Motown Track Selection: Signed Sealed Delivered by Craig David (2010)

After having a couple of meetings with my group (Jess R, Sam and Alex) we came up with two main ideas, both differing quite a lot: Fast Fuse by Kasabian and a modern motown video. As the second idea wasn't very defined at the time, I have worked on it further and listened to a few tracks in order to produce a single pitch. The track I have selected is Signed Sealed Delivered by Craig David (2010), it was originally produced and sung by Stevie Wonder, however we thought that his voice was too definitive and so Craig David's voice would be easier for the practicalities of the project.

LYRICS

Like a fool I went and stayed too long

Now I'm wondering if your love's still strong

Oo, baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!

Then that time I went and said goodbye

Now I'm back and not ashamed to cry

Oo, baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!

Here I am baby

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

(You got my future in your hands)

Here I am baby

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

(You got my future in your hands)

I've done a lot of foolish things

That I really didn't mean, hey yeah yeah didn't I?

Seem a lot of things in this old world

When I touch them, they mean nothing, girl

Oo, baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!

Oowee baby, you set my soul on fire

That's why I know you're my heart's only desire

ooooh baby

Here I am Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

Here I am Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

Here I am Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

done a lot of foolish things

That I really didn't mean hey yeah your right

Here I am baby Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

done a lot of foolish things

That I really didn't mean I feel broken

Here I am Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

Here I am Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

Here I am Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours

CONCEPT/GENERAL IDEA FOR THE VIDEO

Modern Retro, Taking an old style of music and bringing it into the 21st Century

INSPIRATIONS TO LOOK AT

• Miss Independent, Closer and Champagne Life by Ne-Yo (for the studio bit/solo artist scene)
• Next Best Thing by Nikki and Rich (for retro theme)
• Showgirl by Bluey Robinson
• Candyman by Christina Aguilera 
• Lovebug by Jonas Brothers
• Save the Last Dance for Me by Michael Buble
• Down with the trumpets by Rizzle Kicks
• Thinkin of Me by Olly Murs
• I Wanna Be Your Man by Willy Moon

BRANDING IDEAS SURROUNDING THE SONG

• Creating the next olly murs/michael buble but a younger version
• Clean, Polite, Family Friendly (not seen partying alot, etc.), Suits with Skinny Tie, Classy, Humble?
• Target Audience would be females aged 16-25? With secondary audiences being mums (introduced through their children/family appeal), teenage boys (who aspire to be him), Genre fans 
• Plenty opportunity of beauty shots for inside album cover and website

IMAGES

IDEA FOR THE VIDEO

• Maybe start with a child? Putting cassette into old radio (like Rizzle Kicks), Music sounding muffled at first and then play out properly
• At 0:08 (just after really high note) cut to retro mic dropping from above camera and singer catching it, then start singing (Artist dressed in suit with skinny tie and performing in a bare room/studio)
• Cut to scene of singer trying to pursue love interest (maybe in street/studio?, casual wear?)
• Cut to another scene of some sort of swing dance going on with singer and his love interest in centre with maybe two or three other couples
• Keep cutting between these scenes
• Ending Possibilities = 1) if we get a child relatively good at singing, then music could fade out to them with headphones and singing along (like in JLO's video for Get Right), 2) Singer gets the girl, 3) if we start with the singer, then at the end we could have him wake up alone after dreaming of his ideal girl?

3 SCENES (OR 4) 

• Solo Artist
• Street Walk
• Artist in his room
• Dance scene
• Maybe Artist and band?

LOCATIONS

• Studio
• Male Bedroom
• Street

PROPS/COSTUMES,ETC.

• Suit with Skinny Tie and Braces?
• Retro Mic
• Casual Smart Outfit
• Love Interest's Costume

Initial Ideas Brainstorm

This post is about my initial thoughts and ideas after reading the music video coursework brief.

The Brief
A promotion package of the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with 2 of the following 3 options:
1. a website homepage for the band
2. a digipak cover for its release on cd
3. a magazine advert for the album

Initial Idea 1 - Modernising Motown

The first thought I had after the brief was to take something classic/old and modernise it. This entered my mind because I wanted to move away from the typical song choices that were more natural for us to choose, such as indie bands or mainstream artists and be unique with our project. It was inspired by one of last year's videos from 'The Fix - Just Got Paid' because the song choice was quite different from the sort of thing that has been done by Latymer Students in the past and it worked really well. I've also noticed that retro sounds and images are becoming the trend at the moment, with artists like Cee Lo Green, Dionne Bromfield, Two Door Cinema Club and Cleo Sol.

Possible Track Selections:

• Groove Me by King Floyd (1970) (found from the something borrowed soundtrack)
• A Woman’s Gonna Try by Sabrina Starke
• Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Initial Idea 2 - Bringing the 80s/90s into the 21st Century

This thought followed on from motown, because I found that when I was researching tracks from that period of time, many of the artists have quite a definitive voice and sound which could make it slightly difficult to find an actor to fit the bill of the voice. Therefore I started to look at songs from a slightly later date, the 80s and 90s with songs from artists such as Will Smith, Mariah Carey, Tatyana Ali and Prince.

Initial Idea 3 - Country Genre

This idea is quite different from the previous two because at this point I was thinking more about the lyrics and music that could be fun to play around with and when clicking various songs on YouTube I found that a lot of the country songs had quite simple videos that were still effective.

Possible Artists and Tracks to research:

• Lady Antebellum
• Carrie Underwood
• The Band Perry
• Taylor Swift

Music Video Director Case Study: Diane Martel

Basic Facts & Information about Diane

In comparison with other high profile directors, there is a lack of information about Diane Martel's personal life/background. However, her portfolio is extremely full of well known and awarded videos which are listed below. She has directed numerous music videos and choreographed 'Bloodhounds of Broadway', 'Life with Mikey' and 'Shiny Happy People by R.E.M'

A sample list of her work (music videos):

• Best Thing I Never Had - Beyonce (2011)
• No One Gonna Love You - Jennifer Hudson (2011)
• Right Thru Me - Nicki Minaj (2010)
• Boys and Girls - Pixie Lott (2009)
• Mad - Neyo (2009)
• Watcha Think About That - Pussycat Dolls (2008)
• Like a Boy - Ciara (2007)
• Listen - Beyonce (2006)
• I Don't Care - Ricky Martin (2005)
• If I Haven't Got You - Alicia Keys (2004)
• Dance with my Father - Luther Vandross (2003)
• Like I Love You - Justin Timberlake (2002)
• Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey (1999)
• What a Girl Wants & Genie in a Bottle - Christina Aguilera (1999)
• The Riddler - Method Man (1995)
• All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey (1994)
• Dreamlover - Mariah Carey (1993)

The rest of the list can be viewed here: Music Video Database list of Diane Martel's work

Summary of Notes from Case Study

I found watching Diane Martel's videos very intriguing because I spotted that she has a few repeated elements across her portfolio that can be picked out and identified as her style. Most of the videos I watched created a sense of being in the artist's world and feeling the emotion connected to the song, this varied from anger and sadness to love and happiness. Below is a summary of what I found from watching a sample of her work:

• Basic Costumes - In almost all of the videos, the artist is dressed in very simple clothing that while it is trendy for the time of the video, very easy to achieve by the ordinary citizen. Make Up is very minimal and there is a slight focus on the idea of natural beauty
• Bare Rooms/Large Open Spaces - Repeated sense of artist in an empty room singing their music, making the emotion more believable. 
• Minimal/Few Props - There were little props used by the artists, most only had one or two. The main repetition in props I found were a single chair, a hat and a piano/instrument.
• Soft/Natural Lighting - Going along with the make up and costume, the lighting was used to enhance the idea of seeing the artists in a natural state, putting more focus on the music.
• Experimenting with silhouettes - A number of the videos contained at least one shot of a silhouette of the artist
• Emotion and Believability - This comes from the above features of the videos, sometimes the videos are in black and white to further enhance this.
• Use of different heights - Throughout the videos, the artist is made to make the most of the whole room. At points they are performing on the floor, then they'll be in heels walking around and other points they'll be performing on elevated platforms (for example in Britney Spears - 3 and Ciara - Promise)
• CU from the side of the artist - Every video I watched had a side shot that almost replaced the beauty shot for the artists, (mainly female) 
• Camera Movement - There is quite a bit of camera movement in the videos, often giving the sense of swaying and tracking the movement of the actors/artists.
• Cuts - The cutting style is varied throughout a single video, at points it will cut on the beat and other points there are long takes of the artist performing
• Use of a wind machine

My Favourite Three videos from Diane Martel

Best Thing I Never Had - Beyonce (2011)


I thought that this video was extremely well made because instead of being interpreted from a negative/bitter angle it actually expresses joy. Compared to other videos from Beyonce, this is one of the best in my opinion because Martel has used her style and made the whole thing very elegant, soft and natural. Once again the video conforms to many of the bullet points listed above, making it very believable and captivating to watch. It explores the idea of natural beauty and emotion. I think that while it seems to be a very simple idea/concept, the way it has been shot and edited makes it very glamorous and elegant.

Dreamlover - Mariah Carey (1993)


This video represents the form and style of many Martel videos because it displays the idea of basic costumes and natural make up. The performance is based entirely in a field, adding to the summery tone of the song and further enhancing the natural theme. Both Mariah Carey and the camera are at different heights throughout the video, which could connote the mixed emotions that Mariah Carey is supposed to be feeling in connection with the lyrics of the song.

Ne-Yo - Mad (2009)


I chose to add this song to the homework analysis because it is very successful in moving the audience and captivating them into the short narrative. The emotion is tunnelled through to the viewer through the simple costumes, the heartfelt and believable acting and the long takes in between cutting. The fact that it is in black and white also forces the audience to pay attention to what is going on because they can't be distracted by anything else in the video.

How will this case study help with the coursework project?

I think that the main advantage I have gained from using Diane Martel is that simplicity can often mean great success. All of the videos I watched had very simple narratives, dance routines, costume, etc. and yet the final result was very effective because you can't get bored of the videos easily. I think that when it comes to brainstorming and producing our final coursework piece, it will help to keep in mind this idea of simplicity and not overcomplicating things. Instead take something very simple/easy to understand and then pay attention to the fine details.

Close Textual Analysis of Jet Lag by Simple Plan

Jet Lag by Simple Plan featuring Natasha Beddingfield
Directed by Frank Borin

This video is for the rock band Simple Plan, therefore conventionally the video follows the characteristics of its genre and features quite alot of performance from the band in the airport. Although there is quite a balance between performance and narrative during the video.

Relationship between the lyrics and visuals
There is a very strong link between the lyrics and the visuals because they are singing about missing someone miles apart. The main line that the idea for the video is based around is "Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged". Jetlag is something we associate with flying abroad, therefore one of the locations in the video is an airport, where the performance occurs and the singer acts as if he misses his loved one.

Other links between the lyrics and visuals within the video is Natasha Beddingfield in her hotel room watching out of the window and looking at old photos. Not only is this showing how her heart is 'jetlagged', but it is also representing the lyrics "You say good morning, When it's midnight, Going out of my head, Alone in this bed", as she is going to sleep by herself in a really big room and bed, making the impact of her feeling lonely even more apparent.
Close-Ups
Throughout the video CUs are used frequently as the song is meant to portray alot feeling and emotion therefore by using CUs, the emotion is intensified and the audience are enabled to get involved in the pain that the singers are feeling.

During the performance scenes most of the shots are LS's as it is a band performance and this allows the audience to see the band as a whole, working together. This is conventional for band videos as it presents a unite front and helps brand them as a band that work well together.

Notion of Looking
The idea of the video as I have said before is raw emotion, which means that the video does incorporate Goodwin's theory on the notion of looking because we as the audience are meant to be observing their journey and pain apart, rather than them putting an act on for the cameras as this would make it unbelievable. This is seen throughout the lead singer's journey in the airport, as we are witnesses to him checking in and getting through to the departure lounge. However during the performance scenes, this is not present because we know this is a deliberate and set up scenario.

Useful Link for general facts about videos, directors, etc.

While researching Diane Martel for the director case study, I came across this website and thought it would be useful to post.

http://www.mvdbase.com/index.php?

It's not a really pretty and visually aesthetic site but its really useful as it has HUGE lists of directors, videos and artists that could help during the research and planning stages of the coursework.


I have also found the site 'Clipland' which was helpful because it included a large list of Martel's work and it also had embedded YouTube videos for each link, with some basic information about the video.

http://www.clipland.com

Reflections on the Music and Me Lesson

I found this discussion really interesting because not only were we reminiscing over songs that we once used to love but we were also picking apart why we liked them, how we found out about them and how our tastes changed as we've grown up.

The main discoveries we found throughout the lesson was that during our early childhood most of the music we listened to was a result of family influences, as they were the source of our music at the time. Especially as computers and iPods were not as accessible at the time. But I found the fact that even though those songs may have been imposed onto us as children, if we heard them now we would still be moved in some way or have some emotional connection to the song. For some of us the song would even transport us right back to the moment in our mind that we associate the song to.

We found that as we've grown up our music tastes have varied and changed from our childhood because we have been able to source our own music. This has become even more evident as the internet has grown because we have had access to YouTube and iTunes to broaden our music tastes. Another interesting idea that was raised is that compared to the past, we are able to have much wider tastes than our parent's generation because of these sites and devices allowing us to consume mass music collections.

I think the lesson was extremely useful for our coursework because it enabled us to analyse our own music consumption and so it opened our eyes to how the industry markets and sells certain music to the audience and how that audience consumes music. Of course the audience is one of the essentials to consider in the project and so having the skill to look at the way in which they consume music and the reasons that they have for doing so, will benefit us greatly when it comes to producing our final piece.

Music and Me Autobiography

Early Childhood: She's Got That Vibe by R. Kelly



I chose to post this song from a wide choice from my early childhood because it is one of the songs that my parents played on the loud speakers when I was about 2 or 3 years old. My brother hadn't been born yet so I had to entertain myself somehow, I decided to do this by dancing (or attempting to) and singing into one of the many remote controls I wasn't really supposed to get my hands on. Embarassingly this was also recorded on video by parents.

Sample of other favourites from my childhood:
Little Mermaid - Kiss the Girl
Soca Boys - Dollar Wine

Early Teens



During my early teens (and even now) my music tastes varied alot and I didn't really have any particular genre that I stuck to. While most people around me could pigeon hole themselves into a certain genre of music that they liked, I couldn't do that. At home I would listen to Soca due to my cultural background and then at school (which was when we had just joined Latymer) I'd listen to the more mainstream music and I was introduced to more indie/rock music. But for the purpose of this task I chose to include one of the soca tracks by Rupee who is mainly known in the UK for his song Tempted to Touch. This song has really meaningful lyrics and I remember hearing it in the car on most journeys as it was one of my favourites from his album.

Sample of other favourites at the time:
Jonas Brothers - Hollywood
Rupee - Jump
David Rudder - Trini To De Bone

Important to me at the moment



I wasn't a big fan of either artist at the time this song came out, I thought it was overplayed on the radios and was an attempt at a typical comeback for chris brown. However after attending a personal development course 'Power to Achieve', it is one of my favourite influencial songs. This is because it was played during a critical time in the course and almost acted as a breakthrough song. I chose this song mainly due to this experience at the course, which shows that past experiences and the time at which a song is played can influence whether a song appeals to you.

Sample of other favourites at the moment:
Katy Perry - Firework
James Morrison - Right By Your Side
Don Omar - Danza Kuduro
Dionne Bromfield - Foolin'
Joe Jonas - Just in Love

Music Video Analysis

Next to You by Chris Brown ft. Justin Bieber
Produced by Nasri Atweh and Adam Messinger
Directed by Colin Tilley

Instant impact
Due to the filmic nature of the video the audience are instantly hooked because they want to know what will happen by the end of the video. The concept of the video adds to both the impact and the song itself, because it plays on the idea that Brown and Bieber both have to prove that what they are singing is actually sincere. Another talking point that arises from the video is that Chris Brown dies when trying to reach his girlfriend.

Non-linear editing
Throughout the music video there are numerous cuts between the narrative action and the lipsynching/dance choreography. We switch between scenes where Chris Brown is running and searching for his girlfriend to Justin Bieber singing on a rooftop and then from Chris Brown dancing to Justin Bieber's girlfriend in the car. There are also quite a few flashbacks to what their lives were like before the 'storm' adding to the 'soft' touch of the video.

Repetitions
The main repetitions featured in the video are Justin Bieber singing on the rooftop, shots of the stormy sky and Chris Brown dancing and singing. There is also alot of repetition of shots of the burning cars and panicked citizens trying to save themselves.

Strong sense of artist identity
The video gives a very strong sense of the re-branded Chris Brown due to the dance choreography and styling. The idea that both Chris Brown and Justin Bieber both have love interests in the video is very typical of their videos as well.

A Performance
The main performance part of the video is Chris Brown dancing. The other performance aspects of the video are the acting by Chris Brown and Justin Bieber and their lipsynching.

Visual Pleasures
The colour grading of the video gives it a 'soft' touch which adds to the sincerity of the song, even though the world is collapsing around them, there is still a sense of hope and that love will conquer all. The mise-en-scene of burning cars, collapsing buildings and panicked citizens, also enhances the believability and Chris Brown's acting.
Justin Bieber and Chris Brown both serve as visual pleasures for the female audience as they are both known and branded as heartthrobs. For the guys, Shannon Elizabeth (from Scary Movie and American Pie) plays Brown's girlfriend.

Wow Factor
The video provides the wow factor through the narrative and apocalyptic concept that runs throughout. The audience are hooked from the start because it is essentially a mini-movie and they want to know what happens. Tilley shocks the audience by killing off Chris Brown half way through, when he tries to save his girlfriend, which is not expected due to the usual nature of Chris Brown's videos.

Provoke a reaction
The video provokes a reaction due to the continuous narrative where Chris Brown is rushing to save his girlfriend. The main point that shocks people is the fact that he doesn't quite make it, as it is very unusual for Chris Brown to not end up with the girl by the end of the music video. Another aspect to the video that could provoke a reaction is the sense of hope that the singers have, even though the world around them is falling down.

Works on different levels

Pop Culture
The apocalyptic concept is related to pop culture due to the whole superstition/theory of the world ending in 2012.