Storyboard

Storyboard from alexeglen

Audience Theory: Hypodermic Needle Theory

Where My Video Would Feature

During the process of making a music video, it would need to be considered where my product would feature. There are many sites that would feature my music video, such as YouTube, Vevo, Vimo, etc. All of these sites are common places for music videos to feature. Another thing that would be helpful to consider in regards to promoting my music video would be social media. It would be important for me to advertise my video on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Istagram etc. in order to get the most views on my video possible.

YouTube is a good place for music videos to be posted because of the accessibility and the amount of viewer possibilities the site holds. Videos from YouTube can be shared over the internet via social media which will help to advertise the video and gain it more views.

All of this is important for the advertisement of my music video as if it is hard to find, it's not going to get many views because of the amount of videos out there. Having the video easy to find and easy to share on YouTube will help to gain more views and promote the music. Social media is the backbone to this idea because of the amount of sharing and promotion that can be done over the internet through social media.
My video would also feature on music channels as this is a common way for people to consume music videos. A major example of how people do this is switching over to music channels during advert breaks of the television program they are watching or having the music on in the background when they are doing wok around the house. Examples of music channels my video could feature on include MTV, 4music or Capital TV.

Audience Theory: Stuart Hall's Reception Theory

Taylor Swift - 'Blank Space'

Dominant - The text was intended to be read by the audience as a way for Taylor Swift to use the criticism she has received in a funny way, making it into a joke. Fans of Swift are more likely to agree with the dominant reading of the text.

Negotiated - The audience accepts that the video is a way for Swift to approach the criticism she receives in a light hearted way but also believe it shows she cares too much about what people think about her. People who are indifferent to Swift are more likely to see the video in this way.

Oppositional - The audience believes this a pitiful attempt at Swift's part to get back at at the people who criticises her and also that she cares too much about the criticisms she receives. People who don't like Swift are likely to to have this opinion.

One Direction - 'Steal My Girl'

Dominant - The dominant meaning of this video is each of the boys are addressing an issue including, war, animal rights and cultural differences. Fans of One Direction are more likely to read it this way and accept the video for this meaning.

Negotiated - The meaning of the video is understood. However, these people may note the video doesn't have anything to do with the song. People who are indifferent to One Direction will most likely feel this way.

Oppositional - The dominant meaning is ignored and people look to it as offensive or against animal rights because of the scenes that are seen in the video. Also these will note that the video does not have anything to do with the lyrics. People who dislike One Direction will most likely feel this way.

Audience Theory: Uses and Gratifications Theory

Genre Theory

Representaion Theory: Tessa Perkin's Stereotypes

The All American Rejects - Gives You Hell

The video for The All-American Rejects song 'Gives You Hell' is prime example of the use of stereotypes in the media. In this video there are two neighbors fighting, one who is portrayed as up-tight and nerdy and one who is portrayed as a rocker. We can distinctly tell the difference between the two through the clothing they wear, with the more nerdy one wearing shirts, ties and sweatshirts and the rocker wearing more casual clothing. Also the rocker is shown with tattoos all over his body, another stereotypical association that can be found in this video. Another example of this is the things each of the characters do to annoy the other one. The rocker character does things such as driving the lawn mower over their garden and playing music loudly.  The nerdy guy however uses his brains to mess with the other guy, creating pranks such as shining the light through the window by bouncing it off two mirrors. This fits in with the stereotype of rocker not being too bright and nerdy people being smart.

Audience Research

Initial Ideas

Lyrics Analysis

Narrative Analysis: The Vamps - "Hurricane"

I have decided to Analyse the narrative for The Vamps music video for their song 'Hurricane'. The song is the theme song for the movie 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day' and because of this part of the video is clips for the movie. I will analyse the narrative of the scenes filmed for the video which are a recreation of the movies core idea starring the singer of the song, The Vamps. The video shows The Vamps having a very bad day before their video shoot for the 'Hurricane' song.

Tim Sullivan argues that that all media texts tell some kind of story. This video tells the story of The Vamps preparing for a video shoot but everything is going wrong before the shoot begins. The overall narrative is essentially telling the story of someone having a bad day where everything seems to be against them. This does not specifically relate to a set culture but is more something that everyone goes through at times, meaning that everyone can relate to the story.

Diegesis - The Diegesis of this video appears to bea surburban area that is home to The Vamps house. This is a created diegesis as in real life The Vamps would not live together in the same place.

Verisimilitude - The video features verisimilitude as we follow The Vamps through the day in time order and all the settings are realistic with each of the story elements being things that could possibly happen. However, things are added for comical effect as all of these events are unlikely to happen in one day.

Kate Domallie says that every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types; Achilles, Candide, Cinderella, Circe, Faust, Orpheus, Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Iseult. In my opinion this video fits into the 'Candide' category as it features the main protagonists being put down and having everything go wrong throughout of the video only to come out on top and complete their video shoot successfully at the end.

Vlaidimir Propp states that the characters in a narrative could be placed into seven broad categories. This is based on his analysis of 100 Russian Folk tales. The characters he found are; The Villain, The Donor, The Helper, The Princess and Her Father, The Hero, The Dispatcher and The False Hero. The Hero in the video would be seen as The Vamps as at the end of the video they have concurred over all the efforts to ruin their day. The Villain could be seen as the day itself as it is trying to cause the hero distress. The Princess could be seen as Bella Throne as she appears to be the love interest of one of the band members.

Tzvetan Todorov states that a narrative can be placed into five stage;

• Stage 1: A point of stable equilibrium. This point could be seen to happen at the beginning of the video where the band is asleep and nothing has gone wrong yet.
• Stage 2: The stability is disrupted by some kind of force. This could be seen as the sound of the alarm clock ringing as this is what signals the beginning of the bad day in the video.
• Stage 3: Recognition that the disruption has taken place. This could be seen as all the points when the band has things go wrong or when they first notice that a lot of things are going wrong on the day.
• Stage 4: An action directed against the disruption. This would be the decision to go to the video shoot despite all the problems they have been having.
• Stage 5: Restoration of a new state of equilibrium. This would be them successfully completing the video shoot without any problems.

Adrian Telly says that the sight of an object, location or event can signify what events are about to occur. An example of this is a gun appearing in a Westen signifying a shootout is about to occur. An example of this in my video is the pyjamas the band is wearing. Because of how they look we will immediately guess that the videos is going to be a comedy. Also another example is the appearance of the drums at the beginning of the video, which we immediately assume are going to be played.

Claude Levi-Strauss states that all stories create Binary Opposites e.g. good vs. evil, rich vs. poor, black vs. white. In this video we see a case of good vs. evil as the band would be considered the good and the day would be considered the evil.

Sven Carlsson states that music videos in general can fit into one of two categories; performance clips or conceptual clips.

• When a video mostly shows an artist singing or dancing, the clip can be considered a performance clip.
• When a video shows something else during its duration, often with artistic intent, it can be considered a conceptual clip.

This can then be separated into three further categories;

• Performance: The video features filmed performance that could be either singing, dancing or instrumental performance.
• Narrative: The video contains a short narrative with the song playing in the background.
• Art: The video contains no clear narrative and appears to be just a random set of shots.

The Vamp's video could be seen as a combination between a performance clip and a narrative clip as features of both appear in the video. Towards the end of the video the narrative and performance combine but up until that point the narrative had been more dominant than the performance aspect of the video had been.

Carlsson also states that a artist is a commercial exhibitionist who performs to sell music. In this video The Vamps appear as a fictionalised version of themselves in order to promote their song and sell their music.

Narrative Theory

Representation Theory: Richard Dyer's Star Theory

Conventions of Form

There are many conventions of music videos that will be present in many music videos. I have researched and found some conventions that appeared prominently in many music videos that I looked at.

These are;

• Narrative
• Performance by the artist
• Artist appearing in the video
• The use of specific mise-en-scene (depending on the genre)
• A variety of cinematography
• A range of editing
• Sound

By finding these I know what I should include in my video if I want it to appear as a sucessful music video. I will now discuss each of these points in further detail

Conventions of Genre

I have looked at the conventions that would be found in the genre of my selected song, alternative rock. I have done this as it will allow me to incorporate these conventions into my own piece to make it appear more professional as it will be more fitting to other videos of the genre. Examples of genre conventions would be; rock videos featuring performance in concert and the appearance of instruments, pop videos being more bubbly and colourful and rap videos being set in an urban area and featuring the artist rapping the song while using hand movements that are specific to the genre.

I have looked at different videos in the genre to gain an understanding of what conventions would be found in the genre. Examples of artists in the alternative rock genre are Coldplay, The Fray, Charli XCX, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, The 1975 and many others.

Textual Analysis 3: Boom Clap

Textual Analysis 2: Best Day of My Life