Recently, Ive been thinking a lot about how people communicate online, especially on Youtube. Just to get an idea of why I might be thinking about this, I chose one of the random "Videos being watched now" videos on the front page of the site, which happened to be this one. Here are the most recent comments. Take it away, MikefromMadrid. He wants to let us know that "negro's cant sing for shit". StusMauler feels the need to share too: "whore." chaosstarr butts in with "her boobs aint fake r they", and BadmanLiner shares "haha love it". I'm not going to go on, but there's plenty more on there. So, what makes a person comment on Youtube, and why say things that (I hope) they wouldnt say offline?
I've put it down to a social hierarchy effect. Online, you are completely anonymous. MikefromMadrid could easily be Steve from Portland, and BadmanLiner probably isnt a BadmanLiner at all. This anonymity allows complete freedom of speech. You can voice your views without fear of retribution in any form you want. This is partly how the video aspect of the site works anyway, but in comments it becomes more interesting. Everyone wants to be the alpha male in society, and online the idea changes. Say someone creates a video. One person loves the video, and assumes most other people do too, and posts "wow! i love this video" in order to relate to the video, and link themselves to it, hoping that someone will come along, love the video, read the comment, and have respect them. You probably don't think like this, and I don't think this is something people spent time thinking about. But the last time someone approached you about a film they enjoyed and you had already seen, I expect you wanted them to know that you had already seen it, and want to make their opinions change to reflect yours.
This effect can be observed with "leet" speak, a form of english that came about around the time that the Internet really started to hit the mainstream. The term itself originates from the word "elite", and was created mainly to keep the first major users of the technology as the 'rulers' of the Internet. It was used to exclude "newbies", using spellings and grammar not used anywhere else with the hope of it being clear that they were the elite. The form of language evolved as the Internet grew, and now simpler adaptions of it are commonly used online, as you can see from the examples at the start of the post. It is often used to shorten the time taken to type, from "are" to "r" or "you" to "u", and many of the more common misspellings or words have been accepted into general speak, often now in the real world as well - listen out for people saying "lol" or "noob" around town. The elitism of internet culture has again changed, and now sites such as SomethingAwful consider themselves, perhaps not deliberately, but nonetheless a more elite online society, looking down upon people who use "leet" speak or misspellings generally. Internet memes are also often used, which effectively excludes people from the site in the same way "leet" speak did. This is a good way to examine the alpha male effect in the Internet, and leads us back to the original point.
The first thing I'm going to think about is a theme, a style; something related to the song and video. I could just play with the light effects, take some screenshots/photos of Parkour or use the sparker effect used by the band on their album cover, but that seems a bit lazy and not particularly imaginative.
I set myself on the theme of "Flowing". Here are the things that jumped to mind.
An experimental online game called "flOw", created by a development team I have a great interest in, who specialise in experimental media. I recommend you play the game here. I did an art project (which contributed to my fail grade and my resentfulness regarding the subject) which I have posted below. If I were to look further at this game, I would have a great deal of knowledge to back me up.
Next, I thought of Skiing, a major passion of mine, and I feel that the smooth motion and elegant style of the sport would fit perfectly with the theme, however, with Parkour as my chosen sport, using another would be much too out of place. On top of this, it would be hard to get any photos living in Norwich, where the dry ski slope doesn't quite look as epic as solid white mountains.
I then jumped to an art piece I saw recently on Vimeo, which builds upon the artwork of__, an artist who experimented with the "smoke" seen when some liquids are dropped in water.
The piece is more a music video than an idea for an image, and it is too unrelated as it stands, but is worth watching for the visual style. This directly led me to a CD cover that already uses a similar style. I love how the colours in this merge so fluidly, flowing subtly into each other. The use of colour is fantastic, and wouldn't be hard to do. I could even merge it with the light streaks somehow, maybe using only the use of colour. Then I thought of the following, which uses colour in the same way, but implements it over an image, which is striking, and beautiful.
Here are another two related videos that serve as additional inspiration.
The Sony Bravia advert recently inspired me to take up Flash programming so I could create an application where multicoloured balls fall from the top of the screen, using perspective to create a mock 3D effect. It failed miserably, but it might be worth trying again if I can think of a good reason to do so.
I'm a big fan of the Modern Warfare films, spawned off the blockbuster "Call Of Duty" titles, and just finished watching the second installment, which was even more action packed and furious than the first. An instant classic. That said, with the hype swarming it and its massive budget, financed by producer Activision (recently in the news with their short film created with Warp Films), this doesn't surprise me, and the estimation of over 11 million sales worldwide, seems incredibly plausible.
The plot follows on 5 years in the future from the last film, where a shaky friendship between the U.S and the Russian are beginning to crumble. New antagonist Vladamir Makarov leads the Ultra-nationalist faction, provoking an American undercover agent to lead Russia into a full on war. In a surprise attack, the Russians storm the East coast, and into Washington. Private Ramirez, one of the films new protagonists is led into the war, throwing him into devastating combat where America is slowly torn apart by bullets and explosives. However, in a Tarantino-esq move, we also follow the movements of the Task Force 141, led by Captain McTavish, more commonly known as Soap from the last film. They follow Makarov's trail of bullets, leading them into extreme environments, from Russia's snowy peaks to a favela in Rio de Janeiro, where snowmobile chases, high adrenaline shoot outs and epic missile launches immobilise the viewer. Ghosts of the past are stirred up and old favourites rise from the dead.
The crisp visuals are accompanied by 5.1 surround sound, with a winning score by Hans Zimmer, best known for his work on films such as "The Dark Knight" and "Gladiator". Available on DVD and Blu-ray, I highly recommend purchasing Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, available damn near everywhere.
Oh - I had a point. Games are becoming films. It's a good thing.
The Internet age is making it easier and easier for fans to create media, such as music or film with limited or even no budget. But of course, society loves things they recognise, and so they'd rather watch re-runs of Scrubs than try something new and incredible(watch it!) - we don't need to take risks any more. Which is where this fits in.
Taking the style and music of one of the most popular music videos (and its famous song), and combining it with one of the most popular films of all time is pretty much the best move this amateur film editor could have made, and so the video is getting fairly popular, and is being circulated around the Internet. Unless he'd added re-runs of Scrubs. There are hundreds of similar videos floating around, many much more popular than this, going to show the massive interest people have in seeing their favourite films redone or edited.
Of course, I'm only writing about this because I love it so much, but the sudden boom in fan-made material since web 2.0 is incredible, providing other fans with pretty much anything they could want. The best thing about this is that its new - off the radar content such as this would never have been reproduced by Spike Jonze. People aren't complaining about these either, which is a nice change, as they provide a source of advertising for the source media. In fact, it is becoming so popular that companies are branching out and asking audiences to make fan-made content, especially for shows aimed at younger audiences, who apparently love to kill time on computers (although these obey copyright laws, and so are generally far less interesting). Skins have hosted several video-mashup competitions now, the latest of which being this one. Free advertising! Channel 4 must love that.
Theres not really any way to be sensitive about this: Rammstein's German Pussy video is pretty much just hardcore porn. Watch it here!
My main point with this is that it shows the path that music videos are starting to take, and will very likely follow. Society is slowly being de-sensitised to porn, and although the video is currently 18+ rated, it is only the start of music videos that are taking a step further from the usual Britney Spears smut.
The Internet age has radically affected viewing habits, and it shows. 10 years ago music videos were much slower paced; now audiences are faced with images flashing so fast it borders on an epilepsy hazard. The content of videos has also changed. As with trashy TV shows (the BBC is currently under pressure for the now famous Nick Griffin interview which is often cited as sensationalist tabloid trash), where the most controversial stunts are what attracts the largest audience, for example Big Brother, which has been a massive influence in pushing back the borders in what is now "safe viewing" for audiences. In music videos, this evolution, starting with videos of live perfomances, before changing into an art form, a new way to present short films, which is now mainly dominated by pop songs where female artists show as much skin as possible in order to demoralize women everywhere. Its ok though, as videos such as German Pussy are preaching to youngters worldwide the message "You've got a pussy, I have a dick, So what's the problem? Let's do it quick." A valuable lesson for todays teens.
The fact is, much as it still seems a little weird, it makes complete sense for the media to slowly turn to more deviant ideas, given Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which shows that sex is one of the most important human needs, and one of the few that the media can cater for. I feel that as the media continues to develop, it will not be long until new or interactive media begins to cater for the other needs, as we have begun to already, with games such as Love Plus, a slightly weirder Nintendogs for a lonelier audience.
Either way, if robo-prostitutes aren't around in five years, don't be surprised if music videos are a brain-destroying mix of porn and epilepsy.
I really should be analysing Fujiya & Miyagi's "Ankle Injuries", but I already did The White Stripes' video "Fell In Love With A Girl", which was much better, so I consider myself excused. Anyway, this leads me to a much more complex, interesting, and entertaining video, Radiohead's Street Spirit. There is a lot of controversy over the meaning to both the song and the highly successful video, which is directed by Jonathan Glazer. The video, like the song, is a random assortment of images, some positive, some negative, some neutral. Each, however, uses time-warping effects on selective parts of the clip, which is very disorientation. As well as this, the film uses a high contrast monochrome filter combined with soft, precise lighting to cast powerful light and shadows across the subject, clearly illuminating the darkness like daytime, just another of the video’s strange attributes.
The combined audio and video convey both calm and intense depression simultaneously, in a way so that the two emotions combine effortlessly. The song is cited by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke as their darkest, most hopeless song “All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. Street Spirit has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end.” The constant stream of minor chords and endless, out-of-tune vocals certainly suggest this, singing lyrics such as: “Be a world child, form a circle Before we all go under” and ”Cracked eggs, dead birds Scream as they fight for life”; unconnected stories, filling the listeners head with images of however they interpret the vague, despairing poem. “That's why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning.” Yorke states. The video does the same, as a series of short clips which tell no story alone, or narrative combined, but convey intensely powerful emotions, amplifying the spirit of the song. This is an unusual way to plan a music video, but Glazer pulls it off perfectly with his incredible talent with visuals. The video opens with a close up of Yorke, who slowly turns his head around to look at the floor. Thunder can be heard overhead – the only diegetic sound the video has to offer before fading out as the song begins. The camera moves back, and Yorke opens his arms in a biblical pose, and begins to fall. The camera moves back again, revealing the height Yorke stands over, and we watch him fall hopelessly towards the ground, inevitability sustained by slow motion as lightning crackles silently in the background. Cut to Yorke lying on a crumpled car roof. This is the first hint at the dream world setting of the video. As with a dream, the brain often skips the most traumatic parts to avoid waking – such as falling and appearing on the ground without memory of hitting it. Glazer uses the idea of the film being a dream repeatedly throughout, allowing for scenes which would otherwise be seen as irrelevant or unfitting, and how a dream fits in with the melancholic style of the mise-en-scene. The dreamworld shown to us is achieved in several ways, which will become apparent as I progress, and the effect of each scene throws powerful imagery as us, made dark by Glazer's use of camera work, lighting and general mise-en-scene. In time, the viewer starts to see the world the video is set in as a nightmare, trapping us in the harrowing metaphors.
The use of shot types helps the location get the maximum impact, as well as further adding to the mood of the video. For starters, there is no establishing shot in the entire film, or even any long shots to present the setting to the viewer. This has the effect of making the film seem more surreal and unnatural, making us unsure where we are looking at, whether we have seen it before, and even if we are seeing it at another time. This is partly achieved by the setting, a seemingly desolate caravan park, who's only inhabitants seem unlikely at best. Each caravan looks alike, metal crates which seem to serve no real purpose in the video. The setting strikes the viewer as weird because of its commonness – a popular cheap holiday home for the lower classes in society. It is so out of place and random that it seems almost as weird as some of the time warping clips, and yet it serves its purpose beautifully, filling space in the mise-en-scene, and showing off the powerful lighting used against the black backdrop. The background is an important aspect of the video, effectively hiding the outside world from the viewer, enclosing the world into a box of unsure proportions. The darkness could go on forever, or be only a few meters from the last focal point. The clarity it provides us with is stunningly vague, and continues to play with the viewer's head. Next is the lighting, which is cleverly set up to avoid the video being an emo-y mess of blacks and greys, throwing bold whites into the equation, which shine off the sides of faces and caravans like the full sun – and yet the video detaches itself from this simple explanation/definition by throwing the lights over specific spots, like in a play – look at 3.53, where a spotlight is thrown across the ground for the nun to perform over.
The harsh lighting is also used to throw deep shadows across the landscape and faces, notably in Thom's close ups, where his depressed face has a dynamic light show thrown across it, like an epic battle between light and dark. Of course which is winning is hidden by the crossfades used around these shots, blending tones and shapes in a confusing, powerful way, sending mixed images of his broken down face into out minds. This ambient lighting contributes to the illusionary effect of the production.
The camera angles used throughout the film are highly unconventional. Almost every shot is mathematically precise, positioned at right angles to the action, giving us a plain view of the action. Shots such as these are mainly avoided by filmmakers, as they are too plain and quickly become boring to watch, as opposed to a video with hundreds of different angles which add different perspectives to each scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sbqIyeed4g – this video is completely different in terms of pace, due to shot types and fast editing). This is done for many reasons. The first is to mix with the strange sense of nervous calm that comes from the action, created by the slow motion effect and the lack of sound, presenting us with scenes such as two Thom Yorkes, one jumping over a stick held by the other while in slow motion to make it look like the most normal thing in the world, which it does, shown to us with complete clarity, leaving nothing to the imagination or to confuse the viewer. The next reason is that the precise angles and refusal to zoom or move the camera at any point clearly defines boundaries for the scene – this is taken advantage of throughout the video, such as the scene with three nuns who jump to form a complex shape in the air. They enter the scene from the sides of the screen, jump, and then leave. The entering and leaving is made very clear to the viewer. The nuns do not attempt to leave by running towards or away from the camera, but at a precise 90 degrees to it. Meticulous planning on the director's part, adding to the mood slowly being built up.
Running away from the scene is a common theme in the video, as if the characters are trying to escape from the dreamworld. And yet there are some who seem perfectly content to sit in deckchairs late at night by their caravan, or stare in the face of danger, relying on the use of time warping as though they know that there is no danger. In this sense the world is portrayed as a form of purgatory. The characters are never shown in any physical pain, even after falling from a caravan, or risking their lives at the hands of a vicious looking dog. This always seem to be because of the time warping, which saves Yorke from hitting the ground with any speed, or being covered with what looks like tar. However, the peace shown extends only to the physical – the characters often shown themselves to be in mental pain, with Yorke almost always shown in a state of apparent despair. To the point where we almost never see his eyes, clenched shut against the world, which is another of the videos more unusual aspects. This removes the link between the viewer and Yorke, as if he does not want us to be a part of what he is burdened with “I can't believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That's why I'm convinced that they don't know what it's about. It's why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you're going to have your dog put down and it's wagging its tail on the way there.”, which fits in very well with this quote from Yorke during an interview about the song. This also explains why he never looks directly at the camera during his close ups(or at all), which is often the time in music videos where a link between artist and viewer is established. He often seems to be trying to escape, perhaps more than any body else in the video, who seem melancholy at most at the 1.16 point, where they sit around the caravan looking more bored than anything else, as if they miss the point, or have accepted it. That said, at the 1.00 point, a member of the band stands up and runs away, for apparently no reason. Yorke tries to leave the nightmare or break a metaphorical boundary at numerous points in the video, such as at the opening, where he spreads his arms and falls, or at 2.40, where he tries to run away, but is held back by the force of time, which slows him to a near standstill, or at 3.00, where he is seen fighting against the wind, reaching forward to reach the other side, but again the time slows down and he gets nowhere. 3.42, and Yorke is smashing panes of glass with a hammer, apparently without much success, as he repeats the action several times, and the broken glass is slows down, floating slowly away from him, a clear metaphor for escaping the box he is trapped in, but also symbolising the camera work, shot at an exact 90 degrees to the subject again, rendering him unable to leave for the sides of his cage. Right at the end of the video, however, Yorke throws himself back into the air in the same biblical pose as at the start, as if trying to mimic the same religious affinity as the nuns, who are shown running away (shown by the use of a Z axis a few seconds prior to the last shot), and partially succeeds, and is left hanging in the air with the last note of the song.
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire.
1. What is your age?
10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50>
I choose to target my questionnaire at people primarily between the ages of 12 and 55, as the people I thought would be able to/enjoy watching music videos, as well as enjoying the music should fall mainly inbetween this bracket.
2. What is your gender?
Male Female
The order of these two answers is vitally important to some people, who would argue that choosing to place “Male” before “Female” suggests that the writers of the questionnaire see males as more important, especially as the order goes against the chronological order of the alphabet for the first letter - often a standard in questionnaires. Those people are slightly right. Society still sees males as the superior genre – turn the TV on and check if you like. The second reason is that the main focus of the video, parkour, is a predominantly male sport (not a single woman in the parkour group I filmed), and my actor is male. My questionnaire is now officially feminist-proof.
3. How do you most commonly watch music videos? (Tick all that apply)
Bands webpages Online streaming sites (Youtube, Yahoo! Music, etc) On demand TV Live TV Other
This is to find out how my target audience watches music videos, which will indicate the most common habits of the audience (do they watch TV, or browse the Internet, for example). It also tells me where I should aim to place my video for the maximum effect.
4. Why do you most commonly watch music videos? (Tick up to 3)
Recommended by a friend Hype around it Interest in the song Interest in the artist Playlists Linked from an external website Linked from an internal website (i.e. recommended videos in Youtube) Through searching for a similar theme Live TV Other
This question is to find out how my target audience most commonly finds music videos. This will hint at audience habits, advising me on how I should advertise.
If an interviewee has over 5 points for the second section, I will use the rest of their results to find out the consumption habits of my target audience. This has affected the ordering of the questions, allowing me to read the second half first and then deciding if I need to read the rest of the questionnaire.
5. Which of the following music genres do you listen to most? (Tick all that apply)
Classical Electronic Emo Funk Jazz Metal Pop Punk R&B Rap Rock Alternative rock Other
I spent a while choosing genres to include. A poll created by Microsoft (http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500349_761551614_-1_1/Music_Sales_in_the_United_States_by_Genre.html) showed me that rock, and the sub-genres of it, such as alternative rock and metal were easily the most popular, and so I split it down to some of its more popular and relevant sub-genres (although left rock in as for those who are particularly interested in specific forms of rock). The genres I am looking for are “Alternative rock”, “rock” and “Electronic”, awarding 2, 1, 1 points respectively.
6. How interested are you in extreme sports?
A lot Fairly Slightly Not at all
This is a simple way to find out if a person could be interested in the themes of the video. I avoided the term Parkour because it might have confused the reader, and extreme sports is a related term everybody knows. I am relying on the audience having a rough idea of comparison for this question, as “how interested are you” is very vague, and could be considered in many ways. However, I could not find a simple way around this, and so am hoping the audience will have some common sense. The results should be reliable. I will award 3, 2, 1 and 0 points respectively.
7. On average, how many music videos would you say you actively watch monthly? (paying attention to)
40+ 20-39 5-19 Less
This question was hard to write, as I had to bear in mind that different people watc h radically different amounts of music videos. How to find out if an individual is interested in music videos is also difficult as it is relative to other people. I need to therefore have a standard the interviewee can relate to, in this case, numbers. Those who watch 4 or less a month are not likely to be interested in watching more, and I also am catering to those who watch music TV, who could plausibly watch hundreds of videos in a month. It was then a matter of working out a figure in-between these two. I will award 3, 2, 1 and 0 points respectively.
8. On average, how many music videos would you say you passively watch monthly? (not paying much attention to)
40+ 20-39 5-19 Less
This is more an extension of the last question, designed make it clear what the term “watch” means in this case, and to take into account people who watch music videos in the background, or as a way to listen to music. Either way, they are likely to at least glance at the video, which could stimulate some interest if the previous topics apply, and so I am giving a point for the top two answers, and none for those below.
In total there are 11 points to be earned, where 5 are needed for a questionnaire to be marked as my potential target audience and read.
Organising the masses into neat little boxes is harder than it looks. I've been struggling to come up with a half-decent questionnaire for finding out my music video's target audience using as few questions as possible, so to fit into the average box-occupier's attention span, so I wrote a big list of objectives that my questionnaire must fulfill.
The most efficient way to find the target audience is to find people who might be interested, such as the listeners of the band (or similar bands, given how obscure they are) and people with an interest in Parkour.
The questionnaire will be split in two (although this will be hidden to the person filling it in, so they will the entire thing in), with one half for finding out if a person is part of the target audience, and one for then finding out about their consumption habits. To judge whether an interviewee is in the target audience, a points system will be used, with points being given depending on whether an answer matches with the answer for the ultimate target of the film. If the user scores enough points, I will then look at the rest of the questionnaire, and find out about my target audience.
Questionnaire will be handed out online and on paper, so content must be available for both versions. This rules out showing videos, not that the interviewees would have time for that anyway. Time restraints also mean that the questionnaire must be easy to read, using recognisable terms, and be quick and simple to fill out. Parkour is not a recognisable term, so I'll need a way around that. Having easy to process information is vital too - I don't get paid for this. This all points towards multiple choice - the favoured examination method for first school kids.
Things I want to know:
Why people watch music videos - does people discover music, and then the video, or vice versa? Does this vary given consumption habits?
How they watch music videos, and possibly a reason why.
Advertising habits - will a good advert in the right place lead the person to the video? Will they watch as parts of interactive advertising such as the Spotify video player? Is interactive advertising successful?
This has shown me that I need questions to find out:
The target audience:
The target audience should be interested in the same style of music as my chosen song, parkour, and music videos generally. No use find out about someone who never watches music videos.
About them:
I then need to find out whether age groups or gender groups have a particular interest in my video, how they consume music videos, why they consume music videos, and as useful a question I can think of to help me find out more about the sort of person I am dealing with. I am considering favourite clothes shops, which can give away a persons budget or tastes, or favourite colour, an attribute which is thought to lead back to what sort of person someone is. From experience, this proves true, although it sounds nearly unbearably new age-y. I am considering finding out information to help with the digipak and advert, but the questionnaire is getting a bit long for the average attention span, much like an episode of Battlestar Galactica.
This is my AS Media studies blog, where I will post all my media related work. Also, I also do music, I've just started, take a look! http://www.myspace.com/tomkatband
I've recently started up my own graphic design studio. If you want the CHEAPEST and BEST graphic design done, email me at tkail@live.co.uk. (Please, I have no money)
