Annotating the lyrics

Before we did our storyboard, me and Ella decided to annotate the lyrics. We did this before the storyboard so we could have a vague idea of what would be going into the video and how many different shots and different actors we would need. I felt this was a good thing to do as it allowed us to tell a story using different couples, and by using the instrumental time at the beginning and end to highlight any locations, props and characters we would us. Hopefully it would give the audience an idea as to why you then see these in the music video and do not just appear to be placed randomly.

We also wrote down where we have got our ideas from, then we could use the idea yet change it to suit our video. I feel if we use this when we go to shoot, we can tell the characters how we want them to act as we have written down how they should behave, for example 'Laughing, smiling on sofa' and 'happy, sad, thoughtfulness'. I believe that having this with us, we can also tell who it singing certain lines as each character has a specific number and then it matches next to some of the lines.

Risk assessment

Hazard: Tripping hazards
Answer: Yes
Severity: Medium
Likelihood: Medium
Persons at risk: All actors and myself and Ella
Precautions: Warn actors and crew when wires are around the set and also any other obstacles or props. Make sure, if possible, all wires are out of the way/ taped down and all props not being used in the shot and stored away.

Hazard: Fall of actors/equipment
Answer: Yes
Severity: Medium
Likelihood: Low
Persons at risk: All actors plus myself and Ella
Precautions: Minimise the chance of somebody falling by planning exactly what they have to do in advance. We shall also need to make sure all equipment used- mainly the camera and tripod are used on a flat surface. Props also need to be stored away when not in use- this also makes sure they are out of any shots they are not supposed to be in.

Hazard: Temporary structures
Answer: No
Severity: None

Hazard: Special effects
Answer: No
Severity: None

Animatic

After finishing all of our storyboad (with Ella being the person who contributed the most) I decided to take the storyboard and turn it into an animatic using Movie Maker. At the moment, the animatic is just a rough draft as I believe we need a few more shots because some of the shots that are already used seem far too long. Unfortunately, some of the pictures used in the animatic are not that dark, so they may be hard to make out.

Complete Storyboard

We have now finished our storyboard. The next step is to put our storyboard into an animatic, allowing us to see how the structure would work with the pace of the song, and to see if any additional shots would need to be added. We will most likely add some shots in as some may end up being too long, and there is a long instrumental at the end.

Ideas for Flashbacks

For one of our couples, the girlfriends, we have chosen an extract from Mom at Sixteen to get ideas from; in the scene, the girl is looking at a photo of her and her boyfriend and it flashbacks to when the photo was taken. In our video, we would like to use this idea for the verse which the couple is in, and have the trinket being giving in it. I think that in doing this the audience would be clear on the fact that it is a flashback, as the picture will be shown first. We are thinking of using similar camera angles and shots for the verse in our music video, and we may film it in a park or something similar to that.
Tubechop wouldn't work, and neither would the embed link, but the link to the video is here:
Mom at Sixteen Part 2
The part which we would like to get ideas from starts at 3:43

Ideas taken from Kate Nash: Foundations

As we have an instrumental part before we start our song, we are using the same idea from Kate Nash's song Foundations, by using close up shots to establish the different settings and important trinkets we are using in our music video.



At 45 seconds to 49 seconds, the camera focuses on the main artist for a second, then the shot moves to a shot of the artists foot before going back to the artist for two seconds. I like this type of shot as it not only shows what the artist is singing but it cuts across an important action she does before cutting back to our artist, the use of the foot kicking over the skateboards shows the artists emotions as frustrations. We can relate this to our video as we are using emotion being portrayed through an object (the picture of a lost loved one and the movement to an empty space) shows the artist is feeling melancholy.



In this extract, there is also a lot of close ups- just like we intend to use- and also a lot of the artist alone. We believe using a lot of close up will show how important each item is when used in the shot. By using lots of shots on the artist, I think that this will show us the audience that the lyrics the artist is using relate to her, and is also a topic that the audience can also relate to.

'Characters' In Our Music Video

We have decided that in order for our music video to be clear of its universal audience, the couples will all be different; there will be girlfriend and boyfriend, parent and child, girlfriend and girlfriend, grandchild and grandparent, and two close friends. This will prevent our music video from excluding any sort of relationship, portraying love between different kinds of people but clarifying the fact that love is love, whoever it is between.

Representing love in our music video.

For our music video, me and Ella decided to show what the song is about- love- and portray this throughout the entire video. Having the verses broken down, we have chosen to use 5 different couples to represent what most of the verses are about. In the first part of the song, the lyrics show a sad side of the artists emotions, whereas the second part of the song shows a happy side. However, in the first verse, we feel that we need to establish who the artist is so instead of using a couple, this will hopefully make the audience aware of who the main artist is. Throughout the video, we will still be having our artist singing; however, not all the way through, this is because we feel that the couples will be telling the main story of the lyrics.

As we have the main theme of love running throughout the video, we have decided to use a trinket (explained in a post below) to show some form of connection in the music video. At the beginning in the instrumental we will be showing each of trinket, location and couple, this is so it does not appear to be 'random' or 'out of place'.

Trinkets

We have decided to use trinkets to connect the characters in our music video; as the song is about love, there will be couples, each with something to connect them so that the audience will understand fully. We are going to use each verse for each different couple to show their story, and in each of them there will be the trinket being given as a gift. By using the trinkets we will be able to add more people to the music video so that it makes sense and they are all connected, rather than random people appearing. This is to represent the idea of the song lyrics being aimed universally, as we have said before.
The trinkets will be different for each person, depending on what sort of style the person has, and what relationship they have with each other. For example, one of the trinkets will be a necklace which the boyfriend will give to the girlfriend; this will suit the girl's style, and show what sort of relationship they have. Another will be a photograph of the artist's grandfather, which has obvious sentimental value and will clearly represent the what we want it to. The keepsakes will also reflect the lyrics- in the verse which says 'Praying that disease would leave the ones we love and never come again', the artist having the photograph would reflect the lyrics as it would be of a loved one who has passed away.
When the trinkets are shown being given, this will be in a flashback; the 'characters' will each have a trinket between them, and a verse for their story. Then in another of the verses where they sing 'This is how it works... Until their dying breath', one of the pair will have the trinket which was shown being given in the flashback, connecting the people and stories together.
In the instrumental at the start and end, there will be a 1 second shot of each of the trinkets, focusing on them and the sentimental significance they will have or will have had in the video.

Storyboarding

Today, me and Ella have managed to storyboard the first 19 seconds of our music video (the instrumental part) using the lyrics we have annotated. We have also managed to time how long each segment of lyrics last, and what we will need to film in each section. Now, all we need to do is draw the rest of our storyboard before we move on to the next step.

Advert inspiration

I chopped the end of the Cancer research idea as Ella and myself have decided to use one of their shots as an idea to match some of our lyrics.
The idea we have is for the lyrics "While we were on our knees ,Praying that disease,Would leave the ones we love, And never come again" is to use the sofa setting and have a picture of the lost loved one on a table next to it, then to pan across to the persons left and show an empty space on the chair. We will need to see how many cuts will need to be in this shot, or if any will need to be at all, this is because the shot is approximately 9 seconds, and in a usual music video, there are normally quite a few shots in this amount of time.

Deciding on our Artist

After we decided on the type of clothing we would like our artist to wear, we then had to decide who our artist was going to be to try and fit that particular style in clothing and music. Because the genre is Anti-folk the style would have to be similar to that of the style and inspiration we shown in our pitch. The clothing our artist would wear would be along the lines of a pretty casual day dress. For example:

Camera angles/ shots

Today me and Ella decided to think of the different camera angles that we may consider using in our music video. The main ones we are thinking of using are: close-up, long shot, mid-shot. This is because they can all be used for different shots. For example, a close up could be of our artists lip, lip syncing to the song. The long shot can be used to capture what is happening in the back ground, the mid-shot is similar to this, however, the main focus of the mid- shot will be the main artist and not necessarily the things going on around it.

Another thing that we have considered is zooming in and out. An example of this would be having it at the beginning, and using a close up shot which slowly zooms out to establish the area and most importantly the artist. This idea has been used in the Marina and the Diamonds song "Hollywood" with this being the first shot used. Panning is another thing we have considered doing, this will not only capture the artist, but will also capture the whole of the area surrounding the artist, hopefully the audience will be able to see the area as some place they would like to go to.

We had the idea of using more than one person to sing the verse starting with "This is how it works, you're young until you're not.' However, it would be difficult to do this without it looking completely random- there would have to be a clear reason to the audience for it happening. I thought that it would be good as then there wouldn't only be one person in the video, so it would be a bit mixed up and more interesting.
I had the idea as I thought that it could portray how the lyrics apply to everyone; everyone is young until they're not, and everyone must breathe until their dying breath as the song says, but this doesn't have to be taken in a negative way, it's just life.
The following video was shown to us as an example of how it could be done. In the video when people are shown listening to the music through headphones, it could be good to use that idea and have the people perhaps singing along, rather than suddenly seeming to turn into the artist for a few lines. I am going to try and find more examples of this happening, to see whether it would definitely be a good idea, and how the best way to do it would be.

Clothing inspiration from music videos.

Before moving on to the storyboarding, we need to decide what type of clothing our artist would most likely wear. We feel that our artist would avoid wearing the 'casual' jeans, t-shirt and jacket and wear clothing such as dresses, skirts, tights, knee high socks. Looking through the inspiration list, the existing artist that fits the type of clothing we are looking for is Lenka. In her video 'The Show' she wears a range of dresses and accessories in different shots and different locations.

All 4 of the dresses are of different style and different colour. The 1st dress is a casual dress, to match the surroundings that the artist is in. This is done by wearing a top under her dress, again doing this matches the place she is in, by not making her look too over dressed this looks like she belongs in this sort of place. Both dress 1 and 2 give off a summer feel, matching with the light background. In the 2nd picture the blue and yellow and red are well co-ordinated with the yellow being able to stand out from the blue dress, again, the yellow is used as a brightening colour, to match the well lit background. Of all the dresses, the red one looks the most suitable for an evening wear. The red colour has several connotations, a few of those being 'love', 'passion'. I think the red dress is a symbol of 'love' as the lyrics are about love.

Another video (which was analysed by Ella) was Vanessa Carlton's Nolita Fairytale. In this video, Vanessa wears 3 different dresses, all of which are used when the background changes.

The 3 dresses in the music video are all of different colour and different occasions. The first white one shows that a fairly laid back style to Vanessa Carlton, the white dress stands out on the brown background, and uses brown accessories to tie in with the background. The red dress shows a theme with the lyrics, again with the red meaning 'love' and 'passion'. Finally, the blue dress and hat suit the sunny weather outside, showing a casual side, as she is sitting outside what appears to be a shop- a place which someone who enjoys anti folk would recognise instantly.

Personally, I think that this is the sort of style that our artist would wear, this is because they are all casual dressings, all suiting the surroundings around. Also, the sort of make up the artists are subtle, and not noticeable, but I think we could use a darker lipstick colour- like red or pink- just to make her facial features stand out more, hopefully attracting you to her face to show that she is singing.

Location ideas- Filming inside

The idea we have to shoot our video outside was good, however, we didn't really take into consideration the weather, the lighting and how we would transport any props, make up and people starring in it to the location. To film outside would be harder than inside as the lighting needs to be the same to carry on the continuity, also, if we film outside for all our shots we need to make sure the weather is how we want it, otherwise this could go on to affect the time frame we have to film in. If we decide to film outside, we have to consider the costume change and any make up alterations. This would be because the person starring may not want to change outside, and the conditions may be too cold- especially if our artist may be wearing a dress or skirt. Also, hair may get in the way of a shot if the weather is windy, meaning it would take serveral shots, and may also take up too much time.

If we do film inside, we have to think of the mise-en-scene but it would be easier as we don't have the weather to contend with. Costume changes would be a lot easier to do inside, as the artist could were a range of clothing as the conditions would be warmer, and hair would not get in the way of the shot, hopefully this will minimalise the time, and less shots will need to be taken. Filming inside will also allow us to mark out where we want the camera to go, and the stability of the camera will be better as the flooring inside will be flat throughout

I think that we should shoot the majority of the shots inside, and if we had the time and weather we wanted, film a few shots outside, but by doing this it may make the shots look 'random' or 'out of place'. I also think shooting inside would mean we could have the option of no costume change or make up change, however, if the artist is only in one costume it may look boring, therefore I feel our artist could wear 2/3 different outfits without the constume changes seeming pointless.

Location ideas - Nature area

The only difficult thing about the location we would like to film at would be finding a place pretty and open enough, with enough light. Otherwise, the wrong atmosphere would be portrayed in the music video, setting an entirely different tone than anticipated, therefore not matching the lyrics at all.

Evaluation of Class Feedback

Overall, we think that our pitch went well as there are no changes that we will have to make to our initial ideas. We conveyed our ideas in our pitch well; the audience got a generally clear concept of what we want our video to be like.
The main question that was put forward was an enquiry into the location. We have decided that we would like our video to be shot outside, in a nature area. This is to reflect that our artist does not like to be constrained, having a carefree and nonchalant disposition.
The other question that we had was about the target audience; would we be excluding males? We based the target audience of girls on who we knew who likes music like Regina Spektor, which was mainly girls. However, it would be universal as a couple of songs of hers have been in movie soundtracks- 'The Call' was featured in Prince Caspian, as was 'Us' in (500) Days of Summer. We don't want to seem to be excluding males, so we will look further into the target audience to decide definitely.

Audience Profile

Name: Lily Evans
Age: 20
Musical inspiration: Lily enjoys listening to music that is not mainstream, or well known. She enjoys listening to music genres such as Anti folk or Indie rock. The type of artists that Lily regularly listens to are: Regina Spektor, Lenka, Lissie and Jon McLaughlin.
Interests: Lily is interested in the music business, and enjoys reading music magazines like NME. She always takes her iPod when travelling, and often downloads her music from iTunes regularly. She also listens to music by using popular sites like Youtube and Spotify. Away from the music side, in her spare time Lily enjoys reading and writing poetry while also practising Art for her university degree. Lily is an avid fan of basketball.
Dislikes: As she prefers to spend time on her own, Lily doesn't regularly spend nights out socialising. As well as this Lily isn't a fan of violent sports. e.g rugby or boxing and does not enjoy things to be unorganised.
Disposable income: With any money available, Lily spends her money on art supplies, books, iTunes vouchers apart from that, she has to save her money to pay for her education.
Ambitions: After university, Lily would like to go on to have a career in art or English, whether that is as a teacher or by making her own pieces.

25 Word Pitch

Artist's Twitter

http://twitter.com/#%21/IsabellaFawkes

As we are not definite on who to use for the artist, I have put a random picture on for now.

Mood board

For our mood board, I decided to research more about the artist Regina Spektor, by doing this, it has allowed me to see what other similar aritsts there are out there. Regina Spektor's style of music appears in several different categories 'Anit-folk', 'baroque pop', 'blues' and two of the more well known catergories being 'indie rock' and 'pop'. I decided to look into Anit folk first, however, not many people who are targeted for Regina Spektors music- Teenagers (mainly girls) would recognised artists associated with Anit- folk, but Laura Marling has a similar sort of voice to Regina Spektor, I felt that she would be someone that fans of Regina Spektor knew well, and would also enjoy listening to Laura Marling. Moving on from this, I then look into the 'indie rock' side of Regina Spektor, this lead me to Marina and the diamonds, again, the lead singer has a similar voice to Regina Spektor, however, it is more on the 'indie pop' side than 'indie rock', Florence Welsh from 'Florence and the Machine' has been categories as indie pop and baroque rock, therefore, I have been able to make a link with both Regina Spektor and Marina and the diamonds. Carrying on with the 'indie pop' and 'indie rock' side, Kate Nash fits well with all of the artists stated below. Finally, I looked into more about Lenka from my video analysis, she fits into the 'indie pop' category, so I thought she would be suitable for our mood board, as she has a similar voice to Regina Spektor, even if shes not quite in the same category. Overall, I feel these are a suitable like to Regina Spektor as they all have similar voices and are mainly aimed at the same target audience.


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Biography

Name: Isabella Fawkes
Age: 23
Gender: Female
From: Surrey
Style: Pretty, relatively quirky style, inspired by Regina Spektor, Christina Ricci, Vanessa Carlton and Vanessa Paradis.

 

Lifestyle: Spends her time playing the piano and guitar, reading novels and poetry, writing, painting and playing basketball.
Genre of music: Anti-folk, alternative.
Target audience: Potentially mostly girls, between the ages of a teen to an adult, who enjoy 'anti-folk' music.
History: Has two best-selling albums, 'Contagious' and the Grammy Award winner 'Shiver'. She has recently been involved in volunteer work for Save the Children, for which she taken time off from her music.
Musical inspiration: Isabella's favourite artists are Regina Spektor, Vanessa Carlton, Jeff Buckley, Ani DiFranco, Jon McLaughlin and Bob Dylan.

Appeal: Unique, individual musical style, outstanding piano skills and inspirational, quirky, poetic lyrics.

Analysing a Music Video

Vanessa Carlton- Nolita Fairytale

'Nolita Fairytale' is a song from Vanessa Carlton's third album, Heroes & Thieves, released in 2007. The song is about Vanessa Carlton's  life in Nolita- a place in New York City- and major life changes in the past two years; 'spent the last two years getting to what's real/ and now I can see so clear.' The lyrics refer to her leaving her former record label, A&M Records, on which her previous two albums were made. She said that she led an 'enchanted life' in Nolita; ''Cause I found some kind of fairytale', which relates to the title of the song, Nolita Fairytale.
The video contains an intertextual reference, as at the start of it, there is a step-by-step duplication of her video for 'A Thousand Miles.' The piano which was shown in that video is then hit by an oncoming yellow taxi, after she gets up and walks away from it. This links to her life changing for the better; 'A Thousand Miles' was her biggest hit and signature song, and was when she was with A&M Records. She has also said before that it isn't her favourite, so this represents her almost growing out of her old music, breaking away from it and being herself more. 'To start anew, you have to kind of open the old book and then close it so you can then open the next book.'
Opening of 'A Thousand Miles':

Opening of 'Nolita Fairytale':

There is an obvious connection to the lyrics in the song at many points, as during the video there are many references to fairytales; a man with wings, a girl letting her long blonde hair out of the window (Rapunzel), moving chess pieces and a unicorn. Again, this links to the title of the song and amplifies the lyrics.

The video takes place in the streets in part of Manhattan; this is because she is singing about how moving to a new city and staying there has impacted upon her life. The atmosphere in the video is positive, therefore putting you in a positive mood. She appears to be happy and free, dancing around carefree.
The target audience for this particular video of Vanessa Carlton's would mostly be girls in their teens, though usually her music is more 'grown up,' not containing any reference to fantasy.

Analysing a Music Video

Vanessa Paradis- Be My Baby

The final music video I have chosen to analyse is 'Be My Baby' by Vanessa Paradis, the French singer, model and actress. The song was her first in English, and is from her self-titled album which was released in 1992.

In the video, she is always on her own, which links to the lyrics, as in the song her lover seems to perhaps be leaving her; 'I saw you walk down the street with some other girl.' Her loneliness in the video reflects how she would be feeling. However, she always looks almost hopeful, again amplifying the lyrics, 'Always thought that I was the only one in your world/Baby can you tell me so.'

The video focuses mainly on her, having different shots of her from different angles, showing her emotions on certain lines.

Vanessa Paradis rarely breaks eye contact throughout the whole video, so it is almost as if she is speaking to the audience, or, if she was writing about a real person, they would be watching, therefore speaking to them. This also makes you focus almost entirely on the lyrics and the beat, as there is nothing besides her to distract you.

The video has no particular plot, it is literally just her on her own in different places; simple and beautiful. A lot of the time, she seems to be restless and wandering idly, as if trapped in her mind, not knowing what to do but think and remember. I think that this could be to portray that all she is doing all of the time is thinking of her partner (if said person existed), reminiscing on the happy times; 'Sweet harmonies filled and floated through our minds/Never felt this way before.'

It appears to be autumn in the video, which is a lovely time of the year, though supposedly rather depressing. The colours are therefore colours which link to the season- mostly different shades of orange, red and brown.

Analysing a music video: Lenka- The Show

The final video I have decided to analyse is The Show by Lenka. I decided to do this as I believe she has a different voice to a lot of people, but her genre of music fits in with Marina and the Diamonds.

The first part of this video is disjuncture, as none of is it connected to the lyrics that she is singing, however, half way through, when she sings "and synchronise in time" all the background people jump as the same time, and also when she sings "The sun is hot in the sky just like giant spot light" the clip is more lighter, then it changes to be slightly darker when the lyrics change. Just like Regina Spektor, this video also uses little bits of animation, but this is unnecessary in reference to the lyrics. Again, I think that teenage girls are more likely to like this song, as they may be able to relate to the lyrics more. They also might like the tone of voice she has, and also her image that she projects.



The video uses many different shots throughout, mid shots are often used when the artist is singing and moving around at the same time. The jump between the shots are quick, because at the end of most of the shots the artists is 'lifted' out of the shot and then 'placed' into the next shot (shown below). The artists background and clothing changes as she moves into different scene, for example, from the tennis scene, she ends up on the bike, in a dress, highlighting the type of style the artist has.



The video is different to the other two that I have analysed as there are more background and clothing changes going on. It is also busier than the other two with things constantly going on. Overall, I feel that people will like this video as it is a fun video, which isn't too serious, and people will like the little animated effects that the video brings. It appeals to the target audience of girls as the video has more of a feminine feel to it, as lighter colours are used, and does not really use anything to attract males (the female singer may attract males but thats about it) Finally, I think even though most of the video has no connection to the lyrics it works well, however, the amount of changes that happen in the video are not really something that could be done when we make a music video, as it seems too complex to find lots of different locations and stylings.

Analysing a Music Video

Green Day- Basket Case

The entire music video relates to the song, in lyrics and in beat. From the start you can see that the video will illustrate the lyrics to the song as the song itself is called 'Basket Case'; which basically means being 'unable to cope' and the music video is set in a mental institution, so there is a great reference in the mise-en-scène alone.

The video and lyrics have a slightly comic feel to it at first; it was filmed in black and white and then had bright colours edited in, which contributes to the surreal effect, making everything seem demented and out of place.

Billie Joe, the lead singer, uses facial expression and his eyes in particular to amplify the meaning; when he says "neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it", his eyes show neurotic qualities and he is looking around as if highly paranoid. This links to how the song is about Billie Joe's struggle with anxiety and emotional instability generally, which is addressed all the way through the video.

Analysing a music video: Regina Spektor - Us

The video that is used with the song Us by Regina Spektor fits into the disjuncture category, as it has no clear link between the lyrics and the video; however, the styling of video can be linked to the artists, as like most of Regina Spektors video, they too fit into the disjuncture category. The video uses animation drawings in most of the shots shown, which are a feature point as Regina Spektor is the only 'life like' thing that is shot throughout the whole video.



The Video is another good example of disjuncture as the lyrics do not match what is happening in the video, for example, the lyrics often repeat the word 'We' or 'Us'; however, Regina Spektor is the only person used throughout. The use of the beat is always the same throughout but there are not as many cuts as expected from a normal video, with any shot ranging from half a second to 5 seconds.



I believe that the people this video is aimed at teenagers who are not necessarily into 'mainstream' artists, and prefer to listen to music such as: Marina and the Diamonds and Vanessa Carlton. I think that some teenagers/ early 20s would like this style of music as it is more calmer, and the lyrics are more important than the image being portrayed on screen. This type of song would not be one that would be repeated several times a day on the radio as this is not many type of peoples preferred music taste.

In the video, a range of different shots are used when the artists is being shown. Close up shots of her singing are used, however, when she moves around, the type of shot changes to a mid-shot to highlight what she is doing. The camera angles mainly focus on Regina Spektor singing, and close up shots are used for this. The video is one that draws you into the music video, this is because of the way the shots are all different to each other, for example, one shot can be of Regina Spektor, and then it turns to black and white and animations is used. This attracts you to the music video as it is different to other artists, yet similar to a few of Regina Spektors other video, therefore if you're a fan you would recognise the style of video.

The thing that draws me to the video is that it is different to the videos that are shown now. The video focuses on the main artists and no one else. The video doesn't need to use any special effects to make the video seem more appealing. Overall, I believe the video expresses the type of person Regina Spektor would like to appear as, she wants to appear to be different and 'unusual' by using animation- which is not regularly used in music videos. I think that it appeals to the target audience, as they can relate the music video to the artist.  Finally, the video draws your attention to the artist as she is the only person in the music video, this makes it more personal to her target audience as all the focus is on her.

Analysing a music video: Marina and the Diamonds- Hollywood

The song 'Hollywood' by Marina and the Diamonds is an amplification video, this is because the ideas that are used in the video are unusual, however there is a clear link between some of the lyrics and the video. The use of the word 'Hollywood' is reflected around by the use of the American flag colours (red, white and blue) being used throughout the video. The use of the words 'American dream' is portrayed all the way through the video, with the star being shot filling the type of things that she classifies as 'the American dream'. The use of America is heavily used throughout the entire video. Towards the end of the song, it does use an illustration to highlight a few of the lyrics when she sings "I've been living in the moveis'', then changes to a shot with her holding a movie related award, and also the type of clothing worn in the video illustrates a lavish lifestyle to match with the 'American dream'



During the video, there a several different camera angles used. Several that are used are zooming in and out of the action, for example, at the beginning, the camera are on the artists lips then it slowly zooms out, showing the artists singing, this is the first clip that we also see the American flag for the first time. Another shot that is used is the long shot, this allows us to also see the action that is happening in the background. During 2:17 to 2:29 also uses different people in slow motion shots, showing what they think the 'American Dream' is.



The clip below, shows the main setting for this video appears to be inside, and I personally feel it has a 'college' party feel to it, as it has representation from different 'social groups', with the cheerleaders, musical band performers and prom queen. This suggest that the target audience would be those who are still in education, and have the experiences of what is happening in the background- those who enjoy to party. The video has the party mood video, it is an upbeat video, with catchy lyrics- which are often repeated throughout, making it easier to remember.

Analysing Lyrics

On The Radio - Regina Spektor

This is how it works
It feels a little worse
Than when we drove our hearse
Right through that screaming crowd

While laughing up a storm
Until we were just bone
Until it got so warm
That none of us could sleep

And all the Styrofoam
Began to melt away
We tried to find some words
To aid in the decay

But none of them were home
Inside their catacomb
A million ancient bees
Began to sting our knees

While we were on our knees
Praying that disease
Would leave the ones we love
And never come again

On the radio
We heard, 'November Rain'
That solo's really long
But it's a pretty song
We listened to it twice
'Cause the DJ was asleep

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took

And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood

And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

And on the radio
You hear, 'November Rain'
That solo's awful long
But it's a good refrain
You listen to it twice
'Cause the DJ is asleep

On the radio, on the radio
On the radio, uh oh, on the radio, uh oh
On the radio, uh oh, on the radio

We chose to do a Regina Spektor song as we both like her music and we thought that it would be an easy choice for our music video. The lyrics to 'On The Radio' are easy and repetitive, which would make it easier for the video as we could link those parts of the song in the video. The actual video portrays how the song is about simple pleasures; we could convey this in our video, anchoring the video to the lyrics, as she does.

Choice of Song: On The Radio by Regina Spektor

Coursework Schedule

G325 Advanced Portfolio Cw Schedule Sept - Dec11 Lutterworth College