Halsey- New Americana Music video- Independent

This is a very brief analysis of Halsey's video for New Americana.

Halsey is an American singer/ songwriter who is most well known for her singles New Americana and Ghost. She has recently collaborated with artists such as The Chainsmokers and Lido but has in fact only been in the industry since 2014. In 2014 she signed to astralwerks record label and following that then went onto release her first ep ( Extended play) called room 93. This ep featured songs such as Ghost and Hurricane in which Ghost is actually the song that got her noticed by the record company. Halsey's first album 'Badlands'  was released on August 28th 2015 and features hit songs such as New Americana and Colours. The album Peaked at 184 on the UK charts but it did peak at number 1 in new Zealand and has platinum certification in the united states. 
The song 'New Americana'  was originally released on the 10th of July 2015 and was the second single from her album 'Badlands' although this single did not reach number one in the charts it was a big hit on radio stations and between her fans. Halsey is considered to be involved in the indie pop genre

In the music video the audience see a primarily performance based narrative which actually features the artist. Within the audience we see a war-like environment in which the artist and other actors can be seen to be preparing to fight. The audience who are fans of Halsey could interpret this as them fighting for their rights in the dystopian world that we are presented with. The narrative could also be interpreted as the actors being hostage because they don't conform to the societies rules and regulations. This could be shown at 1:26 in which people come running in wearing helmets and could be viewed as attempting to attack the people that are there, including the artist. In the beginning of the music video the actors can be seen to comply to the ambiguous characters demands and line up with their heads held in shame. This is reinforced by the mid shot at 1:34 which displays the artist and others lining up due to the ambiguous characters who as the audience we are never introduced to. (Add screenshot) As well as the narrative having performance aspects it aims to tell a story to the audience by having the artist and actors create a disequilibrium narrative (Todorov).

Within the music video Halsey is always made to be the focus of the shot this could be because it is a demand of the record label (Goodwin). An example of this is 1:53 in which the audience can see Halsey emerging but also the director showing the diversity within the music video. The video uses a tracking shot to display the diversity but it also uses a shallow focus when it comes to the artist. The audience can recognise the artist as she is the only person with blue hair. This has become apart of the artists brand and is something that the majority of fans associate her with. 

This music video conforms with the genre of music that Halsey makes. Due to the
genre being indie pop, it allows for the music video to be dystopian and fantasised
 The music when listened to reflects this dystopian fantasy due to her voice being very vulnerable but as well as this the light piano/synth reflect the dystopian.

Their clothing also connotes dystopia due to them being very bland and monotone as well as being dark coloured making the actors and actresses blend in. An example of this is at 2:00 in which the artist is wearing a revealing top and legging type trousers. The top could be revealing to rebel against the dominant ideology of authority from the guards. The guards clothing also fit in with the music video this can be shown by their white helmets and police type vests. By the helmets being white it contrasts the hostages who are wearing all dark colours. The colour white also symbolises purity and innocence however this contrasts their negative behaviour that they display at 2:00 

Target audience case study- Imagine Dragons

How is Representation Created in Sia's Music video for The Greatest-EDITED AS OF 18/03/17

Sia is an Australian singer song writer who has been in the industry since 1993. Since her early days in the industry she has since produced no 1 hits such as Chandelier, The Greatest and Elastic Heart. Although Sia has been in the industry since 1993, she has only recently become more mainstream in the past couple of years due to collaborations with other artists such as Sean Paul and David Guetta who are predominantly known to be mainstream artists.
Sia's recent album This is Acting has sold over 68,000 copies worldwide which includes her recent single The Greatest and Cheap Thrills featuring Sean Paul. Her song The Greatest was written in aid of the Orlando shootings in the Gay nightclub Pulse which is now being turned into a memorial site  for the victims of that fatal night. The music video for the song was also made in mind of those shootings that night so has inferences to different things from that night. Representation is created through camera angles and mise en scene throughout the video. 

The music video for 'The Greatest' has several inferences to the shootings in Orlando within the mise en scene but also the actions that the dancers take in the music video as well as the lyrics which somewhat relate to each other. An example of the mise en scene inferring the shootings is by having the dancers wearing pride flag make up on their faces which refers to the sexuality of the main demographic who were killed in the nightclub. Although sexuality isn't externally presented in the actual music video, the music video is focused on the sexuality of the victims therefore presenting the element of sexuality and making it a popular topic to talk about with her fans. The lyrics relate to this part of the mise en scene due to them talking about not giving up in which the majority of Homosexual people in America were being forced to do due to people struggling with change and their religion forbidding any type of relationship other than heterosexual. There could be two interpretations of the lyrics of  'The greatest' in which they were about the victims of the shootings or it could also be direct address to them and the survivors of the shootings. By having the gay Pride flags featured in the music video it shows how the song is aimed towards an open audience who share the common interest of raising awareness about this event but it also allows for Sia's fans to learn about something that she is passionate about and this brings the fans and her closer but it could perhaps make this a topic for them to talk about and raise the awareness to them. This also creates the representation that the victims were strong people who had fought hard for their rights.

The Music video for 'The Greatest' shows predominantly all able children who are seen to be dancing around an abandoned house but the song is about people who may have suffered a disability or even worst died from the event, this is two contrasting things that although disability isn't actually present in the video the event that the song was inspired by caused many people to have disabilities even of it is mental disability like post traumatic disorder. The ability is shown by having children act as the victims of the shootings which represents how able they mentally and physically are. This creates a representation of ability and it connotes that everyone is able to have freedom of speech and expression. This is shown in the video but has a wider context in that the people who were shot lost their freedom or speech and expression.

The greatest video  has the greatest representation of age within the music video. Although the main age within  the music video is 12-13  years old if not younger it does feature some older teenagers to represent how freedom has no age limitations but also fully represent childhood and it makes the audience see the victims as children in which to the victim's parents they were. This allows for the audience to view the song in a different way by knowing the context  behind it but also by viewing the children as adults. This is a similar concept to Bugsy Malone in which the children act as adults and provide an alternative, more comedic version of a fictional reality in the 20's. The age is represented by having them as a collective group such as at 0:14 which emphasises their youth but it is also shown by having the young dancer isolated at 0:45 as well as showing copious amounts of emotion such as crying like a child. Their age is also represented through the gay pride flags and the dirt that they are covered in. The dirt has connotations of childhood but also childish mannerisms such as playing in the mud which is viewed as a childish game /action to take part in. As well as this, the way that they apply the pride flag could be seen as a childish mannerism due to the flag being paint which is normally associated with young children but they just wipe it down their face to produce the flag which has connotations of younger children playing with paint in primary school. This represents children as being careless and complacent with them selves as well as the items that they play with. This also creates the representation that children have Just as much to live for as adults and that they are equal which is shown by the children playing adults. At the beginning of the music video there is the hashtag #Weareyourchildren which shows how Sia wanted the actual children to represent adults and reiterate how the people who died in Orlando were somebody's child. This also shows how children are flexible in the roles that they play but also how they can be seen as the equivalent to an adult and how adults and children aren't so different apart from the age difference. The video doesn't show adults at all  in the whole video as it is based on children but it does make the adults the minority this could show how children are rebellious when young but adult are seen to conform in daily life.

Intertextual references- EDITED AS OF 21/04/17

In our music video idea we have taken many different influences from a variety of music videos.
This extends to our choice of camerawork as well as our mise scene which includes the different characters costumes. For our choice of camera work we took influence from Tove lo's music video for habits. In our music video we plan on having a recurring pov of shot throughout the aforementioned to allow the audience to experience everything that our main character will experience but it also allows for them to have different perception of the events that happen in the music video as we plan to have different point of view shots from each character and then seeing whose point of view is most important and contains the most information about the events of the party setting. After filming and editing our music video we eventually chose to have one specific pov which is the protagonist's played by Emily Harvey.


In Tove Lo's music video for Habits throughout the video the most frequent shot was an eye level shot but this mostly exhibited the actual singer who was the subject of the video instead of what she was seeing but throughout the video it also exhibits her perception of her surroundings and allows for the audience to almost see what she is seeing and exhibit her experience of her life and the events that happen within it. Although this music video does not use the exact camera shots that we want to use it did give us the inspiration to use point of view shots in our video as we thought that this would be an efficient way to involve the audience with what is happening in our video whilst still distancing them from the events. By having some mid shots and high angle shots this shows a variety of camerawork instead of having a constant point of view shot as we want to be able to show that when we have a different characters point of view it has subtly changed but that the audience has noticed it isn't the same persons point of view it could be another bystander's view. With this in mind the video that showed us that point of view shots were capable within a music video was by The Prodigy called 'smack my b**** up' which was the only video that we could locate that uses point of view shots effectively whilst still keeping the audience interested and conveying the story. Although we didn't end up with as many point of view shots as we had originally planned for we did still have them quite frequently throughout the music video to make it obvious to the audience that the characters perspective has changed. We wanted to have Point of View shots as we thought that this would make the piece more individual and original compared to a previous music video for the song we picked. Tove lo's music video uses frequent eye level shots effectively which allow the audience to see the main character and her reaction to the party.

Picture 1

Another inter-textual reference that we included in our music video was a reference to a the film Mean Girls. This reference was made in our character choice, Bella's character, who we decided to base off of the character Regina George. In our music video this character wasn't stereo-typically wearing pink, she is in fact wearing black as we felt that this was more appropriate to our initial grand narrative. But her characters body language and attitude towards the main character depicted that she wasn't necessarily the nicest of people towards any characters apart from her close friends. We decided to base one of our characters off of a mean Girls character as it allowed us to have variance in each of our characters that an audience would instantaneously recognize. As well as this it would also be a character that the audience could relate to which opposes our main character who is completely indifferent to the situation that happens around her as well as being completely pulled in by these characters who encourage her to take part in their activities. This is similar to the character Regina George's actions as in the film she has a way of persuading Cady and the others to become similar to her.  The character Regina George stands for people who are higher class and not as ambitious which helps for a wider audience to relate to her and the entire music video.

As well as our Mean Girls inter-textual reference being included in most of the scenes in our music video as well as being part of the catalyst of our music video. We included references to Miley Cyrus's We Can't stop music video. This is shown by our use of the red plastic cups which although are a typical stereotype of American house parties, they are also featured in Miley's music video for Can't stop. The red plastic cups generally have connotations of parties and people having fun they are  normally a recognizable sign for parties. We decided to use red plastic cups as they are instantaneously recognizable to teenagers. Although this is generally known as an American tendency for parties we thought that it would allow for us to broaden our target audience demographics and make it more relatable to a wider audience of teenagers. Although Miley Cyrus' music video isn't the most appropriate video and is aimed at a slightly older audience we took this element from it to make Red a significant colour in our music video as the majority of it is very monotone colours, the red stands out and makes it memorable to the audience.

Lastly, we used The Breakfast Club as an inter-textual reference due to us originally planning to have different stereotypes in our music video. This was to make it appear more interesting and to widen our target audience and the different types of teenagers that could relate to our music video. The Breakfast club is a great example as they use this effectively through the clothing choices which for the main character, John allows him to rebel against dominant ideologies of education and authority. The directors choice to portray stereotypes in the main characters allows for the film to easily develop the characters and to make them more identifiable. In the planning stages of our music video we had similar stereotypes as The Breakfast club as it made it easier for the audience to identify each character, but when filming these stereotypes ended up changing due to costume issues and our original ideas changing. There were a variety of different characters in which although we struggled to accumulate actors we managed to develop the characters and make them individual whilst still ticking to our genre conventions for our characters.

This shows that there are inter-textual references throughout our music video even if they aren't the most obvious or displayed how people would expect them to be. It also shows how the inter-textual references that we include, stick to our genre conventions.

Genre Case study- Florence and the Machine Ship to Wreck-EDITED

Genre is how musicians and films are categorised, it also helps to target a specific audience as they know what they are looking for and what to expect. The word genre literally means 'a style or category of art, music and film'. Genre's are picked due to certain characteristics of the music or film that have been predetermined years before from the musicians predecessors.
Florence and The machine- Ship to Wreck is a prime example of  an indie pop music video surrounded by artists such as Lana Del Ray, this indie pop band has been around since 2007 and originated in London, England whilst they are classed as the indie pop subculture they are also associated with indie rock, chamber pop and art rock. Similarly, they are also compared to artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Dev Hynes and the The Big Pink because of the common beginning year and where they originated from although their genres are different such as Dizzee Rascal who is classed as a Rapper/ singer songwriter, these artists are all classed as being very similar due to fan bases and their origination. Ship to wreck is from Florence and the machine's third album and it was released on the 9th April 2015. The song originally premiered on Huw Stephens show on radio 1 and the music video was released a few days later on the 13th April 2015.  The music video for the song is part of a wider narrative from 2 predecessor music videos from their previous albums. Indie originates in the 1980s from Scottish post punk bands in the UK and has predecessors such a Josef k and Orange Juice.  The word indie used to mean independent but gradually over time it has changed to mean outsider/ underground and also not mainstream. This is through the many subcultures and genres of music being produced with pop music being the most mainstream.



A convention that this music video uses which is a primary feature in the majority of indie pop music videos is the performance aspect of the video although Indie pop video do generally have a narrative they also incorporate a performance element within the video. An example of this is at  0:59 in which there is an ellipsis that carries on the narrative but florence is now performing instead of acting this draws the audience's attention to the main artist instead of the narrative and her surroundings The video ship to wreck also has a linear narrative which means that the story is in chronological order but it also allows for the performance to be intertwined within it. To emphasise this they use a close up of the artists which Goodwin claims is a convention of all music videos as the record label want to have frequent close ups of the artist to sell to the ever growing music industry. By having a performance element within the video it brings another element and allows for the audience to understand the artist but also to see if they are a new fan who the artists actually are. By using the close ups of the artists it develops who they are but also enhances the narrative or performance aspect of the video even if the audience's attention is drawn to the artist it makes them watch for longer as they realise that although there is a narrative it can be combined with a performance element whether that be intertwined with the narrative or completely set apart it involves the audience. By having a performance element in the music video it also allows for the audience to experience what the band/singer would be like live which is a form of marketing as the record label are essentially selling the band members to today's societal judgement. Although in most cases the performance and the narrative are intertwined this generally helps to enhance the narrative and involve the audience a lot more. Not all videos feature a narrative some are purely performance based such a James bay's music video for if you ever want to be in love. This video is entirely performance based which allows for the audience to see the vibe at a gig/live event but it also enables the artist to show off their talent and have the audience's full attention instead of having them distracted by a linear narrative which although wouldn't stop him from showing off his talent it would avert the audience's attention greatly henceforth hindering him in becoming more successful.

Generally, indie pop music videos are low budget because a majority of indie artists are not mainstream henceforth  they don't have as much  need for an expensive, lavish music video. Although there are some indie pop artists that are slightly more mainstream like florence and the machine but still not entirely relevant in today's younger generation even their videos are not as high budget as more mainstream artists such as Taylor swift who can afford to have fx in her videos such as Bad Blood. Florence and the machine's video for ship to wreck is not the biggest budget music video which is shown through the use of diegetic lighting and the lack of digitalised effects but by using the diegetic lighting it makes the video more natural and realistic which would appeal to an audience as it makes the band relatable.By florence and the machine having a relatively low budget music video it allows them to conform to the conventions of their genre which makes them more definable but slightly less recognisable instantaneously as the majority of indie pop music videos conform to this stereotypical convention.



After searching, another convention of the indie pop genre is during editing a filter is likely to be put over the music video or just selective parts of the video. In ship to wreck a slight filter is put on the video to make it seem slightly more retro but also to make the video look fazed and almost old. This is done to help create imagery for the video but also to allow for the time of the video to be set as well as letting the audience use their imagination of the context of the video or the meanings behind it. By adding a filter in the editing it helps to create a odd atmosphere which is slightly negative, this reflects the metaphorical meaning of the lyrics and the audience can experience this.An example of this si ellie goulding's 'your song' which uses a filter to define that they are memories which makes it easier for the audience. Another feature of editing is the type of cuts that are used in the video stereotypically indie pop uses cuts to reflect the tempo of the music. This is something that florence and the machine ship to wreck challenges as this video is more continuous and almost like pov shots but following her around instead of seeing what she is seeing. The effect of this is a smoother,better continuity video which allows for easier watching and is almost like a day in the life style video.

A convention that Florence and the machine's video does conform to is the use of location and how stereotypically they are dark and are streets or houses or cities. Ship to wreck does conform to this by using the streets but it also challenges it by having the majority of it in a house which could be a convention of another genre they are apart of. By using a house it could be seen to represent family and demonstrate how the lyrics are saying did they build everything that they have just to destroy it and abuse it. Normally, a house is a symbol for unity and family but the lyrics describe somebody who has a habit of wrecking things as well as this undermining the security which comes from a house it almost seems like this is set up by the character that Florence is portraying.

Lastly, camerawork plays a big  part in being a convention of indie pop music videos this is generally close ups of the artist which could be something that the record label demands but there are also a use of tilt shots and pan shots. The music video Ship to wreck tries to challenge this convention whilst it does use mid shots a close ups the camera is constantly roaming and is never stationary which is part of the reason there are limited cuts throughout the video. An example of a close up of the main artist is at 0:55 which meets the demand of the record label but also helps to sell the song and the band to a wider audience.

All of this incorporated together creates a definitive genre that helps to categorise musicians to help target their audiences and help find similar artists.

Applying Andrew Goodwins theory to two music videos - EDITED as of 18/01/17

Andrew Goodwin's theory is made up of 6 key statements which help to understand music videos better but also it enable us to break down music videos so when we write about them we can establish them and write about them in greater detail.




The first music video in which I think Andrew Goodwin's theory can be applied to is Taylor Swift's Bad Blood as this music video demonstrates most of the characteristics that are involved within his theory. This music video genre is pop like the actual song which means that the song and the video reflects certain expectations of the genre which can be thoroughly shown throughout the music video. An example of this is that the song is very performance based due to the background mainly being CGI which helps to create and allow for the music video to have a somewhat story. Another convention of the pop genre is that the main focus of the music video is on the lead singer the whole video, an example of this is the thumbnail of the music video as it is an extreme close up of the lead singer. This ensures that the audience knows who the singer is but it is also something that they expect from the artist as it is another way of marketing her and making her the focus of her music videos and albums even if, like this song it is a collaboration  she is made to be the primary focus. This demonstrates Goodwin's first characteristic in his theory which is that Music videos demonstrate Genre characteristics. This video displays stereotypical conventions of a pop music video which an audience expects  such as the examples mentioned above.

Another convention of Andrew Goodwin's theory that Taylor swift's music video features is that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The link in this video isn't necessarily obvious but it is more metaphorical as the lyrics don't physically match up to the visuals but the visuals do represent the lyrics in a metaphorical sense. An example of this is the lyrics' now we've got bad blood' This is meant as a sense of anger but also to reflect an opposition which is shown by having the two opposing almost like teams which seems to display anger towards eachother. The focus is on the two leaders which is shown by the use of extreme close ups and close ups, it seems to be a strict rivalry which is obviously acting. The acting also reflects the lyrics but subconsciously as at the beginning of the video it can be seen that selena Gomez and taylor swift's characters are arguing which demonstrates the 'bad blood' between them. The music video amplifys the lyrics even if it isn't in the most obvious way and is meant in a slight metaphorical meaning.

The last aspect of Goodwin's theory that applies to Taylor swift's Bad Blood music video is that the Record label have a need to include lots of close ups of the artist in question and that the artist develops a recurring motif that is used throughout their music videos. This can be seen in the bad blood music video by the frequent use of close ups and extreme closeups of taylor swift but also the other singer that is involved which is selena Gomez. But it does lack a frequent amount of the featured rapper Kendrick lamar who is only briefly shown throughout the whole video even though his lyrics are featured a fair amount in the song. A motif that taylor siwft has developed in her videos is that she always seems to have some type of famous person like selena Gomez featured in the videos even if they aren't actually featured within the song. This produces more of an audience for Taylor swift wwhihc means more views and more people watching the video because Selena Gomez's fan base will be watching as she is featured and Taylor swift's fan base will watch as it is a Taylor swift song. By having more famous people in a music video it produces a bigger buzzabout the artist and the record label but also the song which means that more people will watch the video  which means a bigger audience.


The second music video that I chose that Incorporates Goodwins theory is Heathens by Twenty one Pilots which demonstrates quite a few statements of Goodwin's Theory.


The first Statement of Goodwin's that can be applied is that the music video demonstrates the stereotypical genre conventions of an alternative group music video. This is shown in the music video as it is highly performance based which is shown by having the lead singer almost serenading the camera but not completely but as it is also a music video for a film it also features clips from a film as this builds a buzz about the film and also for the duo which introduces a wider audience to both. Another stereotypical genre convention that this music video demonstrates is the location it is based in, as it is a grungy prison which is something that the audience expects from this type of genre as it is quite desolate and prison's are generally quite isolated from society. This produces an eery setting for the music video it also makes it appear to be more tense for the audience which relates to the song and the film it is promoting. The location also represents a certain moral ambiguity within the music video and the characters that are within it. Lastly, the genre convention that this film represents is the lighting that is used and the slight filter put over it to make it appear grungier and helps to enhance the type of location. The lighting appears to be diegetic as it has fairly low key lighting which adds to the ambiance but the music video does probably have some non diegetic key lighting on the main singer so that they are the overall focus of the music video to make the audience watch the video.

Secondly, the Heathens music video applies The lyrics relating to the visuals but only slightly as most of the lyrics don't seem to relate to the visuals but the brief clips of the film that are incorporated within the music video do slightly relate to the lyrics only because they apply to the film characters that are featured within the music video but apart from those one worded lyrics the music video seems to be aimed more at the film that it is promoting slightly  and less at the song that is being performed in the video. This makes the video seem more illustrative then it does actually enhancing the song.

Thirdly, Another Goodwin statement that applies to the Heathens music video is the record label will need lots of close ups of the artista and that the artist may develop recurring motifs throughout their work. This can be seen at 0:23 where the audience get to see the lead singer for the first time this is exhibited by using a close up of the lead singer which uses key lighting and leaving the rest of the background in darkness. A recurring motif that generally features in twenty one pilots videos is the drummer wears red face paint which relates to their recent album but this motif is not featured in this music video as it is promotion for a film.

The last statement of Goodwin's theory that can be applied to the heathens music video as it is promotion for a film is a lot of the time there is inter-textual reference within the music video. In the Heathens music video there is clips featured from the film 'suicide squad' as the song is used to promote the film but also to create buzz about the film and to concoct a bigger audience as the people who like the duo will most probably be the sort of person who would enjoy the film. An example of a clip being shown to create a buzz is displayed at 2:06 which features the character Harley Quinn.

These 2 videos both display a variety of Goodwin's statements within his theory by using location and different camera shots.

How does 'Judith' by a perfect circle use media language to show conventions

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