Lyric Analysis

Imagine Dragons/ On Top of the World Lyrics

If you love somebody
Better tell them while they’re here ’cause
They just may run away from you

You’ll never know quite when, well
Then again it just depends on
How long of time is left for you

I’ve had the highest mountains
I’ve had the deepest rivers
You can have it all but life keeps moving

I take it in but don’t look down

‘Cause I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I’ve been waiting to smile, ‘ay
Been holding it in for a while, ‘ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I’m on top of the world.

I’ve tried to cut these corners
Try to take the easy way out
I kept on falling short of something

I coulda gave up then but
Then again I couldn’t have ’cause
I’ve traveled all this way for something

I take it in but don’t look down

‘Cause I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I’ve been waiting to smile, ‘ay
Been holding it in for a while, ‘ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I’m on top of the world.

Oooooooo... OoooAhhhhhOoooAhhhhh[2x]

‘Cause I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I’ve been waiting to smile, ‘ay
Been holding it in for a while, ‘ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child

And I know it’s hard when you’re falling down
And it’s a long way up when you hit the ground
Get up now, get up, get up now.

And I know it’s hard when you’re falling down
And it’s a long way up when you hit the ground
Get up now, get up, get up now.

‘Cause I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
I’m on top of the world, ‘ay
Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I’ve been waiting to smile, ‘ay
Been holding it in for a while, ‘ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I’m on top of the world.

We've decided their not a narrative but matching the lyrics. We chose to look through the lyrics and then match our ideas to the lyrics. For example, with the line "I've been waiting to smile" we would use the scene where the 3 friends are lightly laughing together to demonstrate them smiling. Also with "Life keeps moving", we would use the scene where we film 2 friends running down the roads together as use the friends as a metaphor for life.

Official Music Video 

Idea for Music Video Content

We have been discussing what will be happening in our music video as we had a general idea but we needed to be more specific. We knew that this content would be friendship based so we have through of some scene which the friends could do including:

• Taking pictures
• Laying in a circle
• Drinking
• Jumping
• Pulling silly faces
• Writing on a mirror with lipstick
• Creating bubbles

This would demonstrate the friendship and happiness which we're aiming to create to fit the theme of the song we have chosen. The influence for these ideas came from the introduction of I Love It which gave us the influence of the general idea. We had some influence from One Day/Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Remix).


















This have gave us the idea to slow the scene downs as it would consume more time in addition to fitting in with our song choice since the song is slow paced to an extent. Similarly with the I Love It video, the music video contained scene where either the sun light reflected the camera or the it's on the edge of night fall. Since we're trying to create something similar, we'll be filming around 15:00 - 16:00 of the day we film to capture scenes where's it starting to become dark. We do not yet decided on a day to start filming but we aim to start filming soon.

New Mood Board

This is our new mood board. This demonstrates the 'theme' of our idea. The images represent the theme and gives a image of the content of the music video. 

Influence in Film Idea



Our influence for our idea was the introduction to a TV Programme called 'i love it'.



Mis en Scene

The introduction of this TV programme was filmed through the used on different shots, colour, characters and locations, which creates the 'happy' and energetic atmosphere we're aiming for to fit the song choice. A majority of the introduction was filmed in sunny weather, excluding the section where the characters was in a night club. The character was dressed informally, what someone would usually wear on a typical day. Their costume was mostly shorts, vests and shirts which was very colour, keeping the introduction 'cheery' and keeps the audience interested in the video. The prop that was used include sunglasses and bubble gum. These props are perceived as happy things to wear and do.

Camera Shots/Angles/Movements

Camera Shots

There was several camera used in this introduction. These included medium and close up for the audience to focus on the character facial expression. Long shot and extreme long shot was used which demonstrates the environment the characters was in and shows what the characters was wearing. Extreme close up was used, especially when the girl was drawing on the mirror with her lipsticks, which draws automatic attention to what the character was doing. Two shot was also used just to demonstrates there more than one character, which also creates the social atmosphere.

Camera Angles

The first angle which was used was high angle when viewing down on the group of friends when they was on the grass, which views all the friends. Low angels was used in several shots, mostly combined with medium and close ups for the viewer to look up at the characters. Slant, or 'dutch tilt' was in used on some shots, gives a more dramatic and interesting effect.

Camera Movements  

Tracking, or 'crab' was used to track when the girl held the camera and was moved in circles. This focuses more on what the characters are doing and has a more interesting effect. Pan was used in some shots, which just makes the visual seem more energetic. Tilt was used in several shots and for the same reason as pan, it's creates a more energetic atmosphere since the visual is everywhere. Zoom was also used to view in more shots. The zoom in this video focused more on the characters and the props which were used.

Editing

A majority of the editing techniques which were used was straight cut, which is the most common shot. Jump cut was used at times which speeds forward time and focuses more on the important areas. The pace of editing is extremely face, which mostly creates a dramatic and energetic atmosphere. Match on action was used when female character closed the door; this focuses on the character's action. 

Target Audience Research

We have identified what our target audience likes in terms of music videos through our questionnaire. We can gain a better understanding of what our target audience likes and what they are into to develop our idea for a music video, to make it appeal to them ever more.

Our target audience is for people between the age of 16-25, both male and female. Our target audience won't apply to a niche audience as this song covers more than one genre, so it will appeal towards more audiences yet it's still may not appeal to everyone within this age group - for example someone who would class themselves as a gothic may not appeal to this song they would prefer most heavy hard metal rock (stereotypically speaking) rather than alternative rock.

Questionaire Analysis

 Questionnaire

We have not received an email from the record label so we have assumed that permission is granted and we can proceed to audience research.
We asked people to participate in our survey. The purpose of the survey to was collect a more depth knowledge of information on what our target audience likes in a music video.

Questionnaire:

Analysis

We analysed our questionnaire findings as a group in a prezi. I found difficulties uploading the prezi into blogger so I have left the link which will view the prezi.

"http://prezi.com/embed/uxz5hu9ymcjp/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&features=undefined&disabled_features=undefined"

Permission from Record Label

We have sent an email to Interscope Records to ask for permission for their song.

New Idea and Song Choice

We have changed the general idea as we found that the picture drawing animation would be to complex to make and a long more time consuming; we felt we needed to change our idea since there's a time limit so we had a group discussion and decided to change our idea.

Our new idea is about following a group of friends around and capturing their daily activities. This is to create an social atmosphere which will link to the song.
We have decided that we will make a mash up of different shots and angels to create an 'happy' and energetic atmosphere. The music video won't contain a narrative but more matching the lyrics. The content will be following a group of friends round of their daily lives which demonstrates their happiness.


The song we have chosen for this idea is 'Imagine Dragons - On Top of the World'

Risk Assesment

The potential risks which could occur include the following:

It could rain on filming day, meaning we can't film outside. The solution would be to film another scene inside.

Equipment such as the camera may not work or be broken, resulting to no footage. The solution would be have another camera ready for use.

Some people in the group may not like the final production. The solution would be to have a group discussing on further progress we could do.

Music Brand Logo

We have created our brand logo based on the research we have done earlier.

Music Brand Research

I have research different music labels and put the pictures together into one main picture. These images are all music label logos:











These music labels don't tend to have much colour. Music labels tend to be black and white, with a little colour. This shows that colour does not have a huge significance. The logos focus more on the image rather than the colour scheme. A majority of the typography of these logos are in capital letters, possibly to draw more attention towards to the letters. The font is very clear to read; they are not written in italics or another fancy writing it's just simple and standard which will make it easy to read. Excluding EMI, the music label logo have a small font beneath the image shown. The images on these logos present the name of the music label such as universal music group using an image of the globe, giving the image a high importance .

To conclude our findings, it's clear that the image and the font on the logo has a higher importance than the colour scheme. We will take these findings into consideration when creating out logo for our music label.

Social Websites

We have created a Twitter page for our production company so we can keep can receive feedback as well as keeping up to date with everything that is going on.

Moodboard

We have created a  mood board to demonstrate the main idea and themes for our idea. The pictures demonstrate a dream/imagination theme, linking to the girl in the video who is day dreaming .

Feedback

We received feedback from our teacher after discussing our idea with him. The feedback was that he thought it would be too complex to create a music video through animation. Taking this feedback into consideration, future plans and ideas are still be discussed.

Music Video Idea

The basis of our idea is about a girl who is lonely but then finds friends. The content of the music video will go through the process of meeting that friend but this part still need to be discussed in more detail. We plan to create our film through animation, which then switches to reality.

Purpose of Music Video in the Digital Age

The purpose a music video in the digital age is promote the song. Music videos is used to advertise the song, so people are more encouraged to purchase the song, or album. Music videos is also used to promote other things such as merchandise. If the content of the music video contains a product and they see the artist using it, this would encourage viewers to purchase that item. For example, in the music video 'Party Rock Anthem', the artist was seen using headphones which is an example of advertising merchandise. These headphones can now be found in music shops such as HMV or online through sites such as Amazon.









Music video are now widely accessible. People who wished to watch a music video can access it through TV or online social websites such as YouTube. This makes it easier for the listener since they can listen to the music for free, meaning they're not forced to buy the song in order to listen to it. This does support piracy which as an overall result, will cause the record label to lose profit as listeners won't buy the song or album if they can listen to it for free online. Records labels did attempt to face the matter by

Music was not always this accessible. In the 1970's, people who wanted to listen to song for  free could only access Top of The Pops since there was limited technology available at the time. Even this form of music video was limited since it's was shown as a specific time. Now, technology has enhanced, changing the ways music videos are made and distributed.

Analysis of Music Video

I'm going to analyse "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. The genre of this song is rock. The conventions of this genre tends to be a band representing the song. The editing tends to be quick and face paced in order to match the beat of the song. The performers are stereotypical male and there are usual a variety of close ups and medium shots to show each member and their instrument.

The music video doesn't really contain a narrative; a majority of the video is mostly based on the band but there is an element of other characters. The editing of this music video follows the stereotypical conventions since there is plenty of quick, faced paced edits to match the beat of the song. The pace of the editing does become much slower towards the end where the song becomes slightly calmer and it doesn't have as many beats.

"I'm the face that you have to face".  The visual of this line is the singer being confronted with a line of people in official uniform. The shot used for this line was a wide shot; it's shows the line of people and the singer are facing each other, matching the spoken lyrics. The shot is has also used shallow deep to keep the main focus still on the singer. The visual and lyric shows some form of tension between them as it's clear that their opposite sides will clash.

The music video does match the typical convention of this genre since the editing is very fast paced and quick with in time with the beat; several shots and angles was used to focus on each band member.A frequent notion of looking was the male singer, presented through several medium shots and close ups. No iconography or record label was mentioned during the duration of the music video.

The music video:

Analysis of Music Video

I'm going to analyse 'Let you go' by Chase and Status. The genre of this song is electronic. The characteristics of this genre tends to be characters in informal clothing, which is usual bright. Electronic music videos are stereo-typically set at night time. The song follows the typical conventions of electronic genre since this music video is semi based on night, following the life of the character. The character is dressed in formal clothing, which breaks the stereotype of characters wearing informal clothing.

The narrative of this song is based on the show 'The Jeremy Kyle Show'. The content shows the presenter hosting the show, talking down to contestants on the decisions they have made. The video then moves on to the personal life of the presenter. The presenter is performing many forms of 'negative activities' such as drinking, affairs and drugs; based on the events, it shows the presenter being a hypocrite.

The pace of this song is very fast; there are many edits, making the music video follow the typical conventions of the genre. The music video does match the music as the beats was in timing with edits.
There a majority of edits including straight cut as well as jump cut as well as a mix of camera movement and shots including tracking and close up; this being the frequent notion of looking, demonstrating to the viewer that he's main character. The collaboration of edits, camera shots and movements creates an emphasis on how crazy his life is.

This music video does preview the record label at the end on the song which is '2010 Mercury Records Ltd'. I could not detect any visuals which match the lyrics. The music video does contain a narrative but that narrative fits more to the purpose rather than the spoken lyrics.

The music video:

Analysis of a Music Video

I'm going to analyse "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. The genre of this song is pop/folk. The conventions of this genre can either be a male/female artist representing the song but with pop/folk genre, male gender tends to represent the song. The characters of this genre often wear informal clothes. This genre tends to be a upbeat and 'happy' song. This song follows the conventions of this genre since the artist is wearing informal clothing but the clothing of this character is very basic which can contrast to what other artists wear which is bright colours and different styles of clothing. The song is a 'happy' song setting the listener in a positive mood.

This song doesn't really contain a narrative; there's no 'story' in the song. The footage of this music video shows the artists on a plane, flying to a small city located near a beach. A majority of this footage of the artists in different locations, with different people doing different things.


"My breath fogged up the glass, so I drew a new face a laughed". This image shows the artist next to a window, wiping the condensation off. Another lyric is "We're just one big family" and as he's says this line, the visual shows the artist with a bunch of other people which could be his friends or locals that he's met whilst he was travelling.

The editing represents the song since the editing is very slow paced and not very frequent, which it suitable for the song since the song is very slow paced and relaxing.


The character in this music very seems to be extremely happy; the expression on seems to be very positive, make this suitable for the song. There is no iconography or record label mentioned in this video which again can be usual since a majority of music videos tend to have a icon or mention the record label, either before or at the end of the music video. The main focus what on the artist; although there was plenty of other character, they all was looking towards him, putting the focus on the artist.

The music video:

Analysis of a Music Video

I'm going to analyse a music video by called Spanish Sahara by Foals. The genre of thing song alternative. The conventions of this genre tends to be a male artists representing the song. The characters within this genre tends to wear smart/causal clothes. The setting of this genre can vary, depending on the song and how it's represented. This song follow the conventions of this genre since there is a male artist representing the song and he's dressed in smart/casual clothing.

Narrative:

The performance of this song is the artist lip syncing and the footage of the artist. The concept of this music video involves the artist in an cold environment dragging around a bag with him with an unknown object side. The artists drags the object to an area loaded with logs. He then sets the logs with the object on fire.


The editing in this music videos fit the beat of the song. The beat of these songs is very slow and the editing is very slow paced. When the best gradually starts to get faster, so does the pace of the editing.



The first line in this song is "So I walk into the haze". The song actually start with this image. The first image is an establishing shot, showing the setting of the music video and it represents the first line of the song.Repetition of the lines "Forget the horror here. It's future rust and it's future dust" in the song is represented through the fire in a metaphorical form.


The character in this music video appears to be very serious and gives very little expression. This visual presenting the song appears to be serious. No iconography or record company was shown during this music which is unusual since a majority of music video shows the production company.

There is only was person shown, meaning that all the focus is on him and what he's doing.

The music video:

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin theory of analysing a music video:

- A relationship between the lyrics and the visual; the visual either presenting or contradicting the      lyrics.

 - A relationship with the music and the visual; the visual either presenting or contradicting the music.

  - Representation of iconography and genre style

 - There is a frequent notion of looking

- Intertexual Reference

 - The demand of record label.

Conventions of a Music Video

History of Music Videos

Music videos has changed and developed overtime during from 1894 to this present day.

In 1894,  Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and other performers to promote their songs "Little Lost Child".  Thomas projected a series of still images using a magic lantern  this was the first step into music videos.

In 1926, a series of musical short films was created, which was known as'visual music'. Bessie Smith was a blues singing during this decade and she appeared in a film called St. Louis Blues (1929), which featured one of her songs. In the 1930's, cartoons featured popular musicians performing their music live on the shows.

 In the mid 1940's Louis Jordan made short footage films for his songs which was merged together in a film called 'Look Out Sister'. This was known to be the ancestor of music videos. The first 'original' music video was in 1956 by Tony Bennett. Tony was filmed in The Sepertine, London recording a song called 'Stranger in Paradise'. This footage of the song was distributed to both the UK and the US, which lead to beliefs that he was the first person to create a music video. In 1959,  JP Richardson was first to create a rock video. In the late 1950's, The Scopitone, which is a visual jukebox made in France lead to many French Artists such as Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg to accompany the songs. This then spreaded to different parts of the world such as Italy, In 1961, a canadian show called Singalong Jubilee began to pre record the music audio, went on location and then taped musician lip syncing. 

In 1964, The Beatles starred in a film called 'A Hard Night's Day' where dialogue was scattered with musicals The music ones then lead to many music videos to be modeled. The Beatles second film 'Help' was also released in a more lavish ways, showing more media techniques in colour. The Beatles recorded several promo clips was was distributed to several countries including the UK. Many other bands during this time decided to follow their footsteps and released promo films, which some lead to live performances of live television shows. 

In 1974, Australia was running two weekly music programmes, known asCountdown and Sound both which featured music videos, some created for the shows. The format the spreaded to different parts of the world. Three years later after the programmes, Video Concert Hall which was an American programme began hosting several music videos. In 1981. MTV was launched (which is a music TV channel within the US), showing several music videos and music 24 hours a day. This channel caused the market to be very popular within the mid 1980's. Many important acts such as Adam and the Ants and Madonna earned a great deal of success due to the their music videos. In 1986, a show called The Chart Show on channel 4 was launched, which caused a dramatic development in music videos. This programme consisted on purely music videos without presenters but more  computer graphics. 

Napster is a website which was ran between 1999 and 2001. This website enabled users to share music files, including music videos. Within the mid 2000's, MTV and many other channels was more in favour of reality television programmes rather than music videos as it appealed more to the audience. In 2005, YouTube was launched making it more easier for people to access music videos. Some artists success began through the viewing of their music online. An example of this is OK Go, which is a known band who became known through YouTube. In 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars released their music videos 'Kings and Queens' on YouTube on the same day on the songs official released. Within a very short space of time, this song reached one hundred million views and it also received 40 million plays on MySpace. Due to the songs success, 30 Seconds to Mars received several nominations at 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. 

Music Videos has now developed dramatically in comparisons to 1930's where magic lanterns was used. There are now channels and websites where music videos can be distributed. 

What is a website, digipak and music video?

A website is a set of interconnected web pages, which usually have a homepage to introduce the website. A website usually has the same sever. The content of a website usually contains information based on a person/persons, subject or topic. The purpose of a website is to increase awareness of the person/persons, subject or topic which the website is about. Since anyone can access a webpage provided that they have internet, having a website can cause and increase a global awareness, which is very useful or organisation and musicians.







A digipak is a extended CD package. A digitpak can be opened like a book, containing more than 1 CD within the package. The main CD is usually accompanied by extra CD's, providing customers with extra information on what they have just bought. The purpose of a digipak to promote the album which is being sold and the artist as well as making more profit since a digipak is containing more information, so companies can sell the digipak at a higher price. A digitapak can also create a wider audience due to the extra information it contains.









A music video is a video which represents the audio being played; a music video often portrays the song meaning and the lyrics. The purpose of a music video is to make profit as it can leave audience to have a visual memory of the song, which can leads them to buying it. A visual representation can also allow audience to gain a better understanding of what the song is about.

Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following options:

- a website homepage for the band

- a cover of its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)