Panel 3, 4, 5

Outside Digi-Pak
Panel 1, 6, 2

Unlike the majority of most music videos of the rock genre, this video has no real narrative and the performance, instead of being performed to the camera, is carried out during a dance routine. This is a somewhat common convention of pop music videos, where the artist is not performing to the viewer, although this is not always the case. A characteristic of the whole pop genre is that it aims to appeal to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology, the song and video follow this characteristic with their content being the universaly accepted topic of love, which in itself is a common characteristic, being a constantly used topic in many pop songs. The music video also caters to the characteristic of pop music that is that the music is intended to encourage dancing the use of dance-oriented beats or rhythms, it does so by following the convention of most pop music videos; using dance sequences, which this particular video is full of. The video uses a variety of close up's, medium shots and long shots. The Close up's are used to capture the artists expression and her singing, whereas the medium and long shots are used as to capture movement in the video resulting in them being used alot due to the many dance sequences. The lighting used is a contrast between light and dark creating shadows; the placement of cast members has the artist in the centre of a circle of the dancers, with the light coming down above the artist, casting shadows of the dancers. This use of light emphasises the superiority and importance of the artist. Both the location and clothing complement each other, with the location appearing to be a ball room in which case the clothing is suitable. In the video the artist is dancing with the various dancers in the ballroom, this along with the songs topic of love, may be a reference to the old fashioned romance involved in a couple ballroom dancing, further emphasising the theme of the song. The video represents her as a romantic, due to the romantic connotations of ballroom dancing, but also as unfaithful due to her many dance partners. The positioning of the artist inbetween a circle of the dancers underneath a bright light goes on to represent her as being superior to the men, connoting that she is above them and does not a permanent lover, although this would go against the songs content, so maybe it connotes that the dancers are not worthy or good enough for her and only the lover of whom she references in the song is her true love. The media theorist Goodwin’s theory of music videos can also be applied to this video; Goodwin said that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, which this video does, using a number of dance sequences and covering the topic of love and romance, which are common characteristics of the pop genre. Goodwin also said that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as well as between music and visuals; This video doesnt exactly show any specific relationship between the lyrics and the visulas, but the overalls songs them of love and romance is portrayed through the romantic and flirtacious dancing. Another theorist Mulvey said that in music videos that everything is constructed around 'the male gaze'. For the majority of the video, this is not the case, but in the later second half of the video the artistis is more skimply dressed and her body language becomes much more sexualised. Mulvey also said that in music videos, women are used to provoke sexual pleasure in through their costume, body language etc.; this can be applied to the video, as throughout the artists body language is very flirtacious and sexual, along with her costumes becoming more revealing as the video progresses. Another theorist Claric’s theory of music videos could also be applied to this video; Claric said that close up’s are the dominant shot used, as performance demands close up, along with the need to show expression. This music video used plenty of close up's as to show expression and performance, but due to the dance sequences, close up was not the dominant shot used. He also said that music videos mostly use fast cuts, editing appropriate to the beat as to ensure multiple viewing. This is also true, the music video uses alot of fast cuts due to the dance sequences and the need for multiple viewing.
The video is no doubt a rock music video; the most obvious convention of a rock music video present in ‘Kick In The Teeth’ is that they tend to be both narrative and performance based. The narrative in its self could be considered a convention, with the video accompanying the songs theme of being an under dog and life getting you down. Both the narrative and performance represent the artist as being angry and full of angst, but with a stiff upper lip. This representation along with the narrative makes the artist relatable to their target audience; a seemingly angry, youthful and angst filled audience. The lighting of the video is very dull and somewhat gritty, a rather common convention in rock videos. The mise-en-scene of the video also emphasizes the gritty feel of the video, with the use of a few other conventions; the location of the video appears to be a street and alley of an industrial estate, again emphasizing the gritty feel of the video, as well as following the common convention of having an urban location that’s present in many rock music video’s. The props used in kick in the teeth are both relevant to the location, but also follow the convention of violence found in rock music video’s, due to the use of some of the props in both the video’s narrative and performance. The camera angles used in kick in the teeth vary between the performance and narrative segments of the video; the performance segment mainly uses camera angles within the range of close up shots and medium shots. The close ups are mainly used as to capture the vocalists face, as to emphasize his expression and the synchronization of his singing and the song. Close ups are also used on other members of the band as to emphasize their significance to the song, but medium shots are usually used for this purpose, with medium-long shots being used to show more than one member in one shot, if not the whole band. In the narrative segment, the camera angles range from a variety of close ups, medium shots and long shots, this extensive use of angles is needed mainly to fit in every aspect of the narrative and to portray its message or ideals in the best possible way. The media theorist Claric’s theory of music videos could be applied to kick in the teeth; Claric said that close up’s are the dominant shot used, as performance demands close up, along with the need to show expression. He also said that music videos mostly use fast cuts, editing appropriate to the beat as to ensure multiple viewing. Kick in the teeth follows this theory, with the video containing a lot of performance, therefore needing close ups, as well as fast cutting being used due to the fast beat of the song, which is conventional in the rock genre. Another theorist; Goodwin’s theory can also be applied to kick in the teeth. Goodwin said that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics; which kick in the teeth does, using rock genre characteristics such as instruments and violence. Goodwin also said that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as well as between music and visuals; the visuals of the whole kick in the teeth video is an illustrative narrative of the music, with certain lyrics being amplified by the visuals.
AS Media Studies Coursework Progress Diary.
15/09/10
At this point, Alex and me can’t even decide on a band we want to make a music video for, let alone a song. We’ve been throwing around the idea of maybe doing a song by Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold or Theory of a Dead man. To be honest, were spoilt for choice, but I like the idea of doing Limp Bizkit, then again, they are one of my favourite bands, so maybe I’m a bit bias.
18/09/10
We’ve decided on either Limp Bizkit or Papa Roach, right that’s the choice of bands narrowed down, now its just the matter of choosing what song we would want to do for both bands. At the minute for Papa Roach we might do either ‘Kick In The Teeth’ or ‘Hollywood Whore’ and for Limp Bizkit we might do either ‘Break Stuff’ or ‘Eat You Alive’.
20/09/10
We’ve FINALLY decided on a song; ‘Break Stuff’ by Limp Bizkit. Since Alex isn’t actually in my media class, I’ve got to do all of the research tasks, analysis etc. by myself. I suppose getting group members from outside the entire media course wasn’t such a bright idea. Oh well, either way we’ve been discussing the narrative and performance segments of the music video, for the performance we’ve decided that I’ll be playing the part of vocalist, and Alex will play the part of lead guitarist. For the performance part of it, we were thinking about recording on site at college in The Hack (Music Department) so I’ll have to see if we can book some space in there for recording.
22/09/10
We’ve enlisted a new member for the music video; Tom’s going to be playing bass in the performance segment, and since he does a music course in The Hack, he’s going to book us a room for recording when were done planning. We were thinking about the narrative part of the video, and thought we might go along the lines of an implosive anger theme; meaning that the main character of the narrative is repeatedly harmed, put down etc. until he explodes with rage. This resulting explosion of rage fits perfectly with the final chorus of the song, which is similarly as explosive. After I’ve finished the other research tasks, I’ll start on a draft storyboard.
08/10/10
By now, the research tasks are just about finished. We’ve got some solid ideas for the music video laid down, but now we just need to start storyboarding. I need to get around to taking digital images of the film locations; but we still need to decide one for the narrative segment of the video. I also need to start putting together some ideas for my digipak.
15/10/10
I've finally got my final idea for the music video (Performance and Narrative segments aswell as what camera shots I will use and how I will edit the footage) posted up ont he blog. The research tasks are nearly finished, but I just need to concentrate on storyboarding and getting rough ideas for the digipak down.
22/10/10
I've started the storyboard, but it has a long way to go before it fully articulates what I want my video to be. I've also started some research on Limp Bizkit; Target audience etc. and I've started analyzing their CD covers as to identify some kind of conventions between them that I can apply to my Digi-Pak cover.
5/11/10
After identifying the conventions between Limp Bizkits CD covers, I've come up with an idea for my digi-pak that will include most of the conventions. As my digi-pak will be 6 panels, the front panel will be a front profile mug shot of a character with a pixelated face, holding an information panel that has the bands name and CD title on it. The next panel that is seen after the first one is turned is a side profile version of the previous panel. I now need to work out what I will use the other panels for.
16/11/10
I've now drawn up a sketch draft of what I plan for the digi-pak to be and what it's panels will have on them, you can see what I've planned in the 'Digi-Pak Idea' blogpost. Filming for the performance segment seems to finally be organised; with the enlistings of 2 cameramen and a time slot where all the cast members are available for filming. The one problem is the college music department, who dont seem to like the idea of a media student using up one of their music rooms. I now need to hunt down the teacher that will be teaching on monday afternoon and see if she has a music room spare that I can use for recording and since apparently media students can't be trusted, I'll need a member of staff from the Media Department to come and supervise us whilst we film. I finally get my filming organised and the media department HAVE to go and make it harder for me.
19/11/10
There's no room free for monday afternoon. Time to improvise, I'll use monday afternoon to film the narrative segment of the music video instead, just need to find 2 more people to fill the cast. If I can, I'd like to take some photos on monday afternoon aswell, maybe get the magazine advert photo taken and maybe get the band photo for the digi-pak taken.
23/11/10
After letting me down repeatedly, I've decided to cut Alex from the project and replace him with Mark. I was unable to film on monday afternoon due to Alex not telling his teacher in advance that he'd be out of lesson, but since he didnt he wasnt allowed to. Then when I organised to use a room in The Hack, Alex said that he couldnt be bothered to wait around until after college to do it, so I decided to replace him with someone more flexible and eager to participate. So now I've had to re-arrange the cast and their roles, plus I need someone new to fill in Marks original role, but I've gotta say, it's a whole lot easier working with someone who's cooperative and actually enjoys taking part in my project. But yeah, a rooms been booked for Tuesday after college 4:00-4:30, Mark and Tom have got their guitars, Marks got everything for his costume, the equipments booked out, so the performance segment should be filmed and finished by 4:30. Maybe if we have time, I can get some of the pictures I need taken today aswell, such as the band pose picture and maybe even the magazine advert picture. It's FINALLY coming together.
3/12/10
A whole lots happened since the last update; we filmed the performance segment and I've just finished editing the footage. My plan is to use the edited performance footage as a base for the music video, and to add clips of the yet to be taken narrative segment footage over it, this will save me having to re-synch the footage to the music. I've also got the photo's for the magazine advert taken, all I've got to do now is edit it accordingly. The last few things on my to do list are to film the narrative segment and finish editing the whole music video, finish editing the magazine advert, take the photo's for the digi-pak and then finally get the digi-pak fully produced. Havent got alot of time before the deadline though.
8/12/10
Since the last update I've made a rather radical change to the music video. I've decided to not have any narrative in my music video and to have it solely made up of the performance footage. You can find my reasons for this decision in a more recent blog entry, but basically I decided to keep the music video to just performance footage as to have my video in the style of Limp Bizkits other music video 'The Truth', I also feel that by doing this I'd be following alot more conventions of Limp bizkits music videos. This change means that the panels of the narrative segment in my storyboard and no longer valid and the cast list needs to be edited. All the photos have beent aken now and just need to be edited.
13/12/10
Music video finished and all print products are finished. :)
-Back ground history into music videos, music channels etc.
A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. In 1894 when sheet music publishers still ran the music business, Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song The Little Lost Child. Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneously with live performances in what became a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song. This has been termed the first music video. But music videos only really came into their own in the 1980s, when the very first music channel, MTV,` based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1. The term "music video" coming into popular usage after the launch of MTV. The early music videos that made up the bulk of MTV's programming in the 1980s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever sources could be found. As the popularity of the channel rose, and record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly elaborate clips specifically for the channel. In the UK, music video’s first started when the long-running British TV show Top of the Pops began playing music videos in the late 1970s, although the BBC placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week. In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet's eye catching promo for "Ashes to Ashes". Another act to succeed with this tactic was Madness, who shot on 16 mm and 35 mm, constructing their clips as "micro-comedic" short films.
-Decide the brief that interests you (Music) – Write a short paragraph explaining why you have chosen this option and your initial ideas (Choice of song/Genre)
After some deliberation, I’ve decided to go with the music brief, mainly due to the fact that my AS coursework was a film related project, so I’d like to try my hand at something else at A2, that being a music video. I’ve chosen to do a music video for the rock song ‘Break stuff’ By Limp Bizkit; mainly because it’s one of my favourite songs, by one of my favourite bands, but also because I’d like to see if I have the capability to make a half decent rock music video, by incorporating conventions from the music videos of the genre that I’ve noticed.