Lyrics In Video?

I was watching some music videos to get some inspiration and I watched Issues by Julia Michaels lyric music video and I really liked the idea of having the song lyrics on the screen. But after thinking about it, I decided that I didn't want all the lyrics in the video, instead, just a select few words that I could use to emphasize the message of my music video. 

Inspiration - Cosmetic Surgery

While planning my music video pitch, I began watching a few other music videos for inspiration. I came up with an idea for my music video; to make the female lead draw the lines thats surgeons do to represent where they want to do cosmetic surgery, this'll represent where she wants to change her face/body in order to look "beautiful". Then I came across this music video which shows my idea really well at 2:37 - 2:47.

 

Genre Conventions - Music Video Research

In lesson, I looked at ten different song music videos in the indie genre, in order to determine what genre conventions there are and which ones I want to conform to or subvert in my own music video.
After looking at all the music videos, I decided that although I want to conform to most of the genre conventions; low-key lighting and casual rough clothing, I also want to subvert some by not having my artist perform to the camera and having to reference to a band or instrument. 

"Feel Good Inc." - Gorillaz

I really like this music video because its very unique to its genre. This video clearly demonstrates lots of the conventions of the alternative rock genre. The setting in alternative music videos tend to be quite abnormal - shown here the setting is in a cinema and a lighthouse floating in the sky. The lighting in this video is also quite abstract. The first half of the video shows a very dark, dingy lighting scheme in comparison to the second half which is set outside so the lighting is high-key. The editing also shows this with quick, short cuts verse long shots in the two halves of the video. This contrast conveys the emotion of the song.

 

"Busy" - Olly Murs

This is one of my favourite music videos out there. Its kind of a narrative video. Its about Olly Murs, who gets lonely so creates a paper mache female to live with him. The concept is really interesting and abstract and its composed in quite a beautiful way. It conforms to quite a few of Andrew Goodwins music video conventions: the visuals shown on screen link well with the lyrics as the song is all about just enjoying life and not getting caught up in the big things when you can just enjoy the small things in life which is represented on screen by the two characters just going about daily life, enjoying books and having a social gathering with their closest friends. Overall, i think its really well done and represents the genre ideally.

Abstract Videos

'Somebody That I Used To Know' from Gotye conforms to the conventions of an abstract. The videos visuals have no correlation to the lyrics and its main purpose is to create a feeling in an artistic way. It doesn't have much performance and has no story with in which is typical of these types of videos. Though, it doesn't use much editing as it is one long shot, which abstract videos use a lot of.

Narrative Videos

'I'm Not The Only One' by Sam Smith is a great example of a narrative music video. This video tells a story of a young woman who becomes aware that her partner is cheating on her. The video is full with contrasts - especially with the lighting; actor Dianna Agron being in a high-key lighted location whereas the boyfriend and his lover are in a dark room showing the contrast between light/dark and right/wrong. The woman is evidently heartbroken and goes on to burn all his clothing while the man is still out sleeping with another female. Though there is a lot of miming from Sam Smith, the video is still very able to evoke feelings from the audience especially by the end when the male comes home and is lovingly greeted by his girlfriend despite what she knows. Andrew Goodwin believes that videos should ignore using a narrative because it will bore the audience, but as observed by this video, that theory can be proved as incorrect to a certain extent.

Performance Videos

'Rule The World' from the band Take That is a key example of a performance music video. The band is located in a recording studio which is a common location for a video of this type. At 0:52 a screen is shown with band member Howard Donald, this briefly touches upon the 'voyeurism' trope, which Andrew Goodwin mentions is the notion of looking and supports his theory that to be confirmed a music video, all videos must contain at least one of his identified features.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin came up with six different elements to watch makes a music video.

1. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.

This Convention explains how Goodwin noticed a music videos visuals either have a complete similarity or direct contrast to the lyrics in the song. An example of this is 'If I Die Young' by The Band Perry. Throughout the video, the lead singer is seen floating in a small boat in reference to the lyric "sink me in the river at dawn" and there is a constant reference to the lyrics "lay me down on a bed of roses" as flowers are perpetually used.

2. There is a relationship between music and visuals again, either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
Goodwin identified that the visuals in a music video are often edited to the beat of the music and he stated that these visuals are commonly repeated within a chorus to emphasize the repetition in lyrics and beats. 'Thriller' from Michael Jackson exemplifies this as the dance routine fits to the beat of the song creating a clear link of the visuals of the dance routine and the music.

3. Intertextual references to other media products and/or texts.

Goodwin recognised that it was not uncommon to recognise either the visuals or lyrics of a song to be an exact reference to another media text. This is used to engage the audience and provide them gratification if they recognise it. An example of this is 'Fancy' from Iggy Azalea which is a direct reference to the 90s classic film Clueless.

4. They frequently refer to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
Goodwin suggested that in order to attract a male audience, music video's often used the sexualisation and/or objectification of women, focusing on close ups of women's bodies for the males view. An example of this is Fountains of Wayne's 'Stacy's Mom' which extremely focuses upon the two females bodies. Even the thumbnail features the females mother in her swimwear - ultimately sexualising her for the viewing pleasure of the audience.

5. Star image; multiple close up on the artist.

Goodwin found that to improve the artists marketing, they themselves must be included in the music video. This exemplified by Ariana Grande's 'Focus' which features here the entire time and helps to build her image which then becomes recognisable and the audience remembers the artist for that look.

6. Genre characteristics: iconography and style.
Goodwin identified that music videos in a certain genre all include certain icons and style preferences related to that genre. 'Lucky' from Jason Mraz is a clear example of this as it includes many aesthetic shots that may appeal to the millennial teenage audience that the pop genre want to entice.