Band and song research

To help us get a better picture of the band Joy Division as a whole and the actual song 'No Love Lost', I have done some extra research on the meaning of the song and meaning of 'Joy Division'.
Joy Division took their name from a Nazi camp in World War II. The camp was so called as ‘Joy divisions’ because they were alleged camps where Jewish women were sent to become sex slaves for Nazi officers. This meaning ties in with the meaning of the song as the speaking part of the song which Ian Curtis performs is an extract from a novel by Ka-tzetnik 135633 (which translated is supposed to mean ‘Concentration camper’ and the number that he was in the concentration camp he was sent to ‘135633’) who was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. He wrote a book called ‘The house of dolls’ in which he writes about these ‘Joy Divisions’. The story is based on his own experiences when his own sister was fated to be sent to the ‘Joy Divisions’ and she unfortunately died while enduring the horror that the ‘ Joy Divisions’ inflicted on her.



This helps me to establish a better picture of what Joy Division were about as a band. They weren’t revolutionaries or particularly political but this shows that as a band they were thought provoking and by making songs about such events shows they were intelligent enough to respond to important issues in their own way.

Costume Research

As we’ve chosen to use a Joy Division song for our music video, I am researching the kind of style and clothes that the members of the band wear. In our video the people representing the band will be girls so we will attempt to integrate Joy Divisions trend into a modern punk on females.

Ian Curtis was the most well known member of the band. He was the lead singer and had a serious and rigid persona which he presented in his performance and style. He usually was seen wearing a plain shirt with normal looking trousers. Considering the time and genre Joy Divisions music was made in alongside bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash, this was a very conservative way of dressing, though it became a signature part of Joy Division’s appeal.



The rest of the band dressed similarly wearing simple shirts and trousers also sometimes a shirt and a tie.

Questionnaire

Audience research
1) Age?
16 – 18 [ ] 19 – 25 [ ] 26 – 30 [ ] 31 – 40 [ ] 41 + [ ]

2) Do you think music videos are important to a piece of music?
No [ ] Yes [ ] Fairly [ ] Don’t know [ ]

Other ____________________________________________________________

3) Do you think it’s important that music videos have the artist appear in the video?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Not necessarily [ ] Doesn’t matter [ ]

Other ____________________________________________________________

4) Do you think music videos should match the music visually?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t mind [ ]

Other ___________________________________________________________

5) What music videos particularly attract you? (you may tick more than one)
Videos that are visually interesting [ ] Videos with lots of women [ ] Videos with lots of special effects [ ] Videos with a narrative or story [ ] Videos set in clubs and parties [ ] Videos with a strong moral message [ ]

6) Would you prefer to see a music video that...
Is random and makes no relation to the music [ ] Is solidly based around the music [ ]

7) What’s your favourite music video?
_____________________________________________________________________

8) Why?
_____________________________________________________________________

9) Do you like to see dance sequences in music videos?
Yes [ ] No [ ] Sometimes [ ] Depends on the style of music [ ]

10) What kind of theme do you prefer a music video to have?
Happiness [ ] Sadness [ ] Hate [ ] Love [ ] Sex [ ] Rebelliousness [ ] Dream worlds [ ] Reality [ ] Loving life [ ]


Thank you for your contribution

Chosen Song

We have chosen to make a music video for the song 'No Love Lost' by Joy Division.



We have also chosen the theme of our video and we have a general idea of what we would like to be in it. The band will be represented as 3 girls carrying out the kind of rebellious attitudes that the band represent and that most music at the time represented, and the video will be all in black and white.

Rihanna unfaithful video

Rihanna unfaithful video analysis

Textual analysis of music video rihanna unfaithful

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Time Table

This time table shows our schedule for the next few months and how effeciently we hope to get things done.

Time table

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Mood Board

Mood board

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This mood board represents what kind of themes and appearances our video will have.

Reasearch into chosen genre

Our chosen genre is punk rock which is a genre widely spread over years from the 70's to the present.

An example of an underground punk rock band from the 70's is The Sex Pistols. They were one of the first mose famous English punk rock bands and their music video for their controversial song 'God Save the Queen' is simple but classicly 70's punk.



This video is mostly the band performing, though there is a visual narrative to help support the message being sent out in the song. The song is about the government lying to the public and all the corruption that is going on at the time. The lyrics 'They made you a moron, Potential H-bomb' suggest two powerful messages. One being that the government have lied to the public and they believed it willingly and the H-bomb being that the government are becoming self destructive which is represented in the video in the frame below.



This music video sends out so many influential messages of rebellion to the viewer. The lead singer, Johnny Rotten, is wearing a ripped vest top with the word 'DESTROY' on the front with a can of beer in his hand and he has orange hair. This is presenting himself, his band and his music with a certain out rebellious out look which the mis en scene of the band in the video clearly sends out.




An example of modern day punk is Green Day. Their song 'American Idiot' clearly outlines their criticism of american society, and the music video cleverly integrates their own personal individual stlye aswell as portraying the song.



As seen in the frame below Green Day encorporate their ideals into the video while still putting emphasis on the band by having an American flag behind a band member painted messily in Green, making refernces to the band name. This allows the audience to feel influenced by the band and their ideals and perhaps adds humour to the video as the band make fun of Americans and are almost sarcastic about the green flag in the background.



This next frame shows a close up of the leads singers face when the music gets quieter and there's a drum solo. The lyrics at this point are 'subliminal mind fuck america', and by using this close up with these lyrics make them stand out and imprint on the audience.

About Me

Hi my name is Nuchi :)

Music Video Research

The Cure - Lullaby



A more theatrical video which both tells a story and works by using amplification to add visuals to the song. The visuals are strange and dramatic but still reflect the actual words in the song, basing the video around an oncoming 'spiderman' which is the focus point of the song. Though the song is rumoured to be about drug addiction and going cold turkey, the video directly represents the songs visual meanings rather than the metaphorical meanings.


The XX - VCR



A video directed by Marcus Soderlund, it starts off in black and white and ends in colour, perhaps visually representing the conflicts and resolutions between the characters in the video and the meaning in the song. Amplification is again presented in this video as it's not a literal interpretation but a visual and less poetically thought out version of the song itself. The song is about a couple, though what the couple do, where they live and how they look or act is interpreted by the director (Soderlund).


Arctic Monkeys - When the sun goes down



This video from the Arctic Monkeys is a controversial example and representation of the issues highlighting prostitution. It's only a music video but it manages to underline a massively important and relevant social issue. It's clear from the song lyrics that the song is about prostitution and the video shows this, though again, it only implies that the girl is a prostitute, we dont actually see any prostition. We see a man who the video cuts to every time the song lyrics mentions 'him' who we assume to be the pimp, and the girl who we assume to be his prostitute. The video cleverly shows the characters roles in the story by simply showing them in the video doing what the song says they're doing and showing their faces when the song mentions them. The video also keeps with the tempo of the song by being slow at the beginning when the song is slow and speeding up when the tempo speeds up.

Music Video Review

Music video review

‘Stress’ - Justice




‘Stress’ by award winning French electronic/indie band Justice is one of the best songs on their ‘†’ album which since being released has been nominated for ‘best electronic/dance album’ Grammy award. Not only is the song a winner but the 7 minute music video directed by Romain Gavras is also a work of art. It shows a gang of 8 parading around French streets in matching † hoodies, roughing up the locals, smashing up pubs and cars etc. Romain Gavras attempts to portray current French society in this video as there have been many riots amongst young people just like in this video. Therefore the video is additionally clever and interesting to watch as it's not only entertaining but its interesting and controversial as it provides connotations of the society in modern France.
Though we’ve been presented with gangs in music videos before, this one is particularly interesting, no just because of the social outlines but also the technical apects. The jolts and shakes of the intense camera movement and the sudden cuts of the editing make you inclined to watch it, if not a little dizzy at times. We as the audience are also put in the front row seat as the director puts us behind the camera. For half of the video on and off the camera is at our point of view as we see all the action happening and eventually in the end, we get beaten to a pulp by the rest of the gang. Continuity is played with a lot as well in the video as there are a couple of sequences of shots of the gang walking where it cuts to another shot of them standing or jumping around, it makes you disorientated, or ‘stresses’ the mind which is perhaps the directors idea.
Energetic and sleek, it’s not only the technicalities of the video that make it so powerful. At times the content makes you feel a bit uncomfortable and scared in case you walk out of your house and see these hells angels on your street, and you feel yourself shaking your head, sighing and thinking ‘kids today’. Though at the end of the video when they’re eventually caught up by a team of police and they run away you feel yourself hoping they escape.
Creativity is also abundant in this video. For example, when you (the character behind the camera) get in the getaway car with the rest of the gang after being caught you see the sound man getting in as well, which is humorous as well as inventive seeing as there’s no sound in the whole video apart from the song playing over it. Additionally another humorous part is the radio in the car playing D.A.N.C.E which is another big hit by justice on the † album and one of the gang members kicks the radio in disgust and throws it out of the window.
Cleverly mapped out and filmed, this piece of controversial art is a new age of music videos. Forget generic videos of women dancing from behind and a band simply playing guitars to a camera, this video sparks the creative mind. A great video to a great song.

In-depth Music Video Analysis

Analysis

MGMT – The Youth





This music video is an example of disjuncture, when a music video seems random and unconnected to the music. Though there could be some basic sense in it. The song is called and about the youth. When MGMT were just starting their career, they played a gig and they were booed off stage. A year or so later, they became very famous with the masses of young people and that’s what the lyric ‘the youth are starting to change’ may mean. Though there is this meaning to the song, none if it is resented in the music video which makes it difficult to analyse.

The music video is entertaining because of how overwhelmingly weird it is. It interests the viewer purely because it’s so unordinary. The mis-en-scene is an important factor in making the video what it is as well because of the hazy, 80’s, tacky feel it has to it. The cheap looking backdrop and disco ball which makes the video look like an 80’s school American dance/disco, adds to the tacky, amateur looking mis-en-scene. Even the children in the video look slightly eerie with their facial expressions and when they dance.

The song does seem slightly compatible with the music. When there is a verse, the camera will stay still as the children move round on a moving floor in a medium close up shot and mouth the words to the song. When the chorus comes, the camera is on three of the four children in the video in a long shot while dancing scruffily to the song. Lastly when there is an instrumental part in the song, either one of them or all of them individually are break dancing.

I love this video because it’s imaginative, weird and makes you remember the song which is something a music video should definitely do. You can easily forget a video with women shaking their bums or a talentless Cheryl Cole miming with a low top on, but this video is clearly original and it creates a music video genre of its own.