Analysis of lyrics

Song Time Line

Recreated Digipak

Conventions of a music video

Conventions of a music video

The main conventions of a music video are as follows:

Camera shots and movement
In a music video there are normally lots of  long shots, close ups and mid shots. maybe a extreme long shot at the beginning of the video to establish a location if the music video was based around a narrative. The main shots are typically used to put emphasis on the artists and to show there emotions. Close ups can be used to show emotions but can also used to reflect the words of the song through the the movement of the lips. The movement of the camera is normally to follow the artist/band so they are always centered in the shots to show they are the main attraction . This may be different when is comes to a narrative because the shots would be more focused on making sure that the audience can understand what is happening. The most used camera movements are pans, tilts, tracking and crane shots.

Mise en Scene
Made up of props, costumes, location, body language and facial expressions. This includes where all the props and performers will be placed in the stage/shot. The musics videos mise en scene will normally match the theme/genre of the song. In most cases of music videos the lighting is reflected my the mood of the song e.g. if the song is very sad and slow then the lighting will be very dim or bland, whereas if the song was really happy and giddy the lighting would be very bright and colorful.
An example would be Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass. In the video the main props are balloons which are commonly associated with special occasions such as a birthday so it gives the vibe of happiness. The costumes are also very bright (bright pink and baby blue) to further enhance the same vibe. The lighting is very bright to again show that the song is a happy one and to enhance the props and costumes.

Editing
The main transitions of a music video are jump cuts so you are able to easily go from one shot to the next in a fast manner. This is a good thing to do in a pop music video because most of them are very fast pace. You are able to match the pace with simple but fast and effective jump cuts. By adding in a simple jump cut allows a sudden change from one scene to the next.

Sound
Sound is mainly the vocals in a music video since the reason you make a music video is to advertise the film. Other sounds included are the actual beat or instruments used within the song. In some cases you can used sound to created a short film e.g. Michael Jackson's Thriller.
 
 

Teacher assessment - general

A Level Media Progress Check - Toby
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		General
Relevant assessment criteria		Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		A good start to your blog. You have shown some good insight to some of your research and have a good understanding of the key points. You have used web tools effectively so far.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		You need to ensure you reflect on everything and continue to use web tools. Ensure all work, as mentioned on the list in 212, is uploaded onto the blog. Ensure labels can be accessed from your page. (link added)
Additional comments

Teacher assessment - analysing websites

A Level Media Progress Check - Toby
Assessed by	NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Analysing websites
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		Good use of a new web 2.0 tool – it makes it very interactive. I like how you have annotated key areas on the page, with some useful information.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		Could you give an overview of the key conventions all music websites have and compare the similarities/differences between genres. Can you embed the annotated websites into your blog (the moderators hate links!)
Additional comments

Annotating websites

Here's an annotation of Frankmusik's website.
Here's an annotation of Lana Del Rey's website.
Here's an annotation of Imagine Dragon's website

Analysing a music video

Lily Allen Smile Music video

The music video narrative is quite clearly an illustration of what the singer lily Allen is singing about. The song is about a guy who cheats on a girl with another girl. The girl acts swiftly and tries to get her own back by setting up all these horrible and nasty things to happen to him. The man always goes back to the girl he cheated on always complaining about what has happened to him, little does he know it’s the girl that he’s speaking  to that’s setting it all up. The sound or tune is very much a juxtaposition with what’s actually going on since the video is a man being beaten up and his life getting ruined and the tune is a very happy one. At one point she say’s “I felt bad for a while but now I just smile” this shows that she felt bad at the beginning but now she doesn't care and even enjoys ripping apart his life. Most of Lilly Allens songs are about ex-boyfriends and how they ended badly and this is just like the rest of them, whether or not this is a true story is uncertain.

The genre of this piece of music is very indie and unique so to give it an easy label would be incorrect however if I had to choose one I would probably have to go with Rocksteady,  pop, reggae fusion, funk, R&B which is what it is listed as online. The song was released on July 3^rd 2006, was written by Lily Allen, Iyiola Babalola, and Darren Lewis and was directed by Sophie Muller. Soon after the video was released it was banned from MTV after school hours because it had the use of a swear word. Lily Allen addressed this issue in an interview and said “I got really offended when my single 'Smile' got banned during after-school hours from MTV in the U.K. because it had the word f*ck in it. They said, 'We don't want kids to grow up too quickly.' But then you have Paris Hilton and the Pussycat Dolls taking their clothes off and gyrating up against men, and that's acceptable. You're thinking your kids are gonna grow up quicker because they heard the word f*ck?” A DJ called DJ Ron Slomowicz commented on the video on the website about.com and criticized it saying it was “mean-spirited” and implied that if a man did this to his ex-girlfriend then he would be shown as a violent person and therefore so should a girl that does this to a boy. He ending his comment by questioning her taste in music.

For iconography, this was her first ever debut song that was actually released so not a lot of people knew her music unless they were already a fan of her samples. Before this she was given £25,000 by regal records (which was who she signed with) to create a whole album. To get some attention she created a Myspace account and started to release a few sample songs. She became extremely popular as she gained tens of thousands of fans. She made 500 vinyls and they sold for as much as £40 each. She also created two mixtapes which were also released on her Myspace page to try and gain even more fans. Before the album was released she was given better mainstream producers and top-line writers. Smile was one of the songs she was extremely happy with and claims that is the first song she ever wrote. 

 The structure of the music video is very clear as it is literally telling a story. There are a few special effects when it comes to the transition from scene to scene. There probably wasn't enough money for amazing special effects since this was her first real song and they didn't know if the song was going to do well. On the other they may not have included special effects because they weren't needed. Without lots of special effects music a video becomes very clear and keeps constancy. An example of a music video that uses special effects and creates confusion is nicki minaj’s fairly new song pill of potions.

The main shots that are used in the music video are mid shots so the audience is able to see the emotions of each character and follow the narrative. if the all the shots were long shots/extreme long shots then the audience would have no idea what is happening. Its all the smirks and smiles that the female actress does that tells the audience that she enjoys torturing him.    

In conclusion I believe the purpose of the video was fulfilled. The purpose was to demonstrate how a relationship can end in a bad way and what happens to the people after it ends. In this case it displays how a woman can take vengeance on the opposite side of the relationship. In this case the story arc was clear in the actually video and the lyrics.