Mise-en-scene

Costume

As I was directing, filming and editing my music video, it would of been impossible for me to star in it as well. However i didn't want an adult in the video or even a teenager of my age, i.e. my friends in it either as I thought this would look unprofessional. I finally decided to ask my eight year old sister Teagan to star in it and she happily agreed to. I thought having a young child in it would set the scene that i was trying to create. When it came to deciding on what she should wear I wanted to make her look innocent but portray her to be evil in the actual music video. The image that came to mind was of the girl twins in 'The Shining' directed by Stanley Kubrick. I chose to replicate this costume idea as the characters look sweet and young but are later perceived to be scary.

Props

I decided that I didn't want to use a huge amount of props in my video due to the continuity and I didn't think it was necessary. Teagan holds a barbie doll in a few pictures to show how young she is. Further on into the video I wanted to match the image on screen to the lyrics in the song. The lyrics say 'and you wake up just head and shoulders in a glass jar', for this bit I dismembered and burnt the barbie doll so that it was just its head and shoulders in a jar. I thought this was a nice contrast and also a back reference to what the viewer would of seen earlier when Teagan was holding it. Through some parts of the video Teagan is playing with more dolls, again this is to emphasise her innocence and that she is a young girl. On certain pictures throughout the video and on my ancillary tasks I, along with my mum and other sister held three hair dryers beneath Teagan to make her hair blow up, another prop that helped me set the mood for my video.

Equipment

Before filming away from home I had to make sure that I had all of the necessary equipment so that I was fully prepared. If i were to forget anything important then I wouldn't be able to film or it would look unprofessional. Here is a list below of what I needed:

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10EB camera
• Tripod for steadiness
• Spare SD card and battery 
• Any props that I used
• Same costume throughout for continuity

Lyrics to 'Cough Cough'

(cough cough) yeah... (cough cough) so...
(cough cough) um... (cough cough) wait a second...
(cough cough) Yeah! (cough cough) So!
(cough cough) Um! (cough cough) Wait a second!

Sold your liver but you still feel in the red,
Sold my feelings now I'm hanging by a thread,

Bad! and it's creeping it’s way through my windows, 
and it’s slithering under my door!
And it's in my peripheral vision, 
and it's boring up under my floor!
It's whispering into my eardrums, 
and it's telling me that I want more, more!

But I’m coming alive!
I’m happening now!

And that Eureka moment hits you like a cop car!
And you wake up just head and shoulders in a glass jar!
Oh! You clear your throat and raise your eyebrow but you don't sayOh! 
There's something wrong but it's ok if we're still getting paid,

Yeah you're ravenous, you're champing at the bit,
Just a cog next to a cog next to a pit,
I would burn to break away and waste my years,
No more ladder no more solace in arrears,

Bad! and it's creeping it’s way through my windows, 
and it’s slithering under my door!
And it's in my peripheral vision, 
and it's boring up under my floor!
It's whispering into my eardrums, 
and it's telling me that I want more, more!

But I’m coming alive!
I’m happening now!

And that Eureka moment hits you like a cop car!
And you wake up just head and shoulders in a glass jar!
Oh! You clear your throat and raise your eyebrow but you don't sayOh! 
There's something wrong but it's ok if we're still getting paid,

But I’m coming alive!

Textual Analysis of Beyonce - Countdown

I will be analysing the music video 'Countdown' by Beyonce. This video has no narrative story in it at all and is mainly performance based as Beyonce mimes to her lyrics and also dances to the music. The video starts with a head and shoulder shot of Beyonce singing the words to the song, she has her hair up and is wearing a plain black top, standing against a plain white background. The costume and set is very minimalistic and this is shown throughout the video. She has regular costume and set changes but it is all shown as very low budget, especially for a Beyonce music video. However there are many creative effects that have been used and the editing also makes the video look catchy and professional. 

Near the beginning, stop frame animation is used as Beyonce moves her arms like the hands of a clock to the fast beat of the music. This is an edgy way of fast editing to make still images look like they are moving, something used frequently in todays media world. 

 Throughout the whole video an effect is used which shows multiple shots on the screen at one time, with Beyonce in different costumes, setting, actions etc.

In some of these shots there is also the effect of a split screen of the singer, as if her actions are being mirrored by herself on the opposite side of the screen. 

She also appears doing different actions whilst there are multiples of her on the screen. This creates the effect of that there are many people in the video that all look the same, as it is Beyonce repeated. There are multiple shots of Beyonce being fast forward as she dances and mimes, making it more cut to the beat and different.

How is Music Promoted?

Music promotion is big business. Here is a typical scenario in a recording company:

The recording artist has signed a recording contract with a major record label. The record label makes their album and ships it to a distributor that sells it to stores. The record label then begins the massive promotion of their music. This promotional effort requires a lot of work by a lot of people. Here is a short list of what's involved:

Marketing
The marketing folks create advertising and publicity for the album and tours, create the artwork for the album cover, do promotional videos, in-store displays, get promotional merchandise like t-shirts or hats with the artists name on them, and more.

Promotion
These people are responsible for getting the music played on the radio -- which is essentially the total goal of the programme because if they can get played enough on the radio, they'll sell more records, see more demand for concerts, and everyone makes more money.

Sales
Salespeople are the ones who get the music into the music stores where it can be sold. Remember, unless they're also writing the artists own songs, record sales (along with touring) are they're bread and butter.

Artist Development
Because some artists sell more records after touring and performing their music live, there is a need for "tour support," which is provided by the record label's folks who are responsible for artist development. By definition, "tour support" is the amount of money they lose while touring. In other words, if it costs them $80,000 to go on tour and they make $50,000 doing it, they need $30,000 in tour support. By artist development, we mean running promotions in towns where they will be touring and making sure the local record stores have their music. Most record labels aren't willing to provide tour support unless the artists music falls into the right genre of music for such an expenditure. Some types of music sell more records when the artists go on tour and some don't. In any event, the normal thing these days is that the tour support is recouped from the artists record royalties. This means they're still paying for it themselves.

But, in the world of music promotion, this only scratches the surface.

Illegally Downloading Music

Music downloads from file-sharing sources have become increasingly popular since the advent of Napster in 1999. Downloads are easy to locate and can cost nothing to the user, making them a tempting alternative to legal methods of obtaining music. Unfortunately, there are numerous risks associated with downloading music. It is detrimental to the user, the artist and record companies.

Decline in Album Sales

Illegal downloads result in fewer sales for record companies. Record companies rely on sales of their product to pay their employees, promote artists on the label and produce new albums. Labels are forced to downsize when sales begin to dwindle. This means that new works are not released, new artists cannot be signed and current artists may be dropped from the label. The listener ultimately loses, as it becomes impossible to obtain new recordings of his favorite artists.

Lost Profits for the Artist

When one downloads music outside of legal channels, the artist loses money on the sale of that material. While artists make only a fraction of the profit on a CD sale, there stands a lot more to be lost than just money. Musicians often rely on record labels for promotion and advertisement. If the musician loses that support, then their exposure and fan base can decline. This will make it very challenging and sometimes impossible for the artist to continue to perform and record.

Legal Action

Downloading music from unauthorized sources may constitute copyright infringement and many labels are willing to take legal action against users in order to deter others. Record companies frequently monitor commonly used programs, identify individual users violating copyright laws and file suit against them. When compared to the cost of a legal download, it seems like a risk not worth taking.

The making of the real 'Cough Cough' video

Whilst looking at videos of 'Everything Everything' on YouTube I came across a behind the scenes video of 'Cough Cough'. I thought that this was very useful as it gave me an insight into what ideas and themes the artist had in mind before they shot the video. They speak about the ideas that they included and all of the props that they had to get to set the right scene. This has helped me to think about the ideas that I am going to include in my own music video.

 

Everything Everything

Background of the Band

Everything Everything is a British indie band that formed in late 2007, originate from Tynedale, Kent and Guernsey, and reside in Manchester. Both singer/guitarist Jonathan Higgs and bassist Jeremy Pritchard have degrees in Popular Music which they obtained while studying at Salford University. Higgs and Pritchard met at University and decided to form a band once their degree had finished.

The band rose to fame when they were revealed as part of the BBC's Sound of 2010 poll on 7 December 2009. The band released their debut album, Man Alive, produced by David Kosten and released through Geffen Records on 30 August 2010; the album debuted at number 17 in the United Kingdom.

When asked about their sound in an interview with UK music blog 'There Goes the Fear' in Leeds in October 2010, singer Jonathan Higgs replied, "We think of it as pop primarily but I think it’s a little bit more interesting. We try not to make it sound like a lot of things you’ve heard before, we don’t try but it tends to come out a bit like that. We’re not really interested in copying certain genres or anything, so I guess you’d say it’s unpredictable and sort of surprising." Bassist Jeremy Pritchard has said the band's intention is to "to avoid cliche, or the cliches expected of white men with guitars from Manchester" and sums up their sound as "highly stylised and deracinated – we're influenced by everything except 12-bar blues". Higgs counts Nirvana, Radiohead, the Beatles, Destiny's Child, and R. Kelly as some of their very eclectic influences.

Contacting the band

For my chosen brief I chose to use a song that already belonged to an artist, in my case Everything Everything. Although i knew it was alright for me to use the song as it would only be for educational reasons, I still decided to try and contact the artist to ask for permission. To do this I went onto their Facebook page and messaged them in hope for a reply as shown below. Unfortunately I didn't receive a reply from the band so I presumed it would be okay as it was purely for education reasons only.