Artists you tube link

This is our artists you tube profile

http://www.youtube.com/user/melodykat0

Artist

Our singer produced and wrote the following song with the link below. The group is debating weither to use this song as we have yet to hear her other tracks however we feel that this song is really well sung and exactly what we are looking for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfUc16JsKF4

Music Video Ideas

Notes for the planning of our music video!

Artist- Carly Jones
Age- 15
Occupation- Student at Reepham high school

First I looked at “Empire state of mind” by Alicia Keys this influenced us as the music and lyrics are similar to thee ones in which Carly writes. When we first came across Carly we found her on www.woho.net.com , we listened to the songs she sung however they we all traditional songs from well known stars around the country E.G. Florence and the machine – Howl.

We could not use this song as we were asked to find an artist who has written there own music and lyrics. Me and my group then went and spoke to her and asked her if she writes her own music and with luck on our side she said she did. When I first heard her music it reminded me of Alicia Keys Empire state of mind, just because of the tune and some of the lyrics. We were extremely happy when Carly agreed to sing for us as we can do a photo shoot with her and make our music video performance based.

Initial Ideas
• From hearing her style of music I really have a image in my head of her playing on a dark stage with nothing else around her bar a piano and her.
• Dress code – Black dress, very formal. The aim is to get her looking very professional.
• We have spoken to a make-up artist about doing her make up and we have also spoken to a hair stylist to do her hair for us. They have both agreed and are willing to help us through our music video.
• The location we have looked at is in the high school with the piano however the piano is NOT on the stage so we are using the recording music room with a long board placed around the room with a black sheet with small lights coming through which makes the scene looks more sophisticated and will make the scene more calm and will make Carly stand out .
• However this may change depending on how Carly feels as we want her to feel as comfortable as possible. E.G. She may not want to sing live she may want to lip sync.
• Another problem is we don’t want our video to be boring so we after hearing her song and analyzing the lyrics we will then decide whether we need more of a narrative based than performance.

Example of a completed A2 blogger

Example:



http://latymermusiccharlotteameliahollylaura.blogspot.com/

This finished blog has helped me think about what techniques and effects i can use.Their video shows that you dont actually need too much effects to make the video look effective and that a simple back drop will do thus i feel that our group can learn from this as we were thinking of using a black background for our video analysis.

Textual Analysis of Music video two: Pink - Funhouse

Alicia Moore (AKA Pink) is an American pop singer and song writer who released her first album in 2000 and so far her latest in 2009. The song fun house is produced by Jimmy Harry and Tony Kanal. Tony Kanal of No Doubt, also the co-writer and the producer of the song, appears in the music video, playing a piano after the second chorus.The songs main focus or meaning as the star said herself is personal to her as it is about her split with Carey Hart. This song seems to return Pink to her full rocker mode as the song is upbeat with guitars among other instruments. Billboard (an American magazine) was quoted saying: "gave the song a very positive review, saying "Pink again displays her versatility on this complex number, which calls for blues, funk and rock vocal styling's that few other pop stars could pull off" This shows how diversified Alicia can be.

Rock music entered the mainstream at 1950 which drew on folk music, jazz, classical music and others. While in the 1970s, rock developed a number of sub genres, such as soft rock, glam rock, heavy metal, hard rock, punk rock with more appearing in 1980 such as alternative rock. These various rock genres have been combined together in various rock tracks to produce an even better single which pink has done in multiple tracks including the title song "Fun house".

The video begins as it pans low to the ground showing an Elvis grave briefly. Pink then soon emerges from an old empty pool and begins to sing the first verse while doing such things as kicking over a toilet and throwing a photo frame. She then passes a toaster before entering a house that is on fire with various clowns around. For a reason that i can't think of she picks up a stick quickly then throws it back down. She counts down from 9 with her fingers and hand gestures. She moves to a table and takes a sip of some red liquid but becomes disgusted by screwing up her face thus she throws it down. Pink soon jumps onto a mattress attached to a chain which is being pulled by two clowns. She soon gets off the mattress and climbs onto the burning fun house to finish the scene. It then shows three clowns before she walks up to the one clown playing a guitar. She counts down from 9 yet again. After this clip Pink climbs threw a doggie door where a male jumps to play the piano who is in fact the male who helped produce the video. Alicia then moves to a motorcycle that is positioned near the piano and puts on sunglasses and a leather jacket which is followed by another countdown. At one she rides away on the motorcycle as the house explodes before showing a typical scene of the female riding into the distance/sunset.

Pink keeps to the genre of rock within this song from the typical instruments that are used within it as well as the swearing at one point when she sticks her finger at the camera, Her hair has a slight mohawk down the centre which again is stereotypical to the rock genre however they would probably have it bigger than . She also wears a leather jacket at the end of the video which shows her rock type genre.

Reference to looking is also given a couple of times within the video such as a reflection in a toaster which i feel almost makes the audience seem slightly nosy as you want to know what is happening due to being able to see things happening from it yet being unclear at what exactly is going on. Another is when you see the photo frames on the floor which could signify that you are at a friend's house and they are simply showing you their family images.

Throughout the video various lyrics match what is happening within the video which i feel can help the understanding of the music video, especially if it is narrative based as it is like a film. You need to know all the factors in order to understand the ending of one which is just like a narrative based music video. "Dance around this house" for instance is used near the start of the video when Pink begins to dance showing her connection to the music thus i feel trying to make the audience connect to the track also. Also near the start of the track she says "Throw you out" while making a gesture of throwing something out to emphasis her emotion at that point in the song. "Spinning all around" is used just before the female begins to spin in a full circle with the camera panning past as she does so. Another lyric match is when she picks up the photo frames when saying "Pictures framing up the past, taunting smirk behind the glass" which she throws behind her as the word behind is used again to emphasis her emotion at that point in time. "Tickle" is used as she tickled her body before going off the screen with a grin on her face. She is constantly saying "evil clowns" and most of the time the clowns appear on screen. "Used to be" is spoken when Pink walks past the toaster which i feel could represent her looking back on the past due to the reflection showing her back as she walks away as well as it is combined with the photos of the female with her husband that she was divorcing at the time. Thus i feel that this is showing her walking away from the past as it used to be a certain way which means that it isn't that way anymore. "House" she sings as she walks into the house before the beat kicks in. "Mattress" is spoken as she jumps onto the selected item after she sings "Movers" which makes two clowns pull the item across the floor thus these various factors i feel help the understanding of the music video. "Crawling through doggy door" shows Pink crawling through a cat flat which is ironic as she sings doggy dog which could show that she is repelling and is a rebel as she calls it a doggy door instead of a cat flat. "Key don't fit my lock no more" shows a door behind the female which is locked.

Certain visuals within the video also link in with the music or with certain beats. For instance when the female walks she is nearly always in tune with the beat of the music as well as with her hand gestures which she performs. Flames near the end of the video burst with the beat to increase effect and to focus the audience's attention with a large one at the end of the video. There is a scene roughly between 1.30 and 1.40 which shows when the female says "Down" flames burst outwards to the beat.

There is no sexual reference within the music video at all as i feel that Pink is more of a rebel and a rock punk type person instead of flaunting herself which most female pop stars. Such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kesha among others. She has however flaunted herself slightly before in other music videos yet it was to portray an image for instance "Stupid girls" was a track where she basically had a go at all the plastic women in American for using cosmetic make up and being at girly when they used to have powerful women and natural/comfortable with themselves. Thus i feel that Pink makes her videos to either give a story away and to prove or point or to express her own views and ideology.

The music video is based on Pink as it shows her most of the time however it does show the other band members yet strangely you never see their faces as they are the clowns thus all the attention is still in the female. She is shown in various ways by a full shot of her, a low shot, a landscape shot and various other shots. I feel that the video does this as Alicia is very much her own person as i feel that to express that fact they wanted to base the video just on the female thus showing her independence and power as well as the fact that she is quite well known yet she is still being used to sell the record.

This music video has other in textual references within it such as the horror film "it" which has a main villain or monster of an evil clown which links to the evil clowns that are commented on within the video. Others film techniques are looked at, for instance there is almost a blockbuster film ending with a large explosion near the end of the music video which has been used in various films. Another typical scene is when Pink goes off into the sunset on her bike, again this is used in a lot of various films e.g. Simpsons movie.

Pink also refers to her other music video "so what" which has the female on a vehicle in the middle of the road banging her head which she does in this video except she is on a motorbike. "So what" is also referred to as that video was based on her break up with her husband which is the same basis in this track as she was quoted with saying that both were hints at the break up yet her husband didn't mind them at all and in fact thought that they were good fun.

I feel that this video is narrative based as it follows her walking through the fun house until she gets on her motorbike and gets away from the scene. It also feels slightly performance based as she performs to the audience and looks at the camera a lot of the time.

Second Music Video Lyrics

Lyrics to Funhouse :

I dance around this empty house
Tear us down
Throw you out
Screaming down the halls
Spinning all around and now we fall

Pictures framing up the past
Your taunting smirk behind the glass
This museum full of ash
Once a tickle
Now a rash

This used to be a funhouse
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down down down
I'm gonna burn it down

9, 8, 7, 6 5 4, 3, 2, 1, fun

Echoes knocking on locked doors
All the laughter from before
I'd rather live out on the street
Than in this haunted memory

I've called the movers
Called the maids
We'll try to exorcise this place
Drag my mattress to the yard
Crumble tumble house of cards

This used to be a funhouse
now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down down down
I'm gonna burn it down

This used to be a funhouse
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down down down
I'm gonna burn it down

9, 8, 7, 6 5 4, 3, 2, 1, fun

Oh, I'm crawling through the doggy door
My key don't fit my lock no more
I'll change the drapes
I'll break the plates
I'll find a new place
Burn this sucker down

do do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dadadadado do do do dodo do (9, 8, 7, 6 5 4, 3, 2, 1)do do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo doo

This used to be a funhouse
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down down down
I'm gonna burn it down

This used to be a funhouse
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down down down
I'm gonna burn it down

Second Video Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exaZPqql56w

Pink funhouse - music video

Textual Analysis of music video one: Linkin Park – What I’ve done

Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries. Its following studio album, Meteora, continued the band's success, topping the Billboard 200's album charts in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best of the new millennium behind Oasis and Coldplay. Having adapted the nu metal and rap metal genres to a radio-friendly yet densely-layered style in Hybrid Theory and Meteora, the band explored other genres in their next studio album, Minutes to Midnight, which was released in 2007. The album topped the Billboard charts and had the third best debut week of any album that year.

This song differs from most of Linkin Park's previously released songs in that it features almost no lead vocals from vocalist Mike Shinoda, save for a brief "na na na" refrain at the end. The song also has a downbeat exactly once every second, consistent throughout its entirety. Although it was released in 2007 it was used for the film Transformers, credits, advertising etc that was seen in cinemas around 2008 which increased the tracks sales yet again after a year of its official release however this track has now been unofficially nicknamed the transformers song.(Quoted from wikipedia)

The song starts out with a piano
riff, before adding a hip hop-inspired drum line, and then introducing a raw-sounding guitar riff. At the very start of the video emphasis on life
is shown by using colors of life such as blue and green with the grass reversing into the mud which links to the music almost like it is drawing the life back into the earth, as soon as the grass disappears into the mud the piano riff starts. While the piano riff is occurring a shot of a scorpion is shown which is walking along the desert that funnily enough links to the film which was made a few years later with a scorpion transformer that is first seen in the desert however of course the video couldn't have used the film for inspiration as the film wasn't released at that time however it could of worked the other way round. The keys from the piano also link with the steps that the scorpion is making across the sand. A small pan is produced which begins to draw the audience towards the band before cutting to another pan which goes left across the stage showing the location. An eagle is also shown as is a cog wheel which turns with the ticking of the one second beat that lasts throughout the whole video, this then cuts into various small clips and shows the band members who remain still as the camera circles them however the camera seems to take footage from underneath the members making them seem important and powerful although one band member holding a guitar seems to be moving slightly. As the guitar them comes into the sequence a shot of an explosion of some sorts is shown from a bird's eye view in black and white giving the feeling that you are looking through a camera thus linking to the notion of looking. From then on it features footage of the band playing while every so often showing footage of social issues, environmental issues, and historical figures good and bad. These include terrorism, destruction, obesity, abortion, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Adolf Hitler among many more.

In various places within the video the lyrics match what is being shown within the video yet not to an extent where everything matches or the video would become boring as you wouldn't want to hear someone singing about making a cup of tea and the video is exactly that for about 3 minutes, it would just bore the audience. "Mercy come" is spoken as a shot of the sky is shown which may represent a link to god as he is supposed to reside within the sky and will help people in times of need as well as show mercy. "Wash away" links to a video of a polar bear swimming into water as well as a sewage tunnel pumping water away thus wash away. The lead singer within the video looks out at the camera during a point in the video and sings the lyrics "face myself" where he almost rejects what he had just said as he turns to the left of the screen hinting that possibly what mankind has done can't be easily faced or owned up to. After the first chorus the word "Hands" is sung where Mother Teresa is shown clasping her hands together in pray possibly showing that the destruction within the video is so bad that we need to pray thus linking to religion and with the first lyrics i spoke about as they both talk about religion. "Cross out" is sung before a burning cross is then shown which again could hint to Jesus on the cross. The final lyrics that link to the visual elements of the video that i have picked out is when the music goes quieter and the words "start again" are sung the lead singer walks away from the camera into lights which signify to me a new start or a new life or maybe even hope, theses reasons are backed up by the fact that a flower blooming is shown shortly after this as well as a baby scan of a child. I feel that linking the lyrics to the visuals can increase the meaning of the video and the way that it affects the audience.

As well as the lyrics matching the visuals the actual beats of the music can match these scenes making more of an impact. Near the start of the video there are scenes of various animals such as a rhino where the cuts link to the beat of the song thus giving it fluency. A flamethrower is used at the camera and the audience as the music fades and the signing begins to start right near the start of the video almost pushing you into the next sequence. Another visual is shown as the guitarist strum with two loud beats as the sun behind him also shines brightly twice with the strums increasing is size and brightness, this is on the lyric "I've" which then leads in the chorus where the beats occur more often. The sun is also shown with the artists in front of it where it shines stronger with the beat this allows the audience to see the artists of the band and identify them easily by using natural light instead of artificial which funnily enough global warming is hinted at in the video with ice bergs falling into the water due to artificial technology. The many explosions within the video are also linked with the beat of the video which i feel increase the effect of the beat by almost showing power with it. These as i said before give more of an impact and allows the video to be fluent and match up without leaving anything left so that it looks like it shouldn't be within the video.

All members of the band are shown however the main singer is obviously shown the most out of the group and they are shown in a few ways either a face shot which shows emotion and recognition of the member or a full shot view like at the start of the footage where each member is shown motionless with their musical instrument.
A sense of motion is used through time scheduled movements such as the appearance of clouds over time, the movement of cars plus others which give the video narration through all of the clips that are shown, thus giving it a slight story.

Contrast is shown within the video to emphasize the meaning of the clips thus making the audience react and connect more, an example of this is when a video of a starving African is shown which goes to a sign saying eat and then fades to a large male munching into a gigantic burger which is followed by a similar couple of clips of a person losing weight with a tape around their waist and another starving African, these clips show that the world has become centered around certain cultures and have forgotten others. Another hint at this is when shots of various places are shown such as the coliseum, pyramid, Stonehenge plus others which i feel show that the whole world is involved in the mess.

Reference to looking is also shown within the music video such as black and white clips with are easily shown to be recordings and almost make you feel that you are looking back in time, various other homemade like videos are shown such as the clip of the young child running in their garden as well as a clip of a pregnancy scan almost like the parents have allowed you to watch. Another feeling of watching something that you feel that you shouldn't really watch is of the male taking drugs on the stairs thus making you want to turn away from the screen.

The band keep to their genre by using various characteristics of that type, for instance the dark clothing with is typical among rock singers as well as the loud beats and the loud drums. The lead singer also leans with his microphone and the stand again this is typical for rock type singers however they refrain from screaming and yelling as they use pop type beats within some of their songs unlike their first album that they released. That said the band don't do any typical boy group dance numbers.

There are no sexual references within the video as i feel that the main aspect of the video is to show that the world is being destroyed but by us as the song is titled "What I've done" this gives the video meaning as the clips show what is going wrong with the world yet shows some of the people who have helped make it a better place thus i feel that the video tries to show you that we can help stop the wars and the pain that is being caused today. However many people feel that this video as almost telling the audience what to do and what to feel yet the bank argued that they were simply showing what was happening to the world and that we should stop mistreating the world which is unique to a band of their nature who are stereotypical on drugs and don't care about the world.