Sunday 25 September 2011

Media Pitch

I recently pitched an idea for our media group to make a music video for Martin Solveig's Hello. My pitch included the idea of having no real narrative and just basically having close ups of people dancing around, lip syncing, which proved a hit in last year's production. This idea was later changed to a copied narrative to the video, with almost the same storyline, except the character, 'she' , amongst others was 'dragged up' and played by me, a male. I later relinquished directorial duties for this video due to other commitments, however I did manage Also, the tennis match was tweaked to be a doubles match, with a 2v2 mixed doubles, however one player was also 'dragged up' for the white team.
My secondary role comprised of being a ball boy, as the original cast member was designated the duty of cameraman.
We shot the video 2 days after the pitch and it will be uploaded shortly prior to editing, as will my original pitch itself, however, here is the original video below

Deconstruction Vodcast

Here is the vodcast Rob and I recorded, analysing the music videos for Tyler the Creator - Yonkers, and Muse - Knights of Cydonia

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Coldplay - Fix You

Coldplay are a renowned band in todays music scene and have had many hits. Fix You is an extremely popular song and has again, like Bitter Sweet Symphony, been used in many tv shows and even some sports programs.

The video centers around the lead singer exchanging mode of address with the camera and walking slowly, meeting the pace of the song, different angles are used, but the length rarely changes from mid shot, as the focus is clearly on the singer. The narrative is that the singer is trying to find his way, and when he does, he begins to run, again meeting the pace of the music. This can be seen by faster cuts and less close ups. He gets to his destination and breaks mode of address to sing to an audience which finishes the narrative. There are no special effects in this song and this fits the coldplay style of video.


Fix You - Coldplay from Emmy Tamker on Vimeo.

Sak Noel - Loca People

This song is very well known in the club scenes, and has become a hit sensation in Spain, most notably, Magaluf. The narrative centers around 2 people who are sightseeing, then decide that all they want to do is party. This segment is filmed in black and white, whilst subtitles are used as the dialogue, masked by the music. When the party begins the black and white shifts to regular colour, giving a sort of past - present sort of theory.

This video then films the club scene in lots of close up and it does strongly incorporate the 'male gaze' whilst also trying to show a fairly accurate of how the club scene works. The video uses special effects by writing the lyrics on the screen whilst the woman is mouthing them, and this gives he audience the main lines of the song, which is blatently done to try and be repetetive and so the audience remembers this song. As of most dance type songs, the camera is often moving, always panning or tracking, and there is usually lots of fast shots of people in brief cameos.


Sak Noel - Loca People from Cees Spin on Vimeo.

Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers

Dizzee Rascal is another extremely talented artist, and came back with a bang with this hit in 2009, before releasing other well known songs such as Dirtee Disco and Dirtee Cash

The video primarily uses a birds eye view, wide angled fish eye lens, and shows Dizzee on a planet rotating, as if he is walking. There is no clear narrative except that he is appears to be a bit 'Bonkers' to meet the tune of the song, lots of fast paced close ups are used, with an almost jerky camera, although this is the just the fast paced tracking I believe.

The video also focuses on a party scene, where Dizzee is performing, and these shots are again fast paced to meet the scene and song, as well as reverting back to a birds eye view of him singing at many times, highlighting him being the primary focus of the shot. In other parts, the video shows him in a blue room, or in a security camera style shot with blur, wearing different colours to match the wall. These shots are to explain the narrative, if any, that he is going insane therefore seeing things diefferently and possibly more vividly.

There is also a appearance from another character at times, in a close up, presumably Armand Van Helden who is appearing as he is featuring on the track. The video is quite vivid and there are many brief shots in it, however the shots of him in a fish eye lens are quite long, with Dizzee in different outfits and using many props including dumb-bells, almost highlighting how his mind is changing. Thisnvideo is designed to involve the audience and ultimately make them want to dance, and it is used in may clubs around the country, although in this day and age it is already seen as outdated.


Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden - Bonkers from bezzle on Vimeo.

Beyonce - Single Ladies

Beyonce is an incredibly talented artist, with many of her singles reaching no.1 in the charts. Her most recent major performance was at Glastenbury 2011 as a headline act.

Single Ladies is another long take video with a song and dance routine, with clear mode of address. This means that the dance routine is especially hard as Beyonce has to both dance at a fast pace, to meet the pace of the music, and also lip sync to the camera.

The video is shot entirely in black and white, with a lot of fast paced pans, zooms and swings to follow the dance routine at a fast pace, resembling the music. They are all wearing the same ballerina type leotard, and high heels, although Beyonce's leaotard is slightly different, allowing the audience to see she is different to the other dancers, and also placed central to further highlight her significance.

The lighting ranges from a dark backdrop and spotlight, and a complete white background, this changes continuously through the video. The obvious focus is on the performance, and no narrative, with no real props used either, apart from the well known hand movements for the key line 'shoulda put a ring on it' that is widely recognised.

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

I am not familiar with this artist, however this video was shown to me by a friend and it is a good example of long takes, with only around 4-5 shots used in the whole video, with a wide angle lens. The video uses a pan down to the floor to switch locations for the shot, making the take continuous. There are several props used, including cockroaches, black and white outfits, that contrast the permanent white background, and sofas that are mysteriously moving trying to harm the lead singer. The length of the shot ranges from extreme long (which is an establishing shot) and a close up which incorporates mode of address. A crow also features at times and this is another way of switching locations, as the camera pans up to focus the shot on it, then pans back down to a new locations. The sofas moving, with him appearing to be in control suggests that he is losing his sanity, and can move things with his mind, which would fit the songs title. Also the white outfits are clearly patients/straightjacket uniforms, while some of the locations resemble a mental patient's cell. The video as a whole is fairly slow paced with no real narrative, focusing on the lead singer, and this fits the song as it is more of a dance, relaxed track, not one that can have too clear of a narrative.


16—Virtual Insanity from Tres Zapotes on Vimeo.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony

The Verve have seen many of their hits turn into classics, and this song is no exception, it is widely known and is often used as a soundtrack in tv programs due to the heavily recognized symphony in the asong. It has been used most noticably on the BBC, ITV and Sky Sports on seperate occasions as they cover sport, most likely football.

It begins with the camera tracking, with shaky movement, footsteps, before continuing the track up to a mid shot of the character, and at 0:20, the man walking can be seen in a long shot, looking towards the camera, whilst the camera continues on, getting further and further away. The shot continues as he walks down the street, bumping into people as he walks, with brief mode of address incorporated. There is a shot revers shot of him, to 2 girls, then back to him, in a mid shot. There is a continuous shot reverse shot of him walking from behind in a long shot, and him in a mid shot, with the track continuing. He keeps walking and the pushes and shoves become more aggressive, at one point knocking someone down, all the while in the same shot, and this could be argued to be the narrative.

With occassional cuts to close ups on his face and his shoes, the tracking jerky camera is resumed and this is continued, all the while cutting to the reverse shot of him, until 2:19 clearly shows him being in the way of a blonde girl, however he maintains mode of address. With occasional cuts to POV shots of the walker looking at people, and it can be finally confirmed that there is some form off effect on the screen, giving it a rigid type look on camera. This type of back and forth continues with occasional cuts to other angles (for example a close up on a car window of the man's reflection) and the vid ends with him having to barge through to large men in his way, however he keeps on walking and the rest of the band join him in his fast paced walk, walking into and then past the camera shot before fading to black

Monday 12 September 2011

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

The A Team  was without a doubt a significant factor in Ed Sheeran's incredible climb to his current success. The  video alone can prove this as it is believed to have only cost £20 to make - 'Also in February 2010 he released his second independent release, his critically acclaimed Loose Change EP, which featured one of his most popular songs "The A Team". A video was made for the song, and cost only £20 to make.'


The A Team begins with birds tweeting, whilst there is a woman clearly mourning a young girl that appears to have died. There is no soundrtack at this point, and it appears immediately clear that this video focuses on narrative and not a band playing. It maintains it's black and white shot type all the way through the video, whilst using slow cuts, to meet the slow pace of the music. A lot of the shots are in mid to close ups, highlighting the need for expression to show emotion in this video, and at one point the main female character can be seen to be crying in a close up.
The camera is constantly slightly jerky, showing how this is evidently filmed on a handheld camera, and this aids the sense that digitisation has contributed to the low cost of this video. Another give away is the clear lack of SFX with only a shot at the very end, mixing 2 images together with the female character and ther sunshine, and then a shot earlier in the vid that is a straight long shot of the female character, watching traffic in a fast forward type shot, with her staying in normal time speed. The narrative is very clear that she is struggling for money and does not have a home. In a range of angles, all at traditional hight lever, she is seen struggling on the streets, commonly in a mid shot. Ed Sheeran makes a brief appearance as the young man buying a 'Big Issue' from her, evidently showing how he is helping out. There is no clear dialogue in the film, as the female's voice has been muted to keep the song as a focal point, and this allows the audience to focus on the narrative. As the story progresses, the woman finds it increasingly difficult and resorts to prostitution, although the pace doesn't increase at any point in the video. At the end of the video, the woman is revealed to be taking drugs, and passes out after taking them, which is also a key prop, along with her sleeping bag and slightly eccentric make up, this enables the audience to understand that the video has preceeded the events right at the beginning if the video, and the beginning is therefore explained.







Sunday 11 September 2011

Ed Sheeran - You Need Me I Don't Need You

Ed Sheeran is a relatively new artist, who became a hit with his July sensation, The A Team. This follow up song is widely regarded as his second high profile hit, with the benchmark set at an incredibly high level after The A Team became platinum in the UK, and double platinum in Ireland.

Using sign language as a new form of mode of address
You Need Me I Don't Need You is a fairly simple video, with similar style shots to Pass Out, however this is filmed in black and white. Another incredibly interesting point about this video, is that the mode of address is portrayed in a completely new way in my eyes, as this is the first music video I have seen to be acted out through sign language. The rest of the music video has quick cuts ranging from close ups of the hand actions and Ed Sheeran's signature guitar (he is known for his acoustic skills) or a long shot (see picture) of the character using sign language in full shot.

The good thing is about this new mode of address is that it takes away all need for a narrative, as it is so creative that for me I forgot all about the the plot of the video, or what shots were being used, I just focused on the sign language in a sense becoming it's own narrative. Some props are used such as a Buddhist statue and an old camera, all to fit the song lyrics, as they are still being sang but are clearly being played over a silent video merged. The fact that this song is a rap makes it all the more interesting to see the sign language maintain the pace, with images (as previously stated) of mise en scene or shots of sequences to fit the lyrics, so as to add to the fast pace by generating more quick cuts and fast paced editing. The lighting also varies from a dark backdrop, to a clear white background so to keep the audience intrigued and so it's not all one continuous sequence from different angles and distance variants.

Tinie Tempah - Pass Out

Tinie Tempah is a British rap artist that has been performing since, 2007, yet rose to stardom in 2010 with his first real hit, Pass Out. He has gone on to top the charts on numerous occasions and is now a huge sensation with both the British and the US public. He is regarded as a leading artist for his style of music (hip hop/rap) in this day and age.

Pass Out begins with a close up on Tinie with his head down, facing the floor, shirtless, with a light shining on his back. He looks up directly into the camera with some sort of white glow around his head, similar to the ring seen around the planet Jupiter. A close up cut to his mouth allows him to say the first line of the song, and then a quick cut to a long shot of him is seen before going back to a ECU of his eye. The first part of his rap is shown through quick cuts between the words on screen, the long shot angle of him, and several close ups of his facial features such as mouth or eyes. It occasionally cuts to side angles of him but it is usually a straight shot of him using mode of address to the audience. Narrative is lacking compared to what could have been construed due to the opening shot and the mist around his eyes.

This continues until around 1:15 in which someone else comes into shot, to sing his part, he walks in from behind in which it is dark, highlighting the fact that there is most likely one single light fixture, hanging directly above Tinie. He then proceeds to put sunglasses on in a close up, and a strange image can be seen on both the lenses, which begin to change frequently in further shots. The other character is occasionally in shot but doesn't sing yet, to which his role is in question. At one point the screen is clearly cut whilst focusing on Tinie's mouth, giving us almost 2 shots in one, even though it is still from the one lens. Tinie then walks out of shot as there is a break in the music, before skipping back into centre frame in the long shot angle to sing his next verse. The continuous shot change to close up then long almost gives it a shot reverse shot feel, however now and again shot of a speaker begin to be incorporated, and also Tinie in a dark room. with glasses on, not sunglasses. The cuts get quicker as he raps, ranging from room, to dark room, to speaker, to close up, the close ups now also have a wider range of angles, not just left and right but now high and low.

At 2:30 candles are seen burning, and then it cuts back to the room at a long shot, with almost reflections showing 3 Tinie's now giving the camera mode of address, but narrative is still lacking, and the mise en scene is lacking at best, with only casual attire, speakers, and a variety of glasses used in the video. At 3:05 Tinie begins smashing up poles, in slow motion, and this is the only sign or narrative that is key since the beginning. The pace by 3:20 is extremely fast with around 8 people in shot, and a party atmosphere is used by quick shots, often inadvertent OTS angles and focus on the key characters dancing in the centre, with quick cuts to speakers every now and then. The pace again increases and the shots last around 1/4 of a second, with the poles seen hitting the floor and smashing, close ups and the dancing on-going, it abruptly ends, to meet the pace of the music which also ends at an alarming halt.

Does It Offend You Yeah? - We Are Rockstars

Does It Offend You Yeah? are a British rock/electronic band originating from Reading. They were formed in 2006 and have seen strong success in the dance and indie charts. They claim that the band name is taken from a quote from Ricky Gervais's popular TV comedy, The Office and have completed several high profile tours, the latest a spot at the Dance stage at Leeds and Reading Festivals 2011.

The video begins with the band clearly playing to a live crowd, the fast paced editing and people cheering in the background suggests this could be designed to seem like they are in the middle of a set, as there is the occasional slow motion added, although it is mainly quick cuts to close up, with a wide range of high, low and wide angles to get shots of both the audience and the band.

Slow motion is a key factor in the video, and contradicts the fast paced shot sequences, possibly signifying the band are loving the performance. Lights begin flashing amongst over things, including a very clear strobe light being used towards the end, giving the shots a very edgy rigid feel to them. The angles are from all over, and the stage is in the middle, so this means that some of the shots are long, incorporating the crowd into them to show the atmosphere, whilst others are close ups of the lead singer as he sings the chorus, in a robotic style voice, that sounds slightly audio tuned. The video is quite literally filming the band in concert and takes a different route from the usual mode of address or focus on narrative perspective roads a lot of other bands take.

Chicane - Poppiholla

Chicane is a British dance artist, whose real name is Nicholas Bracegirdle. This artist is very well known in party capitals such as Ibiza, Magaluf and Malia to name a few. This song, Poppiholla, was created in 2009 and entered the UK singles chart at no.7.

The version of the video I have embedded has an advert in, so the actual video does not begin until 0:30. It begins in black and white (and continues with this feature all the way through the video), with an establishing shot of a networking tower, before panning down to show a sign on the right side of the screen entitled 'Carmine Motors'. The shot keeps panning down until it reaches a man walking with his hood up, in a mid shot, the camera tracking his movement.2 close ups show his face from different angles, before reverting back to a mid shot, all of this is in slow motion.
It slowly cuts to him walking round a corner, where he is seen to walk past a woman at a cash machine, who looks curiously at him, in an extreme close up. The next shot is follows as an OTS shot to show him looking away and carrying on walking, and he looks toward an open door, with a woman, again in close up, staring at him. The same thing happens again as he walks past two men, who keep their heads down and move on. This is shown in shot reverse shot as he walks past, and helps inject a narrative that this man is possibly a bad character, that is not popular. A fade out brings us to an OTS of him walking past a taxi, with the driver again shown in close up to be looking at him, furthering the suspicions that this character is bad. Another fade out is used before he turns the corner, in which he breaks into a run, in a mid angle, and he knocks and disturbs several people throughout his run. This fits the pace as although in slow motion, he is still speeding up.
You see him tackle a woman and assume he is assaulting her from the straight angle, however the camera remains there to reveal bricks falling, and he in fact saved her, and as they hit the ground, the video fades out to finish.


Owl City - Fireflies

Owl City are an American pop/electronic band that were formed in 2007. Firefliesarguably their best hit, has generated huge success and has hit no.1 in several charts, including the UK singles chart.

The video begins with a shot of a keyboard type instrument, believed to be a Lowrey spinet organ, in a close up, with a hand coming into shot to turn it on. Several buttons are pressed in extreme close up, and when the stop/start button is switched on, the music begins. It then cuts to a long shot, very slowly rising to a high angle, which shows the room in it's entirety, with a man playing the organ in the left of the shot, with lots of toys in the middle, making it seem like a young child's, presumably boy's room due to the toys that are there, such a as a train set.
The shot pace is relatively slow at this point, and several lights go on to fit jingles in the song's beat, once the man presses a button on the keyboard at an ECU, in between 2 close ups of him playing the organ. After the lights have been turned on, there is another mid-close up on the organ player as he begins singing, however he is not looking at the camera so therefore he is not addressing the audience. More appliances turn on as he continues to play and this can be seen through close up cuts, before reverting back to the singer. The narrative is unclear but it appears to be that as the man is playing, it's almost as if he is remembering things from his childhood, hence these things turning on due to him acknowledging them in his head.

Lip syncing is apparent, and as the song progresses the pace of cuts increases as more appliances get turned on, highlighting the rowdiness of the scene, with key words being written onto a sort of radio box. At 1:12 the song really does kick in, and this is shown in a short close up of a globe spinning, the shot tempo increases, and the singer's body actions also connote an increase in pace. There are now more toys working and all are viewed in close up shots, that last about half a second. At 1:35 there is slight jerks in the camera movement, further showing a pace increase. The camera now has to track the objects it has to keep in focus, so there is the occasional jerking to keep the item in the shot.

The tempo keeps increasing until 2:34 when a jar of fireflies is seen in close up amid the chaos of the appliances. In a wide angled long shot of the room you can see everything in full flow, with miniature hot air balloons coming out of closets amongst other crazy goings-on. The pace keeps quickening right up to 3:19 when he turns off the organ, which slows everything down to an eventual standstill, which also shows how the video meets the pace of the actual song

Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song

Bruno Mars is an American singer/songwriter, born in Honolulu. His career began to rise in 2009 after he changed record labels and he has subsequently been a huge sensation, with many notable tracks. However in September 2010 he was arrested in Las Vegas under suspicion of possession of cocaine. He pleaded guilty and his charges were a $2000 fine, a counseling course and 200 hours community service.

The Lazy song is one continuous cut, and contains Bruno Mars using the mode of address convention all the way through, with the 5 monkey characters also in the same shot, the beginning of the video suggests that it is filmed by webcam due to the hand in front of the camera, before Mars leans back, ready to sing. The monkeys act almost as the backing singers for the whistling and other parts of the song Mars does not sing. There is no real narrative, almost emulating a self recorded song and dance routine done by a typical you tube poster. Key props are seen to be the sunglasses the 5 characters wear, and the chequered shirts, along with Mars' computer chair, these can all be seen on screen as mise en scene, also the backdrop further suggests it is a typical webcam post due to the normality of the house they are in.

Halfway through a man who appears to be Mars' room-mate appears in what is clearly his sleeping outfit, as he yawns as well, he comes to the camera and puts on a woman's voice before the monkeys take him away. This is an example of how even thought they are using one consecutive shot, different distance shots can be used as it can be seen that the room-mate is in a long shot, then walks forward into a close up, before being dragged away back into a long shot.
The song and dance routine is continued until 2:48 when Mars is thrown a guitar from off-screen, another key prop, and he begins to play it for the last segment of the video, before throwing it back at 3:02. The room-mate comes back into shot and dances along, before Mars uses a confetti machine to end the video with them all almost celebrating a perfectly performed routine.


Underdog - You Me At Six

You Me At Six are an English rock band formed from Surrey. The band have been a huge success since their debut album back in 2008, entitled Take Off Your Colours, and they followed it up with their second album, Hold Me Down, which is the album Underdog was released on, in January 2010. The band have had success spanning to a clothing range, and have also become well known amongst many rock fans of this generation, sighting inspiration from other bands such as Blink 182.

The cross narrative/band mode of address
The music video begins with a red background with little lighting, and the camera in a mid shot on the drummer, who begins to play. This causes the camera to zoom gradually out, revealing the band's album artwork(and most noticeably the band's name),that can be seen on the left. It is after a quick cut to a left pan of the drummer from another angle, that the camera switches to a straight mid shot of the whole band, in which the lead singer begins, as the lights come on at the same precise moment, all the while zooming in.
This precedes several quick cuts that range from close ups of the singer, incorporating the mode of address convention, to pans of the singer, whilst the set can be seen in shot also, revealing some of the backdrop that include spotlights for example, a key aspect of mise-en-scene, to reverse angle shots that shows the band playing from behind, again panning, at fast pace, to fit the style of music. This continues, with a brief slo-mo cam at 0:22, until 0:30 when it cuts to a girl wiping away a tear in close up, and anothercut to a close up of a two people kissing (see second highest,left side, of stills).

 The next shot is a zoomed out version of the close up with the crying girl, it is now a mid-close up and as the camera switches focus, it is revealed she is crying over the two people kissing, who are in a long shot. Intertwined cuts show the band singing, and zoomed pans towards the couple kissing, with red remaining a primary colour throughout, suggesting love is a key theme in this video.
There is a brief cut to the girl crying suggestively 'sorting herself out' so to speak in a mirror, with the camera trained on the mirror, before a knee-high shot is seen of a girl walking to the boy who was kissing moments earlier, this is in slow motion, all the while intertwined with quick shots of the band playing in close ups and pans.
A brief cut back to the mirror shows the girl is still there, before we see the boy and girl who were kissing, now arguing. The colour scheme suggests the crying girl is the 'good' character due to the white, background with blonde hair, with the couple 'evil' due to dark hair and dark setting.

More quick cuts show the band, the girl in the mirror, and the 'evil' girl evidently leave the boy and sit on stairs, zooming in between each cut, before she walks away off camera. There is more focus on the band for a few shots before cutting back to the girl in the black dress, now on stage, who begins dancing, with very fast cuts between her and the drummer, in time with the drums, as she begins dancing the camera shot is switched to a long shot to see her full body as she dances, all the while quick cutting to mid close ups to highlight emotion as this is evidently a key scene. This continues, and it becomes easier to notice that all around the girl dancing is dark, except for her stage, which is filled with lighting due to lots of fixtures around her. The cuts get faster and more high angles are used as she dances, before cutting back to her with the boy, seen kissing again, this time in a close up and in slow motion, contrasting the high paced cuts used moments before. The girl with blonde hair is now seen walking past, evidently upset and again slightly in slow motion, before it cuts back to the girl in the black dress, looking on in the direction the blonde girl is heading, with a knowing look. She then proceeds to walk away from the boy, leaving him confused with the final shots of the band, as the lights go out.


Undercover Martyn - Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club are a rock band originated from Bangor, Northern Ireland, formed in 2007. Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals) Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, synths and beats) and kevin Baird (backing vocals, bass) are the 3 band members, and they have released one album, Tourist History, from which Undercover Martyn is from, having also been released as a single, and they are currently signed to the french company, Kitsune Music. The band's most recent performances have occured at Reading and Leeds' Festivals, on the august bank holiday weekend, in which they were placed on the Main Stage, having been a large success on the smaller yet still attractive NME stage at the same festival the year before.

Undercover Martyn was released on the 22nd February 2010, and was the 2nd single to be taken from the album Tourist History, and peaked at 79 in the UK charts. The video has no clear narrative, although the band are seen to be being controlled by puppeteers, which later bring vibrant flags amongst other colourful items into the shot later in the video. There is clear lip syncing continuously throughout the video, although it is a lot clearer in the close up shots, whilst the band are playing guitars for the whole duration of the video as well, highlighting 2 conventions of a typical music video. It could be argued that the narrative is the puppeteers adding things to the shot, in which case there is a clear sign of a fusion of 2 conventions, as the band remain playing.
Each band member has a guitar, and all are smartly dressed whilst there is clear 'mode of address' being displayed which is known as singing to the camera.

The video starts with a black screen, until 0:04 when it cuts to a close of up of each band member's face,for approximately one second per face, in the order they are standing in (left to right), the music begins as this cut occurs. It then cuts to a long shot, and you can see that they are all suspended in the air by what appears to be puppeteers hands, the band look distressed as they are flung about whilst trying to maintain their composure and continue playing in the later stages of the video. When the first line of the song is played, around 0:18, there is a cut to a close up of the lead singer, and clear mode of address can be seen. There are continuous cuts to a close up then back to the long shot, in order to maintain the mode of address, as well as a recurring theme beginning at 0:39 in which the word 'basement' is held up above the bands' heads by the puppeteers as they sing the word. At 0:42 there is a clear cut to the lead singer's feet tapping, even though it is apparent he is being held aloft still, and this is where the band begin to get jostled and moved around by the puppeteers, and at 0:55 the other 2 band members are stripped of their guitars and have to catch them again, whilst the lead singer in the middle manages to hold on to his.
 At 1:33 the first colourful flag is introduced and swirls around the band, before many others of different colours begin to do the same, whilst at 1:41 the left and right band member begin spinning round. At 1:44 the middle member is spun at a fast pace, with an almost strobe style cut used to fast forward his movement, before a quick cut to the right member now horizontal, all fast paced to fit the music. Very quick cuts are continuously used to show different flags and situations of the band spinning at a fast pace to fit the music, and at 2:08 the cut changes to all dark except for the middle band member's suit, which has become a glow in the dark type neon colour, as well as his guitar, almost resembling an x ray style shot in a long shot, before the other band members light up at 2:12. The next sequence mixes shots of them in normal lighting with the neon glowing feature with quick cuts once more to again fit the music, before going back to normal at 2:20. There are now balloon type things floating about as well as the flags, until the end, where a lot of balloons are released up towards the camera, revealing the whole sequence to have been in a birds eye view type camera angle.

Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers

Tyler, The Creator is the stage name for Tyler Okonma, a recording artist from Los Angeles, and is the lead artist in a hip hop collaboration group known as OFWGKTA. His music career took lift in 2009 with his first album, entitled Bastard, whilst he is now currently working on a second album named Goblin. His work has come under scrutiny due to his excessive use of profanities and derogatory lyrics, although he claims to be under the bravado of, 'If it offends you, it offends you.'

The video begins with 2 quick shots of a website link, oddfuture.com, and his album name, Goblin. It then quickly cuts to a shot of a young man emulating the pose of, Rodin The Thinker. The shot is in black and white, and is in a mid long shot. These features maintain throughout the majority of the video, excluding several zooms to close ups and mid shots, whilst focusing the camera both in and out to add a blur effect, almost in time with the music. The shot allows Tyler to remain as the central focus in the music video, whilst incorporating props such as a stool, a noose, and a cockroach. At 2:00, he throws his shirt at the camera, allowing the only cut of the video, which is noticeable but still quite subtle. In the next shot, of almost the exact same angle with only slight movement of camera noticed, his pupils are shown to have fulfil his whole eye, possibly indicating he is going insane or something is not right, this shot is ultimately before he hangs himself, at 2:33, after a noose is dropped down at 2:27.This supports the assumption that all is not right with Tyler's state of mind, and a further give away that he is not OK is at 0:55, when he is shown being sick on camera, in a mid long shot, after eating the cockroach he is seen with at 0:22.

Tyler is shown to be lip syncing to the song throughout the video which is a key convention, yet breaks the sync at times, such as 1:16, where he spits on the floor before resuming the lip syncing. Also, the added feature of changing the focus on the camera to blur the shot does in a way fit the music, in the sense of it changing from focus to a brief out of focus shot, almost every 3seconds, although at times it is only the dead centre of the shot that remains completely in focus. There is no 'male gaze' factor in this video in order to attract audience, and also the narrative is unclear, the only clear thing is that as it appears that Tyler gets more insane during the music video, eventually rendering him suicidal at the very end.

The director for this video was Wolf Haley, and it was filmed by Luis Panch Perez.


Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of nudity, language, harmful or sensitive topics etc.. It is believed to be a very controversial topic and a very two sided argument.
For:

  • Stops young children seeing/hearing inappropriate language and visual imagery. 
  • Allows videos and songs to be shown to a wider target audience. 
  • If films have certificates, why shouldn't things stop being shown in music videos?
Against:

  • Stops artists from being able to fully express themselves. 
  • Creates guidelines for bands to follow. 
  • Its not all equally, in one persons eye it may not be bad, but in another it may come across as offensive. 
An example of a censored video is Lady Gaga - Love Game due to "frequent verbal and visual sexual references".

Ways of hiding censorship:





  • Blanking; when the volume is muted for all or part of the word.
  • Bleeping; playing a noise, usually a "beep", over all or part of the word.
  • Resampling; using a like-sounding portion of vocals and music to override the offending word.
  • Resinging; Replacing a word with a more appropriate word.
  • Backmasking; taking the offending word and reversing the audio, sometimes the whole audio is reversed (often because it is a home-made job), but more usually only the vocal track is reversed.
  • Repeating; repeating the word just said before the explicit word was used.
  • Skipping; deleting the word from the song without a time delay.
  • Echo; instead of saying a word, it echoes the last word(s) said in the line.
  • Disc scratching; in hip hop, scratching on the word, making it sound like another word, or make the word said faster or slower.
  • RoboVoicing; making the word totally non-understandable by overpowering a robovoice effect (usually used as a last resort for home-made jobs).
  • Distorting; Usually in Hip-Hop, less offensive words such as "shit" or else is distorted. It is usually done by shifting down the pitch.