Justin Timberlake Rock your body

Rock your body stars with a room full of colourful electro lights. Through out the video Justin falls in from the ceiling dancing giving the effect of him flying and travelling through the room in the air. He is wearing a white outfit, combats and a jumper which is later combats and a vest. The contrast with the colour of the room and makes him stand out from the rest. Justin comes across as a dominant humorous character through his poses and quirky looks towards the camera while he is dancing. This follows the codes and conventions of a pop video because of the colour and the outfit just in wearing.

There is no narrative in the video which could make the audience un interested towards the end however the extreme high and low angles as well as camera movement and spinning keeps the audience hooked. I think the video could have some narrative to make it mor interesting but it does not necessarily fit into the video well. To break from the lights and then cut back would ruin the flow of the video movement.

The base line of the song kicks in strong from the beginning of the song. These heavy beats are a trade mark for Justin Timberlake as is his style of dancing which is shown in the video.

For our own video I think a dance style would work extremely well. Making a trade mark dance to follow the song like Justin’s however I think there would need to be some narrative within our video to insure the audience are kept entertained and want to watch all the way through.

Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys

The Bad Boys video starts with Alexandra pulling up in a sports car and getting out because she has broken down. She is wearin black leather with a red top showing through. She looks very strong and in control. She shows a modern representation of a woman, not wanting or needing a man in their life which shows through out the video, especially when she throws a man through a brick wall! The only other outfit we see her in is a complete contrast to the first, a silver dress. Although this look makes her come across sexier and more womanly, you still see the strong dominant side to Alexandra. I think this is because not a lot of flesh is showing, unlike in the GaGa video. Alexandra is also the only woman in the video which gives her extra attention.

The product gives off a R&B feel because of the Flo Rida rap in the middle of the song. This is not Alexandra’s part so it does not give her an R&B impression… just for the video. There are only two locations used in the video which makes the audience feel more involved with the situation. The are also not many effects used in the video, only lights to create more of a dancing scene in the car park.

I think this video is a good example of what we want to achieve with our own video because of the focus on one character as well as the dominance and presence of that character. We can not use a lot of effects because of lack of funding and time. We would also like to se a lot of dancing and routines within our video which is the case in the bad boys video.

Lady GaGa - Just Dance

Lady GaGa’s video for Just Dance shows her entering a party which we instantly see is very wild. GaGa strips down to show a lot of flesh which is a slightly challenging to the conventions of a pop video because pop songs are generally aimed at younger teens aswell as elder people. Later in the video we see lots of sexual action between GaGa, objects and others at the party. None of this is extreme but give a shock factor to the audience watching and is a challenge to the pop genre. Party scenes are often used in pop videos such by people such as Britney spears and Miley Cirus. It can give a slight R&B feel to the video as does the glamour and bling worn by GaGa in her performance shots.

The shots used are very quick probably 2 seconds at the most and can be shaky at times which give the audience the effect of being drunk or tipsy, as well as dancing. All of the shots however are performance, the narrative is shown by the location and atmosphere around the performance. This is interesting for our own music video as we plan on having mostly performance shots and are thinking of combining both to have performance whils in the narrative scenes, similar to what GaGa has done here. In most of her shots she is looking straight at the camera in a dominant pose whilst dancing. Ther are a variety of mid shots and close ups with the occasional long body shot. One shot where it is from a high angle shows GaGa entising to the camera. These shots usually make the characted look weak and innocent, but in this case it works in the opposite way.

Some good effects are used on shots to make them blur, as if looking through GaGa’s eyes and everything being blurry. I can imagine it would be hard to ass effects to such a fast pace song and this one works very well with the video.

Micheal Jackson - Billie Jean

We think it is important to analyse a Michael Jackson video as he was known as the King of Pop and inspired pop music through out the world. His music is classically pop and in this Billy Jean video he follows the tradition conventions of a pop video where the main artist (MJ) is the dominant role, looking you handsome and attractive to the audience. He is wearing black trousers, a black leather jacket with a red shirt, suggesting that he is ready for a night out although you do not see him go anywhere. Even though this video was released in 1983 there are good effects used to add to the story.

Michael is walking down the street and everything he touches glows, including the pavement he is walking on. This is not a huge visual effect which shows that something small can be very effective. They have also used freeze shots whilst splitting the screen into three to make the audience feel as if there is a lot going on when in fact there is not. The video does not challenge the pop convention much, it sticks to a basic narrative and is well balanced between performance and narrative. It also shows a traditional representation of a male female relationship, with michal being the 'stalker' preying on a woman whilst the woman is innocent and powerless to even know what is going on.

Genre

Genre will play a huge part in the planning and production of our music video. We will have to think about what fits within the codes and convention of our genre and what challenges it well. We can do this by looking at existing music videos and analysing how they have challenged and stuck to the conventions of the genre and thinking about whether it would work in the video we plan to create.

Rick Altmans take on genre was that media text fit into specific genre whether it is with music, film, radio, web pages or any other form of media. For example, music can be classified as Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, Classical, jazz etc. Film can be classified as horror, comedy, science-fiction, fantasy etc. This then means that genre is restricted to the set conventions of the genre where there is no room for hybrid genres. This is when a genre challenges the codes and conventions by adding bits of other genres such as a Romantic Comedy film.

Richard Maltby disagreed with this saying that the success of Hollywood relies on predictable elements of a genre with variation. It suggests that to follow the codes specifically to the conventions would bore the viewer and not be as entertaining. Following this advise would be very good for our project as the song we have chosen has hints of a sub-genre.

Jon Friske said that a genre will contain the main characteristics of its genre but will also include some from others and to but each genre in a category would only be possible by deciding which aspects are most important.

I think Jon Friske and Richard Maltby both have theories which would help in the production of our music video. Taking into consideration the song we have chosen, I think it necessary that we research into adding aspects of other genres (mainly R&B) into our video. This will also ensure that we do not bore the audience by giving them a video the same as many others.

Audience theory

When researching into audience we need to look at different audience theories which could possibly influence our media product.

"All the world's a stage and the mean and the women are merely players." As the audience we can be manipulated and can be persuaded to buy products or follow corrupt leaders through propaganda.

The Hypodermic Syringe

The media acts as a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience, who are then a powerless mass as to stop it. The most obvious example of this is when somebody watches something violent, and then does something violent. It is also expected with traditional roles where you watch a woman cleaning then a woman feels they need to clean, or a man expects the woman to clean.

The Culmination Theory

Culmination mean to accumulate or gather over time. One piece of media text will not have a huge effect on you but a constant exposure to a certain thing will make you immune to that one thing. You might not necessarily agree with it but it takes the shock out of seeing it. The first time you see nudity or violence will be a completely different reaction to seeing the same thing for the 100^th time.

Two Step Flow

This is another theory which suggest that it is the discussion after seeing a piece of media which effects you, not the media its self. It says that the discussions and other peoples opinions effect or influence you to change or widen your own. This can be very different depending on the strength of character and other aspects of your life such as experiences.

Uses and Gratification Theory
This theory suggests that you use the media to choose what you want. We all have certain expectations and expect to be gratified by what we have watched. The Choices are…

Information - For gaining knowledge and understanding e.g. documentaries.

Entertainment - Purely for enjoyment purposes such as sit-soms or soaps.

Social Empathy - To have a connection with a character and give sympathy. Following someones feelings.

Personal Identity - to show relation to every day life situations, feelings and appearances. Reality tv shows.

Escapism - to completely escape reality and forget about every day lives and situations.

　

Similar Artists

To gather ideas and inspiration we took time to look at other artists who we thought had a similar style to what we wanted to acheive with our artist. We mainly looked at well known artists whos work are similar to Justins (Pop with and r&b style music). By doing this we can see which trends go well and can also look at how others have stuck to and challenged the codes and conventions of their genre.

Justin Timberlake

In this cover JT has chosen a plain white drop background. He is wearing a tuxeido with hat and stick to show his sofisticated side. However, he then challenges this my wearing black boots and tucking the trousers into them and holding a military pose. This gives of a humourous side to the album making the artist (Justin) come across very likable.
'Justin Timberlak' is written across the middle in a blod font and the surname has been mde orange which looks good and makes his name sound important. The again underneath his name is written again instead this time sayin 'Mr. Timberlake'. This is a clever co-ordination with the photograph, where it shows two different sides to the same person, the sofisticated adult and the funny laid back guy 'Justin'

Rhianna

This Rhianna cover shows theartist in a low light black and white shot with just and initial as any writing. The shot works well with the music on the album as alot of it is dark and minor key'd. Rhianna is known world wide as a pop star but we feel that this cover challenges the convention of her genre hugely by being dark and mysterious but Rhianna being on the cover herself, looking attractive follows them well, wich shows that challenging the conventions drastically can work out for the best and could be something to consider for our own product.

Keri Hilson

Keri Hilson looks attractive, strong and dominant in this album cover which we have noticed has been a trend with the exaples shown. She again has used black and white images however this cover has used alot of image modifying to give an amazing effect of the chair balancing on water. The colours have also been enhanced and changed to give the entire photograph a purple tinge which looks very clever. We both really like this cover and hope to use it as inspiration for our own cover and poster.

Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa is known everywhere not just for being a pop diva but also for her wild clothing and accessory choice! We love the GaGa look and way and hope to use influences of her madness within our work. In this cover GaGa is crawling out of water dressed in black with a mirror head piece on. We think the idea for this cover was for her to be a thief or other villain as gambling is often associated with bad people (Poker Face). She again looks dominant yet glamorous at the same time.

Cheryl Cole

Cheryl's first album '3 words' looks very simple and elegant, as does the portrait used. She has also used black and white photograph just like rhianna did with hers, however it has been given a completely different effect because of the highlighted shading and props used (head piece) to make Cheryl seem elegant. We think the picture really works for the album being produced as the music invoved is not out of the ordinary and does not challenge any conventions. This is one of very little albums where the woman is made to seem weak and small, a traditional take on pop music.

Chris Brown

This album gives more of a R&B feel rather than pop but we thought it important to show which vibes were meant to be within our artist, and in our case it is R&B. Unlike alot of R&B covers chris has not used alot of glamour and bling but kept it simple with a black an whte theme. The water drops give a good effect as does the sharpness of the words used. We like the way Chris Browns pose sends off an attitude, much like the first justin timberlake cover. An essence of R&B will be used within our work much like this album.

Choosing a song

Initially, Jon and i were thinking of creating our own track to co-operate with our music video making the entire product our own. We both have musical backgrounds as well as high GCSE music grades and one of us (Jon) with a talented singing voice. However to do this we would need to spend alot of time creating and tweeking the track to make sure it is of a good quality, as well as creating lyrics and melody and then eventually editing it to create a better sound. This meant that it would be easier and kinder to our main project to choose an already existing track which then gives us time to focus on the smaller details within the film. We also thought that creating our own track would give the music video a more ammature feel, where using a big well known track would bring out the video more.

Cry me a River - Justin Timberlake
After much discussion Jon and i came to a conclusions on the song we were going to use. Justin Tiberlakes Cry me a River. We chose the song because we both liked the beat and rhythm within the song and also felt the lyrics gave us a lot of ways to narrate the video and add a good story to. We asked many people what they thought of the choice to ensure we were choosing a well liked popular song and had mainly positive feedback. Most people said that they really liked the song and that they enjoyed the original music video.

One problem with choosing Cry me a River is that we need to acknowledge copyright rule. Because of this we emailed Justin Timberlake's UK label SONY BMG to ask for permission to use Cry me a River in our music video. We also sent the email to his US home company Jive.