Evaluation of music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aog3GTtbKsg

Evaluating in relation to Goodwin's Theory

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

As planned, we tried to pick out the lyrics of which were achievable to connect to a visual image. This wasn't too difficult as the lyrics made frequent references to nature. These aspects were fairly simple to find, for example, the sun, and shoot them to fit the song. As the lyrics are sung so does the image, establishing a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

'Birds in the sky' These lyrics are sung in conjuction with an image of birds flying in the sky, this emphasises the lyrics. It is a short shot and is the esatblishing shot of the music video, after the image a transition is used to fade into the next scene. We used a low angle shot by manipulating the tilt of the camera, given the impression of looking upwards into the sky.                   

'Breeze drifting on by' Here we had an image of a huge tree drifting in the breeze whilst the lyrics were sung. Luckily it was quite a windy day when we shot this so the tree swayed heavily side to side, portraying the 'breeze'. A slight low angle shot is also used here by tilting the camera to give the impression of looking upwards at the tree.

'River running free' here, we went on a boat ride and shot the river flowing quite fast, relating directly to the lyrics. The boat was going quite quickly therefore the film of the river does look quite fast paced, which possibly would have looked better if it was slightly slower due to the pace of the song. A medium shot is used here with a slight tilt downwards to the camera to give the impression it is close by. 

'This old world is a new world..' the singer sings these lyrics whilst opening a window and looking outside of it to represent the new world she is about to venture out into. A medium shot is used here and the camera also tracks alongside the singer, moving with the singer.

 'Stars in the sky' Here, unfortunately it was difficult to get a shot of stars at night as it would not come up clear enough on camera, however we used a shot of the street lighting at night which I feel also created a good affect, as the blurred street lighting gives the impression of 'stars in the sky.'

'Freedom is mine' When the singer sung these lyrics, she opened her front door and ventured out, emphasisinng the freedom she now has into the new world. The camera shoots at a medium shot which then switches to a medium close up and then follows the singer as she walks outside the door.

'Feeling Good' The singer writes 'Feeling Good' in the mirror with lip stick whilst these lyrics are sung. The camera shoots at a medium close up, almost an over the shoulder shot, mainly focusing on the writing.

There is a relationship between the music and the visuals

The music is quite slow and has a relaxed pace which connects to Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the music and the visuals as the pace of the film is also slow. The singer starts off looking quite shy, making little eye contact with the camera, frequently looking down and to the side. She wears a bath robe, covering most of her body, emphasing her shyness. Then as the song progressess she becomes more confident, looking directly at the camera and changing into a more revealing dress. To add to the slow paced song there is a lot of fading used in the editing to emphasise the slow music.

Looking down, shy at first

There will be a demand on part of the record comapny for a lot of close ups of the main singer or vocalist

This theory is also portrayed through this music video. Throughout the video the main focus is on the singer, with various close ups also shown. We used a range of shots within the framework in order to fully explore this theory. Some shots switch from close ups to medium shots, souly focused on the main singer.

There is likely to be reference to voyeurism, particularly in treatment of females

The main singer in our video is a girl and there are shots towards the end of the video walking down the starirs where the camera is moved from her head to her toes. This is also wear the singer is wearing a short dress with extremely high heels. There is also a shot of her taking off her bath robe, where her bare shoulder is shown, then the robe is dropped and the camera drops to her feet then fades out into a different shot.

I have learnt a number of things in the planning and production of thi music video. Firstly, directly within the music video I have learnt it is important to take special attention to the mise en scene within the framework of shots. There are some shots in the beginning where there is Vaseline bottle in the background of the shot. You can also see the top of my laptop screen where I was reading my lyrics from. I also think it is very important to fully use every shot possibly within the music video, we did utilise many however I think the video could be improved by using a wider variety.

Furthermore I also learnt that it was quite hard to find the right time to use the location we needed, and how to get everyone in the group there. As the camera could not be taken outside of school hours, therefore we had to use our own camera and only tow of us could be there for the filming.