Notes
The Vamps - Somebody To You
Conventions of a music video: This music video is classed as a performance video. They use different camera angles, shots and movements to fulfil this. The pastel colour scheme throughout the video suggests and reflects on The Vamps being a performance video as most performance videos have a similar colour scheme. (STY) is a performance based video but at the same time involves characteristics of narrative based. When the band are playing on stage with their instruments it is reflective on the idea of it being a performance based video.
Camera shots, angles, movements - how they represent social groups and narrative: The video includes an establishing shot - the beach and the waves represent the group as being chilled and laid back about things and makes the narrative of the boy falling inlove with the girl more realistic. Long shots, close ups, medium shots, over the shoulder shots etc have also been used to show the different people within the band to portray their own identity and their different personalities. All of this suggests that they are not the average group of teenage boys you would know.
Eye level angles, low angles, isolation, blurred edges on Demi, change of shots, high angle shots etc have been used to suggest the fact that the band are no better than the rest of the characters in the video or even the viewers watching it.The use of blurred edges when Demi Lovato makes an appearance could be suggesting that she is higher up in the music industry as she has more experience than them all. The majority of angles are either medium or lower angles suggesting equality of everyone.
In addition to this, the use of hand held movements and zooms in and out suggest that the viewers and the band are equal which makes the band look down to earth and as if they don't want to make themselves look good for fame - they associate themselves with fans. The hand held movements suggest that the budget of filming was not too expensive meaning they want to be like normal teenage boys.
How the sound influences my ideas about the band, settings, representations of social groups and narrative:
The music shown throughout the video is fast tempo, bouncy, enjoyable and laid back and the band seems to be enjoying themselves. They seem as if they are living the average teenage lifestyle. This also means that they do not come across as being big headed or arrogant and that fame has not gone to their heads, yet. We can see this because of the sound and how it does not sound auto tuned. This therefore suggests that they want their fans to see them as them being themselves purely - without auto tune.
The music and sound fits in well with the location due to the calm, but enjoyable beat. The beach is a good place for this video to be filmed because when one thinks of happy places - most picture tranquil and relaxing places such as the beach.
How editing has been used to create effect and emphasis on my understanding of the band as performers and the representations of social groups and narrative: Short cuts, jump shots and fade cuts are commonly used in pop performance music videos and they are also used throughout the music video to keep up the pace of it so that the music cuts in time with the editing. Ny doing this, we as the viewers are able to see the real personalities of the group through different camera edits. Also because they use these editing skills like the fade in and out, we can identify this video as being a performance pop group due to the common use in other performance pop music videos.
The editing could be suggesting that the group are people someone would want to be around, also reflects on the narrative - making it to be something more enjoyable for the viewers.
How mise-en-scene influences my understanding of characters, settings and representations of social groups and narrative: Lighting - Sunny, bright lighting suggests and reflects on the fact that the personalities of the group could be happy most of the time, and open to new things. This also represents their social groups as being the opposite to gangs, in which they come across as being friendly and approachable.
Location/setting - Set on a beach, nice, calm, and relaxing areas suggest some more about the band in which they would rather somewhere more tranquil than where there is a lot of chaos. Also because there are only a few people around and it reflects on the idea that they would rather be with a small group of people than big, noisy groups.
Décor - Average beach hut, sand, band set up - stage, reflecting on them as a band, showing that they are still the average band you would come across, but at the same time they still have a rock band look about them.
Props - Beach balls, sunglasses, guitars, drums, microphones, footballs etc are props used in the music video. Most of these props - such as the beach ball, sunglasses and football - suggest that the band do lead normal lives like any other teenage boy and that their entire lives aren't based around solely on music and fame. This suggests that they are genuine and down to earth and that they are very friend and family orientated.
Costume - Normal everyday clothing, showing laid back, and not bothered about what they look like. - suggesting that they want to be portrayed the way they are instead of pretending to be people they aren't.
Little Mix - Black Magic
How the music video demonstrates genre characteristics: In this music video, the song is aimed at teenagers and so it uses certain characteristics of teen culture to make it more relatable to the target audience watching.
The group demonstrates the genre of the song through personal links by including shots of the group singing and acting out parts of the lyrics which is again, common amongst the pop genre. Also, the video demonstrates typical girl band, pop genre characteristics by including lots of shots of the band as a whole as well as individually and showing that they are the best of friends before and after their transformation - as expected.
Another way in which this music video demonstrates genre characteristics is by including on-trend, fashionable clothing that would be admired and idolised by the targeted audience of teenage girls ages about 12-16. After their 'magic' transformation in the video, Little Mix become the trendy and fashionable which is a characteristic of the pop genre. The band is in-keeping with the current trends to keep with the genre of the song and attract the audience.
Throughout the video there are different shots used of both the whole band and individual members which demonstrates the genre of pop and the characteristics of the bands. The emphasis is mostly on the band as a whole and their friendship but there are also close ups of each member to allow for the audience to see their favourites which are likely amongst this genre and target audience.
There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals: This video follows a narrative as it creates a story about four unpopular, geeky girls who find and complete a magic recipe and then become attractive, popular characters. The video follows a narrative and so the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is more discrete. However, it is still shown by inserting shots of the artist singing whilst acting as well during it by providing cutaways of the individual members singing without the story element.
There is a relationship between music and visuals - the tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music: As this visuals play out a story it is harder for it to be connected to the music than if it were a dance routine or shots of the artist singing. This music video uses the beat of the music to reflect the atmosphere of the visuals by following that rhythm. This is seen through the change of scene after the word "hey" is used to keep the video flowing and to reflect the tone of the music as a new verse is starting. It is also used by the group in the video as they math their movements to certain points of the song - for example , when they first return to school after their transformation they walk down the corridor to the beat of the music. This therefore reflects the tone of the music and makes this and the visuals appear more synchronised.
This music video is illustrative as the narrative is quite straight-forward and so it allows a simple pattern. The girls are unpopular before their transformation and so they get blanked by their crush whereas afterwards they are noticed for their style and now have the power to make others desirable. However, there are amplification elements as both sides of the girl band (before and after) seem to be very over the top. Everything about the girls before the transformation symbolises them as geeks from their choice of clothing to make-up and hair and even their facial expressions that they pull to try and demonstrate this. This is unlikely in real life as the way they get treated by their peers is also over the top and unrealistic. The magic powers they have from the spell is also amplified as no one could really experience this and the use of it at the end in the classroom is dramatised.
There are also separate cutaways from the story where the tone and atmosphere of the visuals are created by simply having the band singing lyrics to the camera which fits in with the music and makes the video more personal. It shows the audience another side of the band and illustrates that they can act as wells perform.
The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of clue ups of the artists: As this music video is made by a band of four girls instead of just one artist there is a need for individual shots of each member as well as seeing the group as a whole. It is important to portray the group to have a strong friendship as well as showing each girl to have a specific talent and uniqueness that goes with their line and their moment invite spotlight. This video shows that the demands of the record label have been met towards the end of the video, when the main story has been told, there is a direct focus on the band and the song. As a part of this each member of the band gets the focus when they sing their line of the verse and there are close-ups of them in-between the close-up shots from the narrative of the whole group.
The group also needs to ensure that they keep in style with their song and the record label needs the song to do as well as possible for it to sell so the band needs to be stylish and popular amongst with current trends. Throughout the different characters in the video there is a variation go outfits and fashion items that will interest a variety of audiences meaning it can be aimed at more people. Also, each member of the band has such a different style so the different audiences will have their favourite/preferred which they will want to follow and look for their close-ups of so the record label ensure each member is given an even amount of time in the spotlight.
The audience for Little Mix is predominantly teenage girls and as a result of this the band is represented as relatable in the first half of the song where they show a narrative which a lot of teenagers can probably identify with, this will make it more attractive to this audience and therefore they are likely to believe in it. In the second half of the video, the girls are shown as people who a lot of the target audience may aspire to be or take influence from which will again, make them more likely to be interested in the song and the band.
There is a frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body: In the 'Black Magic' music video the environment is used to reference the notion of looking. The group is framed by the corridors as they walk central along it after their transformation and as the camera pans around the group later in the video during the individual shots. The arched background with natural lighting at the back keeps each band member central as the main focus and therefore references the notion of looking. This is seen again during the lecture scene of the video where the band appears to be under the spotlight whereas their classmates are in the dark suggesting the notion of looking at them rather than what is going on elsewhere. Also, just before the video ends when the students throw their papers into the air and they fall around the band to create a frame to draw the audience in to look just at them.
Voyeuristic treatment of the female body is seen at the start of the video where the girl, assumably the girlfriend of the band's crush, pushes past the geeky group in a skimpy outfit that makes the band look inferior to her. The choice of clothing is used to show her status against the other girls. After the transformation, this turned around as the crush and his friend are seen staring at the band rather than at his girlfriend. This suggests the notion of looking at the girls and them now being the centre of attention just because their change in clothing/styling. It shows that the boys did not pay attention to them before but now they are taken aback by their sudden attractiveness.
The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work: Little mix have developed certain motifs that are iconic to their music videos and so are recur across their work. For example, the girls like to have a laid back approach to the dancing in their videos. They don't seem to show strict dance movements or a particular routine amongst all of them but instead do their own thing in small portions of the videos which tie in amongst the rest of the planned video. Although it is rare that a choreographed dance routine will be followed through the whole of the video, a script and story normally is.
The band likes to provide a dramatic story element to a lot of their music videos and therefore they are known for their use of amplification to make the story more extreme. Moreover, throughout their videos something that recurs a lot is the girls' use of hands and an iconography that has developed is to have them across their faces but disguised in a way that will use them in relation to the video.
There are often intertextual references: There are intertextual references seen within this music video because of the narrative which is also a popular story kibe amongst teen films. The idea of an unpopular, geeky girl who transforms into someone unrecognisable. It is certainly not a new idea. This plot has been used in a lot of teen films showing the similarity between the audiences for this music video and those films. Examples of these films are 'Princess Diaries' and 'Mean Girls'.
