Semiotics

The idea of semiotics was brought about by Morris. He said there were 3 ways in which semiotics happen:

1)   The Perception Stage: This is when you become aware of a sign
2)   Manipulation Stage: This is when the person has interpreted the sign and has decided how to respond
3)   Consummation Stage: The response

This theory consists of denotation and connotation. Denotation is the simple meaning of something. For instance what the object is. Connotation is what that object would stand for or what it represents.

An example is the American Flag. Its denotation is that it is just a material with a design that makes up the American flag. Its connotation is that it is America, representing the American dream and freedom.
It could have a negative connotation of corruption and wars.

Music Video: Avenged Sevenfold - So Far Away

This songs semiotics are very emotional and are about grieving, mourning and reminiscence.
The band are driving around where they grew up and has several flashback scenes to when they were teens. The lyrics of the song suggest family/friends who have died. It is a very emotional song and has tribute aspects. In the video Johnny Christ wears a guitar strap with, 'foREVer' on it to remember the death of the band member The Rev.

Intertextuality

Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit

Intertextuality: Is the relationship between two texts. It is when one text uses an idea of another text.

Examples of this would be a music video using the same narrative as a movie but with a different spin on it. They pay homage to a previous text. 

Popular examples include Ashanti. Ashanti: Foolish uses the narrative of the movie: Goodfellas. 

The song above, Breaking the Habit is an example of intertextuality as the music video is done in the style of a different media text. It uses the style of Japanese anime.

Intertextuality may use other texts but it is still a serious production. The music video may pay homage to someones previous work. The Linkin Park video above shows respect and admiration of the anime genre. Although it doesn't reference anything in particular it is still different than a traditional music video.

In my own music video I may use intertextuality however it would be in contrast to the way it is used here. I would pay homage to a specific text rather than an entire genre. Mine may stay in the music video realm, thus being similar  to Shania Twains homage to Robert Palmer.

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis breaks down her music video theory into four sections:

Narrative:

• Not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance
• Narrative is not always complete
• The video is a visual response to the music
• The structure may appear disjointed
• There is something that drives the video forward which isn't usually the main narrative but maybe the music, performance or another element altogether 
• May not always be a clear resolution (closure) at the end
• Poses questions that it doesn't answer or in a montage style

Editing:

• Video may break or disrupt many rules of continuity editing - clear convention of music video editing 
• Editing may match musical phrases or the beat
• Editing can become foregrounded - edits may be obvious to draw attention as opposed to continuity editing

Camera Movement:

• When it comes to shot types, extremes are common
• Style of framing and movement may run through video and is distinctive to that video
• Camera may move on the lyrics
• Camera may move in time with the music
• Master shot used frequently as are close-ups

Diegesis:

• May be revealed quite slowly 
• Actions not necessarily complete
• Character or objects may move to the music
• May be gaps in audience's understanding of the diegesis
• Frames may be more important than others
• May be many repetitions

I am going to apply this theory to the music video of:

Linkin Park - In The End

Narrative:
The Linkin Park video's narrative just like the theory does not appear to have a clear structure and the video is driven froward by the music rather than the narrative itself. The video does contain some performance but the main focus does seem to be the narrative however disjointed it may be. It is in contrast to the theory in the sense that it is not a visual response to the music like the theory would suggest. The narrative seems to be very random. The band are just on a distant planet like landscape. Due to the videos random style it does not have any real closure the camera just slowly zooms out.
Editing:
The video has continuity editing to a degree but does then fall under the theory as it loses the continuity throughout the video. Early in the video there is a shot of the artist rapping, then it cuts to a medium shot of him rapping, however a fish as randomly appeared above him. The band members are all in separate locations, then they all just appear in the same place to perform. At 1:13 the editing matched the musical phrase as the background changed in time to the keyword of the line being said. ('one'). At 1:26 there is an obvious edit when the artist says, 'property.' His character acts as if he skipped a beat and shakes.
Camera Movement:
The video contains some extreme long shots. At the end of the video when the music slows down, the cameras movements also slow down to fit in.
Diegesis:
At the beginning of the video the artist is revealed very slowly. Camera shots of him are taken from behind or from far away so you can't focus on his face. There is a brief shot of his face but it is still mysterious. At 0:13 he is finally revealed from behind a statue. Even this is very slow as the prop is in the way of his face. He is slowly revealed but then becomes the main focus. There are many repetitions of close up shots of the artists. Then there are repetition shots of one of the band members legs and middle area as he is walking. The video contains many repeats of plants growing very quickly.

Andrew Goodwin

"Music videos ignore common narrative as they are essential advertisements. As consumers, we make up our own meaning of a song in our minds: a music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company/artist a method of anchoring meaning"

Goodwin's theory of music videos consists of six main points:
1. A relationship between the lyrics and visuals, these can illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics
2. Genre related iconography
3. Voyeurism, especially in relationship to females
4. Intertextual references to other media texts may be present
5. Thought Beats: When you see the sound
6. The creation of brand or star image through multiple close ups of the artist or main vocalist.

I used the music video of We Up by 50 Cent ft. Kendrick Lamar to apply this theory to:



1. There is a clear relationship to the lyrics and video. The title of the song is 'We Up' which is used a lot in the song. This references how successful they are which is shown through all of the expensive things in the video. This includes the big house, the swimming pool and cars. There are other more blatant occasions when the relationship is used. One is where 50 Cent says 'cheese' meaning money and at this point in the video there is a woman counting money. Later in the video Kendrick Lamar says he, 'bought a bible.' In the video there is a bible on screen.

2. In terms of genre related iconography the video is quite stereotypical. It contains most things you would expect to see in a hip hop video. He is in a big house with a swimming pool and a view. He is surrounded by provocative looking women. He is wearing lots of 'bling.' There is cash everywhere. He shows off his expensive cars and wears New Era hats.

3. Voyeurism plays a very big part in this music video. There is a wide shot from behind to show a woman walking  by the swimming pool, suggesting she doesn't know she is being watched. In contrast of this there is another woman in the same shot in revealing clothes looking directly at the camera. There is a slow motion shot of a woman counting money to emphasize how desirable she is.

4. There is an intertextual reference made to movies with the opening of the video. The music video has opening credits just like a movie with the main actors and the director mentioned. There are also several insert shots of 50 Cents own branded headphones SMS Audio. This may be done to promote is other successful ventures as an entrepreneur.
5. At 2:11 in the video the camera slides down to slowly reveal all of the woman. As this is happening the music also slides down the scale. Just after this the music rises back up and so does the camera but in a different location. It is of a woman walking by the swimming pool outside.

6. Throughout the video there are close ups of the main artist 50 Cent. He is promoting is brand image of being a highly successful rapper. They show off all of the 'bling' he wears and the expensive clothing along with designer shoes. He has always warn New Era New York hats. This may be to show he is still aware of where he has came from on his trip to the top.

I think that Goodwin's theory is perfectly demonstrated by this video. All of the features Goodwin mentioned can be found in this video.

My Favourite Album Cover

Band Name: Avenged Sevenfold

Album Name: Avenged Sevenfold

Release Date: October 26 2007

History Behind Cover: The band felt due to the diverse nature of the music in the album, including hard rock, metal, symphrock and country, that one picture couldnt truely capture what it was all about. Therefore they went with a simplistic cover of just their emblem on a white background.

The album cover denotes a black image of a skull with wings. This connotes the type of music the band represents, which is dark, heavy rock/metal. They have strong references of death hinted at by the skull. Overall they are just a hardcore band. Thus making the cover fit in with the bands ideology.

The bands target audience would be male and females in their teens to twenties. The cover would appeal to them as they know the iconic logo of the band which is on the cover and would get the themes it represents. They'd like to hear hardcore music.

The cover appeals to me as it is very simplistic and straight away I can recognise what band it is due to the emblem even without the band name and album name on the cover. I have been listening to this banc for numerous years and have grown to really like their music. It is still what I like to listen to today even though it was released six years ago.

Dear God

Despite this songs somewhat religious lyrics, it has little to no meaning at all. The song was improvised whilst drunk on vodka then written down in full very quickly. However it does fit in with the story of the cover of the album due to the fact this is a country style song. This is very different to what the band had done previously. It steered away completely from their metal roots.

Album Covers

An album cover is the front packaging of a commercially released audio product, or album.

Brief History:
Alex Steinweiss was hired by Columbia Records in 1938 to be the art director. He is credited with being the creator of the concept of an album cover/artwork. By the late 40s creating an album cover had become very popular and continues to be into more contemporary times.
As technology advanced album covers are not used as much on CDs. Due to iTunes artists no longer need to package their music in CDs but can distribute them electronically. However this has not completely removed CDs. They are still very popular and need artwork on the cover to stand out. Although music is now distributed electronically, you still receive the album cover artwork electronically too and is displayed on your media device when listening to the album.

To a lot of people the album cover does not matter as it is all about the music, however some bands went too far with their covers and lead them to be banned. This includes Kanye West's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' Due to the sexual act depicted.

Many album covers don't relate to the artist or genre in anyway as some might expect. Here are some examples:

Some don't contain the album name:













Some don't contain the artist name:













However there are some that do follow a certain pattern. A popular one of this would be Daft Punk as a lot of their album covers are the same but in a different colour.

Concepts

Checkout our initial concept ideas on our group blog. Here we have discussed a few possible bands that we coud do video for and also a couple of ideas for the video too.
Concept Ideas

Our Group 3 Blog

As a group me and Steven Brazier have created a Group Blog which we will use for our music video project. If this blog hasn't had a post for a few days it is likely that we are working on our group blog which again you can find here. Please check it out.