Lyrics analysis

Hello!
Here are the lyrics of the song we have chosen and the analysis of them.
Thanks!

Target Audience Profile

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For our target audience profile we have created a character called Andrew. Andrew is the ideal person who would listen the genre of music that we have picked and is most likely to watch the music video that we are creating to suit the song we have chosen. With this in mind, this is why we think Andrew is out ideal person.

Andrew is an 18 year-old man who lives at home with his parents in London. He is in his final year at sixth-form studying A-level Media, A-level Business and Photography. He attends the same school that his sixth-form is at and achieved 11 GCSE’s in his final year of compulsory education. He has a girlfriend and is enjoying his time at his sixth-form.

Andrew spends most of his time in school studying and revising for his A Levels, however he does socialise with his friends and have some time to himself to give him a break from his studies. To earn himself some pocket money, he works in a pub not far from where he lives so that he can save up to go to festivals in the summer after his exams. Being the only child in a small family his parents ever more so loving, caring and supportive of him which he values and he always makes sure he has time to spend with them. When he has spare time, he enjoys spending time with his friends. They hang out together at each other’s houses watching TV and playing online games. He enjoys going to gigs to see his favourite bands tour. Generally, Andrew is quiet and he hates people who think they are better than everyone else and are big headed. As he has just turned 18, he likes to go out with his friends to the pub and clubs to enjoy an evening.

Andrew isn’t sure about what he wants to do when he is older but he intends on going to university to study Business Marketing. His goals in life are to become a success business manager of a company, to start a family and own a nice house and car. He dreams of travelling around the world before starting his career.

Andrew has a laptop in his room which he uses to go on YouTube and other sites to check out the latest music, interviews and gigs that have been streamed on the internet. He loves watching and listening to his favourite band ‘Catfish and the Bottlemen’ on repeat. His favourite genre of music is Indie Rock.

See you soon! 

100 Word Plan

100 Word Plan

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For our media video production, we have chosen to pick the song “Pacifier” by Catfish and the Bottlemen. We researched the meanings of the lyrics in this song to get an idea of how we should plan our music video and what should be included. We made the decision as a group to make the video a narrative video, to represent the meanings and story behind the lyrics. We have decided to film it partly in a house, showing a disjointed, one sided relationship with the two, and the other half of it in a public place.

Mood Board

Andrew Goodwin Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin Music Video Theory

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Today in our media lesson, we learnt how to analyse videos from learning about the theorist Andrew Goodwin and the interesting, different way that he analyses videos. From learning this theorist, we also were shown 7 new elements in music videos which will aid us when we begin making the video. 

Andrew Goodwin identifies 7 key aspects of music videos that we the audience should look for which are ;

• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics such as stage performances in metal videos, dance routines for boy/girl bands

• Thought beats - seeing the sound - First step is to look at the music itself. We must take into account the structure of the song, for example, the chorus or verses. 

The second is the voice of the song. The artists voice is unique and can form identification or trademarks that work well with the star image. Roland Barthes theory of the grain of voice can be related to this. He sees the singing voice as an expressive instrument and therefore able to make associates of its own. 

Thirdly, Goodwin also points out the artists mode of address. Songs can be seen as stories and the artists the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device, telling us a story and us listening.

• Narrative and performance - Songs aim to give us the complete narrative ;

We only tend to get a gist of the meaning of the song and then tend to make up our own idea of what is being told. Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative. It is important in their role of advertising. Music videos should coherent repeatability. Narrative and performance work hand in hand it makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without losing interest. The artist acting as both narrator and participant helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. The audience need to believe this is real. 

• The star image - 

The star image is another vital aspect of music videos. Meta narrative which is a big story that describes the development of the star over time, it has an important part to play in the music video production process.

• Relation of visuals to song - there is often intertextual references to films, tv programmes, other music videos, etc - 

Relation of visual to song - music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, this is the most common. Amplify. Similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision. Disjuncture, this is where the meaning of a song is completely ignored. These are three ways in which music videos promote a song.

• Technical aspects of music video - holds the music video together through use of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene editing, sound and special effects. Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colour help set moods and emphasise key moments of the song for dramatic effect. Mies-En-Scene, the setting of music videos is vital, because it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism. Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat or rhythm, making the video more entertaining. 

Analysing Music Videos with Andrew Goodwin's Theory 

Writing on the Wall - Sam Smith 

• Music videos demonstrate genres characteristics (dance routines in boy/girl band videos) 
• Thought beats - Seeing the sound in your head - 1. Look at the lyrics 2. The voice of the Song - the artists voice is unique and can form identification or trademarks that will work well with the singers image. 3. Goodwin talks about the artists mode of address, songs can be seen as stories and the artist is a storyteller.
• Narrative and Performance - Songs fail to give us the complete narrative of the song and then tend to make up our own idea of what is being told. Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative. it is important in their role of advertising. Music videos should have coherent repeatability. Narrative and performance work hand in hand it makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without loosing interest. The artist acting as both narrator and participants helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. The audience need to believe this is real. 
• The star Image - The star image is another vital aspect of music videos. Meta narrative which is a big story that describes the development of the star over time, it has an important part to play in the music video production process.
• Relation of Visuals to song - illustrate - Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, this is the most common. Amplify - Similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision. Disjuncture - This is where the meaning of song is completely ignored. These are three ways in which music videos work to promote a song. 
• Technical aspects of music Video (Sound editing, etc) - technical aspects hold the music videos together through the use of camera work, movement, angle, mise en scene, editing, sound and special effects. Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colour helps set the mood and emphasis key moments of the dong for dramatic effect. Mise en scene, the setting of music video is vital, it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism. Beats, music videos use cuts to go with he neat or rhyme making the video more entertaining.

Initial Ideas

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Our initial ideas for our music video of ‘Pacifier’ was to use Performance based video, which would mean the music video showing footage of the band performing their song. This would mainly focus on the band throughout the video, and the genre usually used for this style is Indie or Rock, so this fitted our genre choice. It’s also a cheap way of creating the video. However, reasons we avoided this idea was because the band is required to be quite well known in order for the consumers to keep interested throughout, as ultimately, the band is all they are watching, whereas in a Narrative type video, there is a story line to keep them interested.

We liked the idea of using a narrative video, which is when the video is based on acting out the lyrics in some kind of way, so is story like and has a story line which keeps viewers interested. However, we still felt that the use of a Performance video would work well with the genre of our song, so thought about mixing the two together and using both Narrative and Performance. This means a video that keeps the audience interested with the story line, but also can show the band.

From Goodwin’s theory, he explains that music videos shouldn’t include common narrative; and this is important for their advertising role. Narrative and performance are done in a way in which the audience will find it easier to re-watch repeatedly without losing any interest.

The star image needs to be used, which is plays a big part in developing the star over time. Relation of visual to songs should also be used, which uses a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre. To make the video easier to re-watch, amplify is used which is similar to repeatability. This is one way a music video promotes a song.

Technical aspects of the music video we would be using, are through the use of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene editing, sound and special effects. 

Chosen genre - Discussion of Genre and the Forms and Conventions Involved

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The genre our group have decided to focus on for the creation of our music video, is Indie Rock. This is a genre which became popular and well known firstly in the UK, in and around the 80’s. Part of why we decided to choose this genre to focus on is its uniqueness. It is a genre not many people know of or listen to, and we could take advantage of this because we would be selecting a brand new audience to aim the video too. However this is also a drawback, because it may not be automatically as successful and popular as a well known genre’s music video would be. This will mean the video will require more advertising, and a performance video, because this will focus more on the band and show off the band members in a positive light.

                                     

The forms and conventions used in any music video are to firstly show off the band members, to make a memorable song for the viewers, to portray the band in a good light and also to make the music genre of the band obvious and clear for the viewers. The forms and conventions we would be using for our Indie Rock band, are;

•    Fast cuts to synchronise with the track

•    Band members to be shown acting with an emotion, often to be shown as acting childish

•    Band members are filmed with high angle shots showing their importance and power

Also, these types of genres are well known for being low budget, and videos are usually filmed in easily accessible, cheap environments, which still have a mysterious theme to them. The settings are usually simple, to keep the main attention on the band members. Mise-en-scene is also strongly focussed on, because of their costuming and make up done to give them the specific retro type look. Their costuming creates a specific identity for them and this helps to build the different characters of the band. Props used would be instruments such as guitars and drums, to help make the video look realistic.

The most likely camera shots that would be used, would be close up camera shots to introduce the singer and build a focus on them, and to show their importance. Because the shots are close up, it focuses on the singers emotion and passion to portray their talents, which will build their popularity. To allow different angles, crane shots are usually also used and its also likely there will be a strong use of long and wide shots which are used as establishing shots for building a story like view of the band members.

Editing is also an important aspect used in Indie Rock videos, such as special effects to make the audience feel part of the video, which heightens their attraction to the band. Linking in with Andrew Goodwin’s theory, is how there is a use of fast and slow cut shots to keep up the pace and beat of the music. This allows the audience to feel more comfortable when watching the video.