Linking my ideas back to Theory

After reviewing my blog I have noticed that there is little work done linking my ideas to my research into music video theory. Apart from the initial research I conducted and the occasional brief mention, there is no work linking the concepts together. Therefore this post will outline how my ideas for my video link to the ideas of video theorists. 

Peter Frazer: 
The Six Key Elements

1. Frazer's first key element states that the music video should last as long as the track. I will be abiding by his theory as I plan to make my video the exact same length as the track. I won't be including an intro or outro to my video as it doesn't follow the convention of most pop music videos and I don't feel it will add anything to the overall finish of the video. 
2. Frazer's second key element is that the video features the artist or the band quite prominently. In my music video the artist will feature in every scene. I have my artist as both the main protagonist and featuring in the performance elements of the video. I am doing this so that the audience are clearly able to recognize him and relate to him and the star icon and brand image. 
3. Frazer's third key element is that the video features some element of performance within it. Throughout my video I will be cutting between narrative scenes and scenes of performance. To make my performance scenes more authentic i have chosen to film them on a stage with proper stage lighting to really exaggerate the artists ability and passion to perform. I felt as the song heavily featured the use of an acoustic guitar that it was important to show the audience that the artist was actually able to play it. This also again fits in with my ideas on branding and wanting my artist with his acoustic guitar to be the main brand image for my product. 
4. Frazer's fourth element is that the video has some kind of concept along with the track. For my video the concept is a man who has just broken up with his girlfriend due to his constant alcohol abuse and we follow his break down and how he is dealing badly with the situation. It links well to the track as the track talks about the struggles of relationships and the protagonist being 'a mess'. The concept ends on the man having turned to drugs to deal with his problems and ultimately overdosing. Whilst it is quite a dark concept to the video it links well to the song and warns the audience of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, so it doesn't glamourise the use of these substances. 
5. Frazer's fifth element is that the video does not contain a complete narrative but the concept may involve fragments of the narrative. My video can be linked to this is some ways. Whilst it shows the struggle of the protagonist dealing with the relationship and the end to the story when he over doses, it doesn't really include the beginning to the story about how the couple met and the dynamics of their relationship. You could also argue that the narrative isn't complete as it is broken up by the sections of performance throughout the video. 
6. Frazer's final element is that different genres of music produce slightly different visual conventions in music videos. The genre I am using is pop music, and fitting in with the conventions of pop music, my video heavily revolves around my artist and the personal struggle that they are going through. In almost every pop music video I have seen the artist is featured and shown a lot so that the audience can relate to their image and their music more personally. 

Sven. E Carlsson:
Performance Style
My music video will represent the artist and their performance as a materialisation. This is because in my video constantly features my artist as the star performer. My artist will be the selling point of my video and the main focus for the audience. Whilst he does act like a storyteller within the video, he is not only telling the audience what he has been through but he is showing them the situations he has been put into. The performance elements will be shot in a way that inspires the fans to want to perform like the artist, through his highly emotional performance.  

Perceiving Music Videos and Video Styles
My video will be a mixture of a visual story telling and performance. This is because my idea consists of the protagonist struggling to come to terms with his recent break up and we, the audience, follow journey to dealing with that break up and how it came about, so it tells us a story. The video will contain various narrative clips which will help and allow the story to flow but it will also be combined with some performance clips to follow Carlsson's ideas on the materialisation of the performer (as explained above). 

Andrew Goodwin
Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics - as my video is of the pop genre I have added in certain characteristics which I believe will help to establish this to my audience. For example, the pop genre relies heavily on the performer being the star image of the video. This is why I have included my artist in all aspects of the video.

The demand of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and develop a motif which will occur across their work - This is a popular convention in the pop culture and I have made sure to include many close up shots both in the performance scenes and the narrative scenes of the video. Not only show case the artist as the branding image, but also to be able to show the build up of his emotions and the journey he is going through. There is a much higher demand in the pop industry from their record label, therefore it is vital to showcase the artist as much as possible as their face is the most likely feature of the music video that is going to make the money.

There are frequent references to the notion of looking and particularly erotic treatment of the female body - My video does not actually conform to this theory unlike many other pop music videos. whilst there will be two females featuring within the video, I do not want their image to be over sexualised or erotic. The video is more emotional than this and perhaps channels a slightly more indie approach when representing the female body and image. 

There is a relationships of visuals and lyrics and music and visuals - This is something I have greatly considered when planning my video. I have tried to link some of the visuals to some lyrics and when I start to edit my video I will edit in time to the beat of the song. This notion is common in all areas of music genre and I have taken shots where I have taken into account the music I am filming with. This is something that I felt was important in the pop genre and I wanted to create visual links to keep the audience entertained and link it all together.

5 Aspects of a Music Video

1. Thought Beats - As I've previously mentioned, the musical structure of my chosen track has been taken into consideration and artist's voice shall be the story teller as well as the artist being materialised.
2. Narrative and Performance - The message of the story I am trying to tell through this video is of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse and how they can destroy lives and relationships and I want to make this quite clear to the audience, rather than trying to make them guess what the message is. However, they will be able to make up their own interpretation as to whether the artist is a victim or the villain in the scenario. The narrative and performance will work well together and keep the audience entertained.
3. Star Image - star image is perhaps the most important element of my entire music video. The artist is the main protagonist throughout and will be showcased to the audience. I really wanted to follow this theory closely as I aim to make my artist the main branding image of his music/album. My video is really going the highlight the development of the artist which is something that Goodwin feels in vital in a video. 
4. Relations of visuals to the song - The visuals will illustrate the meaning of some of the lyrics as well as amplify others so that the audience can immediately associate the meanings to the song.
5. Technical Aspects - The lighting used in my video will be a mixture of natural, stage lighting and artificial lighting. The natural lighting will be used in all the scenes in the street so that they appear authentic. the stage lighting will obviously be used in the performance scenes as a spotlight to emphasis the artist performing and their musical talent- again in keeping with the ideas of the star image. Finally the artificial lighting will be used in the house scene to make the room appear like it has been filmed at night and his girlfriend has been waiting up all night for him to come home. I will edit some shots to look brighter than others so that it can add emphasis to the moments. The mise en scene is all natural and what would be associated with the location that the scene is being shot in. Apart from the bottles of alcohol in the street scenes, they need to be placed there to give the illusion that the protagonist has an addiction.