Jamie T - If You Got The Money

Jamie T fits into the indie/alternative genre which also includes bands like The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club. I decided to look at his music video to see how it differs from the other videos I've looked at from the pop genre and found that there was a split between performance and narrative shots. In the Katy Perry and Kesha videos I looked at, the narrative shots were combined with performance so this If You Got The Money was very different. Jamie T's video is fairly simple, using only three settings for the narrative shots and one for the performance shots. The video uses quite a few close ups that are slowed down as the song first starts which not only fits in with the slower paced start to the song, but also introduces the different characters of the video to the audience. Most of the narrative shots throughout the video are close ups or mid shots, they show different guys dancing badly which uses mid shots, whilst the girls' reactions are shown by using close ups. All of the shots have been put into slow motion whilst the performance shots aren't in slow motion, making them appear much more faster. Close ups are used again for the performance shots, but more extreme close ups are used especially for musical objects like the microphone, symbals and guitar. The lighting is a lot darker than the other videos I looked at, both the narrative and performance shots have been filmed in a club, with narrative on the dark dancefloor and the performance on the stage which uses red lighting.

Kesha - Tik Tok

Kesha was listed as one of the most similar artists to Katy Perry on the last.fm website, so I decided to analyse the video for her song "Tik Tok" and compare it to "Hot n Cold". Like Katy Perry's video, the narrative and performance parts of the video were linked in together, but Kesha's video used a much more basic storyline. The video was pretty much about going out, having fun and partying, there wasn't really a straightforward beginning and ending. Similarly, the video for "Tik Tok" also used very bright colours, and the outdoor scenes were sunny once again. However, this video used black and white editing in some parts, for example on extreme close ups of objects and body parts. Both of the songs are upbeat, so the colours and weather almost reflect the feeling of the music. One very noticeable comparison between the two videos, is that both main characters were seen riding bikes. This could perhaps be seen as a deviation from tradition female representation, as physical activity and sport are stereotypically more associated with males.
The shots are mainly made up of close ups, mostly of Kesha's face but sometimes focusing on other objects. In parts, the video completely follows Andrew Goodwin's theory about videos being an extension of the lyrics, for example when the line "I'm talking pedicure on our toes, toes" is sang, a close up of her feet is shown, and at the end of the video, when the line "Now the party don't start til' I walk in" is sang, she is shown walking through a door into a room full of people. The camera is quite shaky which goes along with the lyrics of the song, as its about partying which gives a slightly jumpy effect to the video. Some of the cuts between shots are quite jittery which again goes with the theme of the lyrics but also matches the music of the song.

Similar Artists and Music Videos

I thought it would be a good idea to look at other music videos by other female pop artists to see if they used the same conventions in their music videos. I done this by using last.fm, a music website which uses social networking to recommend different songs and artists. By using this website, I was able to find other artists who are similar to Katy Perry, which were ordered by highest similarity to lowest similarity.

Katy Perry - Hot n Cold (Music Video)

To see what conventions were used, I decided to analyse the original Katy Perry video to help us decide if we should use the same for our video. The video combines narrative with performance all the way through, and follows the theme of the lyrics. Four or five different settings are used throughout, the first starts in a church which is very stereotypical 'girly' and fairytale. The next scenes however are very different from traditional representations of females. Katy Perry is seen in the video riding a bike and chasing after a male character, and the scenes at the end of the video use very urban settings and costumes. Although the costumes change throughout the video, each one uses very bright colours. The lighting is also very bright and the outdoor scenes all have sunny weather.
At the beginning of the video, when the church setting is used, a lot of over the shoulder shots are used between Katy Perry and her love interest to show where the words are coming from and who they're aimed at. A mixture of close ups and mid shots are used throughout the video, the mid shots are mainly for showing Katy and the guy, as they are the two main characters in the story. Some extreme close ups are used particularly on clothing, for example in the stage scene, there is a big emphasis on Katy's sunglasses and belt.

Susan analysed one of Lily Allen's videos, to see her analysis please click here :)!

Copyright

As we are using another artist's song, we had to follow copyright rules and ask for permission to use their track.

Narrative Theories

Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin's theory is the audience theory that relates to our music video the most. He believes that music videos are an extension of the lyrics of the song, which is one of the things we are aiming to do. In the original Katy Perry video, the video is about a romantic relationship between a man and a woman, which pretty much follows the exact theme of the lyrics. We decided to alter ours to suit our target audience, which from our research shows, is teenage girls. We thought that one of the most common problems that this audience faces is between friends and the conflict between being yourself and fitting in with the crowd. When we listened to the song, we thought we could create a video that reflects the theme of the lyrics but doesn't completely follow what is said, which will then make an appropriate video for our audience.

Todorov's Equilibrium Theory
Todorov proposed that there is a basic structure that can easily be used my all narrative scenes. He believes that television programmes, films and music videos begin with a calm situation; equilibrium. Then, something will happen to disrupt the calmness which is unsettling; disequilibrium. The unsettled period is then resolved and a new state of peace and harmony is created which is the new equilibrium.

Audience Theories

When researching our target audience, I felt it would be important to look at different ideas that theorists have came up with about how the media can influence audiences.

Hypodermic Syringe
This idea comes from around 80 - 90 years ago when the media first starting becoming big. The idea is that films and television act like a syringe, injecting their ideas straight into the audience. For example, it was thought that after watching a horror film that the audience would act violent afterwards.

Two Step Flow
This model differs from the hypodermic syringe as it doesn't state that we automatically take on the ideas from the media, but we discuss what we see with others first and then decide how we respond.

Uses and Gratifications
The five categories that fit into this theory are
- Interaction
- Identity
- Information
- Escapism
- Entertainment
I think that our music video will help our audience most with identity as we are giving solutions to a problem that is faced by a vast majority of people in our target audience.