"L.E.S." stands for Lower East Side, which is
where Santigold moved to when she wanted to pursue a career in music.
A quotation by the artist talking about the underlying
meaning of the song:
"Well, it's 'L-E-S Artistes' and it stands for Lower
East Side. It's not a French thing, it is playing on the fact that everyone
tries to make things fancy and it's really pretentious. The song is about me
moving back to New York, feeling really vulnerable, wanting to be an artist
soaking up all simulation creatively but at the same time staying introverted
and in my own mind. At the same time, it's about being accosted by the New York
scene and the scenesters and hipsters, who are really not artists and are just
pretending to be. They're all about just being seen."
Therefore, when creating my music video, even though I am
creating more abstract filming, the lyrics may influence my choices when coming
to dress-code, setting and colour schemes. I think this song has an ideal
representation of today’s society – trying to fit in by making yourself look
more 'elaborate'. The idea that image is everything – this can be broken down
to the lyrics ‘I see you good, you forced faker’ suggesting that the song
explores her feelings towards people who think they’re something they’re not.
It’s about branching out from the Lower East Side where she, as an artist, grew
up. Later moving to New York and breaking the mould from the modern black
artist creating hip-hop, to openly creating something she really wanted to.
That all these people she used to be associated with, really knew nothing about
the career or path she wanted to pursue.
A quote from a review I found on this song
states ‘I think she's saying that as a creator she has had to give up things,
including some relationships, but what's ultimately more important is the work
she's doing (music) and getting out her message. She only hope that the art she
creates and the lives she changed will be worth the things and people she's had
to give up personally' Which I believe is very accurate if you take into
account when the lyrics say 'What I'm searching for, to tell it straight, I'm
trying to build a walk, walking by myself, down avenues that reek of time to
kill.'
I have chosen this song for my music due to its calm and relaxed tones. The fact that it is a remix adds to the serene, trance-like state in which the listener is induced. Even though there are some lyrics, this remix is more repetitive, unlike other songs with lyrics, I plan to have no lip-sync as I would prefer to include the trance-like tones and calm state into a story-based video.
Definition of Trap Music
Trap music is a genre that originated in the Early 1900s from Southern American hip hop. It incorporates sub-bass kick drums, double-time, triple-time and other faster time division hi-hats, layered synthesisers and cinematic strings.
This electronic produced music began, in 2012 to be included into a new movement of hit singles and tracks. Trap music can be fast, up-beat and heavy (the bass drops being higher and a lot more powerful) or, like my chosen song, can be more psychedelic and can rapture your state of mind.
How I Edited it With Audacity
I decided to slightly alter the original remix due to fact that it was conventionally too long to be made into a music video. At 5 minutes long, I felt that this track would be too long-winded for the abstracted video I want to create. Therefore, I downloaded the free audio-editing software 'Audacity' where you can cut and edit parts of the soundtrack out and also add effects.
Step 1.
Within this screenshot, it shows Audacity open with my soundtrack in full. I decided, that between 3.00 minutes and 3.30, there was unnecessary, quiet singing. Because of this, I thought it would be better if the music before and after should carry on as one. Therefore, I used the select tool to drag the section I wanted to delete. After this was deleted, I now had to make the two sections co-inside with each other. Therefore, I used a convention of remix trap music and used 3 seconds of the quiet music to introduce the small bass-drop. This worked effectively as the last beat of the three seconds was cohesive with the beat of the bass.
Step 2.
Within this screenshot I decided that there was a long unnecessary ending for the remix. Therefore, I removed the grey-shaded area of sound to reduce the time of the track and also to make the ending more abrupt and interesting. If not, I believe the ending to the soundtrack would be too long-winded and the visual film wouldn't be able to adapt any more.
Step 3.
Within this screenshot I felt as though my newly cropped
ending stopped too abruptly. Therefore, I selected the audio that was slightly
quieter and put a 'fade out' effect on it. Therefore, the ending now flows
perfectly and ends like a conventional soundtrack instead of stopping on an odd
beat.
This was my first initial idea for my music soundtrack as it has calm, trance-like elements throughout. I feel like this would be the most efficient for the slow, abstracted music video that I want to create. It has low and high frequency's throughout which I feel adds to the psychedelic mood of the piece. I feel like I could create lots of different elements of cinematography to co-inside with the mood of this piece. Such as extreme close-ups and different experiments with shutter lenses and distortion. Kavinsky - Nightcall
This soundtrack fits in with the genre of electronic music. The electronically produced sound-waves within the track sets an interesting mood. The up-beat, heart-thumping bass-drops and beats make it interesting and original. However, I think this would not fit into a conventional music video due to its originality. But, it would be interesting to use as an interesting abstract piece of work and could incorporate lots of different experimental elements.
Evenings - Babe
Originally, I researched this soundtrack after watching Euan Baker's A2 Media Music Video. I did this because I loved how there wasn't any lyrics but the film itself told a story. Created by the same artist as Euan Bakers, I thought that I could use a similar soundtrack and elements from his method to incorporate my own ideas. This electronically produced music lead me on to different songs such as remixes which helped my ideas grow in terms of what I could picture my end product looking like.
Euan Baker Music Video - A2 Media Studies - Wyke Sixth Form College
What I Liked About It
For this music video, I was instantly captivated by the psychedelic patterns of ink. I feel like this was a very creative and artistic element to the structure of the video. The context of this video is very up to interpretation. The black and white elements make this video calm and relaxing, the tones being soft and the editing smooth and continuous. The lack of expression means that the audience can interpret whatever they like from the video - from when he is laying in a field, to the slow-motion of him falling into the lake. Was it intentional? Why is he there? These rhetorical questions are intentional for the hallucinatory theme of the video. The fish-eye camera and over-lapping of different camera shutters was really effective for this characteristic piece.
Tycho - See
What I Liked About It
In retrospect to the previous music video, this is similar as there are no lyrics within the song. I think music videos that do not have lyric timing makes them more story-based and can be a lot more creative in respect of visual imagery. The story-line is more prominent in this music video and you can follow the directions of the girl as she walks (use of panning). However, this story-line also had live performance in it, although you never really see the artist's faces, just the musical instruments. I think this is clever because they overlapped lighting to make it quite psychedelic and original - linking with the futuristic, magical theme of the music video.
1. London Grammar - Nightcall Genre - British Electric Pop
What I Liked About This Music Video
The name of the song 'Nightcall' has direct correlation to creatures of the night, such as owls, bats, foxes and crickets. The connotations of 'Nightcall' can be concepts associated with darkness and mystery. This being because nocturnal animals are usually heard but not seen. Therefore, this could be an underlining message due to the lyrics 'I'm giving you a nightcall to tell you how I feel' - suggesting that they haven't been able to express their feelings until the night when they feel like they can express themselves without having to actually see them in person (Just as an owl 'hoots'.) Also, in this video, the continuous use of panning acts as a scene-changer. From the artists to the storyline and instead of a cut-shot, they use panning to create an eerie atmosphere. Almost like it's another person looking and watching - therefore including the audience as they are the ones watching. The eerie atmosphere is also integrated via the mise-en-scene due to the misty fog. There a many connotations for fog, fog occurs very frequently in horror films, especially at night to set the scene. I think fog is a clever use of mise-en-scene for this music video as fog generally scares people because it's the unknown and normally you can't see through fog very well. Therefore linking back to wanting to be heard but not seen.
What I Didn't Like About This Music Video
One of the things I did not particularly like about this music video was the fact that the band were stationary for the whole video. However, this stationary stance may have been used to give a mysterious atmosphere - as in they're not the sole subjects of the video but the things around them such as the caravan set-alight and the herd of horses. On the other hand, they could have been still as the song is very melancholic and steady - hence the use of slow-motion within other aspects of the video. One final point is that I felt the storyline wasn't very clear and didn't understand fully what all the different scenes were supposed to represent.
How I Would Be Inspired From This Music Video
For my own music video, I am planning to find a song such as a slow ballad or a song with a steady beat therefore, by watching videos like this one, I can understand the type of standard and expectation for a slow, almost psychedelic song. I also liked the simplicity of the video as there wasn't much mise-en-scene, therefore making it less crowded and solely focusing the audience on on main purpose within the scene.
2) A Day To Remember - Right Back At It Again Genre - Post-Hardcore American Rock
What I Liked About This Music Video
To begin with, this isn't your usual conventional music video. This, however, is why I like it. Due to the animation mixed with real-life, it gives the video a fun, bright and happy atmosphere which is good as the band are singing about their success. There are many comical elements such as a band member surfing on noodles which is funny because they sing about when they were at school/college - it relates to a teenage audience because it's a stereotype that teens eat a lot of pot noodles. Therefore, they engage their audience with the funny element and also relate to them, hence making them like the music and the characters of the band. Compared to 'Nightcall', this music video has a lot of mise-en-scene which I thought worked well with the fast-pace of the song. I also liked the fact that it was solely story-based on their career, therefore every lyric matched every scene of the music video. Not many music videos do this but I thought it worked well with this context of song.
What I Didn't Like About This Music Video One of the things I did not particularly like about this music video was the opening scene with the man introducing the video like an old-time storybook. I felt like this was slightly 'corny' and 'cheesy' and strayed away from the band. Therefore, due to this, for my music video, the opening scene would be the first beat of the song to get the audience fully engaged.
How I Would Be Inspired From This Music Video
If I were to take anything from this music video, it would be the comical factor. However, I do not plan to do a song as up-beat as thing one. But I do think the pace of the editing really suites the song's upbeat melody. Also, I like the idea of a music video being solely a story I feel like it would be clever to storyboard a whole situation accompanied (not necessarily word for word) with a soundtrack. 3. Taylor Swift - Shake It Off Genre - Pop
What I Liked About This Music Video
One of the main things I liked about this video was the continuous use of lip-sync. Taylor acts out her song therefore instantly making the song about her. The use of mise-en-scene within this video was crucial as things such as costume change and character change were so frequent. I felt like this was good as she was singing about not caring who/where she was, but just having a good time without the burden of critics. She portrayed this well via different choreographed dance groups which is a major convention for pop music videos. I also really like the fast-paced editing and cut-shots to different scenes which always keeps you engaged with hat's she's doing on screen.
What I Didn't Like About This Music Video Sometimes the video can be slightly inappropriate due to the female dancers who 'twerk'. Therefore, in this section, she isn't appealing to her target audience that are slighter younger ages of 10 years and such.
How I Would Be Inspired From This Music Video
This is very inspirational for my music video due to its constant costume changes. I think that the more costume changes in music video, the more interesting it becomes. By having frequent costume changes, it makes it easier to differentiate a scene from another. Like Taylor's 'Shake It Off' video, there is a plain grey background in each scene, therefore, the mise-en-scene solely relies on the costume changes of the actors and artist to change from 'Ballerinas' to 'Contemporary'.
Advanced Portfolio in Media Brief Specification Chosen brief: A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with the two following options; 1) a cover for its release as part of a digipak(CD/DVD package); 2) A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package). To achieve this, I will look at existing products to make sure my final outcome is as conventional as possible for the music industry. By looking at already successful music videos, I will be able to interpret what is needed to create a likable and popular product for my specific audience type.
