‘Be the One’ is a video with a performance based narrative that I have decided to focus on so as to better understand what filming techniques work successfully in shooting performance. The video begins with an out of focus wide angle shot of the church-like location and pans down to reveal a bright light containing distorted black figures in the centre third of the shot, this draws the viewer in by plotting an enigma; for the unfocussed camera work creates a supernatural effect forcing the viewer to ask what or who these silhouettes are and their reason for being. Within no more than two seconds it cuts to an extreme close up of one half of Penate’s face looking down with his hair covering his eyes creating wonder as the viewer cannot place his expression or emotion. After a quick two shot of girls with trumpets, it cuts back to a close up of Penate’s eyes looking directly at the camera. With the light coming from behind him it is not a flattering shot, it reveals the dark circles under his eyes and bags, areas of his face are in darkness and he appears to be in anguish. It then cuts to a close up of his feet with one tapping conservatively but the tight black trousers and scuffed dull shoes seem to be repressing the movement they wish to make. Another quick cut back to the girls with trumpets and it becomes clear that there tears drawn in glitter on their faces, this further emphasises the idea of repression and sadness.The video cuts back to another shot of his eyes. At this point all shots but the establishing shot have been extreme close ups but as the music kicks in the video cuts to a low angle extreme long shot, in this shot the lighting is warmer and less harsh, and the revealed unconfined space gives Penate the freedom to move and to mirror this the camera now moves more freely, it pans up from his feet in a medium close up to capture the movement of his whole body. Once this new idea of movement and freedom is introduced to the audience this message is further strengthened by the iconic extreme close up of the symbol reverberating with glitter flying off – this incorporates a sense of magic with the positive connotation of hope. The camera cuts back to a long shot of the band, it then zooms in giving the effect that the audience is being pulled closer towards the band. The lighting is used here to make each member appear angelic as each individual head is framed in light which is ironic as it reflects the window art found in churches of biblical characters such as the Virgin Mary, and the location of the video is also set inside a church. The use of lighting in this way carries on throughout the video. At this point the song is at the chorus, during which the camera never takes still shots of the action, the camera is always moving whether it be panning, tracking or zooming. This creates a sense of chaos reflecting Penates state of mind; it also adds creates variation throughout the video to help successfully maintain the audiences attention and reflect the speed of the song. But once the chorus ends and verse begins the camera alternates back to a combination of still shots and shots with little movement, the lighting also becomes a lot less bright and more controlled. During the verse a use of close ups are used on Penates face especially his eyes much like the shots at the beginning of the video, there are also long shots of the band but it mainly focuses on the lead singer. As the chorus kicks in once again a parallel narrative is introduced which consists medium close ups of people dancing in slow motion, all dressed in black in front of big white flood lights, they have little relevance to the song, but they are there to represent freedom of expression and the idea of magic or religion giving you the opportunity to free yourself. These shots interweave between the performance narrative; cutting back and forth between the two narratives every few seconds. At 2:42 in the song a chaotic mess of clips is used to reflect the chaotic music, this consists of very quick shots of close ups of the glittered symbol being smashed, a medium close up of Penate in the parallel narrative convulsing, very shaky close ups of Penate dancing in the performance narrative with the camera pulling left and right. This further entices the viewer as they try to understand what has just happened, why has this character suddenly just lost control like that? It then cuts back to a medium shot of Penate and the band looking around and catching their breath, with this the video resumes to its previous state of cutting between the two narratives. Toward the end of the song the second narrative is focussed on more, as it focuses on different dancers but slowly more dancers appear to be in shot until it seems as though it is simply a night club. With that the final shot pans across all these dancers in front of the white lights with Penate left at the end alone beside the crowd out of the light looking like he doesn’t belong. It finishes with a fade to black.
The male gaze is a media theory applied by American feminist Laura Mulvey. In the male gaze Mulvey believes women are objectified and voyeuristically treated by the media and especially in film with the purpose to appeal to a male audience. A large percent of media texts, particularly moving image are male orientated from direction to editing and post production therefore the texts created are through the male eye with the aim of pleasing audiences such as themselves, this leads to the male gaze theory filtering through many areas of production revealing the psychological obsessions of the society possibly without even being conscious of it. This patriarchal society has moulded the film form into the constant stereotyping of the female in film. Mulvey believes that the representation of women is usually shown through the stereotypical ‘mother’, ‘virgin’ or ‘whore’ therefore being presented to the voyeur as either the passive female or the fallen women with the need of being either rescued or put in her place. These stereotypes are created to masculinise the audience especially the male spectators as they get to fulfil erotic male fantasies through the cinema experience, putting them in the position of the male in control of the objectified woman. Often men in film are also portrayed as extremely masculinised angry, powerful, rugged characters, this also adds to the idea of the male spectator being able to relate himself to particular characters so as to fulfil sexual fantasy.
The male gaze refers to the act of looking upon women as objects, of adopting the role of spectator, but metaphorically it refers to a way of thinking about and acting within society. The female protagonists often have modern aspects but alongside there is almost always a stereotype attached alongside this. Examples of stereotypically portrayed females and the male gaze are:- The female blinded by material things such as beauty or fashion The powerful heroine who constantly struts around half naked oozing sexual confidence The female who’s aim in life is to settle down and have a family The successful professional yet neurotic female
The following slideshow is a case study applying the male gaze to the film adaption of the Comic Sin City, released in 2005, dir. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Improvements - Added casting and shooting schedule
Looking back on our planning and the shooting of the original video we discussed and came to the conclusion that it would not be a strong enough narrative to survive on it's own as a video that would maintain the audiences attention throughout. Therefore we had a brainstorming session and came up with a completely different angle to shoot the video from. Inspiration for this video initially sprung from the video for Grace Kelly by Mika. The original idea was to use long lights alongside flashlights and spotlights on a stage to create a quirky and individual video that ran parrallel but not linear to the music and lyrics. But with further discussion we realised we couldn't rely wholely on quirkyness and have no narrative. We did like the idea of having a stage performance in the video though so we maintained that idea although we dropped the idea of dancing with lights. Also, an idea that we were determined to keep from the original planning was the idea of stop motion so we wanted to slot that into the narrative at some point. Here is the new and improved idea...
Opening scene Establishing shot is a close up of a set of headphones on a table, this will be taken from high angle, a pair of hands enter the shot and grab the headphones, the camera pans up to follow the headphones as Guy places them on his head, at this point the camera will be a direct close up framing his head. Camera then pans down Guys body tracing the wire and proceeds in a close up tracking shot following the wire along the floor at a minor tilted angle, this will give the effect that the camera is swallowing the wire. This section will be edited to double speed in order to cover a greater length in a small amount of time than in normal speed. The wire slowly climbs upwards so that with the camera at the same tilted angle it will slowly ‘look up’, at this point the screen will fade to white giving the impression of a bright white light, this will then fade out to reveal the following scene.
Drama Room Scene The entire drama scene will be shot using a wide angled single shot. At the beginning of this scene once the light has faded out the room will be in complete darkness. A spotlight comes on in the centre of the stage where Guy with his headphones still on will be revealed looking puzzled. He then looks up into the spotlight to reflect the lyric ‘I’ve got sunshine on my face’. The following lyric ‘rain aint fallin’ around here’ will be accompanied by a set of small plastic colorful balls falling around Guy from above as a metaphor for the rain. ‘Bird people’ swoop in from left and right to mimic birds alongside the lyric ‘birds are singing the same song’. They then crowd in around Guy and envelop him so he is out of the cameras view, this action occurs during the lyric ‘feeling chilled aint nothing wrong’. Between this and the following lyric the group palpitate until just before the following lyric begins. They then disband to reveal him without his headphones and with a tambourine to ‘and it’s a great, great place I’m in’, the birds then walk a complete circle around him and separate with three exiting stage left and three exiting stage right. Guy then shakes the tambourine to the lyric ‘why don’t you come on over here and’, at this point the camera will zoom in on the tambourine until everything is out of focus. The camera zooms out from the tambourine to reveal Guy and the 6 other birds in a line holding big white boards, each board containing a word from the chorus, ‘sail’, ‘away’, ‘with’, ‘me’, ‘baby’, ‘sail’, ‘away’. And during the chorus they wave these boards up in the air in a Mexican wave, this imitates a wave which relates to the ‘sail away’ lyrics. The group then looks up into the spotlight, the camera following their gaze by panning up and zooming into the light.
Elm Hill During the instrumental and the lyric ‘I’ve got sand between my toes’ a stop motion sequence will occur from birds eye view using the headphones for around 12-14 seconds. The camera then pans up and zooms towards the action far in the distance. At this point during the lyric ‘how I love how this feeling grows’ Guy will be introduced in a suit and tie with a microphone in his hand. He will jump off a ledge in slow motion while the bird people pop their heads in shot at normal speed and not up and down in time with the word ‘grows’. It goes back to normal speed as soon as Guy touches the ground then he walks off the left of the screen. The camera then pans Guy walking along, from right to left of the screen while the bird people are huddled together in the background playing like children. In the style of a BBC reporter Guy walks across the screen with his microphone and his arm stretched out towards the bird people in the background, he mimes the lyric ‘kids are playing they’re real near’. Then, in the foreground carrying on the reporter gimmick Guy stops in the left third of the screen mouthing ‘nowhere else I’d rather be than here’ Then he exits to the left. During the same lyric in the background all the bird people look up and ‘notice’ the camera, get up and stand together waving at the camera in the style of ‘Hi mum I’m on the telly’. The camera arcs straight up through the sky drops down and twists until it is facing the opposite direction, as though it has done a 180 degree turn. To reveal guy in a canted wide angle shot with a bird mask on, he will walk toward the camera until his body covers it making it go black and then walk out of it in to the drama studio. To appear as though the camera has transported him back to the studio. The camera turns back up until it’s a straight angled shot again whilst the birds enter the screen form both sides. They hold up the boards again for the chorus but this, time walk around as though they are announcers in a boxing ring. They flip their cards to reveal the words buh bye on the other sides. The birds close the boards together to create a wall, which they push the Guy through. They continue pushing him all the way up to the camera. Camera fades to white. Then the shot of the wire plays in reverse until it reaches Guy taking off the headphones looking confused and setting them down beside a bird mask.
The use of an enigma! There are a range of enigmas in this video including why people are dressed as birds, why this character has been sucked into an alternative world, why he impersonates a reporter in the Elm Hill scene, why he becomes one of the birds in the end. None of this is clear until the end where the enigmas' are somewhat answered when Julian takes off his headphones and sets them down by a bird mask which wasn't there at the beginning of the video and it becomes clear to the audience that he was sucked into an alternative reality, but each individual enigma is never answered properly. But the use of these enigmas force the viewer to watch on in order to try and understand the reason for the questions created.
Storyboards
All shots from 1-6 will be within the instrumental intro.
I got sunshine on my face,
Rain aint fallin’ around here,
Birds are singing the same song,
Feelin’ chilled, aint nothing wrong.
And it’s a great, great place I’m in,
Why don’t you come on over here and…
Sail away with me baby,
Sail away.
I got sand between my toes,
How I love how this feelin grows,
Kids are playing, they’re real near,
Nowhere else I’d rather be than here.
And it’s a great, great place I’m in, Why don’t you come on over here and…
Sail away with me baby,
Sail away,
Sail away with me baby,
Sail away.
Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Coz your sailing coz your sailing away
Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Coz your sailing coz your sailing away
Location
In the video there will be two main locations, these being a drama room inside the CNS ARC building and Elm Hill's picturesque cobblestone street in Norwich. There will also be a third, minor location in the video being in the courtyard just outside the ARC. The establishing shot and end shot at the beginning and end of the video will be shot in the courtyard just outside the ARC but as these two scenes will be only a few seconds long and all shots within this location will be extreme close ups of the character and action the location will not be able to be established, therefore the location contributes very little to the connotations of the scenes.
The two main locations have a strong contrast in the sense that one (The ARC) is very up to date and contemporary with a good use of technology including a lighting switchboard which is a key coponent to be used in the drama room scene as the aim is to have almost the entire scene shot in one single shot. The use of having the lighting switchboard means that everything can be choreographed from the movement to the lighting, as the lighting is essential in this scene for when the main character looks up into the light as a metaphor for 'sunshine on my face'. Furthermore, the switchboard can be used to control the ambience of the scene as there is a choice of eighteen different coloured lights the light can be adapted to fit the mood of the song or the character or a combination of both. The variance in ambience will also help to maintain the veiwers attention throughout the scene. This contrasts drastically with the Elm Hill location which oozes age and history with its quirky colourful Tudor buildings and uneven cobblestone roads. This location was chosen as its simplicity stereotypically conforms alot more with the folk genre in comparison to the drama studio, as folk is all about the simple things in life, not the materialistic aspects that other genres focus on such as hip hop or pop. Additionally, the dramatic change in location reflects the dramatic change in the main characters state of mind, he is suddenly much more at one with his situation , and the simple surroundings echo his relaxed self.
Cast
The majority of the cast have been selected from school friends, this way it is easier to contact them on a regular basis and give them any updates on shooting schedules etc. It is also much easier to find out when each cast member is free so we can work out shooting times that work well for everyone.
The main character will be played by Julian Newton. Before choosing the main character we knew we wanted somebody who could act confidently and could successfully work within the role, so our first place to look was in the A2 Drama groups. We decided to ask Julian as he is a drama student who is a competent actor, he has a large amount of background in drama as he has been an active member of the Norwich Playhouse theatre for a number of years and has been an important role in many of their productions. He is easy to contact as he shares lessons with Freya and is a close friend who she knows is trustworthy. He is flexible when it comes to his acting skills and so can easily adapt to the character.
There are four birds, three of which will be played by A level students and one by a work collegue who is early-mid twenties and therefore won't seem out of place alongside the other students.
The fisrt bird will be played by Ronnie Cornell. Me and Ronnie share exactly the same timetable so it is easy to tell when he is free to shoot, and is also very easy to contact and communicate with. This also means that Ronnie is a Media student who understands the media concepts and the technicalities of making a music video and can use his knowledge to work competently through the shoot and help the others within it.
The second bird will be played by Catherine Riley. Like Julian, Catherine is a competent A level drama student, she has great chemistry with Julian which is a bonus. She doesn't get intimidated by the camera, and is the type of personality to take control of a situation if people aren't working proficiently. She has good body movement, grace and poise, and can adapt well to the abstract dance required for the action within the video that the other members of the cast can learn from and follow.
Cameron Button will be playing the third bird. He is an AS student, a work colleague and a good friend that is easy to contact and is extremely patient and understanding, this is a good quality to have during filming as things can get quite tedious and people easily lose focus. He is one to keep morale high and work competently throughout the shoot. He is one who is up for a challenge which means he is adaptable to any situation. He is very tall also which helps with technical difficulties such as dropping the plastic balls from a great height to make it look as much like rain as possible.
The final bird will be Kerry, a work colleague who is very lenient in any situation. She will work well as one of the birds as she has a very big, bubly personality; and isn't afraid to look 'silly' in front of the camera. She knows Cameron and therefore isn't isolated from the group and doesn't have the risk of being the odd one out since she is the only member of the cast that isn't an a-level student.
These people have been chosen to work within our cast as they all reflect typical students of mixed gender, age, shape and size. This way the audience are less likely to feel alienated by the use of characters. There is at least one person hopefully within the cast that the audience can identify with; whether it is who they are, who they want to be or who they don't want to be.
Props Headphones - These will be used both at the beginning and the end of the video. Guy will place them on his head as the song begins, then their wire will represent Guys imagination as the song is being 'plugged in' to his head, they will show the transition from reality to his subconcious. He will also take the headphones off at the end of the song to show the transition back from his subconcious to reality. They will also be used in a stop motion sequence between the drama room scene and the Elm Hill scene, they help ease the change between the two locations and also give the viewer a chance to interpret the story so far. Ball pit balls - These will signify rain alongside the lyric 'rain ain't fallin' around here'. They will be used in the drama room scene, they will be released from above Guys head in the centre of the stage. Plastic ball pit balls were chosen as they are a good size to appear clearly on the video but not be so big that they won't relate to rain, they are also very light and won't harm any of the actors if they fall on someones head. The bright colours of the balls will give a much more positive connotation to rain, reflecting the upbeat summery feeling created by the song. This also introduces the audience to the symbolic aspect of the video, which will ease them in before the bird people enter which could confuse the audience if they were the only symbolic feature within the video. Bird masks - These will be used on 6 people so that they represent the birds that are mentioned in the song 'birds are singing the same song'. This lyric is the third lyric in the song so the birds will be introduced right at the beginning but they will continue to be present throughout the song as they add a surreal meaning that makes it clear to the audience that the action in which they are included is all a dream. A seventh bird mask will also be used for Guy towards the end of the song, this will show that he has 'become one of them', this gives a darker twist to the video, his mask will be much more grand than the others, showing his importance and the difference between him and the others. Microphone - The microphone is an important prop in the way that it subtly adds to the news reporter style impersonation that Guy will do during the Elm Hill scene. He will mime the lyrics into the microphone as if he is reporting a story, while his body language is giving the impression that he is describing the action going on behind him to his 'viewers'. Without the microphone and other hints such as the suit, there is the risk that the voyeur may not understand what Guy is doing. Lyric Boards - These will be used symbolicly much like the play pit balls and the bird people. instead the boards will be held up by people in a mexican wave, this will therefore create a metaphor linking to the chorus lyrics 'sail away with me baby', to make it more quirky than simply plain boards the boards will each have a word from the chorus on them and the wave will move in time with the words so each word rises as it is being said in the song.
Tambourine - The tambourine will be used very briefly in the drama room scene. It is used toward the beginning of the scene where the main character reappears from behind the group of birds, and just before the chorus kicks in there is the sound of a tambourine to show the build to the chorus. At this point the main character will shake his tambourine in time with the song, this shows his strong link to the song, and also his transition from reality into the fantasy narrative.
Costumes All costumes used will be typical everyday clothes as this adds a norm to the surreal video or does it make it even more surreal as the two are combined? The fact that the birds are wearing everyday clothes also makes it clear that it is students impersonating birds and that they are not trying to actually be birds. The students will wear the same outfits throughout the entire video so that the voyeur can identify each individual bird as a character. Guy also is introduced wearing everyday clothes as this will immediately communicate his emminence to the viewer, being that he is an everyday, normal teenager established in mundane clothing in mundane surroundings. This also gives the veiwer a chance to relate to the character as the songs main audience demographic is teenagers between age 14 and 19, the point of having a character of similar age and similar temperament that the audience can relate to is that it won't isolate the audience by making them feel irrelevant to or in awe of the character but instead feel empathy and compassion for the character. During the Elm Hill scene, the character will be introduced jumping into the shot in a suit and tie, this adds another level to the video, the suit connotes power, this shows that he suddenly has more control over the situation, it also helps the voyeur to get the notion that he is impersonating a news reporter so as not to confuse the audience, since at this point in the video the character is acting as a news reporter, describing the scene around him. Furthermore, it helps the voyeur to pick him out from the group once he becomes one of the bird people.
In August before the recording of our original video (beach setting) we invested some time in practicing stop motion with the videocamera, tripod and a selection of fruit! As we have never tried the stop motion technique before, we wanted to see how effective it is at maintaining audience attention before being 100% sure of putting it in our video.
In order to create this short film the camera was set in birds eye view of the tabletop, the boundries were marked that showed where on the counter was in shot and where wasn't so that it was clear to the person moving the objects where the action needed to take place. To make the stop motion the fruit was moved around the marked area inch by inch, they could only be moved ever so slightly as this would add more detail and action to the clip and a smoother flow also. The motion was captured in a sequence of move fruit/record/pause/move fruit/record/pause etc. This turned out to be a lengthy process that we didn't think would take so long, we also came into complications as the camera slipped slightly meaning the marked boundries were visible in the shot, and towards the end hands kept getting into the shot.
It took a total of 30-40 minutes to complete the sequence, but upon playback the sequence was already practically smooth flowing and needed little editing, besides the shots were hands were caught in view. Therefore upon edit, the hands were cut out as much as possible without destroying the continuity of the film, and the overall film was sped up by 300% (triple speed) so that the sequence wasn't too slow as if it was left at its original speed there was a bigger threat that the audience would lose interest after a length of time. This was the final outcome of the video:
In order to improve the quality and the flow of the stop motion used in the revised video (surreal dream world) a digital camera will be used to capture the stop motion sequence, this way there will be no chance of hands in the shot as it will be quick and easy to check each picture after taking it. This will also reduce the time taken to both shoot and edit the sequence.
Media forms and conventions This video follows a narrative based structure where the action is parallel to the lyrics for instance the first lyric is “woke up one Tuesday, I’m looking tired and feeling quite sick”, linear to this is the image of the artist waking up in the morning in bed at home looking tired and fed up. The purpose of using this structure is that it simply follows the story that is being told within the song, this makes the lyrics a lot more memorable to the viewer as when they see the video they visually see what they are hearing.
This is a visual example of how linear the narrative is:-
‘New shoes’ is a folk-pop/blue eyes soul song that tells a story of carefree living, and looking on the bright side of things. This links well to the genre as blues music originated from black slaves and the purpose of the blues was to give them some happiness during their lives of slavery, and the folk genre is used to tell stories to entertain.
Aspects of mise-en-scene such as location and props reflect characteristics of the folk genre. For instance, the video is set in two locations; the house and the street, these are both unglamorous, homely locations that are not used to promote wealth or voyeurism but to simply reflect the story being told within the song. This also reflects the genre in the sense that the video is used to tell the story and nothing else.
The majority of camera shots used in the video are medium close ups of Paolo Nutini, his head is almost always in the centre third of the screen, this connotes that he is the very centre of this song; it is based upon a single person and his view on things.
Also, throughout the video the colour tone is very warm, with a lot of greens and oranges and warm lighting; this reflects the warmth of the song, the story and the character.
There is simple straightforward editing where each shot cuts to the next on a beat, no shot lasts longer than 5 seconds; this maintains the upbeat pace of the song, there is only one fade during the lyric “I’m walking ‘til the break of dawn”, at this point the singer is walking down a street at night, a golden light fades in then disappears to reveal the busy kitchen. This gold fade is used for two reasons, 1. To symbolise the sun coming up as the ‘break of dawn’. 2. As it is nearing the end of the song and going into a multiple repeat of the chorus it signifies the beginning of a montage of different locations and actions but the video is no longer telling the story.
Some special effects are used in the video, the effects used are sparkles of light around the singers feet as he is dancing along the street, dots of light are also used to hover around his head as he says ‘where bright lights and angels meet’, therefore these lights are used to signify the ‘bright lights and angels’.
The video uses props and locations that are used in many music videos from artists of a similar or surrounding genres, for instance the acoustic guitar in this video is often seen in folk and alternative videos as it is a sound that heavily influences the genre. Other videos that include this are; James Morrison – Wonderful World, Nerina Pallot – Learning to Breathe and Newton Faulkner – Dream Catch Me.
Representation The song is a folk song in which the artist sings about everyday occurrences and his outlook on these occurrences, his outlook is optimistic and upbeat and since the narrative is linear the video also promotes these aspects, therefore the place represented is a recognisable world to people of all ages as everybody has a home and everybody walks down the street… and everybody buys new shoes at some point! The world represented in the video therefore is a world everybody can associate with and as the video portrays an optimistic outlook on the everyday life the audience also feel that connection with their surroundings (for the duration of the song). This creates a strongly likeable appeal to the song as it makes the viewer feel warm, happy and inspired about their life as they watch the video.
Institutions Paolo Nutini joined Atlantic Records in 2005 shortly after his 18th birthday. Atlantic Records is a large mainstream record company that works with artists such as Bjork, Led Zeppelin and Tracy Chapman. The company works with talents of all different ages and genres. The advantage of being part of such a large label means that Paolo Nutini has a lot of experience behind him in the sense that the company has been established long enough to know what makes a successful band/artist. Also as the label works with so many different genres they also know what works for his music and what doesn’t. Another advantage of being part of such a well-established label is the recognition; it is a lot easier for Paolo Nutini to gain recognition with a mainstream company than a small independent producer as they have the money and the acknowledgment to put him in the spotlight.
Technology The internet has been the biggest breakthrough in technology in the past 20 years and as it is so easily accessible to such a broad audience it means it has a large impact on the music industry especially in reaching target audiences. For instance Youtube and Myspace have created a lot of recognition for Paolo Nutini as members upload videos of live performances where anybody with internet access can watch. Also, Myspace has become very music orientated within the past few years with almost every artist having their own page, this is a great place to target young adult and teenage audiences as Myspace is a social networking hub for people of this demographic. Paolo Nutini has had his own page since 02/11/2005 and since then has gained 185402 friends.
Girls Aloud The Promise Released 20th October 2008
Girls Aloud are a girl band that were manufactured in 2002 from the TV programme Pop Stars: The Rivals. Since then they have shot to fame and become extremely successful. Their main audience are the young teenage females fitting into a demographic of 12-16. This is clear from the outlets they are marketed such as teen magazines including the likes of Bliss magazine, Sugar magazine and Glamour magazine.
The song ‘The Promise’ is one of the most recent singles released from their latest album. In comparison to previous singles such as ‘Sound of the Underground’ the groups image has grown up alongside the band. The music video for ‘The Promise’ is heavily influenced by the 1960’s era and references to the likes of ‘The Supremes’ are clear in the video.
There are a range of intertextual references in the video that are very stereotypical of the era being represented, these include:- The 50’s/60’s style drive in movie theatre The 50’s/60’s style cars The bouffant style hair The clothing The black and white music video with the old film reel quality The 60’s style microphones The make up – smokey kohl eyes, and long fake eyelashes Therefore there is not only reference to the style of an era, but there is also the reference to American movies such as Grease, and to ‘Diana Ross and The Supremes’. By using reference to the likes of ‘The Supremes’ and the glamorous 60’s style the band are creating a highly appealing image to the teenage female demographic that are their main audience. The references ooze sex appeal and beauty but unlike a lot of pop videos they portray don’t portray it in a voyeuristic way, the glamour of the era is tasteful and the girls aren’t strutting around in very little clothing which is a generic convention often seen in pop videos including videos Girls Aloud have released in the past such as ‘Long Hot Summer’. By representing the band in this image with these references they are creating a much more positive image for their audience, as the bands main audience are at a very impressionable age where they aspire to be like their idols, therefore by promoting a more wholesome image the band are opening up to a wider and older audience as they appreciate the wholesome glamour a lot more than the voyeuristic approach. Also, this representation promotes a better image to the male audience as the audience sees that girls can still be sexy without being voyeuristic.
The narrative structure is a mix of both performance based and concept based. The performance is important in reflecting the 60’s influence on the song since in the 60’s music videos were all based on performances, there were few music videos that were narrative based at that time. Also ‘The Supremes’ were all about performance, their music was about the voice, the soul and the image, narrative was not of great importance. The concept based narrative being the girls at the drive-in movie theatre watching the film and flirting with boys was also used to emphasise the influence of the era on the song. It simply illustrates the innocence of teenagers in the era, ultimately demonstrating a positive image of the ‘teenage girl’ to the viewer.
The band and the song are mainstream pop but unlike the majority of Girls Aloud videos and one of the main generic conventions of pop videos the ‘The Promise’ video does not contain a dance routine which is an essential in a pop video. They have taken a more mature approach with this video as a performance behind stand-alone old fashioned microphones conforming to the convention by doing a very minimal routine with general body language – but not a full blown dance routine. Another generic convention commonly used in a girl group pop video is the use of the opposite sex as love interests. In this video the concept is used. Although the concept is used, in the generic way of portraying the male is quite degrading, they are often beneath the girls and often shown as ‘a pawn in their game’ for instance like in the Girls Aloud video ‘The Show’ or the Sugababes video ‘Push The Button’. But in this video their presence is quite insignificant, and where they are present the relationship between the two genders is very innocent and childlike for instance at 2:35 Nicola is handed a love note and giggles naively and the boy who wrote the note shoots a hopeful innocent glance.
Although voyeurism isn’t used in the acting of clothing, some voyeuristic shots are used especially in the black and white performance where the camera tracks up the girls’ hourglass bodies and takes close up shots of the girls’ hips especially. This creates sex appeal, but at the same time promotes a healthy image as the camera emphasises the girl’s healthy curves as opposed to being stick thin. Voyeurism is also used during the scenes at the theatre such as at 3:50 where the camera uses a medium close up and tracks Nicolas body from her feet to her head as she is posing against a car in a very short dress. Although this seems voyeuristic it doesn’t come across as degrading as the overall outcome of the video is very innocent and a one off shot like that seems to simply be promoting her beauty as opposed to a voyeuristic approach.
During the performance section of the video the lighting is used in addition to the film reel effect to emphasise the glamour of the 1960’s and the ‘bright lights of showbiz’ concept. There is a variety of lighting techniques used to emphasise this such as the spotlight, stage lighting including floor lighting and the light reflection of the glitzy dresses that is flashing all the time, there is also the intertextual reference to the old fashioned backstage mirror lighting in the background. All these lighting techniques simply add to the fascination of stardom and the dream that is Broadway.
The link between the music and visuals in this video aren’t very important in this video, the shots change after ever few seconds to reflect the pace of the song, but the transitions aren’t in time with the beat, they cut back and forth to different angles of the same action or between the two different narratives mid lyric and between beats, this creates a very soft transition between the two narratives and also gives the impression (particularly during the performance narrative) that the edit is very simple and the performance is almost live, as it reflects the style used in live videos or coverage of a TV performance or concert performance. There is also the occasional cross fade such as at 3:45 which creates a dream like effect, and also reflects the girls state of mind and shows the link between the lyrics being sung during the performance and the awe the girls feel when watching the performance.
There are a range of camera shots and angles used and they are very different for the two different narratives. During the performance narrative, a lot of the shots are medium shots and are head on to capture all of the action; this is a very conventional style of capturing music performances. There is also tracking and panning across the five girls during chorus using a head and shoulder shot to capture each of them singing in more detail. As each girl is singing on their own the camera focuses on that person from all different angles such as from a low angle, a close up of the girls face from both head on and side on, there is also subtle zooms both in and out, the combination of these gives the performance a very smooth, sexy feel and gives the viewer the chance to see every aspect of the performance. The concept based narrative is based on the beautiful, pure, innocent teenage girls watching a movie and experiencing the innocent flirting with boys. Their naivety and beauty is accentuated by the camera shots used and the expressions of the girls. There are a lot of close ups that focus on the girls faces and their reactions, each time the girl is either looking up, making them look wide eyed and naïve or looking down looking shy and innocent. There is a very specific shot at 00:40 where there is a medium close up of Cheryl clutching ‘She’ magazine o her chest, this is an iconic shot as it sums up everything a teenage girl was about during that time period and even in the present day. Teenage girls follow glossy magazines as their bible and this shot depicts that concept perfectly. Another one is at 2:59 where Kimberly is fixing her make-up in a compact mirror and then pouting in the rear view mirror of her car to check her appearance. This is also another very stereotypical shot of teenage girls during the 60’s time period where glamour and beauty was a very big part of their day to day life; it is also something girls of the present day can relate to as well.
The band began with the UK label Polydor Records, subsidised by Universal Music. In 2006 Polydor launched a label solely dedicated to pop music called Fascination Records which Girls Aloud transferred to. The band had an advantage in capturing an audience through the TV programme Pop Stars: The Rivals which gave the public the power to essentially create the band, and the national recognition from the programme instantly gave the band overnight stardom making it easy for them to overcome the hurdle that is one of the hardest for up and coming bands which is to become known. Also, they were moulded in front of the publics eyes to become a pop group so they also were immediately given a target audience. Being a part of Polydor Records gave the girls the opportunity to work with a well established label as well with links to other well known artist including Gwen Stefani and Eminem. Working with a well established label also helps to give the band recognition as opposed to a small unknown indie label. It also gives the impression that they are likely to be a very successful band as a large company has put its reputation on the line to promote them. By transferring to a pop dedicated label gives the group and the label the chance to focus solely on their genre potentially making the image stronger also.
down to reveal a bright light containing distorted black figures in the centre third of the shot, this draws the viewer in by plotting an enigma; for the unfocussed camera work creates a supernatural effect forcing the viewer to ask what or who these silhouettes are and their reason for being. Within no more than two seconds it cuts to an extreme close up of one half of Penate’s face looking down with his hair covering his eyes creating wonder
as the viewer cannot place his expression or emotion. After a quick two shot of girls with trumpets, it cuts back to a close up of Penate’s eyes looking directly at the camera. With the light coming from behind him it is not a flattering shot, it reveals the dark circles under his eyes and bags, areas of his face are in darkn
ess and he appears to be in anguish. It then cuts to a close up of his feet with one tapping conservatively but the tight black trousers and scuffed dull shoes seem to be repressing the movement they wish to make. Another quick cut back to the girls with trumpets and it becomes clear that there tears drawn in glitter on their faces, this further emphasises the idea of repression and sadness.The video cuts back to another shot of his eyes. At this point all shots but the establishing shot have been extreme close ups but as the music kicks in the video cuts to a low angle extreme long shot, in this shot the lighting is warmer and less harsh, and the revealed unconfined space gives Penate the freedom to move and to mirror this the camera now moves more freely, it pans up from his feet in a medium close up to capture the movement of his whole body. 
band. The lighting is used here to make each member appear angelic as each individual head is framed in light which is ironic as it reflects the window art found in churches of biblical characters such as the Virgin Mary, and the location of the video is also set inside a church. The use of lighting in this way carries on throughout the video.
nt the song is at the chorus, during which the camera never takes still shots of the action, the camera is always moving whether it be panning, tracking or zooming. This creates a sense of chaos reflecting Penates state of mind; it also adds creates variation throughout the video to help successfully maintain the audiences attention and reflect the speed of the song. But once the chorus ends and verse begins the camera alternates back to a combination of still shots and s
hots with little movement, the lighting also becomes a lot less bright and more controlled. During the verse a use of close ups are used on Penates face especially his e
yes much like the shots at the beginning of the video, there are also long shots of the band but it mainly focuses on the lead singer.
us kicks in once again a parallel narrative is introduced which consists medium close ups of people dancing in slow motion, all dressed in black in front of big white flood lights, they have little relevance to the song, but they are there to represent freedom of expression and the idea of magic or religion giving you the opportunity to free yourself. These shots interweave between the performance narrative; cutting back and forth between the two narratives every few seconds.
Penate 
in the parallel narrative convulsing, very shaky close ups of Penate dancing in the performance narrative with the camera pulling left and right. This further entices the viewer as they try to understand what has just happened, why has this character suddenly just lost control like that? 
lights with Penate left at the end alone beside the crowd out of the light looking like he doesn’t belong. It finishes with a fade to black.
