Permission to Use the Track

I found Anamanaguchi's business email address on their website. I then emailed them to ask for permission to use their track.

Audience Research

Anamanaguchi make chiptune music from old Nintendo consoles. The guitarist describes how the audience find and connect to the music:

"[Chiptune music's] home is on the Internet. That's where there's the audience for it — everyone's connected to it that way. People are making this sort of stuff across the world. It's not like there's a certain scene in a certain area, like the punk scene in D.C. or something. It's the Internet. That's where its home is."

I went on the band's website and found that they mainly focus on displaying their music videos and links to their social media accounts. This encourages the fans to connect with each other through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

I looked at Amazon's suggested products from the page of the band's album. This shows what customers have bought as well as buying this album. Albums from bands such as Daft Punk are suggested. This indicates that Anamanaguchi's audience listen to a lot of up-beat electronic music. They could also be fans of Scott Pilgrim as Anamanaguchi made the sound track for the movie. In the 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought' section, we can see the Scott Pilgrim Original Soundtrack and the book 'Seconds' which the author of Scott Pilgrim also wrote. There are other CDs that have very little reviews. They could also be bands with a small following like Anamanaguchi.

(look at last fm for playing figures)

I looked at the customer reviews for Anamanaguchi's album. Only 10 people have left ratings. This shows that they don't have a large following. However, the reviews are very good and show that the people who do buy their music are very satisfied with it.  

 

Itunes have more reviews than amazon had but are still very good reviews. The average star rating of the band's music is 4.5/5.

The fan reviews on Ticketmaster are similar to the Amazon reviews. Not many people have left feedback but have left high ratings. These reviews were from people who have been to Anamanaguchi's concerts. 

Shot Test

Here I have put together a few test clips to see how they turned out. I'm pleased with what it looks like but I think there can be many improvements made.

I may not use panning for the opening shot in the final video. I think I could use another shot to make it more interesting looking. However, I do like the enigma of what the girl is doing until we realise that she comes to life later on.

I think that the pull focus worked well as it shows how she's faded out from the world.

I tried speeding up part of the clip where she stands up. I think this looks good as it speeds up the action as well as making it more energetic and fun to watch.

I like how the singing and dancing is intercut between the shots of the narrative. She starts singing on 'Pop it!' and her energetic movements convey a fun theme into the video. However, the lighting could be improved. I used two soft boxes as lighting but it's still a bit dim and she has shadows behind her.

The camera work is a bit shaky in areas. I should use the tripod more next time.

Dolly and Track Test

Here is a test in using the camera on a dolly and track. I'd like to incorporate this camera technique at the start of my music video to introduce the character/singer.

I think it worked well but could be improved by keeping the end of the track out of the shot as you can see it slightly at the beginning.

Treatment

Over Cranking the Track

I imported the track into Final Cut. I then clicked on 'Modify' and then 'Change Speed.'



A 'Change Speed' window appeared. I decreased the rate to 50%. This made the track 2x slower than the original. In consequence of the track being slower, the pitch becomes lower. This makes the singer's voice harder to understand as she sounds like she's singing in a really deep voice.

To make the pitch of the track sound normal, I clicked on 'Effects' and then dragged 'AUPitch' onto the audio.

After that, I double clicked on the audio and that made a 'Filters' option appear in the viewer window. I opened the AUPitch drop down menu and increased the pitch. 

Lyric Annotation

Under Cranking the Track

To speed up the track, I first imported the song into Final Cut. I then clicked on 'Modify' and then 'Change Speed...' in the drop down menu.

After that, a small window appeared with the current speed settings of the track. I increased the rate to 200% and then clicked 'OK.' This made the song sound very high pitched and hard to understand the lyrics.

I selected 'Effects' located in the top left hand corner. This shows a list of effects that can be dragged on to video or audio. I dragged 'AUPitch' onto the audio.

I double clicked the track and then selected 'Filters' that appeared in the viewer window. I then decreased the pitch of the song so that I could understand what she was singing. 

Conventions of Pop Music Videos

Pinterest Board

The link to my Pinterest board is HERE.

I created a Pinterest board so that I can collect ideas and inspiration for my music video. I have pinned ideas for aspects of the video like costume, lighting, setting and props.

Music Video Analysis: EXO - Call Me Baby

The K-Pop music video for EXO's 'Call Me Baby' was produced by Lee Soo-Man. The music video was uploaded to YouTube on 30th March 2015 and currently, in October 2015, the view count has over 58 million views. The Korean boy band has won 77 out of the 109 awards they have been nominated for and are now the second most awarded male artists to have won awards on music shows.

The music video opens showing a car park that leads into a warehouse. We then see the artists dancing in a large hall and then a studio with a white background. All of the sceneries are quite bland to consequently draw more attention to the singers. There is contrast between each scene as the car park and warehouse settings are modern compared to the old style hall that they dance in.

The outfits are mostly black and white with a few pieces of red and blue. Skinny jeans, leather/baseball jackets, trainers and baggy t-shirts are the most commonly worn clothes that are featured throughout the music video. The hairstyles are mostly short back and sides but with long shaggy fringes. All of these factors come together to make them seem cool and stylish. This makes people look up to them as style icons.

The singers are lit from behind, casting long shadows on the floor in front of them. This is in the scenes where they are dancing in the old hall. When they're in the studio space with the white backdrop, the lighting is bright and lighting up all around them. The same is for when they're in the indoor car park where they are lit from all angles.

Swish cuts are used frequently throughout the video. This is where the camera turns quickly and creates a seamless translation into the next shot. This gives a smooth feeling to the editing of the video, adding to the cool persona of the group.

At certain points in the music video, the camera zooms in and out quickly to create a pulsing effect. An example of this is when they are singing in a line, clicking their fingers to the beat, the camera pulses in time to the choreography.

Close ups of the artists are featured in this music video. This is so that the audience can start to recognise the individual singers and get to know them separately as opposed to always seeing them as a large group. This benefits the artists as it increases their recognition and therefore their branding.

I think that a handheld steady cam was used for the filming of this music video. A hand held camera would have been best to use because of all the movement of the camera and camera man following the singers around the set. This is usual for Exo as there are so many members of the group that need to be featured.

Slow motion is used at the beginning when the blue 'Level' headphones are shown as product placement. This is to create more time where the headphones are featured, making it more likely that the audience would admire the item.

This music video has longer cuts than usual. This is because the camera is moving about a lot and has longer cuts to show the artist's choreography. Jump cuts are used to move the music video along. For example, near the beginning when one of the band members is sat on a sofa, he gets up to start dancing but the short moment of him getting up is cut out. This takes out the boring parts and keeps in the fast movements of the singers.

Part way through the video, the visuals turn black and white. This is to break up the long choreography scene and to add a slick stylistic look. This would have been done in the edit.

The choreography is the most memorable part of the video. This is an iconic feature of Exo's music videos. The singers are so precise and all exactly in time with each other while dancing that it becomes quite mesmerising for the audience to watch. The choreography amplifies the lyrics of the song. The dance is designed to impress the audience, at the same time they are singing directly to the listener and telling them that they are perfect for them. "You make me exist as myself, you're the only one in my world, you're the one, you're the one, girl you're the one I want." This is appealing to females as the song and music video are made to impress them by creating an artificial connection between the performers and the audience.

The target audience are people who enjoy K-Pop. Exo mainly have an Asian audience but add in English words and sentences to attract an English speaking audience. The age range of the audience would be 15-25 year old females.

Music Video Analysis: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

The music video for Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' was directed by Francis Lawrence. Lawrence is a film director and worked on films such as 'I Am Legend.' The pop music video was uploaded to YouTube and now, in September 2015, has over 636 million views.

'Bad Romance' was nominated for Best Video, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Dance Video and Best Special Effects at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2010. The video won 7/10 of these awards. It also won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music video.

The lyrics of the song are about being so deeply in love with someone that you love their entire being, including the bad and nasty parts of them. 'I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as it's free.' The video is about a group of powerful Russian men bidding on the ownership of Gaga. She is bought and then prepared before being presented to the man. She then burns him alive in resilience. At the end of the video she is free. The lyrics and video have a relationship in the fact that they are both about love and passion. However, they take different approaches to the matter.

The mise-en-scene for Bad Romance is what makes the video so memorable. The costumes are what stand out the most. Alexander McQueen sent Gaga a selection of his fashion range for the music video and she ended up using one of his most iconic pieces. The strange clothes that she wore through out the video is what makes it so bizarre and shocking. Gaga is known most for her wacky clothing, so she repeats this image of herself in all of her music videos.

Her makeup is generally very natural looking to tie in with the pure and innocent theme behind Gaga's portrayal in the video. It's like it's showing a stripped down version of Gaga opposed to her usual heavy makeup and clothing that she is known for wearing.

The lighting through out the majority of the video uses bright white artificial lighting to create a sterile hospital feel to the setting. In some parts, the lighting is dimmer. This creates contrast against the different scenes but also adds a certain mood to the setting. For example, there is a scene in the video where Lady Gaga is in a shower with dim lighting. There is a white spotlight that shines from behind her signifying how lonely she is at that moment.

The setting is supposed to look like a futuristic version of a Russian bathhouse. It's white walls, floor, ceiling and lights all come together to make it look simple, clean and graphic. All pieces of furniture used in this white setting are also white such as the bath, the capsules, the mirror and the chair. 

A lot of close ups were used in this music video. The close ups draw attention to details that we may have missed otherwise, like product placements. Close ups were also used for showing Gaga's face. This makes her face (that also plays a big part in her branding) more recognisable to the audience as they repeatedly see it and therefore are able to recognise her in the future. Panning was also used. During the establishing shots at the beginning, panning of the camera was there to introduce us to the setting. Long shots were used for when Lady Gaga and her dancers were dancing. Full body shots were required to see the dance moves properly. When Gaga was looking in the mirror, an over the shoulder shot was used to make her actions clear and tracking was used near the end when she was walking towards the bed. This gives the effect that we are following her and gives us time to wonder what will come next. 

There are a lot of shots that sexualise Gaga. A lot of the costumes are very revealing and there are a couple of shots where the camera tracks around her, showing multiple angles of her body. They've done this to make her seem desirable. 

Editing plays a big part in this music video. There are frequent fast paced cuts between scenes to keep up with the beat of the music. The scene where Gaga is stood amongst floating diamonds was created with CGI in the edit. A lot of black fade ins/outs are used near the end of the video to show the transition of her becoming free from capture. 

The choreography was designed to hit the beat of the music with every movement. It's very fast paced and makes the audience want to dance along with it. In fact, every movement of the characters within the video have been made to keep in sync of the beat of the music. 
The target audience for the Bad Romance music video are teens to adults. It has underlying adult themes but can also be seen as an odd but innocent pop video if the themes are overlooked. Gaga has a huge fan following that the video would also be targeted at. 

Music Video Analysis: Kiesza - Hideaway

The music video for Hideaway by Kiesza was co-produced by Kiesza, Rami Samir Afuni and Ljuba Castot. The genre of this song and video is house/pop. The music video was released in February 2014 and currently, in September 2015, has nearly 33 million views on YouTube. It was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography. 

An interesting point to this video is that it's all in one shot. It only took two takes due to the fact that Kiesza broke her rib a few hours before so it was too painful for her to do takes over and over again.

The video was set in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, USA. Two tatty looking backstreets were used for the singer and the dancers to dance and walk down. They have colourful graffiti, storage containers and cranes in the background. The colour pallet uses strong bright colours in the clothing, setting and props. The clothing style is urban, including trainers, dungarees and crop tops. This adds to the overall 90's urban feel to the music video. Kiesza has her trademark ginger up-do hairstyle in the video, keeping her hair the same as in her other videos. The repetition of the look of her hair keeps up an iconic image that the audience will remember her for.

The representation of the artist and the dancers is that they are cool and confident. They're dancing in the middle of the road, wearing bold clothing and have graffiti in the background. All of these factors add up to make them seem like they aren't afraid to take risks and are considered overall as cool people.

I like how there are members of the public in the background and you can see that some stand at the side of the street to watch the dancers dance. After the dancers and Kiesza move on, they get into their parked car and drive off. This adds a realistic feel to the video and emphasises the fact that the whole video was one shot, making what the public do in the background unique to any other take. 

The choreographer for this music video is called Ljuba Castot. The choreography is in hip hop style to contribute to the urban style of the music video. Some of the dance illustrates the meaning of the lyrics. In parts, she dances provocatively with a male dancer. This links in in how she sings about being out of control when in love with someone when she wants to escape her emotions. They dance to the beat of the song, making a relationship between the music and the visuals.

The lighting is all natural. There are no artificial lights due to the speed that the camera would have to move to keep on Kiesza and the dancers. However, the lighting may have been adjusted in the edit to make it look brighter than the raw footage originally was.

There is very little editing in this video. The whole video was shot in one take so no cuts were needed. Text was inserted at the beginning for the record label and the title of the song. They used white as the text colour to introduce the video as being fresh and stylish. They then added in a fade-out transition to draw your attention straight from the title to the singer coming out of the taxi.

The video was filmed with a handheld steady cam. This camera is most suitable for this type of music video. With all the dancing and quick moving of positions, it is best having a camera that can be moved easily without having to deal with big camera equipment such as a track and dolly. No close-ups were used in this video due to it being all in one take. The closest the camera gets to the artist is a mid-shot and the furthest is a long shot. Voyeuristic angles were used in this video. An example is when she is spinning against the green garage door. The camera gets nearer to her and goes slightly ahead of her to get a better view of her body spinning.

The target audience of this music video are teens and young adults. They act as cool people that a teenage audience would aspire to be. Also, young adults may watch it and be reminded of how they used to be as a teenager. 

Music Video Analysis: Iggy Azalea - Fancy

The electro pop music video for Iggy Azalea's song 'Fancy' was directed by Director X. It was released on 4th March 2014 and has had over 618 million views on YouTube. This video received four nominations for MTV Video Music Awards including Best Music Video, Best Pop Video, Best Female Video and Best Art Direction.  

The video was made as homage to the American comedy film 'Clueless'. The setting, costume, props and typeface are all used to recreate the look of the film. In the music video the costumes are all 90's inspired teen outfits. They feature a lot of checkered, colourful and layered items. Mini skirts and crop tops with knee high socks appear heavily throughout the extras and main characters. For the boys, baggy shorts and t-shirts with trainers were often worn. 

The hair accessories used were bold looking. Hats, pompoms and scrunchies added to the childlike 90's vibe to the costume. They played a big part in helping the video authentic. 

Iggy's iconography is her hair and body shape. She's well known for being curvy and having long blonde hair. The music video features shots of fancy cars in LA. This is popular with pop music videos as it gives the impression of a desirable lifestyle. 

For the main part, the music video was set in a high school. The school that they used in the video was the exact same school that they used in the movie 'Clueless'. This reenforces the connection between the two media products. The hallways and classrooms that have been used in the video are brightly coloured with light artificial lighting. The lighting in the club scenes, however, are lit with red lights to create a fun party atmosphere. This separates these playful scenes with the school scenes.

The editing has fast cuts between the singer and the extras to show as much as the scenery and as possible. This adds to the 'Clueless' feel to the music video as it gives more chance for the visuals to be able to link in with the film. The cuts also hit the beat of the song. 

Slow motion is used when the cheerleader is thrown in the air, close ups of the characters in the car, when people enter the party and some scenes of dancing party members. This is done to make the characters look cool. This also links in with the movie as they use this technique to get the same effect. 

Jump cuts are used to cut to close ups of the singers. They cut these to hit the beat of the song. 

The title of the song and the singer were intercut with the narrative near the start of the music video. They chose colours and a font to match the Clueless title in the film. 


A dolly and track is used in the class room scenes when Iggy is stood at the front of the class. The camera tracks towards Iggy to emphasise that she is at the most powerful position in the class. She towers over the rest of the students from being stood up when almost everyone else is sat slouched over their desks. This makes it obvious that she is the most popular person in the room. Also, panning is often used to show the setting and the characters, such as at the party scene. 

Close ups of Iggy are featured in the music video. This creates a clear image of the artist, boosting the brand's image. 

Iggy and Charlie show a lot of confidence when singing and dancing. Their performance is meant to portray popular characters that run the school, again similar to the movie Clueless. The 250 extras also show huge confidence to add to the popular image of the students. 

Voyeurism is present in this music video. A scene with Iggy and the three dancers are shown at a voyeuristic angle. This is to draw the male audience's attention to the artist and the lyrics. They are also dancing in a provocative way, emphasising their curves. 

The visuals of the music video amplify the lyrics. The song is about someone that is showing off their fancy lifestyle and the video shows people being popular because of it. 


The target audience for this music video is 15-30 year olds. It's a teen and young adult audience that like pop/rap music and/or the movie 'Clueless'.

Music Video Analysis: Sia - Chandelier

The music video for 'Chandelier' was directed by Sia and Daniel Askill and is in the genre of pop. The video was released on the 6th of May 2014 and gained over 6 million views in 8 days. Currently, in September 2015, it has over 891 million views. The music video won Best Choreography and was nominated for MTV Video Music Awards.

The choreography is the most memorable factor of the music video. It was preformed by Maddie Ziegler, star from the American television reality show 'Dance Moms' and choreographed by Ryan Heffington. The choreography is made to hit the beats of the music, having Maddie do different dance moves depending on the pace of the beat. For example, at the start of the video when she is stood on the door frame she drops down to the floor when the music dropped a beat. She also repeats her hand movements each time '1 2 3, 1 2 3, drink' is sung.

What's interesting about this video is that the song artist doesn't appear at all through out the music video. This separates this video from the most common female pop music videos where the stars are usually sexualised. Furthermore, the video continues to stray from the norm by featuring a character that has become an iconic figure for her music videos. She is a direct reference to Sia through looks. She wears Sia's trademark bleach blonde, shoulder length hair with a full fringe. Her personality and emotions, however, are shown through song lyrics and the iconic choreography.

There's a relationship between the lyrics and the music video, where the video illustrates the meaning behind the lyrics. The song itself is about using alcohol and parties as a way of escaping reality then eventually getting stuck in a cycle of doing so. A quote from the song: '1 2 3, 1 2 3, drink.' demonstrates the cycle.

The mise-en-scene uses a moody colour pallet, a run down apartment as a setting and dim lighting. This all comes together to make a depressing feel to the video, linking in with the lyrics of the song.

I like how this music video has very little cuts. It's almost all in one shot but cuts away to close ups of Maddie to draw attention to her expressions. This draws more attention to the flow of the choreography as there are no cut aways that focus on other aspects of the music video.

The music video looks like it has been shot with a hand held steady cam. This is effective because it allows the camera man to move around quickly and freely to keep up with the dance but also keeps the footage from being shaky.

The target audience are teens and young adults that like pop music. Although, the video was made to stand out and shock people with the unusual setting and choreography and therefore grabbed the attention of people who may be into other genres of music.