Photos (Influence for music video)

I decided to research Blondie knowing that they were big during the 70's and 80's. Furthermore, because they share the same genre of music that I have chosen and had a girl a the lead singer, which is a similarity that I think is very important. Also, judging from a few pictures, it is quite obvious that Taylor Momsen has taken some inspiration from the look and attitude that Deborah Harry sometimes did on stage.

This photograph of Deborah Harry in contrasting black and white has also given me inspiration for my video. The mise-en scene in this photograph is very simple but as it's very bold in terms of make-up and clothing it catches the audiences eye a lot more than a shot that is too busy and over-the-top. This gives me ideas for scenes that would include my "artist" sat on a chair lip singing into the camera, although a lot more bent over with her wrists leant against her legs,which again shows a certain rebellious attitude.

The idea that I described above would also work with this angle and posture too. Apart from I personally think this mid-shot and position shows a lot more dominance within the artist as she is the main focus and placed directly in the middle of the shot. Also, her arms are placed on the back of the chair showing a careless and slightly "bossy" attitude again. These are all characteristics that hopefully the audience will see in my artist.

This photograph influenced me with the idea of smashing a guitar in one of my shots as it is quite a "rock and roll" thing to do, which a lot of big stars do/have done on stage as it creates an element of shock and excitement for their audience. Therefore my idea would be for my artist to take the guitar off the guitarist, and smash it against the floor or the edge of the stage, in slow motion preferabley. This would show her bad attitude and even pain or annoyance from her past relationship which she talks about it in the song. Although, the problem would be getting this set up to look realistic, which hopefully I would be able to do, but getting a real guitar to do this to could be a problem, therefore it may be replaced with another object. Also, I have seen Miley Cyrus use a similar idea in one of her videos.

Artist Norman Rockwell inspired me with this picture and mostly the angle it's shot from for my idea with my musician singing into the mirror dramatically. Although, the main ideas I would want to take from this painting is the objects around it, which I would want to do (but objects that signify something) and the dark grungey colour scheme. Although, certain aspects would be changed as I'm not sure if I want my artist to be sat down.This picture found on Tumblr gave me the idea about mise-en-scene and positioning, I think maybe as a back-up idea I would like to include something associated to this photograph as I think it's very bold in terms of the messages you can get from it.

Analyse of lyrics / video inspiration

Since you hide, since you steal
Since you hate everything I feel
Since you cheat, since you lie
Since you don't wanna try things I wanna try

Since you been gone
My life has moved along
Quite nicely actually

i've Got a lot more friends and I don't have to pretend
Since you're gone
Since you're gone

Since you're not what I want
You can take everything I've got
Take the seat, take the drive
If I say I love you, I am a liar

Since you been gone
My life has moved along
Quite nicely actually

Well meet my lover gin and I don't have to pretend
Since you're gone
Since you're gone

I've been looking for a new direction, anyway
I've been looking for my own protection, these days

Now that you're gone
My life has moved along
Now that you're gone
My life has moved along
Now that you're gone
My life has moved along
Now that you're gone

Since you hide, since you steal
Since you hate everything I feel
Since you cheat, since you lie
Since you don't wanna try things I wanna try

Since you been gone
My life has moved along
Quite nicely actually

Quite nicely actually
Quite nicely actually
Quite nicely actually
Quite nicely actually
Quite nicely actually
(thanks for asking)
Quite nicely


____________________________________________________________________________


I personally think the lyrics to this song are quite self explanatory unless there is hidden metaphor, which looks very unlikely as judging from the lyrics "since you been gone my life has moved along quite nicely" sounds like she is happy to have ended with a past relationship possibly and she knows that it was for the best? Also the lyrics "since you cheat, since you lie" insinuates that maybe her ex had a very bad attitude and maybe didn't treat her that well, which is why a revengeful but positive feel comes from this song.


Furthermore, "I've got a lot more friends and I don't have to pretend" sounds as if she feels she has to make no intentional effort with her friends, but she did with her ex which shows having to put the effort in. "Since you don't wanna try things I wanna try" is another line that shows that the breakup was maybe her decision as there were maybe a few differences between them.


As the drums are quite heavy in this song, I think it's important to shoot dramatic shots in this video and follow some of the conventions of a rock video. For example, maybe performance elements will be added, showing my musician singing on a stage or close-ups of her singing into a microphone. Also, as the song is revengeful but positive, it gave me an idea to shoot a scene where my artist will be dressed in heavy dark make-up and clothes, walking down the street, directly singing and looking into the camera fiercly which she follows, pushing people out of her way as she follows the street, which could look dramatic and fit in with the lyrics "I've been looking for a new direction anyway" and "My life has moved along quite nicely actually"

Inspiration for the idea above came from this video, although the whole atmosphere of mine will be a lot more fast paced than this and edgier, so my camera may not be as steady as the one in Bittersweet Symphony Video. Furthermore, my whole video won't only consist of this kind of scene, I plan to have a lot more different kinds of shots throughout.

More inspiration that would fit into my video would be from Avril Lavigne - What The Hell. At 2:46 where she is directly pushing and talking/singing to the man, shows dominance within the female sex, which is the case in my song choice and that's how I want my artist to come across.

Rihanna - Disturbia is a video that has also given me inspiration as the video is quite dark and sometimes slightly gothic looking in some aspects, also the lighting in this video and editing creates that effect, which I may decide to use in my video when experimenting with editing. For example at 0:25 where she is behind the bars singing, and other quick shots throughout the video, which is very dark and "evil" in a sense, which could be associated with the feelings maybe the artist felt when writing the song. Furthermore, there are 6 quick drumbeats in my song and the lighting and quirky edge shown in this video has given me ideas for that particular part of the song including my artist tied to a chair in the middle of a dark room, and different quick shots being shown everytime there's a drumbeart, which could relate to the thought of her being trapped in her past relationship, or suffocated a sense.

Nirvana is a band that today have still got a huge fanbase, even though it is non existent anymore. Therefore, I personally think the grunge feel to the music that Kurt Cobain and his producers made, fits very well with my song choice. This video inperticular uses a lot of effects that I would like to use such as mixing two different scenes together in quite a slow motion, I would like to take this aspect and tailor it into my own for part of my video.

Video analysis

This Music Video is perfect in terms of showing the different influences stars use in their videos, this video in perticular shows clearly who Beyonce has taken inspiration from.


For example it's obvious that the video is heavily influenced by the 60s era, for example, the bold change of colours and make-up/look with influences from Audrey Hepburn. The picture above coming from Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, showing the inspiration Beyonce has taken from it, clothing and hairstyle and also dance moves.

Furthermore, the sequence where Beyonce is wearing a grey jumper with a heavy full fringe represents a scene from Flashdance, where the character dances around her "apartment" in that same outfit.

Although there has been controversy that Beyonce has blantantly stolen ideas from a Beligian Choreographer, who claims two of her pieces and sequences have been used in Beyonce's video without permission, for example the video on the left, shows the sequence originally called Rosas danst Rosas.

Being very conventional to Pop/RnB music, a lot of close-ups are used whilst Beyonce sings into the camera, for example at the very beginning, this shows that the artist is to be focused on and straight away gets the audiences attention. Although, due to the heavy editing and references to stars such as Audrey Hepburn, I would say this video targets only women or at least a very small minority of men, but a variety of ages probably varying from young teenagers to maybe 28? Also, Beyonce is an artist who does mainly target women rather than men anyway. Also other shots such as long shots have been used in order to show the dance sequences which are also very conventional in Pop music.



Editing is a main factor in this video and has obviously been thought about a lot. For example, a lot of mirroring has been used such as at 1:17. Also, she has decided to use herself many times in one scene, such as 1:58, again very conventional and has been used in a lot of pop videos. Split screens has also been used, mainly for performance reasons and although the colours haven't been reversed, Andy Warhols paintings come to mind when I see that kind of editing in her video.

Video analysis

This video is a perfect example of conventional post-hardcore rock video. Mid-shots and close-ups have been used a lot to enable the audience to focus on the front man, which in bands like this are seen as the main focus when it comes to the fans. Also, long shots have been used to enable the audience to see the whole band performing, aswell as short pans. Furthermore, the whole video is performance based which occurs in most rock videos.

Camera movement in this video has been used to a high extent (no shot is longer than 3 seconds) which in a sense reflects the music which is edgy and quick, therefore slow long camera movement would not be conventional and would simply be like watching a live performance instead of a music video. Also, I personally don't think that many influences have been made in this video as it is extremely simple due to the genre, although you could argue that the whole performance influence has been taken from old Rock bands such as The Rolling Stones or even The Beatles who have been a huge influence in the progression of music videos.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the whole setting, props and costume has seemed to be simplified and instead use the conventional bright stage lights and black simple staging. The colours focused on in this video are very conventional to what the audience would expect, dark colours such as, blacks, whites and greys and the lighting is also very dark and shadowed. Although, the posture and gestures in this video seem to be extremely important. For example, the lead singer leans and pulls back the microphone whilst the guitarist will be arching their back with their head more forward. Also, as the song itself is quite dramatic, the musicians have added that element into their performance, by being very over-the-top with their instruments, which at one point in the video all get their own mid-shot in which they play in time to the beat. Furthermore, the use of the water on the video shows a sense of "rock" and "carelessness" aswell as an interesting element.


In terms of audience, I don't think the band represent positive or negative connotations in this video as it is very limited in terms of what is actually included in the video. Also, I think because of the sound of the band they have a very niche audience, whilst looking at the Youtube statistics they target mainly males from an age of 13-24 and girls 13-17.