of the music video a shot is used showing the couple and a bright light coming up from beneath the water, this represents the hope that something good is going to come, the two characters are both falling into the water and down to the light, they're going to a better place and the relationship is being saved what is a typical happy ending to the narrative.