Music Video: Pre-Production: Group Brainstorm

Music Video: Pre-Production: Genre Characteristics

Spitfire; The Prodigy

Genre:     Rave/ Hardcore/ Electronic/ Breakbeat
    
                                          Electronic and Breakbeat Audience Characteristics

• Alternative dress sense/ hair   -punk styling
• Minority influence on drugs/ hardcore lifestyle 
• Experimental/ rebellious 
• Punk attitude 

                                                           Music Video Characteristics

• Fast pacing on edit
• Flashing lights
• Visual effects - Vertigo effect, trick shots
• Contrast either super contrasted or overexposure 
• Unusual costumes and mise en scene, lots of gothic makeup and body art
• Mise en scene, unusual objects in background/ words in back ground  (Example; the word SEX appears for a split second in "spitfire" the official video by the prodigy
• Camera glides, steady cam techniques, motion speed fast and slow, sometimes super slow motion

             Examples we used for research;

    "Breathe" "Spitfire" and "Firestarter" by The Prodigy

      Chris Cunningham videos, "Come to daddy" "Come on my selector"

Music Video: Pre-Production: Costume Mood Board

Music Video: Pre-Production: Mood board

Music Video: Pre-Production: The Prodigy genre of music

Spitfire was released on 4th April 2005 by The Prodigy, it is the bands sixteenth single and off the album 'Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned' which entered the British Dance Chart at number 1. the song comes under the genre of Electronic Dance. The backing vocals on this song are performed by actress Juliette Lewis. The song is featured in the movie House Of Wax as its soundtrack.

Music Video: Pre-Production: Decision on our song choice: Spitfire - The Prodigy

After a few lessons of research into each music choices, Spitfire by The Prodigy and Epoca by The Gotan Project. We have decided to go with Spitfire by The Prodigy.

Our reasons being is that we thought Spitfire would more in our range of making a quality music video. We thought Epoca would of been hard to perform the words in French and would be hard to link music with lyrics. We found it hard to find a solid narrative for Epoca as well, it was mostly conceptional. We researched the song to grab inspiration, but we had trouble as there was no videos linking with the artist or song.

Along with reason of Epoca being a bad choice, there are reason of Spitfire being a better choice. We thought the genre of music would be appealing to us and we could work with a concept of a nightmare and WW2. We also enjoyed this song more, so when recording and editing it will be something we like to listen to.

However overall we put the pros and cons together and decided Spitfire by The Prodigy is our choice of music for our video.

Music Video: Pre-Production: Spitfire - Wordle

Music Video: Pre-Production: The Prodigy - Spitfire (Video)

Music Video: Pre-Production: The Prodigy - Spitfire Lyrics

If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spit. Fire
Fire

Fire
Fire
Cause you know that I can

Cause you know that I can

If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spit. Fire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
Fire


Fire
Cause you know that I can

Fire

Cause you know that I can

If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spit. Fire
If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire
Fire

Cause you know that I can

Fire

Fire 

Homework: Max Davies: Beastie Boys - Sabotage music video anaylse using Andrew Goodwin's theory

Using Andrew Goodwins music video theory I will analyse Beastie Boys – Sabotage. I have always been a huge fan of the Beastie Boys as they are very intelligent musicians, being able to play many different genres and appealing to last of audiences. I also want to be the fourth member.

Institutional infomation

Sabotage was released on the 28th January 1994 on Grand Royal Records. The music video was directed by Spike Jonze, a very cool and unique director from America, director of other famous videos such as, Buddy Holly by Weezer and the most recent Otis by Jay-Z and Kanye West. The video is a parody or homeage of 1970’s police/detective dramas such as Starsky and Hutch, Hawaii Five-O and Baretta. The video is presented as a T.V show called ‘Sabotage’ and then each band member is introduced by their real name and then their fictional name throughout the video, which allows into their style and iconography. Intertextuality is heavily used in this video as it is endorsing features and stereotypes of a 1970's police drama.

The genre of music Sabotage – Beastie Boys comes under is ‘Rap Rock.’ This is simply a cross genre of Rap and Rock, it is in this genre as the song features rock instruments such as, guitar, bass and drums. The guitar is playing heavy riff and the bass is very distorted which are all elements of Rock music. However the song has elements of Rap as there are turntable scratches and the song has verses of rapping.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

Looking through the song there is a relationship between the song and lyrics, but it is not obvious.  The lyrics to me are about a police detective interrogating someone, probably the criminals that have been caught in the video

The first lyric is ‘I can’t stand it, I know you planned it’ this is essential the detective interrogating the ‘criminal’ they caught in the video and accusing him for the crime. The next line is ‘Im gonna set it straight, this Watergate.’ ‘Watergate’ could be referring to the Watergate Scandal is the 1970’s and how it was ‘set straight’ correctly.

When the lyrics ‘Sabotage’ is first sung, a big title with the word ‘SABOTAGE’ appears, this is the bridge as it emphasis the name of the song and helps the narrative relate back to the song. Its not such a lyric, but in the song there is a part when there is screaming and when this is playing a ‘criminal’ is thrown over a bridge, the audience could see this as more of a added diegetic sound of the person screaming.

A final line is ‘It’s a miracle’ when this is being rapped the criminals are thrown into the back of a police car and have been caught, it could be that the detectives are glad they have caught them

Relationship between music and visuals

The shot is not even a second, it is of a car driving quickly into the camera almost about to crash, Spike Jonze has made when the first beat of music is hit it seems like the car has crashed into the camera.

When the first chase is introduced when the undercover waiter pursues the person with the white moustache, the music has a breakdown of just a little guitar riff and drums, it is quiet compared to the rest of the song and because of this we focus more of the chase this happens for 12 seconds. Then the main beat is re-introduced when the chase is over and the undercover waiter tackles the man intro the swimming pool, the first beat is when the men hit the water. This is very strong correlation between music and visuals.

One of my favourite parts Spike Jonze has link music and visual is when the song has a break essential and it is silent. He has linked this break in the song fantastical as he has made the visual at this time the police officers having a break themselves and having a donut, which is a stereotype of a typical America police officer.

There is a crescendo in the song when the lyrics and music is played quiet and the get louder. When the music is at the peak of this crescendo Spike Jonze has put a visual of a huge explosion of a car, which amplifies the viewing experience by the sight and sound.

The finally shot is of the ‘Beastie Boys’ walking along very proud as their duty has been a success. It is the end of the song in this music and it has gone quiet. It is contrast of visual and music, as th visual is simple and slow and the music has finished.

Close-ups of the artists

This video stars all three Beastie Boys: Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock. But they are actors as they play police detectives called: Cochese, Bobby and “The Chief”. Their identity is hidden, which tells the audience that they are not all about selling their image and trying to make lots of money on record sales. If you was not a fan or did not research this video up, you would not know that the Beastie Boys are even starring in their own music video.

A link this video has with others from the Beastie Boys is that it is narrative based and they play characters.  An example is the video of Intergalactic – Beastie Boys, which is another parody of Japanese ‘Kaiju’ films, which are monster movies. The story revolves around a giant robot fighting a huge octopus creature in a Japanese city. The group play a number roles, mad scientists and street construction workers.

Type of video

This music video heavily a narrative based as it is based around a T.V series. The narrative of this video is a group of detectives have been given case and they pursue the criminals. They go to extents to find and arrest these criminals, they finally arrest all of them and their job is done.

Editing

Spike Jonze’s editing throughout this video is very quick and has a high tempo, to suit the type of song it is and the narrative. He keeps its quite simple with straight cuts to keep tension high. He also uses the wipe shot, an example is when the briefcase full of drugs is thrown across the table, it wipes to the next frame or when the flick knife is drawn.

Camera shots/movements

The shots and movements in this video are very traditional to the typical 1970’s Police Dramas, to make the concept of the story believable and authentic. However Jonze experiments with many different and ‘out there’ shots, such as the camera strapped to the wheel, bonnet or roof of a car, this gives the idea of an action film.

To introduce each character the close up and zoom in is used, from this we get a more in depth insight of each character, so as an audience we know who the main characters are and we understand the narrative more.

Representation
The representation shown in this video is majority masculinity, as we see a full male casting of an action-packed  video. This representation conforms to a typical Hip-Hop or Rock video characteristics as it is generally males performing the song.

Homework: Max Davies: Tupac Ft. Dr.Dre - California Love music video analysis

The music video I decided to analysis was Tupac Ft. Dr. Dre – California Love, a true classic in the Rap genre and music overall. It is a song I have always enjoyed and the video is the main thing that comes to mind with this song. It is now considered the ‘underground’ anthem of California.

The video was directed Harold ‘Hype’ Williams, creator of many unforgettable music videos, such as Jay-Z – Big Pimpin’ and Kanye West – Gold Digger. California Love’s music video has a very prominent concept and it has been inspires and adapted from the film ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’.  An action film set in a dystopian future, where law and order has broken down. The music video is set in a desert in the year 2095 and they used the ‘Thunderdrome’ set for the filming. The casting includes singer George Clinton and actor Chris Tucker.

I believe that this video is interesting and grabbing because it is the narrative type of Goodwin’s theory of Music Video. This means that there is story behind the video, like a movie it keeps you asking questions and wanting to now more. The story to this video is that Tupac and Dr. Dre have stolen prisoners of another gang and they are trying to capture them back.

I will now analyse this Music Video by cover the camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en scene.

Starting with camera shots and movements. It is very varied and on the large scales all of the shots. We have shots such as the long shot to establish the scene of in the desert and ‘the dome’, this is so the audience understands we are isolated and anything can happen.

There are low shots of the authority figures, such as George Clinton ‘Monster’ showing his power and that he is the leader of the gang. Also there is a low shot when Dr. Dre and Tupac rap their verse which gives them the same effect as George Clinton. It suggests they are the ‘kings’ of the Westside and California.

Also they use a shot which cause by the use of a ‘fish-eye’ lens, this to spread the shot wide and distorts the frame, giving a unusual and uneasy effect.

Some movements used within the video are the crane movements, this is used to make the audience feel like they are swooping down into the party. It gives a long shot of the set at an aerial angle then swoops in.

Hype Williams uses a lot of panning when the rapping is happening, this is to keep the shot active and the audience entertained and so you feel you are at the scene and moving about.

The next section I will look at is the editing. The video starts with simple straight cuts between frames, the cuts are quick which adds to the tension of the scene. It allows the audience to understand the story line easier, because there is not a lot happening.

However when the song begins and ‘Monster’ sees his prisoners gone, the editing changes and we see a dissolve of his face to a long shot. The change of editing tells the audience that we are on a new section of the video. Throughout the video a lot of fading and dissolves are used, which gives a mellow chilled out feel. 

  

The video starts with a scene with voice, this is to let us know what the story is about and to get us hooked. We hear an on-screen diegetic sound, which is the voice of Chris Tucker introducing the gang leader and gets the gang ‘hyped’ and this hype is spread onto the audience. Another voice is then introduced, which is George Clinton (The gang leader). His voice is very loud and passionate, this tells us the gangs hate against the other (Dr. Dre and Tupac). This gets the audience eager to what is going to happen.

The final section I will analyse is the mise-en-scene of the video. I will start with the product design. The setting of this is a main part as it is from the set of the film ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ a real iconic place in the middle of the desert, it gives the audience a sense of isolation and almost scaring as anything can happen in the desert. The costumes for this video a very convincing as they head to toe in rags and futuristic armor, which emphasizes the fact they are in the year 2095.

The colour throughout this visual is very dull, with no bright colours. Nothing jumps out at us and shows the real collapse in society as no one is individual and they live in a broken down, tired world.

Lighting in this video is very natural as it is majority coming from a huge bomb fire. However when the artists are rapping their verse there is a huge top light from above on them, enhancing their authority and power.

The actors performance is very good as they are famous actors in it, such as George Clinton and Chris Tucker giving a performance at the beginning. As they are professionals it makes the story even more believable.

Music Video: Pre-Production: Epoca - Lyrics in English

If he disappeared

I would believe
That he died
but will revive

It rained, it stopped, it rained
And one guy guessed
We hear a voice and from a tango
a rumor of a white handkerchief

Those times were no good
Were bad those airs
It's been twenty-five years
and you existed

Those time were no good
Were bad those airs
It's been twenty-five years
and you existed without still existing

If he disappeared
I would believe
That he died
and here gets born
here the life revives

Those times were no good
Were bad those airs
It's been twenty-five years
and you existed

Those time were no good
Were bad those airs
It's been twenty-five years
and you existed without still existing

A BRUTAL MUSIC

We discovered, you and I,
in a sad carnival
a brutal music
melodies of pain

We awoke, you and I,
and on a slow ramble
a brutal music
sparkled our passion

Give me your heat
drink my love

Music Video: Pre-Production: Epoca - Word Cloud

Music Video: Pre-production: Possible choices of music videos

Efosa

I am a year 13 media student who has a strong interest in anything related to media. I achieved a B grade last year and am now much more motivated to get the A grade that I want. I never took media as a subject before last year but I've always felt like it was a subject that utilized lot of my qualities. Hence why I want to have a profession in that field.

Hello

I've been interested in the media since I was young, with the ambition of becoming a film director one day, after a teacher inspired me when I was 10. Since then I have been making film as a hobby and I am currently trying to get work in the film industry for a few local bands I know and set up a music production company. My other hobbies include Piano and Guitar, and my dream is to make my own videos as a director and write the music composition for them.

 I hope you enjoy this blog as we document our journey towards our completed video.

Max Davies Bio

Maximilian Henry Flanders Davies. West Hatch attender. Media fanatic. Deep House and Hip-Hop listener. Guitar and Piano player. British Film watcher.

Last Year Group Blog : http://hollow-grouptproductions.blogspot.com/
Last Year Individual Blog: http://maxdaviesmediablog.blogspot.com/