Secondary Research- Youtube/ Fan Pages/ Official Websites

Lewis Watson; Sink or Swim

LEWIS WATSON- SINK OR SWIM


Here the lyrics begin with the artist playing guitar. This makes the performance look authentic and legitimate as we believe the music played is the one created by the actual artist. This hence fits Simon Frith's theory of performance as we see Lewis signing and playing the guitar.

In the next few seconds in the video we see a mid shot of the artist; he's looking into the camera and his gaze seems really honest which connects the audience with the artist. At this point a relationship as well as an understanding is formed. The shot looks like a rough cut which adds to legitimate feeling of honesty- it's as if it a true representation of the artist. This shot is followed by a contrasting long shot which makes the artist look rather small (despite being in the centre) against the vast background.

Once again we see many shots of the artist playing however, this time there's a variety of them. This compliments the proposal made previously. Furthermore, to support this the location used is a natural one which supports the idea of the artists music being natural and self made.










These next couple of shots show the change in the Mise en Scene; the costume and the location. Which agrees with the conventions of music videos having many costume changes to compliment the story/ keep the video interesting. Here we also see a narrative which further agrees with Frith's theory of Narrative and Performance which this video switches between.

The video is in some way illustrating if not amplifying the lyrics as there's a use of water (whether the sea or the pool is used) This especially in the last scenes is put to use as the character jumps into the pool and there's a long pause. We are unaware of whether the artist will 'sink or swim'. This is also a dynamic ending as the rest of the video is rather calm and this very moment is spontaneous and surprising. Before this we see a juxtaposition where the artist is pressing through harsh wind against a mid shot/ close up of the still feather.  

Indie Music Video Analysis

Indie Music Fest- Bringing People Together

Secondary Audience Research- Interview Of A Band Member From 'Coast'

Secondary Audience Research/ Music Video Analysis

This video here is a perfect example of the support indie audiences show. Many decide to show their dedication to this genre of music by creating animated clips or films; like the one above. Here we have a shout of for support to the indie genre; the self made video is a bit 'weird' and 'funky' like the genre they support. It shows the extent that the fan will go to in order to protect their music genre

Qualitative Date; Interview Questions

1. Do you like indie music?
2. Who’s your favourite artist?
3. In your opinion what type of group (fanbase) does/do your artist/artists reach out to?
4. Do you follow any social sites (insta, twitter etc) of your favourite artist?
5. How do you find out about new tracks/albums/videos?
6. Do you feel as if the fashion you wear is influenced by the music you listen to? (self-identity­)
7. How do you get your sources for your music?
8. Do you watch music channels?
9. Do you ever visit fan-ran websites related to “insert favourite artist here”?
10. Do you ever read music magazines?
11. On a scale of 1-10 how much does music mean to you? Why?
12. How do you support your favourite artist? Gigs? Merc ?
13. What does the term ‘fanbase’ mean to you?
14. Favourite music video?
15. Does the music video affect your opinion of the song?

These are the questions we came up with for our interviews; however in practise many questions were skipped, reworded or added according to the interviewee 

Editing Our Preliminary

Preliminary Evaluation

History Of The Music Video

First Script

Qualitative Data

Qualitative Data; Interview Review

On the 29^th of October, our group went out to central London to interview individuals to find out about relationships they have with their music. We started off at Leicester Square, which is where we did most of our interviews. At this location we also witnessed a performance by a busker and had the opportunity to interview him. After finishing in this location, we also attempted to find some interviewees at Piccadilly Circus and China town - however this proved to be quite difficult, as many people refused to take part in the interview due to being in a rush. In our opinion the day was quite productive, as out of the five interviews we conducted, three were successful. The remaining two interviews gave us an insight on real musicians’ opinions.

Improvements

If I had to do this again, I would keep the microphone a little further away from the interviewee’s face during filming to avoid them feeling crowded and intimidated.

Some people were in a rush or not wanting to the get interviewed; many foreigners were unable to answer and/or understand questions fully. We had expected that people will be willing to participate – however because we had high expectations that weren’t met, next time we would keep in mind the variety of different responses we might get from people if we ask them to be interviewed. With this we would also expect more refusals and rejections and prepare ourselves for it.

Another problem was the issue of approaching people to ask them questions- once again we had high expectations, this time of ourselves - we had not expected to feel as uncomfortable around strangers as we did.

Next time the equipment had to be checked properly. The mic and headphones weren’t plugged in correctly at the time of some interviews, which resulted in sound not being recorded properly – the audio was not loud enough. Luckily we had the external camera mic, which came in useful as backup equipment.  

Music Video Research

Kate Nash - Foundations // Music Video Research

during the lyrics "and you humiliate me , in front of our friends " a stop motion animation is used to show an assortment of toys turning around. This part of the video shows there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals shown therefore allowing this to fit to Goodwin's theory of conventions. This amplifies the lyrics because of the facts that these are human beings but in fact toys which could show that if these toys could react the way humans could then they would od what they did above. Further amplifying the narrative of the song because of the fact that it allows us ( the audience ) to imagine how embarrassing it is to witness two friends arguing.

Another thing I particularly like about this Video is the fact that she is miming the song whilst there are events going on around her , for example , she is in a real-life scenario of playing cards with her so called partner.

"it gives me thrills to wind you up"
here is another part of the video which fits Goodwin's theory of conventions, This once again amplifies the lyrics because of the fact that she is talking about her partner in the song juxtaposed to the wind-up baby. Though it shows the toy getting winded up it could connote how she thinks her partner is being a baby or childish about their arguments or about her winding him up.
The use of toys in the video also creates a very light-hearted mood. Opposed to the songs lyrics which sounds very morbid and depressing.

" you said that i must eat so many lemons , cause i am so bitter" 

what i liked about this part is the use of the metaphor about eating lemons. This illustrates the lyrics very well because eating lemons doesn't make someone bitter but as shown here she literally eats lemons therefore making her bitter as the lyrics state. The use of a time-lapse also creates a very lovely effect and the jump cut creates the sense of the time jump to emphasise the lyrics" so many "

.

"and everytime we fight i know it's not right"
here shows Nash shadowboxing which in a way does illustrate the lyrics but because she is not literally fighting him then this would be an amplification once again ( Goodwin's theory )

the use of the low-angle shot allows the viewers to see the relationship between the two as it allows the audience to see the proximity of the two and here shows their fingers shown alongside the lyrics of  "my fingertips are holding on"

this also shows another very interesting shot from the video now from the opposing angle - a very high angle shot in a staircase. This shows Nash performing the song from the bottom of the staircase which could symbolise how the relationship is slowly falling down as she is shown at the bottom of the stairs.

To show the climax of the narrative we are then presented once again with stop motion animation of different products which were once intertwined but has no separated creating a very depressing feeling because as the audience we realise that she can no longer hold on. I personally really like this idea because it is very simple yet amplifies the lyrics of the song very well and also tells a story.

Preliminary Script / Part of Preliminary Evaluation

The Script Picture on the left is the script we made before shooting our Preliminary video.
Unfortunately it was very brief and was not thought out properly.

The Problems

• It is too brief/ Many shots used in the real exercise were improvised and thought of during the actual shooting 
• We did not plan the script juxtaposed with the lyrics and therefore during editing we had to choose what shots to use and when which took up a lot of time

Examples of improvised shots

• The shot where the camera follows Algwyne, as he's stroking flowers
• The mid shot/ low angle shot where you are able to see the sky at the back 

We are now able to learn from our mistakes and therefore we can now ensure that during the real music video we will have better planned organisational pre production 

A2 Preliminary Exercise - Music Video Extract

This is our preliminary exercise which we filmed and edited.