Location Shots of Suffolk Lodge

Tuesday 12th October

Drafting the CD Cover Again

During the filming session at and around suffolk lodge we managed to take lots of photos in and around the house and also where we were filming on the street. The reason for taking these photos as well as evidence and for our blogs we also thought that these photos were good enough to be put onto the CD cover (Digipack) and Backcover and also for the website. We managed to get pictures on me in the corset which is the character portraying that she has had enough and also my other character the more vulnerable one to show both sides of the personality. The idea for these two sets of costumes is to portray and vulnerable side and a stronger side which gives different floors to the narrative. We kept the same locations and same costumes as in the viedo for the digipack because if this album was to be released we would have "Not made for this" as the main song on that album therefore these pictures would fit in with the mood of the album. The main image used on our CD cover would tye in with all the other songs and the mood of the album. The main image on the digipack consists of me lying on a guitar and we have decided to put this image in black and white to again fit in with the mood of the album and the songs. Images that have a link to the music video would be used on the CD to continue the style for the whole album. For our album we have created more of a rock/pop more than a pop style album cover so we can express the mood of the album, the album cover creates a journey/adventure that links to the main song which many other pop artists do.

For the images above we tried to convey a young, inoccent look for the artist to fit in with the song. The instruments such as the piano and the guitar shows the acoustic style of "Not made for this" and the other songs which feature on the album. The use of costume in these pcitures really shows off the inoccent and lighter side of this character and the colours such as the greens and browns gives a more natural feel. With the images below when im in the corset we have deliberately tried to make this side of the character more sexy and confident which most artists portray this. This side of the character was ment to give a much more darker side to the video and album and create a sense of freedom which is shown by the outside locations where as the more vulnerable character is more confined to the indoor shots. The street locations and the costume really tyes in well and creates that rock effect for the album and video. With the confident facial expressions and poses that come through in this side of the character really shows what this character wants and gives a much stronger side to the artist. In the end we went for an inoccent picture with the black and white effect so it gave off both sides to the cover and again fitted in well of a picture of the artist that featured in the video. The two sides to this character creates a realy interesting feel for the album and as group we have agreed on one particular picture.

Tuesday 12th October

Filming In Progress

First verse and chorus

Today was the groups first filming session for the music video which took place at a friends house called Suffolk lodge. As a group we decided that the narrative would be a girl singing about her boyfriend/relationship and how unhappy she is and we thought that this fitted in and worked really well with the lyrics of the song. Originally we decided that as me playing the girl in the music video i would play two different sides to this character and innocent version and a much stronger confident, sexier character. But before we started filming we thought as group that this wouldn't be very clear. So Tom suggested that we start the character in her innocent state and as the song works through and picks up pace and tone we then decided to change her costume and character to a much more sexy and confident girl and this shows she is toughening up throughout the video. By showing she is becoming stronger we show this through the use of locations such as the streets and the wall shots and also by her costume its much more revealing than the innocent one. As the group were discussing loctaions Tom suggested that we use a very big old fashioned house to show that the innocent side of this girl leads a sheltered life which again links to the lyrics of the song. Andrew suggested that a friend of ours Louise had a big old fashioned house in which we could film in.

Arriving at Suffolk Lodge

When we got to Suffolk lodge as soon as the group looked at the house and stepped inside we knew it was the perfect house for the idea we had. Before we started filming we had chance to look around the house but at this stage we took pictures for our blogs. We all thought that it would be a good idea to start filming some shots of the gradens and the house itself just to introduce the audience to the location. While we were on our tour of the garden we came across a bench that we thought could come into use in the music video somewhere and Andrew suggested we use it in the first verse. Also while looking around the garden we came across a fence that looked very much like a cage so we thought we could film the girl in there to show that she is trapped. But the very first shots to be filmed with the actors in it was me and Tom. After the location shots were finished me and Tom rehearsed a short little scene that can be used in the first verse and possibly the instrumental while Andrew was taking pictures of us rehearsing, Josh was filming the front of the house outside. We also as a group tried to include a variety shots and angles including close-ups, Pans, Mid shots and Long shots of the house and the gardens.

Mock up of CD Cover

Mock up of CD cover

CD Cover

For the cover we plan to have a simple design that includes one large cover image of the artist, this will be a close up so the image captures and sustains a connection with the audience. The artists name and the album title will be in the bottom right corner of the cover. This is a traditional design that works well as it effectively mimics what many existing covers look like. Originally we planned to include a range of images to create a collage cover however we believe this will look too much like a student created cover, whereas using one well taken and effective image is simple but looks much more professional.

CD Back Cover and Side Panels

For the back cover we plan to have another large image, this will become the background for the rear cover. The tracklist will be placed in a column on the left hand side. Again this is the traditional design that is present on many existing CD covers and works well as it is what is expected as a CD back design. The image we will use will not be distracting and will blend in so that it does not clash with the tracklist and make the design to hectic. The side panels will be black with white writing for the artist and album.


CD Insert Image
Inside the CD case behind the CD is where the insert image is placed. For this we will use a large image of the artist however unlike the cover this will be a long shot so you can see all of the artist as a well as the setting around her. This will reveal more about the style and image of the artist and album. This image will not be too full or busy because it will appear over the top and dominating therefore it would not look professional.

Filming Plan

Plan
The group plans to film every Tuesday afternoon as this is the only free time where every member of the group is available. This will give us up to three hours. Then in subsequent lessons we will use the time to start editing the shots we filmed in each session together. Therefore both filming and editing will be carried out simultaneously until all the filming is completed and we can further concentrate on editing. This is a slightly different approach to last year where the group filmed in two weeks in lesson times and then completed editing afterwards. This year the locations for filming are further away from the college and so need more time to film than the time available in lessons. Editing in lessons as we go along with the filming will ensure no time is wasted and enables us to start creating parts of the music video as soon as possible- it also allows us to have mulitiple draft versions to show as we go along and get feedback before the 'official' draft edit on Friday 26th November

Filming Session One

Date: Tuesday 12th October
Time: 13:00 to 15:00
Location: Suffolk Lodge- Garden, Driveway, Living Room
Actors: Sophie (Singer) Tom (Me) (Boyfriend)
Props: Only those that form the Mise-en-Scene of the garden and house
Costume: Normal Costume and Corset Costume
Equipment: Camera, Tri-Pod, Charger
Shots to be filmed: Location Shots, Arguement Sequence, Bench Sequence, Cage Sequence

Filming Session Two

Date: Tuesday 19th October
Time: 13:00 to 16:00

Location: Streets around Suffolk Lodge
Actors: Sophie (Singer)
Props: None Needed
Costume: Corset Costume
Equipment: Camera, Tri-Pod, Charger
Shots to be filmed: Wall Sequence, Handheld Sequence, Walking/ Running Sequence

Filming Session Three

Date: Tues 26th October *UPDATE* Re-scheduled (After Half Term) Tues 9th November

Time: 15:30 to 17:00
Location: Drama Room
Actors: Sophie (Singer)
Props: Mannequin and Microphone
Costume: Prom Dress, Short Lacy Dress, Flower Dress
Equipment: Camera,Tri-Pod, Charger, Block, Studio Lights, Media Filming Lights, Black Sheet
Shots to be filmed: Variety of Angles and Shot types with Mannequin and Costumes

*UPDATE* on 15th November
Filming Session Four

Date: Tuesday 16th November and Wednesday 17th November
Time: 13:00 to 16:00 and 10:00 to 12:15
Location: Suffolk Lodge- Bedroom and Garden and Streets around Suffolk Lodge
Actors: Sophie (Singer)
Props: Photo Album, Mobile Phone, Corset, Heels, Make-up and Bedroom Mise-en-Scene
Costume: Normal Costume and Corset Costume
Equipment: Camera,Tri-Pod, Charger
Shots to be filmed: Transformation Sequence, Re-Filming and Instrumental Sequence

(Tom made this filming plan)

Monday 27th September

Website Design

Inspiration from Anna Neale

Today as group we decided that we should really get to work on designing and coming up with ideas for our website so with lots of inspiration from Anna Neale herself we began to design our website.

http://www.annaneale.net/

The website address above is Anna Neale official website

Today i began by helping andrew as we both started to do some mock to begin with I sat and helped Andrew before then going off by myself and trying some out for myself. To start with me and Andrew started off with a blank sheet and to start the mock up we used microsoft powerpoint until we were confident enough that was the design we wanted and we were all ready to use dreamweaver.

Anna Neales website consisted of colours such as whites, reds and ligth greys so we decided to take that onboard and then went on to create our own including these colours. These colours would fit nicely with the photos taken during the filming process due to them being in black and white and having the bright red coloured corset to stand out. We also decided to use photos of me to use for the website and the CD cover to make it look a lot more realistic and to fit in with the video. I then left Andrew to continue with the mock ups that had already been started and went on to try and have a go with a few of my own

Storyboard

Costumes

A lot of costumes are needed through out this music video to create the effect of the pop video which is stereotypical for women in pop videos for the costume changes.

We have decied that we want to give the main character some sex appeal so by doing this putting the character in something that looks attractive but doesnt show to much skin for video reasons. So we have decided to put the character into either some tight leather trousers or some wet look leggings. We want to capture the stereotypical female pop artist by going for some high heels and to give off the rock look a red corset. To again fit in with the song we are going to add in some dark coloured hair extenions and very heavy make-up.

In one particular scene I thought it would look really classy for the three characters to dress in very smart looking coats for example knee length for the shot were we are all walking down the street.

A costume change may be needed for the other side of the character if we decide to go forward with this idea. ( The opposite of the Rock character?)

Props

During the shooting of our music video a lot of peops are going to be needed in certain scenes:

First introduction scene

• Mannequin - This prop is needed to film one of the first scenes which involves me playing the role of the woman in the video lying down ontop of the mannequin lip syncing to the song. (This will be a really good effect if we can the lighting that we want with a good shadow effect).








• Microphone - This prop is needed again in the first scene and maybe later on in scenes too. This is to make the scene more realistic and look like she is singing into a real microphone.








• Guitar/Instruments - These Instruments will be needed just in case we want to add other characters in and make it look more like a band video. (Guitar also needed incase we decide to go through with the guitar smash).








• Motorbike - May be needed if we decide to go for a particlar scene which involves me getting onto a motorbike but this may come with risks.








• Helmet/Leathers - Need to go into the scene with the bike to give off that more realitic effect.








• Glasses/Bottles - Could be used incase we need anything else to smash up or can be used in the video to symbolise something.

Risk Assessment

The Risk Assessment

Motorbike/ Traffic
This is one the main risks that could be very dangerous if we don’t focus or take care. Due to the fact we may have motorbike in our video means that the person using the motorbike or getting near the motorbike may get badly hurt. In order to use the motorbike for one of our scenes we will need to task extra care before beginning the shot and make sure there are no cars or any traffic around before doing this shot so we can get a really good effect on the camera. And we may need to shoot this scene more than once.

Mirror/Guitar
For this particular scene we have to again take great care in what we are doing or this could cause a lot of problems and has the potential to seriously hurt someone. We will have to ensure that we put a very large sheet down before attempting the smash so any broken bits of mirror or glass will remain on the sheet so it’s easy for us just to roll up at the end.

Microphones/ Broken Equipment
While going through the filming process for our music video using the props without care. This could slow the process down if things get broken and could again hurt someone.

Video Cameras Being dropped
Again while filming there is a big risk that the camera we are using could get dropped or the lens may smash which again will slow the process down and if bits of lens or parts are left lying around could again injure someone.

Actors

First of all picking the particular track that we really liked the sound of involved the singer being a woman so that could be a problem to the three boys in my Group. But we then decided we really liked that song so I agreed and would be happy to do the Lip Syncing for the music video which includes me being the leading role for the video as well. So it wasn't all focused on the woman in the video we also wanted to include bits were other characters are introduced such as band members which would be Tom and Andrew or we would agree on different characters near the time. Including other characters into our music video would also make it have a lot more variety and we as a group wanted to give each other a chance to appear in the video so each of us had chance to again work the camera and do some particular shots for the actors in the scene.

Location

As a group we have decided that we really want a video that stands out a lot, in order to do this to suit our theme which is Rock/Pop we really wanted it to begin in a dark room so we are going to ask our drama department if we could use their studio and make it completely black so we can really nail the effect of the white spotlight at the start. We will also use each others houses in order to do certain shots for example if we carryout the guitar smashing scene. We would also have to gather together at night to shoot the nighttime scene which consists of three characters walking down a street a night to catch the effct of the street lamps hitting the road. At this stage we are still unsure of the exact scenes we are doing so we may add and erase locations at this point.

Analysis Of Existing CD Covers

The design for this CD cover is very simple it gives you the title of her album and her name/band name. The reason I have chosen this particular album cover is because she herself appears on it. And this is the type of idea I had for my album cover. It gives off a very rock/pop image with the use and tones, shades and colours (browns and blacks). The costume she is also wearing in the album also gives off a rock feel. They have also tried to make the name look very appealing and put the font in white against the dullness of the background.



This album cover in comparison to the Evanescence one instantly draws your attenion due to the amount of colour and attention to detail. This gives off a more "pop" type album cover. This cover is also very different to the other one as Mika doesn't appear on the cover. His album also links to the iamge that he creates and to the type of music that he had made.

Video Directors

Jospeh Kahn - An American music video, advertising, and feature film director.

Early Life
Kahn was born in Jersey Village, Texas, a suburb of Houston. He is of Korean ancestry. He spent part of his childhood growing up in Livorno, Italy until his family moved to Texas. After graduating from Jersey Village High School in 1990, Kahn went to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He later dropped out after one year to direct music videos.

His Career
In 1999, Kahn started his own production company, Supermega, which was housed under HSI Productions before being let go over budget cuts. Kahn has worked with artists such as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Kelly Clarkson, Ashlee Simpson, Muse, Ciara, Monica, Courtney Love, Rob Zombie, Backstreet Boys, U2, The Chemical Brothers, Blink 182, Chris Brown, Eminem, TLC, Katy Perry, Moby, George Michael, KoRn, Janet Jackson, Black Eyed Peas, Lady GaGa, BoA, Gwen Stefani, Brandy, Pussycat Dolls, Sun Ho, Kylie Minogue and many more.

Kahn has collected multiple Music Video Production awards. He has won several MTV Video Music Awards with nominations for Best Video of the Year for Brandy & Monica "The Boy is Mine", and Britney Spears "Toxic". In 2002 he won his first Grammy for Eminem's "Without Me" video which also won the MTV VMA's Best Video of the Year, as well as Best Direction.

Recent Music Videography
2008
Ladytron - "Ghosts"
Chris Brown - "Forever"
Pussycat Dolls - "When I Grow Up"
Britney Spears - "Womanizer"
Pussycat Dolls - "I Hate This Part"

2009
Lady GaGa - "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)"
Lady GaGa - "LoveGame"
BoA - "I Did It for Love"
Katy Perry - "Waking Up in Vegas"
Eminem - "We Made You"
Kelly Clarkson - "Already Gone"
Ester Dean feat. Chris Brown - "Drop It Low"
Sun Ho - "Fancy Free"
Chris Brown Featuring Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz - "I Can Transform Ya"
Chris Brown - "Crawl"

2010
Helping Haiti - "Everybody Hurts"
Kylie Minogue - "All The Lovers"
Maroon 5 - "Misery"
Eminem feat. Rihanna - "Love the Way You Lie"

Spike Jonze - An American director and producer, whose work includes music videos.

Early Life
Jonze was born in Rockville, Maryland, and raised in Bethesda, Maryland and in Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania. In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included Hello Tomorrow for Adidas, Lamp for IKEA, and Pardon Our Dust for The Gap. He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie.

Recent Music Videos
2000
"Weapon of Choice" Fatboy Slim
"What's Up, Fatlip?" Fatlip
"Wonderboy" Tenacious D As Marcus Von Bueler
2002
"Island in the Sun" (version 2) Weezer
"Guess I'm Doing Fine" Beck
"It's in Our Hands" Björk
2003
"Big Brat" Phantom Planet
2004
"Get Back" Ludacris
"Y Control" Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Ride" The Vines
2005
"Triumph of a Heart" Björk
2008
"Flashing Lights" Kanye West Co-directed with West
2009
"Heaven" UNKLE Co-directed with Ty Evans
"25" AsDSSka Co-directed with Crysal Moselle
2010
"Drunk Girls" LCD Soundsystem

Lyrics

"Go down, in to yourself and fine those holes.

Because you, are so perfectly wrong.

Listen to me I'll tell you what you want.

Get your life sorted out, go get a proper job.

Here goes another night, I sit and hold on tight. Listening to my half circle preach.
Can never get it right, they stay or leave in fright.

Maybe i'm just not made for this.

Because i'm not designed for this,

I wasn't made for this.

I'm not designed for this, for being so twisted, yeah.

Look at me, and see what you can achieve.

Don't, doubt your insecurities.

Money is power, and I have everything.

But i think you forgot the meaning of happy.

I need a break from this, cause I just can't process it.

I wasn't like that from the start.

Can never get it right, they this im dull or bright.

Maybe i'm just not made for this.

Because i'm not designed for this, I wasn't made for this.

No i'm not, cause I'm not, no I'm not.

Because I'm not designed for this, for being so twisted.

Because I'm not designed for this, I wasn't made for this"

Chosen Track By Anna Neale "Not made for this"

Treatment

Treatment
Our group consisting of Andrew Tinley, Sophie Neil, Thomas Adcock and Josh Curran chose the track, “Not Made for This” by Anna Neale.
We chose this track due to its familiar pop structure and rock influence. We also appreciated the emotional context and relatable narrative of a typical troubled teenage girl, within a relationship. We opted for a pop themed song because of their accessibility, creating a style that can be easily translated in to a music video. We chose a female artist as within the pop genre females are more prominent and are what an audience expect from a pop song and its associated music video.
We intend our main narrative to be a teenage girl, Anna- played by Sophie Neil, who is unhappy with her relationship because her boyfriend treats her badly. As with many existing female pop videos she will feature in different outfits and situations, in our music video this will show the character to have two distinct personalities, one that is the ordinary girl who is upset and scared to act against her boyfriend and the other who is a confident alter ego who is released by her anger to solve her problems and exact revenge. We will portray this with an array of different scenes. Among others these will include:
• Establishing shot to show the conflict between Anna and her boyfriend.
• Close ups of Anna looking scared and upset
• Anna moulding a mannequin to show how she wishes she could shape the perfect boyfriend. (this shot would also establish a dark theme)
• Anna destroying her room with references to her boyfriend.
• Split screen- with both versions of Anna on either side mirroring each other but in their own distinct styles
• A bird’s eye view of Anna lying partly on a mannequin moving into different positions whilst singing.
• Split screen- one side with Anna being hit/ shouted at by her boyfriend and the other where Anna hits/ shouts at her boyfriend.
• A blank room where words from the song are written on the walls.

These will be exhibited in a non-linear order in short parts to create an authentic music video style in which the shots are kept short and have quick transitions between them.

Research into Real Videos

The Reason for picking this music video is because the group would like to take aspects of this to include into our video. This is a short trailer of the particular bits we would want to include. We quite like the idea of Kylie in this shot lying on the floor beginning to do a range of movements which fits in with the first shots of our music video, where we want the main woman to be lying on top of a mannequin singing the first few lines of the song into the camera. We are also thinking about having two people in the background acting as mannequins all in black or suits maybe with masks on. so the viedo is similar as she also has people in the background.

Research into the Industry

Record Company/Artist

'Hailing from Woking in Surrey comes a sensual, playful and feisty singer songwriter, Anna Neale. After touring as a member of the Dublin soul band The Commitments Anna's move to become a performer in her own right has seen her take her career to a new level. So far Anna has performed her unique acoustic rock (or 'sex folk' as dubbed by the National Canadian Press!) with gutsy vocals around the world, attracting the attention of an increasing number of fans with her live, TV and radio appearances.

'Winner of 2009's Guildford Brit Award for Best Female Solo Artist, this year has seen Anna complete her new album 'Touch' with producer Jez Larder (One Eskimo, Amy MacDonald) and headline at the world renowned Canadian Music Week festival (CMW) in Toronto'.'In 2008 Anna reached the finals of the London Metro's 'On-line, On-tour' competition', and the finals of MTV's 2008 'Get Seen, Get Heard' competition. Her interview and song (filmed live at 'Bed' in her home town) 'Soul Momma' received regular play on various MTV channels across the UK over the spring and summer.

To finish the year, Anna performed as part of O2 Undiscovered before the Elton John concert at the O2 Arena'.'Anna's past credits include playing at the sell out BPI showcase as part of Canada's NXNE festival in 2006, where she was the highest rated solo artist. Part of her Canadian tour saw her writing and recording with Justin Gray (Joss Stone, Emma Bunton) and John Wozniak (Marcy Playground)'.
'As well as showcasing at Manchester's renowned 'In The City' music conference and performing regularly at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Anna has performed as part of SXSW in Austin, Texas, and at the NEMO Music Festival in Boston USA in 2005. Anna's Boston appearances resulted in her track 'All For Nothing' topping the NEMO Starbucks download charts across the whole of New England. Her new album 'Touch' is was released in February 2010 in conjunction with independent label 'Somebody's Music'.

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos

• Camerawork
As with any moving image text, how the camera is used and how images are sequenced will have a significant impact upon meaning. Camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers (walking, dancing, etc) but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance, by for instance constantly circling the band as they perform on stage.


The close up does predominate, as in most TV, partly because of the size of the screen and partly because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. It also emphasises half of the commodity on sale (not just the song, but the artist, and particularly the voice). John Stewart of Oil Factory said that he sees the music video as essentially having the aesthetics of the TV commercial, with lots of close ups and lighting being used most prominently for the star’s face.


• Editing
Though the most common form of editing associated with the music promo is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing thus ensuring multiple viewing, there are videos which use slow pace and gentler transitions to establish mood. This is particularly apparent for the work of many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal, such as Dido.


Often enhancing the editing are digital effects which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience. This might take the form of split screens, colourisation and of course blockbuster film style CGI.


• Star Image
As Richard Dyer has noted:
“ a star is an image constructed from a range of materials” (Richard Dyer 1979).


For pop music these materials include the songs (their lyrical themes and musical structures/genres), the record covers (singles and albums and the image of the star they present), media coverage (from interviews about career and private life through to tabloid gossip), live performance (the image through the stage show) and arguably most significantly the music videos, which may draw upon the image presented in each of the other aspects.


Each video may also draw upon its predecessor both in reinforcing the star’s existing image and in taking the image on further, perhaps in new directions. Thus even more than Hollywood films may be seen as vehicles for their stars, music videos will act as a showcase for their talents and a significant part in the construction and maintenance of their image.


• Voyeurism
This idea comes from Freud, and has been much used in Media Studies, particularly in explaining the gendered pleasures of cinema. Broadly it refers to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. It has been argued that the male viewer’s gaze at the screen is geared to notions of voyeurism in that it is a powerful controlling gaze at the objectified female on display. In music promos, as we have seen, the female on display has been a staple element through the Scopitones to Duran Duran and beyond. Goodwin argues that the female performer will frequently be objectified in this fashion, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star. In male performance videos too the idea of voyeuristic treatment of the female body is often apparent with the use of dancers as adornments flattering the male star ego.


The idea of voyeurism is also frequently evident in music video through a system of screens within screens- characters shown watching performers or others on television, via webcams, as images on a video camera screen or CCTV within the world of the narrative. Indeed the proliferation of such motifs has reached a point where it has become almost an obsession in music promos.


• Intertextuality
The music video is often described as ‘postmodern’, a slippery term which is sometimes used as a substitute for intertextuality. Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definition of ‘intertextuality’. Not all audiences will necessarily spot the reference and this need not massively detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but it is often argued that greater pleasure will be derived by those who know the reference and are somehow flattered by this.




• Narrative and Performance
Narrative in songs is rarely complete, more often fragmentary, as in poetry. The same is true of music promos, which more often suggest storylines or offer complex fragments of them in non-linear order. In doing this the music video leaves the viewer with the desire to see it again if only to catch the bits missed on first viewing. As Steve Archer puts it:
“Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-synch close-up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the band really can kick it.” (Steve Archer 2004)


The video allows the audience access to the performer in a much greater range of ways than a stage performance could. Eye contact and facial gestures via the close up, role playing through the narrative and mise-en-scene will present the artist in a number of ways which would not be possible in a live concert.


The mise-en-scene may be used as a guarantee of what Simon Frith terms ‘authenticity’ as in the stage performance/use of a rehearsal room by a band whose musical virtuosity is their main selling point. It can be important to a narrative-based video to establish setting and relationship to existing film or televisual genres. Equally it may be used as part of the voyeuristic context by suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure, such as a sleazy nightclub or boudoir. Or finally, as John Stewart suggests, it may be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle for the audience, as in the current dominance of a futuristic look with emphasis on the latest gadgetry.