Applying Music Video Theory : Little Mix 'Shout Out To MY Ex'

Who are Little Mix?


Little Mix are a British girl group formed in 2011 during the eighth series of the UK version of The X Factor. They are the first and, so far, only group to win the competition. 

Following their victory, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music. 

The members are (left to right in the image below):

Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall and Jesy Nelson.

Target Audience

The image below shows pictures taken at a promotional event for Little Mix. This gives a good idea of who the band's main demographic are in relation to target audience.

Shout Out To My Ex 

This is the first single from their fourth studio album Glory Days (2016) and premiered on The X Factor live shows on 16 October 2016, becoming the band's fourth number-one single in the United Kingdom. 

The track was written by Edvard Førre Erfjord, Henrik Michelsen, Camille Purcell, Iain James and Little Mix, with production credits from Erfjord and Michelsen under their production monikers, Electric. 

The song musically is a dance-pop and power pop song.

Lyrics

This is a shout out to my ex
Heard he in love with some other chick
Yeah yeah, that hurt me, I'll admit
Forget that boy, I'm over it
I hope she gettin' better sex
Hope she ain't fakin' it like I did, babe
Took four long years to call it quits
Forget that boy, I'm over it

Guess I should say thank you
For the hate you's and the tattoos
Oh baby, I'm cool by the way
Ain't sure I loved you anyway
Go ahead, babe, I'mma live my life, my life, yeah

Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I
I'm all the way up, I swear you'll never bring me down
Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I
I'm all the way up, I swear you'll never, you'll never bring me down

Oh, I deleted all your pics
Then blocked your number from my phone
Yeah yeah, you took all you could get
But you ain't getting this love no more
'Cause now I'm living so legit (so legit)
Even though you broke my heart in two, baby
But I snapped right back, I'm so brand new, baby (I'm so brand new)
Boy, read my lips, I'm over you, over you

Guess I should say thank you
For the hate you's and the tattoos
Oh baby, I'm cool by the way
Ain't sure I loved you anyway
Go ahead, babe, I'mma live my life, my life, yeah

Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I
I'm all the way up, I swear you'll never bring me down
Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man (You're really quite the man)
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I
I'm all the way up, I swear you'll never, you'll never bring me down
You'll never bring me down

Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I'm
All the way up, I swear you'll never, you'll never bring me down

Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man (You're quite the man)
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I
I'm all the way up, I swear you'll never bring me down (You'll never bring me down)
Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man
You made my heart break and that made me who I am
Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now, well, I (Baby just look at me now)
I'm all the way up, I swear you'll never, you'll never bring me down


You'll never bring me down

Music Video

Task

Your task is to write a textual analysis of this music video.

This should include analysis of:

• Use of the camera (angles, shots and movement)
• Use of Editing
• Use of Mise-en-Scene

It MUST also contain references to all 6 of the media theorists that we have looked at.

In what ways does this video use, develop or challenge the opinions put forward by Kaplan, Goodwin, Carlsson, Vernallis, Keazor / Wubenna and Railton?

This should be produced as a post on your blog and MUST include screenshots from the video which act as supporting evidence for your points.

If you know how to capture a gif from a video, you could also make use of these.

The GIF below is produced via www.makeagif.com

make action GIFs like this at MakeaGif

This work must be available on your blog by 9am on Monday 26th June.

Music Video - OK Go

OK Go is an American rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion) and Andy Ross (guitar, keyboards and vocals), who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan. The band is known for its often quirky and elaborate one-take music videos.

CLICK HERE to visit their website.

In 2009, OK Go's clip for "Here It Goes Again" lit up the then-nascent (newborn) YouTube with its intricate choreography and punchy chorus. This video has now had nearly 37 million views.

Since then, the band's mini-movies have only grown in scope and ambition. 

According to Kulash, who pursued visual art in his youth and worked in graphic design before doing OK Go full-time, the band's ambitions have shifted as their filmmaking has grown more sophisticated.

"We're always trying to think of something that feels just on the other side of impossible to us," says Kulash. "The line between between possible and impossible is a hairline, and if we can get a tip of a finger over that line for just three minutes, awesome.

Let's take a look at some of my favourites.

OK Go YouTube Channel

Key Music Video Theorists

You need to copy and paste the following to your own blog - please use the title of this post.

I have summarised key points for each of the theorists that you were asked to research.

Part of your development as a student will come from your growing awareness that you need to do an increasing amount of independent reading - this really is the best way for you to develop your knowledge and understanding of key concepts.

Of course, this has to be a choice that you make. All I can do is to advise you to do it.

E. Ann Kaplan

Key Text

Rocking Around The Clock : Music Television, Post Modernism and Consumer Culture (1987)

Key Points

This text focussed on MTV and was published 5 years after MTV had launched.

We were still 5 years away from the internet being 'born' and the world was a different place because of this.

Remember that, at this time, if you wanted to watch a music video then you had to wait for it to be shown on a channel such as MTV (which not everyone had access to of course as it was a satellite channel) or one of the popular free to air music shows such as 'Top Of The Pops'. 

As a consumer of music videos, you had no control over what you were shown which meant that channels like MTV could build up to 'event style' showings such as that for Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. 

Kaplan identified music videos as a post-modern form of the media. This means that they subverted of disregarded the expected conventions of film-making.

For example, editing in music videos is meant to be noticed whereas continuity editing in the majority of other visual media such as film was not.

Kaplan also recognised that music videos were a hybrid form as they were part advertisement and part entertainment.

Andrew Goodwin

Key Text

Dancing In The Distraction Factory (1992)

Key Points

Goodwin wrote this book at the point when music television was beginning to falter slightly and the internet had just been created.

Remember though that the internet in 1992 was very different to the internet as we know it now. CLICK HERE to watch a short video which shows what the internet was like in 1992.

Goodwin is best known for his 6 Features Of Music Videos.

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

2. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals - this is shown through either illustration of the lyrics, amplification of the meaning of the lyrics or disjuncture from the lyrics.

3. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visuals can either illustrate, amplify of show disjuncture from the tone and atmosphere of the music.

4. The demands of the record label lead to a focus on the artist's image. (This was, remember, at time when artists relied on a record label to promote them whereas it is possible today for artists to self promote due to advances in modern technology.)

5. There is frequent reference to the notion of looking. This could be in relation to screens within the screen or, more prevalently, in relation to the way in which the camera 'looks' at the female body according to Laura Mulvey's theory relating to The Male Gaze. This mainly focusses on the sexual objectification of women. (Look the theory up via Google to develop your knowledge.

6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Sven E. Carlsson

Key Text

What Is Music Video? Audiovisual Poetry or Commercial Salad Of Images? (1999)

Key Points

You can read this article by CLICKING HERE.

Carlsson identifies that the 'artist' or 'performer' is represented in one of three ways in music videos a as "modern mythic embodiment":

• the commercial exhibitionist
• the televised bard
• the electronic shaman

The following lengthy quotation is taken from Carlsson's article and explains each of these:

"In one type of performance, the performer is not a performer anymore, he or she is a materialization of the commercial exhibitionist. He or she is a monger of their own body image, selling everything to be in the spotlight – selling voice, face, lifestyle, records, and so on. This commercial exhibitionist wants success and tries to evoke the charisma of stardom and sexuality, he or she wishes to embody dreams of celebrity, to be an icon, the center of procreative wishes.

Another type of performance in the music video universe is that of the televised bard. He or she is a modern bard singing banal lyrics using television as a medium. The televised bard is a singing storyteller who uses actual on-screen images instead of inner, personal images. Sometimes the televised bard acts in the story – sometimes he or she is far away and inserted images help him or her tell the story. The greatest televised bards create audio-visual poetry. They transform the banal story of the lyrics employing on-screen images to create a story about life and death. Too often, however, the televised bards only contemplates her or his own greatness and unfulfilled wishes.


The third type of performer is the electronic shaman. Sometimes the shaman is invisible and it is only her or his voice and rhythm that anchor the visuals. He or she often shifts between multiple shapes. At one moment the electronic shaman animates dead objects or have a two-dimensional alter egos (as in cartoon comics), seconds later he or she is shifting through time and so on. The electronic shaman is our guide on a spiritual journey through blipping images and magical attributes. And the electronic shaman promises that there is a hidden meaning in everything; he or she promises that we live in a magical, mythical reality. The electronic shaman’s voice and rhythm form the life-line that connects images and sound simultaneously creating new experiences and associations for those involved in the conscious-streaming journey outside time and space."

Carol Vernallis

Key Texts

Experiencing Music Video : Aesthetics and Cultural Context (2004)

The Kindest Cut : Function and Meanings of Music Video (2001)

Key Points

Versailles believes that verbal, visual and musical codes combine to create representations of race. class, gender, sexuality and performance.

She discusses the ways in which editing in music video does not follow the rules of continuity editing and focusses on the impact that this has on an audience.

Read some of 'The Kindest Cut' from the link above to learn more about this.

Keazor and Wubenna

Key Text

Rewind, Play, Fast Forward : The Past, Present and Future of Music Video (2010)

Key points

K and W stated that music video follows specific conventions.

These include:

• high frequency of cuts
• visual effects
• graphic elements
• synchronization of editing to the beat

However, K and W also identify that the internet has changed music video as a form. 

This has included:

• Music videos are now made with smaller budgets (largely possible due to developments in modern technology at the stages of production and post-production)
• Music television channels have lost their monopoly to the internet - this links back to the points I made in relation to Kaplan. In the contemporary world consumers of music videos are able to choose what they watch via online media such as YouTube, Vevo, etc.
• The internet has become a 'visual jukebox' where consumers choose content.

Diane Railton

Key Text

Music Video And The Politics Of Representation (2011)

Key Points

Railton identified 4 categories of music video.

1. Pseudo-documentary (behind the scenes, special access to the artist)

2. Art (creative and innovative)

3. Narrative (telling a story)

4. Staged (promoting a particular image of the artist for the audience)

Railton argued that music video shapes cultural identity with representations of race and gender particularly affecting cultural perceptions.

For example, she sees black women represented as sinful whereas white women are more likely to be represented as being innocent.

Railton recognises that men are also sexualised at times in music videos but that this representation more often than not is one where they still retain power.

She also argues that conventions in music videos are not limited by genre.

Railton's perspective is that music videos sometimes deliberately provoke shock to utilise the power of the internet and spark discussion due to controversy. This is an important point to remember when we consider that music videos are a promotional tool and there is an old adage which states that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

A good example to use for this is Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking Ball'.

The star came back with a bold new image in 2013, leaving her Disney days behind her with short blonde hair and a string of attention-grabbing videos and songs.

It’s a good song, but I doubt that’s the reason so many people watched the video, which features the singer straddling a wrecking ball in the nude. Well, almost nude. She’s wearing shoes, as one does in a dangerous construction zone.

This obviously worked as a promotional tool as 'Wrecking Ball' was Vevo’s most-viewed music video of 2013. The video drew 19.3 million views on the music video website just in its first day in September. Since then, it has racked up over 371 million views worldwide.

An Introduction To Music Video Theory

We discussed the importance of developing a good knowledge and understanding of music video theory in today's lesson.

Slides are below.

I have embedded the video produced by Tom Garrett so you can watch again at your own leisure.

We ended with each of you being asked to produce a 1 page A4 introduction to one of six people who are well known for their work relating to music video theory.

This was a homework task to be produced for Monday 19th June - hand in on the day as a physical copy please.










Music video Theory (Video Essay) from Tom Garrett on Vimeo.

The History Of Music Video

During our lesson on Wednesday 14th June we discussed the history of the music video.

The slides below were used to guide our discussion.

Me As A Consumer Of Music

Read through the following slides again and then complete the task titled 'Me As A Consumer Of Music' on the last slide.

This should be completed as the first post on your new blog.

A2 Set Brief

For your Advanced Portfolio you have to produce a promotional package for a contemporary album of your choice which includes the following 3 media texts:

1. A music video for a song from your chosen album (video : the main task)

2. A CD digipack (CDD) design for your chosen album (print : the first ancillary task)

3. A music magazine advertisement (MMA) for your chosen album (print : the second ancillary task)

Frequently Asked Questions


Can I work in a group?


You are allowed to work either individually or in a pair only.

To begin with, you don't need to worry about this as all of the research work carried out between now and September will be done individually.


What does 'contemporary' mean when choosing an album?


For the purposes of this task 'contemporary' means that the album must have been released within 5 years of the time when your coursework is submitted - May 2018.

This means that the album you choose must have been released no earlier than May 2013.

Can I choose any album from May 2013 onwards as the focus for my coursework?

No. You need to choose an album by an artist who is relatively unknown. We will discuss what this means at a later point in time.


What is a CD Digipack?


Don't worry. We will research this in due course.


I have already decided on my album. Is this OK?

No. Undecide quickly! You will not be asked to make a decision regarding your album choice until we have undertaken the research stages of the coursework.


I don't know how to use Adobe Photoshop. Will this mean I am disadvantaged when it comes to producing the two ancillary tasks?


No. You will be shown how to use Adobe Photoshop when this is required. However, all of the PCs and Macs have this programme available for you to use and it would be a good idea to try to learn a little more about how it works independently.

How will my work be assessed?

In order to achieve the highest grade possible for your coursework it is important that you understand how it is marked.

You will receive a total mark out of 100 for your Advanced Portfolio. 

Grade boundaries work out (roughly) as follows:

A grade = 80+

B grade = 70+

C grade = 60+

D grade = 50+

E grade = 40+

The mark is broken down into 3 areas:

Research and Planning = 20 marks

Construction = 60 marks (Music Video 40, CDD 10, MMA 10)

Evaluation = 20 marks

How to Reach Level 4

Your research and planning has to meet the following criteria to be deemed as level 4.

• Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed. This means for your main task and your 2 ancillary tasks.
• There is excellent research into similar products. Again, you have to have evidence of carrying out research into existing music videos, CD digipaks and music magazine advertisements.
• There is excellent research into a potential target audience. This has to happen after you have chosen your artist but before you start the planning of your products.
• There is excellent work on shotlists and storyboarding for video work and layouts for print work. This has to show real development from Year 12. For example, you will need to produce a detailed storyboard which will then be converted into an animatic for your music video.
• There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes and props. The quality of your actors 'acting'is not marked but you need to bear in mind that the people you choose need to be comfortable in performing for the camera. This is especially important for a music video as you need to produce a 'believeable' text. 
• Time management is excellent. This is seen by the trail of posts on your blog and reinforces the importance of managing your time effectively.
• There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation of research and planning. This links to the idea of making your blog as media-rich as possible.
• There are excellent communication skills. Your blog isn't assessed for the quality of your use of English but real weaknesses in this area can affect your mark.
• There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning. 

To get a level 4 for the construction element of your coursework then bear the following in mind. 

You get a mark out of 40 for your music video's construction and then a mark out of 10 for the construction of each of your ancillary products. 

This actually makes it easier to score highly IF your products are of a high standard. 

For video work, level 4 candidates are expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot sizes and close attention to mise en scene
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects
• recording and editing sound with images appropriately.

For print work, level 4 candidates are expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• awareness of conventions of layout and page design

• awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size

• accurate use of language and register

• the appropriate use of ICT for the task set

• appropriate integration of illustration and text

• framing a shot, using a variety of shot distances as appropriate

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting

• manipulating photographs as appropriate, including cropping and resizing

The evaluation is critical to your success. It is important that you know the questions in advance so that you can relate to these as your production work develops. 

There are only 4 questions as opposed to the 7 you had to answer for AS. They are:

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In order to reach Level 4 the following criteria have to be met:

• There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.
• There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is excellent ability to communicate

Welcome to A2 Media Studies : Task 1

TASK 1

Your first task is to set up your A2 Media Studies blog.

You need to do this at home ready for Wednesday's lesson.

Please follow the 3 steps below.

1.Your blog needs to use the following format for its address:

johnsmithkbaa2.blogspot.co.uk

2. Once you have set up your blog, please add a link to this blog as you did last year. 

3. Can you also please add a comment to this post in which you provide the address for your new blog.