Genre Research

In order to help me produce my final product, I  carried out some genre research on the genre of my original music video; Evanescence - Bring Me To Life. By studying this genre (Alternative Rock and Punk), this has allowed me to understand the ideology behind the particular genre, this research will also help me in the production of my music video as I will create every detail of my video to resemble the genre.

What Makes a Good Product?

To make a quality music video, it is key to have a variety of scenes and costumes as this keeps the audience interested as to what is going to happen next. Including a variety of different people, not just one main protagonist also maintains the audiences attention. Imagination and narrative also have a key influence on creating a quality music video as they are both exciting features for the audience to watch as they will easily stay in focus with the music video. Semiotics are a big influence on music videos also as they have hidden, subconscious meanings behind them which connects with the audience discreetly. 

LIIAR and Textual Analysis - Jack White

Jack White - I'm Shakin'

Language
In this music video, Jack White is more-or-less competing against himself through the use of music. This is demonstrated through contrasting costume and colour scheme; blue and black. Jack White's newest album is called Lazaretto and has a running theme of black and blue therefore because this song is on that album, it follows the colour scheme for this album. The lighting of this music video is cold and dark, this supports Jack White's individual attitudes and ideology.

Institution
Jack White is a well known musician who was front man for the famous band The White Stripes. In 2012, Jack produced and released his first solo album, Blunderbuss and then in 2014 he produced and released his second solo album, Lazaretto. The White Stripes was made up of Jack and his (now ex wife) Meg White, they were active from 1997 to 2011. Jack White has worked with many different music labels such as Warner Brothers, V2, Third Man Records (Jack White's own label), Sub Pop and Sympathy for the Record Industry.

Ideology
In this video, Jack is demonstrating that he has a split personality. This is enhanced through the use of filming him fighting against himself through the form of a song. The camera angles and edits used for this particular song are quick and distorted; this portrays to the audience that he is 'Shakin' therefore this video supports the narrative of this song.

Audience
Jack White's audience is a mass audience who enjoy music coming from The White Stripes, Bob Dylan and The Raconteurs; this is mainly because Jack is in two of these bands and Bob Dylan is Jack White's main inspiration. Jack's audience ranges from the ages of fifteen to about fifty. He has a wide target audience which means he has a mass audience. Jack worked with Warner Brothers who also have a mass audience as they are a major label, who produce music for multiple different artists. By working with this major label, it has gained Jack more popularity therefore he has become global throughout his work in the music industry.

Representation
As Jack is wearing a suit, this represents to the audience that he is a sophisticated and well respected man. Jack is notorious for wearing suits when performing live or when conducting a photo shoot therefore he is sustaining his image by wearing a suit in this video. This video represents two forms of Jack, for example the fact that one of him is blue, this suggests he is kind, happy and joyful whereas the other side is black therefore this represents that he is mad, dark and evil. This creates the feelings of confusion and interest for the audience as they want to find out more about Jack.

LIIAR and Textual Analysis - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Zephyr Song

Language
There are many different techniques used throughout this video there for example: fluorescent colours, black and white silhouettes (or threshold effects), symmetry, shots of live performances, sexual dancing women, flowers, overlapping and optical illusions. This music video does not connote a narrative to the audience however when watching the video it is interesting, exciting and intriguing. An explosion of fluorescent colour bursts onto the screen when the chorus begins. To begin the video, the music video is slow and steady with a female dancing calmly, this suddenly changes when the chorus begins; the dancing becomes quicker and the background transitions start to rapidly increase in speed.

Institution
Red Hot Chili Peppers are associated with the record labels EMI and Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers are a major label therefore this means Red Hot Chili Peppers have a mass audience in which they aim their music at. In 1990, the group signed with Warner Brothers Records and recorded with the producer Rick Rubin. The album Blood Sugar Sex Magik became the band's first commercial success. Red Hot Chili Peppers is currently made up of four males; Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer. RHCP has a growing list of ten past members who were previously in the band.

Ideology
This music video portrays females as sexual objects as they are dressed wearing skimpy outfits such as just knickers, and bra-lets. They are also seen as sexual objects due to the way they are dancing. This music video has the ideas of drugs, for example, the hallucinations in this video resembles the hallucinations you receive when taking serious drugs; bright colours, random images. Everyone knows The Red Hot Chili Peppers were drug users during the era of their fame therefore this video portrays their ideas when on the drugs whilst producing.

Audience
Red Hot Chili Peppers aim themselves at teenage boys as well as teenage girls. This age range is their target audience as the teenage years are notorious for experimenting with drugs, sex and drink. The fact that the majority of The Red Hot Chili Peppers songs include drugs, drug phrases or the ideology of drugs becomes famous with this age range as they are new to these ideas.

Representation
The use of colours explores the different hallucinations from the multiple drugs used. During this time, the trend or fashion was drug taking, therefore Red Hot Chili Peppers have created a video to resemble the drugs. They have done this by the use of bright colours, fades in and fades out, dissolves and symmetry.

LIIAR and Textual Analysis - My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade

Language and Representation
As this video is under the alternative rock and punk genre and the band support their genre extremely well; by wearing particular styles of clothing like soldiers uniforms or historic leader uniforms, by wearing dark make-up, using isolated locations and dark lighting. The choice of their clothing is relevant and important to them as this is their particular look; by searching in Google Images "My Chemical Romance", you can clearly see throughout all their photos, they have a continuous style of this type of clothing. These costumes also support the narrative of the song, for example, in modern day parades, generally uniforms like this are worn therefore the fact that My Chemical Romance are wearing this style of costume suggests they are in a parade or a "Black Parade".
At the beginning of the video, there is a scene in a hospital. This is enhanced by the use of white outfits which connote doctors or nurses, there is the use of hospital beds and hospital equipment, which creates a sense of suffering or pain. This makes the audience feel uneasy and confused as to what's happening and why he is in the hospital bed.
This video is always in black and white; this connotes that this video is a flashback. The idea of a flashback is also supported by the lyrics as at the beginning of the song "When I was, a young boy". This is referring back to when the singer - Gerard Way, was a young boy with his father.

Ideology
The ideas behind this video relate to death. In New Orleans there is a parade of death - to celebrate the death of someone. This links to this particular video as the name of the song is "Welcome to the Black Parade". My Chemical Romance have a theme of death throughout all of their videos and albums therefore they support this theme through this video. The band's initial ideas behind this video were to appear with a look of sympathy and morbidity - they have achieved this welcome throughout the whole video by the choice of clothes, make up, setting and the style of camera colour.

Institution
My Chemical Romance are associated with the record labels Reprise, Warner Brothers and Eyeball; Warner Brothers being a major music label. Shortly after forming in 2002, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. In 2003, the band signed a record deal with Reprise Records and produced their second album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and in 2004, this album was awarded with the platinum status.

Audience
My Chemical Romance aim their music, albums and songs at teenagers around the age of fourteen to twenty. They especially focus on teenagers who continuously wear all black and who feel alone, isolated, confused and alienated. This band aim themselves at males as well as females which opens up their target audience to a mass audience.

Lyric Analysis

Lines such as 'save me from the dark' and 'how can you see into my eyes, like open doors?' these both suggest to the audience that Amy Lee is stuck in a different world that she needs to be saved from. This reinforces the idea of drugs that she cannot escape. Referring to her own eyes as 'open doors' suggests that she is empty, alone and has no proper life inside of her; this also supports the idea of drug use, as drugs fully take over your life and your body. Overall, these lyrics state the full impact drugs can have on a persons mentality and personality. 

There is a continuous theme of drugs and depression running through the lyrics of my song. When first hearing this song; I immediately imagined it was about love but after analysing the lyrics I realised that the lead female singer - Amy Lee is struggling from a drug addiction that she can't seem to escape without his help. The male singer in this song is there to 'bring her to life' and allow her to be free from the dangerous drug addiction. Amy states how she has 'been living a lie' this connotes that she has not been living her original life but a life blurred by the drug use.

History of Music Videos

Lyrics Timings

Evanescence

"Bring me to life"

Black - Paul McCoy (harmonies)
Red -Amy Lee

Wind blows for 7 seconds
Piano starts playing after 7 seconds from the beginning

(Starts 17 seconds in) How can you see into my eyes like open doors? (Finishes 25 seconds)
(Starts 27 seconds) Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb (Finishes 36 seconds)
(Starts 38 seconds) Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold (Finishes 47 seconds)
(Starts 48 seconds) Until you find it there and lead it back home (Finishes 57 seconds)

(Pause from 57 seconds to 1:03)

(Starts 1:03) (Wake me up) (Finishes 1:04)
(Starts 1:04) Wake me up inside (Finishes 1:06)
(Starts 1:05) (I can't wake up) (Finishes 1:06)
(Starts 1:07) Wake me up inside (Finishes 1:08)
(Starts 1:08) (Save me) (Finishes 1:09)
(Starts 1:09) Call my name and save me from the dark (Finishes 1:13)
(Starts 1:13) (Wake me up) (Finishes 1:14)
(Starts 1:14) Bid my blood to run (Finishes 1:16)
 (Starts 1:15) (I can't wake up) (Finishes 1:16)
(Starts 1:16) Before I come undone (Finishes 1:18)
(Starts 1:18) (Save me) (Finishes 1:19)
(Starts 1:19) Save me from the nothing I've become (Finishes 1:24)

(Pause from 1:24 to 1:27)

(Starts 1:27) Now that I know what I'm without (Finishes 1:32)
(Starts 1:33) You can't just leave me (Finishes 1:36)
(Starts 1:37) Breathe into me and make me real (Finishes 1:43)
(Starts 1:44) Bring me to life (Finishes 1:49)

(Starts 1:50) (Wake me up) (Finishes 1:51)
(Starts 1:51) Wake me up inside (Finishes 1:53)
(Starts 1:52) (I can't wake up) (Finishes 1:53)
(Starts 1:53) Wake me up inside (Finishes 1:55)
(Starts 1:55) (Save me) (Finishes 1:56)
(Starts 1:56) Call my name and save me from the dark (Finishes 2:00)
(Starts 2:00) (Wake me up) (Finishes 2:01)
(Starts 2:01) Bid my blood to run (Finishes 2:03)
(Starts 2:02) (I can't wake up) (Finishes 2:03)
(Starts 2:03) Before I come undone (Finishes 2:05)
(Starts 2:05) (Save me) (Finishes 2:06)
(Starts 2:06) Save me from the nothing I've become (Finishes 2:11)

(Starts 2:11) Bring me to life (Finishes 2:16)
(Starts 2:16) (I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside) (Finishes 2:20)
(Starts 2:21) Bring me to life (Finishes 2:26)

(Pause from 2:26 to 2:30)

(Starts 2:30) Frozen inside without your touch (Finishes 2:35)
(Starts 2:35) Without your love, darling (Finishes 2:40)
(Starts 2:40) Only you are the life among the dead (Finishes 2:50)

(Starts 2:51) All this time I can't believe I couldn't see (Finishes 2:53)
(Starts 2:53) Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me (Finishes 2:55)
(Starts 2:55) I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems (Finishes 2:58)
(Starts 2:58) Got to open my eyes to everything (Finishes 3:01)
(Starts 3:01) Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul (Finishes 3:03)
(Starts 3:03) Don't let me die here (Finishes 3:05)
(Starts 3:05) There must be something more (Finishes 3:07)
(Starts 3:07) Bring me to life (Finishes 3:11)

(Starts 3:11) (Wake me up) (Finishes 3:12)
(Starts 3:12) Wake me up inside (Finishes 3:13)
(Starts 3:13) (I can't wake up) (Finishes 3:14)
(Starts 3:14) Wake me up inside (Finishes 3:16)
(Starts 3:16) (Save me) (Finishes 3:17)
(Starts 3:17) Call my name and save me from the dark (Finishes 3:21)
(Starts 3:21) (Wake me up) (Finishes 3:22)
(Starts 3:22) Bid my blood to run (Finishes 3:24)
(Starts 3:23) (I can't wake up) (Finishes 3:24)
(Starts 3:24) Before I come undone (Finishes 3:26)
(Starts 3:26) (Save me) (Finishes 3:27)
(Starts 3:27) Save me from the nothing I've become (Finishes 3:32)

(Starts 3:32) Bring me to life (Finishes 3:37)
(Starts 3:37) (I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside) (Finishes 3:40)
(Starts 3:42) Bring me to life (Finishes 3:56) 

Lyrics

Evanescence

"Bring me to life"

Black - Paul McCoy

Red - Amy Lee

How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb
Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can't wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
(I can't wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become

Now that I know what I'm without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can't wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
(I can't wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become

Bring me to life
(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life

Frozen inside without your touch
Without your love, darling
Only you are the life among the dead

All this time I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems
Got to open my eyes to everything
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul
Don't let me die here
There must be something more
Bring me to life

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can't wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
(I can't wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become

Bring me to life
(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life

Original Music Video

Media A2 Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options;

• A website homepage for the band

• A cover for it's release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)

• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)