Music Video Deconstructions:

1. Beyonce - Why Don't You Love Me

"Why Don't You Love Me" is an R&B and dance-pop song that is set in a retro style. Beyonce is representing a stereotypical domestic house wife. As the video contains shots of sequences of Beyoncé gardening, washing dishes, scrubbing floors, and baking cookies. She is, however, negatively being presented as she appears distressed and over-dramatic reflected through her lyrics "Why don't you love me... when I make me so damn easy to love?... I got beauty... I got class... I got style and I got ass...". The narrative of the video is that the persona, despite doing everything expected of a good housewife, her husband does not love her. As Beyonce questions her love interest about why he does not value her fabulousness. Therefore, resorts to crying, drinking and smoking. Overall though the housewife stereotype has been challenged as many years ago (taken by the 1950s-styled video is set, as the type of editing and the personas costume suggests) a woman had very little say and she chooses not to conform with societies expectations with her.

2. Jennifer Lopez - I'm into You

I'm Into You by Jennifer Lopez is a midtempo pop song  with a short rap section. In the song, she sings about being lost in love and her lover's attraction. This is shown within the scenes throughout the video and is an important part of the song as the male is shown frequently in the first minute (approx) of the video. Therefore, reiterating the notion that her love for this man she sings of has her 'lost in love with him'. Acting almost as a sex symbol to 'lure' in the female audience, he is featured running along a beach, slow-motion and topless. From this, we then see a lot less of the male as the video progresses, showing possibly that she is trying to dominate their 'relationship' and challenge the female stereotype of 'the male dominant'. The video depicts the singer on a beach with her love interest and also shows scenes where she dances with two back-up singers as well as featuring the singer on a pyramid. Which again suggestes she is powerful and in control of the relationship, however, the male still remains the first thing she can think about...this is reiterated through the lyrics "your style got me under your spell" etc. Moreover, the fast-paced alterations between different scenes (featuring mainly the singer) connotes her rapidly growing love and passion for the man she sings of and shows throughout the video clip.  

Inspiring Promo Videos:

Both the above clips are promoting the same artist, Rihanna, and her album 'Loud'. Although each include different editing techniques. However, despite the differences, the result is two videos that both effectively promote the artist. I thought these were both very appealing as the visual techniques are used in such a way that creates a unique and interesting promotion. Therefore, as future inspiration i have chosen to embed both videos in my blog.

Acoustic Genre (Mind Map):

The History of Pop (Guardian Article):

i have icluded a link to an article i found from 'the Guardian' online. It is an interview with writer David Byrne, as he tells us about the hidden forces that lie behind everything we listen to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/sep/16/david-byrne-how-music-interview

Pop Genre (Mind Map):

I created a brainstorm, to briefly cover some of the ideas that came into my head that related to the theme of 'POP' music. Created on a site known as 'bubble.us', it is an effective way to help me establish which direction i plan on going in with the creation of my music promo video. A sit is crucial to have a definite focus on just one specific genre of music, in my case,  feel this is pop music.

Introducing Project:

My A2 coursework will be based on the following brief, it will require the creation of a promotion package for the release of an album, that is to include a music promo video and two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band
• a cover for its release on CD
• a magazine advertisement for the CD 

Initially, my thoughts on this particular brief is to focus my music video on a genre of music that i personally enjoy. As i am already a huge music fan, i'm already very enthusiastic and keen to get an immediate start with the planning process of my music video. At this early stage, i am fairly certain that i would like to focus on the genre of 'pop' music; where i plan to reflect the idea of teenage love and romance. I will make sure to choose very carefully a song to include in my music video so that i am able to draw out specific key lyrics to help structure/set a theme. This will be done by putting together some brainstorming of the genre, some research on YouTube to find inspiration and ideas of song choices and artists' and looking into the theories and media language that will influence my final piece.

Briefs and Theories:

Here, i have included two briefs. I am to choose one of the following to focus on throughout my A2 course.

Example of a magazine advertisement

1. 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 or its release on DVD
• A magazine advertisement for the DVD

2. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• A poster for the film
• A radio trailer for the film
• A film magazine review page featuring the film

From this, i am most likely to choose brief number 1. As it would be approached with much more enthusiasm and interest as i appeal and feel more knowledgeable about music. This would also be supported by the work i did in AS Media Studies (see additional blog) because throughout that course i was to focus on a specified music genre and designed a magazine front cover, double page spread and contents page promoting that genre and magazine. Therefore, i feel choosing brief number 1 would be most beneficial to me. 

Linked theories that must be included in Section A:

• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Audience
• Media Language