The 1975 - 'Sex' (Textual Analysis)

The 1975 - 'Sex'
Genre: Alternative/Indie


The music video for The 1975's 'Sex (Album Version)' was never going to be particularly politically correct. The song title suggests promiscuity and the explicit video leaves little to the imagination. Instead of the male protagonist being played by the vocalist, as previously exhibited in 'The City' and 'Chocolate', he is portrayed by an actor. It's also worth noting that the Sex (Album Version)''s music video is the first of the artist's videos to be shown in colour. All of the videos had been black and white previously, including the 'Sex (EP Version)''s video. 

The music video fits the typical forms and conventions of an Alternative/Indie video. Sex, drugs and alcohol all make appearances throughout the duration and these activities have become a typical convention of a music video of the genre in more recent years. Arctic Monkeys' 'Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High?' is a prime example as well as The Neighbourhood's 'Sweater Weather'. The band can be seen performing the track during brief intervals throughout the video but the narrative of the two protagonists is more prominent. The combination of performance and narrative is also a typical convention of an Alternative music video.

The audience of the music video would be primarily fans of the band, fans of Indie music or members of the general public who have heard of the band and wish to listen to them further. The 1975 have a primarily female following however a large quantity of males also enjoy their music and visuals. Most of the The 1975's fans are in their teens.

Institution-wise, The 1975 are able to give their own ideas for music videos. Their record label, Dirty Hit Records is not a huge corporate label like Sony and so they are able to work almost at their own accord. During the production of the music video, the band would require little attention from any stylists or other organisations who wish to market their own products. The 1975 choose to wear their own clothes during their music videos and do not endorse in product placement. The aim of their music videos is to promote their music and that is all. The production of the music video would require a small camera crew, a director and a producer. Matty Healy, the lead vocalist of The 1975, always tends to incorporate his own ideas into the music video and makes sure that the director is aware of his goals or vision for the eventual outcome of the video. The 1975 have a lot of input into their music videos as opposed to manufactured artists like Little Mix or The Saturdays.

The female protagonist is portrayed as intelligent, shown in her dialogue at the beginning of the video, but yet she participates in illegal activities such as taking drugs. She is also seen naked briefly during the video which displays her promiscuity and suggests that she is open with her sexuality. However, the female is not seen in a voyeuristic manner at any point during the video - the audience don't lust for her. The music video disputes typical videos of this decade as the woman is seen naked but only because she is taking part in a sexual act with her partner. The woman is not being objectified or being suggested to be 'cheap' or 'easy' alike current Hip-Hop music videos. The male in the video is instead being portrayed as the naive and stupid character as he descends into a serious drug addiction. The 1975's 'Sex (Album Version)' music video contrasts music videos where women are seen as sexual objects and men are seen as powerful demigods.

Panic! At The Disco - New Perspective (Final Cut & Evaluation)


1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
I worked with Dom, Ellie and Zahra. We all took turns in performing during the video. Ellie did most of the editing with the help of Dom and Zahra. Zahra did most of the camerawork. Me and Dom helped with editing and figuring out the time that certain shots remained on screen.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?
We planned our sequence by pinpointing how long each individual shot remained on screen for.

3) What theories could you apply to the video you chose?
The male gaze could be applied to the video in the dancing of the cheerleaders.

4) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?
We used HDR-CX180 cameras to shoot the video and Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to complete the task.

5) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
We had to take into the account that the setting of the video is a little different to that of the original video and so some shots wouldn't look perfectly replicated. Some settings were so hard to copy that we had to use a green screen to alter the background of a subject during the editing process.

6) How successful was your music video copy? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently? What did others say about your production?
Our music video copy went pretty successfully to how we first anticipated it would turn out. We all worked well together well as usual but we would definitely have to think more about lip syncing accurately next time. Others said that our music video was really good and some even said that it was their favourite.

7) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your music video, do you think?
We have learnt who is best at what when creating a music video. This learning will be significant when completing our final music video as we will all be working with our strengths to create the best original music video possible.

8) How does it compare with filming an opening to a film?
We've learnt that filming a music video is a lot harder than filming an opening to a film. When in front of the camera, you become a lot more conscious of every action you make and everything has to be pristine. Exaggerating your actions when lip syncing is also extremely difficult.

9) What are your strengths and weaknesses as a group member?
I am strong at camerawork and attempting to get the best shots possible out of what we have to work with. I learnt that I'm a little weak at performing in contrast to other members of our group.

10) Looking at the other group's videos which do you think were most successful and why?
I loved the One Direction music video as the group were able replicate the setting in the original video extremely effectively with the music studio on our school's site. The performance of all the students was also incredibly enthusiastic. Another worthy mention is the High School Musical video which was very well executed as well. Each shot was incredibly similar to the original video's and the performing was also brilliant. I loved the enthusiasm towards the choreography too.

Advanced Premiere Effects

 

Changing colour of background (matte) show before and after:

Before

After
 
 Blurred background:

 Before
 
After
 
Quad Split-Screen Shot:


Glowing Title:


Blending two videos to create a Fantasy effect:



Peer Assessment

For this task, I had to assess a fellow class members A2 Music Video blog. I chose to analyse and mark Dom Freedman's blog.


Overall blog - is it musical? Labels clear?
Dom's blog is very musical as it has a Foo Fighters album cover background. The blog is consistent in its look and style.The labels are clear and situated at the top of the blog.

Music Video x3 - Goodwin Textual Analysis
Dom's textual analysis is in-depth and uses relevant screenshots to back up his points. If Dom wanted to improve this post a little more, he could possibly add a little more depth to his analysis.

Banana Phone
The Banana Phone task was executed really well by Dom and the editing was cleanly performed.

No Rest - Dry The River
I like Dom's 'Dry The River' post as it provided an original music video idea for the song, explained the real music video and then talked about his own opinion on it. I cannot think of any possible improvements to this post as Dom accomplished the task very well.

What Music Means To Me
Dom's 'What Music Means To Me' post was very interesting as it informed us of songs that related to him at a certain age or time of his life. No improvements could be suggested for this assignment.

Audience
Dom's 'Audience' post tells us about why and how he consumes music. This post was very interesting and informative as lots of people have different viewpoints on music.

Star Profile
The 'Star Profile' is very in-depth and focuses on all areas of Dave Grohl's extensive career. We learn a great deal about all of his past roles in different bands and what he is up to during the present. Dom's 'Star Profile' does not need any immediate improvements.

Representation and Essay
The Representation Essay is very in-depth and includes pictures to back up the points provided.

Any Other Comments
Overall, Dom's blog is very easy to weave through using the labels and blog archive tab.

In return, Dom had this to say about my blog:

Overall Blog-Is it musical? labels clear?
Jonathan's blog is very musical and relaxing with a nice background of a forest as well as having very clear labels to read and links so that his work is easy to find.

Music Video x 3/Goodwin textual analysis
Jonathan's textual analyses of 3 music videos using Andrew Goodwin theories is a well rounded and thorough piece of work by studying various genres from Emo to Pop as well as different artists to formulate a detailed piece of wok.

Banana phone
Jonathan's swede of the music video Banana Phone is very well crafted as he utilised some very difficult effects to create it such as the cloning tool and stop-motion effect in Adobe Premiere.

What Music Means To Me
Jonathan's task to rediscover past music that meant something to him was well produced by clearly detailing why each song had been influential in a part of his life.

No Rest
I enjoyed Jonathan's task as it gave thought provoking ideas and express' his opinion very well and I cannot think of anything to correct.

Audience

This piece of work is very well done as it details well the way Jonathan personally consumes music.

Star Profile
Jonathan's star profile of Miley Cyrus is extremely thorough and it can be easily seen as having a lot of time invested into it and has paid out as I learnt a lot about Cyrus's extensive career.


Representation and Essay

Jonathan's essay is very detailed and analyses the music video extremely well.

Any other comments
To concluded Jonathan's blog

Panic! At The Disco - New Perspective (Preliminary Preparation)

Panic! At The Disco - 'New Perspective'
Genre: Alternative



Panic! At The Disco's 'New Perspective' was released on July 22 2009 and the video was released on iTunes on August 24 2009. The song and accompanying video were produced for 'Jennifer's Body (2009)'. The official music video was directed by Kai Regan. It is made up of footage of Brendon and Spencer walking through a high school and clips from the 2009 Comedy-Horror movie.

For our preliminary task, me, Dom, Ellie and Zahra will recreate the first 1 minute and 11 seconds of 'New Perspective'.

Time each shot remains on-screen: 

0:01 - 0:21
Pan & Low Angle Shot

0:22 - 0:23
Wide Shot & Zoom
0:24 - 0:25
Close-Up Shot & Zoom
 
0:26 - 0:27
 Close Up Shot & Zoom

0:27 - 0:28
Static Close-Up Shot 

0:28 - 0:30
Pan Close-Up to Extreme Close-Up Shot

0:30 - 0:35
Low Angle Medium Close-Up Shot

0:36 - 0:37
Extreme Close-Up Shot

0:38 - 0:41
Panning Mid-Shot to Tracking Shot

0:42 - 0:46
Medium Close-Up Shot

0:47 - 0:47
Wide Shot

0:48 - 0:48
Static Mid-Shot

0:49 - 0:50
Close-Up Shot

0:51 - 0:52
Pan

0:52 - 0:53
Pan to Tracking Mid Shot

0:54 - 0:55
High Angle Shot

0:55 - 0:55
Two-Shot

0:55 - 0:56
Low Angle Shot

0:57 - 0:58
Close-Up Shot

0:58 - 1:00
Two-Shot

1:00 - 1:01
Extreme Close-Up

1:01 - 1:01
Wide Shot

1:02 - 1:03
Two-Shot Medium Close-Up

1:03 - 1:05
Wide Two-Shot

1:06 - 1:07
Zoom

1:08 - 1:09
Mid Shot

1:10 - 1:11
Mid Shot

What equipment/props will we need?
 
Suit x2
Sunglasses x2
Cheerleader Outfit
Nerdy Glasses
Flag
Bright Zip-Up Hoodie
Bright Earrings
Guitar
Green Screen
Lyrics: