Textual Analysis | Ed Sheeran - Drunk

                                                       Directed by : Saman Keshavarz

'Drunk' is one of Ed Sheeran's most popular music videos. It is directed by a man who usually creates music videos for less mainstream artists and those under the 'indie' genre, therefore analysing this video would be interesting and necessary. 

In terms of camera work, the overall pace of the video isn't particularly fast and quickly paced, compared to a more party style video of 'tonight tonight' in the nightclub scenes. Again, this is a quite narrative video and the camera work helps to play on this. When transitioning shots, the camera sometimes spins instead of simply cutting, possibly implying the 'drunk' state in which he is in and how he feels this way due to a break up, which is all explained within the song.  
The video contains shots of a girl who we can assume is who the song is about, when shots of her are shown, they appear to be in a brighter light and seem to be edited so they are slightly blurry and hazy around the outside, from this we can gather these are flashbacks.
Another interesting way in which the video transitions in locations is by zooming in to a picture on the wall and then showing what was going on in the picture, an example of this is at 3:12 , I love this and think it is a good way to show flashbacks and memories from the past in a video.
In terms of mise en scene, Ed is dressed quite simply and stays in the same outfit for the whole video, I have noticed this in some indie videos I have looked at, and the Taylor Swift video for example, there is no outfit change either, I think this shows that they are more focussed on the song and its meaning rather than it being a glamourous video. It also makes the video seem more relatable. Ed's house is quite plain and tends to be lit quite darkly, connoting the mood of the song. 
Some of Ed's actions mimic the beat of the song, which I think can be quite effective. For example when he sits down the beat of the music begins as he hits the chair, I love little things like this.
Ofcourse one of the main themes is the talking cat. In the end it turns out that it was all just a dream and the cat wasnt talking all along. Aulthough this has nothing to do with the song itself, it is included to both represent the 'drunk' state that Ed is in but more importantly makes the video more memorable, which is why I think the particular director for this video is clever, as when they think of this song or the music video, they will probably associate it as being 'the one with the cat in it'.  
Something important to note about this video is that Ed doesn't actually sing with the lyrics at all, which breaks music conventions. Aulthough this hasnt stopped the video from being successful and still represents the messages of the song, I think that in our video that we create, we should include lip-syncing as a way of engaging with the audience. 

Textual Analysis | Taylor Swift - Ours

Directed / Produced by : Declan Whitebloom 

Taylor Swift's style of music is similar to Ed Sheerans in the sense that she creates soft, minor key music with pianos and acoustic guitars. Her songs have a narrative and as the song progresses the story goes on, and as the music video ends, the story comes to an end in a way to leave the viewer feeling a certain way depending on the mood of the song. 

In the video, it is mainly focussed on Taylor who is in a character of a girl in a very monotonous, dull job. The video is slightly humorous in the sense that it is playing on stereotypes of a boring office job, where the setting is grey, dirty and the people aren't particularly attractive and silly little things going wrong for her in the day. The song however, is quite an upbeat sounding tune, with the lyrics also implying the relationship between herself and someone is at the forefront of her mind while she is at work. 

The video begins with establishing shots of the settings and pathetic fallacy is used with the overcast weather, all connoting this dull job. 

This music video breaks some conventions in the sense that at no point there are shots of Taylor singing the song directly to the viewer. Instead, she engages with the audience by the narrative aspect of the video. We begin to sympathise or relate to her and gain a relationship with her character in this way. 

It still, however, shows her singing the song, which is obviously a major convention of music videos. 

Our Target Audience | Indie Music

S : The target audience of this genre tend to be in the middle class socio-economic group. They are often students studying at university, or still in education at college or sixth form.
A : taking into account the fact they are students, the age group would be around 16-25 years.
G : Ed Sheeran's music is targeted to both males and females, and so is the indie music genre as a whole.
E : The ethnicity of the artists is generally white caucasian, and therefore the target audience is also mainly this ethnicity.
L : The lifestyle associated with the indie genre is that either male or females who tend to be quite passionate about the music the listen to, perhaps being musical themselves, playing the acoustic guitar tends to be the most popular. They have a large circle of friends, and keep in contact with both them and keep up to date with their bands through social networking and media.

Digital Technology

Blogger

We will use this as a way of recording and presenting our progress, ideas and any changes we have made to our video. I find blogger to be really easy to use and displays everything clearly. I used it last year for my As Media projects, therefore it wont be a struggle to use!

Filming

When it comes to videoing our project, we will use a Panasonic HC-V500, we will be able to film all we need on this as we can move around with it as it is compact and hand held. We can also film static shots as we are able to mount it onto a tripod.

YouTube
This site will be vital, to watch existing music videos to analyse in order to help create my own, and also where our music video will be uploaded to share with piers and make it easily accessible for people to get as much feedback as possible.

Google
My search engine of choice for researching relevant information. 


Mac

All editing of our video will be done on the macs at school due to their editing software 'final cut pro' which will ensure that we edit and refine our video as professionally as possible. I have edited videos on iMovie, but never the updated final cut pro, and I am excited to use this. I have downloaded an app to my iPhone which is almost like a 'step by step' guide to using . Also , when it comes to the evaluation stage of the course, some of my evaluations will involve using this to make it visually more interesting. 

Textual Analysis | Hot Chelle Rae - Tonight Tonight

Directed by: Luga Podesta

Production company: London Alley Entertainment

Producer: Christian Heuer

Executive producer: Luga Podesta

Director of photography: Rob Witt

Production designer: Phillip Boutte Jr.

Editor: Luga Podesta

Director's rep: Yell Productions

Colourist: Bob Curreri

Label: Jive

Release date: April 26, 2011

The first video I decided to do a textual analysis on is a video from a band called 'Hot Chelle Rae' who are considerd to be an 'indie' band - however they are perform a different style of indie music and are much more up beat in the sense that their instruments used are much more electronic and artificial. The song is quite meaningless in the sense it is just about partying and 'tonight'.  

_______________

The video begins in an office and it varies between shots of 'random' things going on and the main singer looking directly into the camera, singing the song. There is a comical element to what is going on, reinforcing the upbeat, fun feelings of the song.

In some parts of the music video, the lyrics are taken literally and are acted out. For example,  

at "0:45" the lyric is "I woke up with a strange tattoo..." and the singer is shown, well, getting a strange tattoo! Sometimes whats going on in the music video has no relevance to the lyrics being said. In our music video we hope to include shots similar to this where we really listen to the lyrics in order to create   an engaging and interesting music video. 

Some of the cuts are fit and edited to the beat and jumps of the music, for example, at "0:29" there is a fast repeat of the word 'top' , so the shot is repeated. I love the effect this creates.

As well as the shots of the band in a more 'natural, everyday' environment where the band aren't necessarily singing, there are shots of the band set up with all their instruments and band members performing the song. I believe this is a vital convention in music videos where there is a band. 

As the video goes on, the day progresses and eventually towards the ending of the song, it is night time and there is a party setting where there are loads of people dancing, presumably to the song! This enforces the vibe that the song wishes to create.

There is no specific story line to this video, and just shows people who have gone from being really bored and having a 'messed up week' to enjoying themselves and partying. 

Research Methods.

To research into my project I need to use a variety different research methods in order to collate enough information to create a successful music video. Primary researching involves collecting data first hand and collect it myself. I will use this frequently to make sure I have a firm grasp of the topic independently through questionnaires, interviews and textual analysis's.   Secondary research involves collating existing media and learning from what has been previously published elsewhere. Wikipedia, for example, would be help me with collecting facts and information to support my work.  I will also need to do much of this to influence my work and understand what kind of magazines are already out there. 

Branding Of Your Text | Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is a British indie/pop artist. His style of music is mainly minor key mainly featuring an acoustic guitar / piano and most of his songs are written by himself. Ed Sheeran commercially broke into the charts with his single 'The A Team' in 2011 and since then has had much success,  his debut album + has been certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom. In 2012, he won two BRIT Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist, and British Breakthrough of the Year, while "The A Team" also won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. 

Ed Sheeran's early music videos have been known to break conventions. For example in 'The A Team' , 'Lego House' and 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' - He barley appeared in the video and instead had either other people singing the songs for him or no lip-syncing at all and instead are very much literal and 'story-telling' videos. 

"what have I learnt about....?"

Scripting
Our short film had little scripting in it at all and was much more visual in telling the story. As we added music throughout the whole of our film, it was in danger of appearing too much like a music video, so to help resolve this, we did add some dialect to the piece in terms of a VoiceOver.! There wasn't a lot said however , so it wasn't nescesarrily planned and scripted and instead a last minute alteration that we added. I have learnt that in the future I will be sure to script and make note of all dialect to make sure my work is really water tight and just as I want !

Storyboarding
We relied more on our story boards for this task and I had never really used them before, but I really like them and think they are a great way of recording ideas you've got in your head with rough sketches. Also each frame can signify different cuts , times and music changes so they are a great way of planning properly.

Locations
This task taught me that you need to make the most of the space you are given and be imaginative. At first being told to film in school wasn't good news, as the space seemed limited, but there is actually so much you can do to create a great transitional piece with different locations if you put your mind to it!!

Talent
With this task I learnt that finding people to cooperate with the ideas and outcomes you have in mind, can be quite tricky. Many people refused to be in front of the camera due to being "camera shy" and not wanting to look like a fool. Therefore I decided that the main character should be me, as I can rely on myself to get the job done and I understand the direction of the film and what is wanted. Aulthough in the end, the other participants in the film did eventually get what we wanted, it was a struggle and time consuming as they are not nescesarrily in the same mindset as those who are actually creating the film.

Organisation 
We were organised in this task I believe, as we had a clear idea of what we wanted in our heads so we didn't really waste any time when it came to filming the piece. However we were slightly last minute interms of casting other people and this is an example of where timed pressure could potentially have an effect on what the outcome will be. Of course ideas will develop from the original plan that you created, however I have learnt it is crucial to at least have these basic ideas in order to not panic and create a better film!!

Teamwork
Myself and my partner worked well as a team. She was in charge of filming whilst I was acting for the camera! We both understood what we wanted the film to be like so it was pretty simple. However I have learnt that relying on others can be tricky in terms of other people such as other actors in the piece being slightly more reluctant.

Editing
We were already pretty used to the software of making videos on the macs, however I have learnt through this process how to put music and voice recordings on to the video. In terms of editing to give across the correct message to the audience,  we had already learnt about this prior to making the film so I learnt how to apply that to a film we were making where previousley we were just analysing them.