Evaluations

Music Video Evaluations

Evaluation 1

For this evaluation I have referenced and used 'Andrew Goodwin's Music Theory' to try analyse the different relationships between my group and I's music video with the song we used, which is called 'Icicles' by The Scary Jokes'. 

1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

The lyrics of 'Icicles' by The Scary Jokes put the listener in a victim's perspective of abuse and their challenge in escaping their abuser. This is shown through lines like, 'I can only be forgiven if I'm giving myself up to you' and 'Must I bear myself to the stabbing of your knife'. These dark lyrics are almost in an illusion as the instruments and electric sounding beat creates a catchy and upbeat tone, this contradicts the lyrics, making the listener feel as though they are being deceived audibly, almost as if the abuse is being covered up, silenced like the victim. 

Image above depicts visual of female character fading away - hints towards dark themes of thriller and horror (viewer questions how or why she passed away). 

For my group and I's music video we wanted to capture this juxtaposition of the upbeat tone with the dark message in the lyrics, in order to do this we felt having the visuals look as though they were 'home videos' it would capture the innocence atmosphere and tone, yet the subtle references and actions in the video expose the true morbid meaning. The themes of horror, thriller and love that are explored in the lyrics we chose to show through the characters actions e.g the horror and thriller were shown through the fast/aggressive cuts and repeated imagery of the female protagonist leaving and fading away from the male protagonist, this emphases the dark themes as the viewer questions how she passed away or if she ever existed at all, creating a haunting feeling as the audience are manipulated visually. The theme of love in the lyrics is shown in the visuals through the intimate and playful moments between the characters, this leads the audience on making them see the illusion of love that beneath in reality is abuse. 

The image above depicts a harsh brick backdrop/background - subtly symbolises to the gritty and rough actions expressed in the lyrics.  

The video's narrative is non-linear and quite abstract, scenes of exterior settings, lip syncing parts and moments between the characters/them apart are cut in-between the music video throughout. We chose to do this because it acts as a symbolism for the lyrics by reflecting the repetitiveness of the abuse, making the visuals repeat too. The visuals in the music video are also very opposing to the lyrics because of their setting. The music video features multiple exterior locations of a forest, courtyard, wooden and brick walls etc. these visuals have no link to the lyrics but the harsh materials capture a sense of grittiness and roughness which is similar to the actions described in lyrics such as, 'sharpen into sabers' and 'gnashing teeth'. 

2. There is a relationship between the music and visuals, with the visual illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

The editing of the music video is experimental as certain parts are cut in time with the fast beat and tempo which creates suspense, however in some parts the shots linger creating a more haunting and immersive visual. I chose to edit the music video like this because it works well with the song's catchy tempo, making it stimulating for the viewer to watch while also balancing the more darker themed lyrics. The visuals in the music video are not explicit to the song's chaotic and climactic sound, however, they do feature certain aspects where a huge reference point in the narrative is revealed at an intense climax in the song. For example, when the female character vanishes from the male character in the forest, this suspenseful moment is depicted at a peak point in the song where all the instruments come together, this makes the relationship between the visual and song more cathartic at points and allow the viewer to feel immersed in the story. 

 

The image above depicts a scene where the female character is harshly cut in and out of frame of the same shot in time with the tempo. 

The tone of the music is intense, exciting and climactic. These three elements I wanted to capture more in the post-production of the music video, but in order to do so my group and I had to gather lots of different shot types and footage of lip syncing scenes, outside close ups of nature and textures, scenes with the characters and them apart etc. to cut up and play around with in editing, in order for us to be capture that electric tone. 

The image above exhibits a close up of a branch of leaves, this juxtaposes the music at the point it is shown, this mimics the opposition between the lyrics dark tone with the joyful upbeat tempo of the song. 

However, some visuals in my music video contradict the song's aggressive and fast pace, as I had many shots in calming settings, that depicted a content and pretty visual e.g shown with the use of close ups of nature. I chose to do this as I felt this juxtaposition between the visuals and song would be entertaining because it is similar to the song's contrast with the lyrics, making a complex link between the song, visual and lyrics as a whole. 

3. Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography.

The music genre this song fits into is electro pop/indie. The media convections listeners of this genre would expect from a music video of this style would typically see fast editing that fits with the song's beat and pace. The audience would also expect there to be a narrative through the perspective of a character that they follow throughout the song, who uses imagery to reference the lyrics. 

The image depicts a mid shot of the performer (Charli XCX) lip syncing - similar framing and lip syncing sequence to the ones in my music video.

A similar genre style and music video I used as inspiration for the music video was 'Boom Clap by Charli XCX'. The music video for this song features lip syncing, nature shots, location shots all of which capture a similar layout and style as to my music video. I thought the mise-en-scene and performance type of having the artist sing directly to the camera worked effectively and similarly created an intimacy between the audience and performer (character in our case), much like our music video. The use of mid and wide shots in Charli XCX's music video were used to set the scene which captured a similar cinematography style of my music video. 

4. Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of their star/performers. 

The actors (being myself and my friend Liam Manning) play characters and neither of us are the musicians of this song. However, we still play a part in representing the song's meaning and narrative, while also adapting it. 

The image above depicts my character to be in anguish and distressed, this reflects her to be secretly tormented by her repressed emotions. This allows the audience to connect with the character as they are intimately exposed to her emotions in a mid frame.

My character (nameless female) has the longest run time on screen, this is because I lip synced the song in many parts. My character comes across as bubbly and fun, however, there are subtle images of my character feeling tormented and trapped, this is relevant to our portal of the narrative as I am the one who is being abused by the male protagonist (played by Liam). The micro-elements that capture this balance of a fun character who is equally tormented, are shown through the shots of my character being playful and enjoying themselves, but as the music video carries on, at a climactic point it is suggested I am being abused with visuals of my screaming and clasping my hair in anguish. 

The image above captures Liam's character at a distance facing away from the camera, this shows his disconnection between him and the audience, making him be perceived as cold and distant. 

The shots of my character lip syncing convey to the audience that the lyrics are through my character's perspective which all pull towards the dark message of the song. The distance of Liam's character in the wide shots depict him to be cold and reserved, this allows the audience to not become attached or connected to him, making them sympathise more with the female character as they only view him from her perspective, showing him as the predator. 

5.  Voyeurism 

The image above depicts the two characters sitting with one another as thought they are sharing a serious discussion, this is voyeuristic in nature as the audience are observing intimately into their relationship. 

The voyeuristic nature of my group and I's music video is minimal, we had certain shots linger on the characters in an intimate perspective when the two were walking side by side and conversing with one other. This type of voyeurism shown in our music video gives the effect that the audience are observing and spying on the characters relationship, making them feel a sense of uncomfortableness, as if they are being exposed to the characters. 

Thematically, our music video subtly hints towards themes of horror and thriller as they are reflected between the two characters toxic relationship. These themes are shown through the voyeuristic nature as there are constant visual references to the possible murder of the female character, this makes the audience feel connected and sympathise with the character, and makes them become emotionally invested because they become more curious about the plot and narrative that follows these characters.

6. There are likely to be intertextual references to other music videos, TV shows, books, movies, games etc. 

The image on the left is a shot from my music video, the shot on the right is from 'The Tree Of Life'. Side by side there are context references (environment, setting and abstractness).

Our music video has subtle references to the film 'The Tree of Life' as it has abstract features, both with the narrative and visuals. 'The Tree of Life' features abstract shots of nature and the environment, much like our music video. This film also has little context as to the character's progression which is much like our music video in the sense that it features no backstory or character development but leaves subtle hints along the way. Both our music video and 'The Tree of Life' are forms of media that are up for interpretation and allow the audience to make up their own mind about certain characters, visual references etc. 

Evaluation 2

A. Give one example of where you feel you contributed most effectively towards the successful completion of your music video. How were you able to support your team-mates to produce their best work? 

I believe I effectively contributed to the production of our music video, as I learnt the lyrics of the song to lip sync and helped with filming the close up nature shots. These elements were hugely beneficial to the music video as without them we would be very limited with footage and our production outcome would be very poor if there was no lip syncing scenes or nature shots. I was able to support my team-mates in helping them create their best work because I encouraged their creative and practical skills throughout filming and tried to make their ideas as inclusive as possible while also conversing with the director to ensure they were listened to.

B. Based on your performance in the unit, what would you say is the biggest area that you need to work on individually to develop as a media practitioner? How did this negatively impact on your work?

I believe the area I need to work on most is my editing skills, this is because I feel my storytelling through the visuals was quite poor and I would like to better my editing abilities by focusing more upon the character's perspective and narrative than making it look 'nice'. I feel my poor editing skills prevented me from truly creating a stronger final cut and after seeing my other team-mates cuts I felt mine was the weakest because it drifted away from the story and became more comedic than abstract, which was the style we wanted to capture. I will try to improve upon my editing skills by making edits using my own footage and create more short films to just edit, in order to see how I can develop and convey the story by cutting the different scenes and try this once a week.  

C. Identify THREE possible targets to develop your practice. What can you do to ensure you are developing and your work is improving?

To develop my editing practise I will watch videos on YouTube, listen to podcasts and attend masterclasses on editing to learn from successful editors and see how they work and there different techniques. This will help me broaden and expand my knowledge and can give me the opportunity to truly develop new ways of approaching a dialogue scene, montage etc. as I can research various ways of cutting a scene/film. 

I will also try to develop my editing skills by exploring types of transitions, colourings, effects etc. by experimenting with the various 'effects and controls' on After Effects. By diving straight into the practical side of editing, using my research, I can then learn to be more authentic with the editing style I like and feel captures my portrayal of the story, emotion etc. that I am trying to convey. 

Lastly, I will try to edit my own footage edits to also expand upon my cinematography skills and see how I can interpret my own filmed work using my new knowledge of editing. I will also be uploading my edits onto my instagram editing account and ask for feedback from other editors/followers to see how I can improve upon my edits and actively try out new techniques and styles using their advice.