Sean's Music Blog: February 2016

When it comes to EDM music, they tend have a very limited amount of codes and conventions, giving a lot more freedom in terms of making a music video. Typical Conventions of an EDM song are partying, drugs, live performances to focus more on young audiences that experience the same lifestyle. Artists such as Calvin Harris's and Alesso's feature mainly a vast number of fans dancing to their concerts. EDM usually don't have narratives, which is why they make a montage of their previous concerts which are more appealing to their audiences. This is also a very effective way of promoting their next concerts as they express how exciting and "a moment of a life time" it is, thus enticing the fans into buying their tickets.

However, after analysis the lyrics of our selected song, we decided it was best that we make a narrative music video.

There is a very strong potential to form a visual story out of the lyrics as the singer expresses his struggle. "On a caution Weep" the singer expresses sorry and grief by shedding tears and "I called your name" trying to find the person but they couldn't . "In the cold and Snow" refers to death painful messages or an end. The lyrics is supported by slow tempo and an empowerment of the depression drowsy beat. Before the chorus buildups the last lyrics is "For a better day". At the point the tempo and the rythym of the music stops. This empahsizes that it's time to start doing something or something has to change. The phrase "For a Better Day" suggests that it's time for a new start or a beginning of somthing big (revenge, war).

In addition to that, the rhythm of the song establishes a linear attraction and suspense which eventually leads towards excitement. Despite of songs unusual drop, the arrangements and rhythmic consistencies pars in very well with the lyrics and builds up a good potential for a climax. The quick tempo and bass is removed most times in song, but only during breakdowns and following buildups; then it returns to restore the song's wholeness, which is the climax and the story line. For example from 0:59 to 1:14 you can see that the cuts fit in with the music, which supports the choice of creating a narrative music video. Other than that, it looks very professional, inducing a greater appeal to the audience. Other example, is 0:00 to 0:50 onwards.

Andrew Goodwin Arguement

A female performer will frequently be objectified in this nature through the use of camerawork and editing. This emphasises the sexual image of the star.

Male performers are instead exploited within a music video to flatter their ego. For example, the women are very sexual clothing or completely naked.

This argument is true for most scenarios when the female is the center of attention. Their music video features explicit content in frames and edits. Most EDM music videos focuses on females that are trapped in situations, usually moving from point A to point B (running away from the problem). In the meantime, males are there to guide them.Females have a good sense of voyeurism. In our case, we challenged this argument. The males in the video are flattering their own egos, with revenge and violence. There are no appearance of females, while males dominate.

Another Theory by Goodwin is that a narrative music video requires the artist to be a part of the music video by being the centre of attraction. They are either singing or they role out as the main character. This allows the music video to share a special connection and express its intentions to the audience.

We know that our music video is narrative and the plot of the video goes well with the lyrics of the song. However neither of the 2 DJs are either sing or play as the main characters. By using this method it gives a better impression of the song to the audience, thus giving them a better understanding.

While there is no sign of a typical objectification in this video, we believe that we have challenged it. While males only exist in the music video, they are also used as figures to be played around with, such as killing and torturing. At most times males are involved in some sort of violence, which could be killing, fighting, protecting (seen as the strong ones) while the females are being protected, fearing, hiding (week ones). In addition, the character has gone through some horrific experience of seeing his friend die, and now he's expressing those feelings by taking revenge.

We decided that it was best if we were on the same tangent as avicii. Most of Avicii's music videos have a narrative structure towards them, and we beleive that it's best if we do the same. The only way to visualise the lyrics of our song was to make a narrative video, because making a concert based video wouldn't make any sense. In support to this choice, we decided that the music video requires the elements of a cinematic narrative music video. Letter boxing was an ideal choice, which gives the video or more movie-like setting. The cuts of shots also matched with the rhythm of the song to allow a better story telling and expressing the right mood and plot to the audience.