J.J Product analysis/ deconstruction of - 'Dry your eyes mate' by the Streets

Genre and narrative

When using Goodwin’s framework to de construct this music video it is evident that some of the sections he divides music videos into are evident in this Streets song. This music video is a Narrative performance, in that it tells a story through the lyrics being spoken. However the images on screen do not directly relate to the lyrics in the conventional way. The whole song is set in a snowy mountainous landscape and shows Mike Skinner the performer travelling through this environment by train and by walking. This video gives the impression that Mike Skinner is reflecting back on old memories of his father by travelling to this far away setting. The notion of looking is also very evident in this music video. You often see the image of Mikes face in the reflection of a window as he is looking thoughtfully through the glass. Another example of the notion of looking is when mike is holding up old slides to the light. The camera switches from him holding the slide up too the view which mike would get when holding it up. This video also has aspects of links between lyrics and visuals, lip syncing is evident throughout. Mike is often shown rapping the lyrics into the camera through some sort of close up or mid shot.
This video is an example of illustration, as it tells the sad story of Mike loosing his father through a very picturesque and unrelated way. The setting and images on screen do not inherently relate to the lyrics so things like the location and the way it has been shot are used to add some aspect of dramatic effect.
I think this video could be considered an art form rather than a commercial one, as it challenges the usual stereotype of the Streets videos. A usual streets video may include loud brash boyish behaviour where this is supposed to be gentler and thought provoking as the death of a parent is a delicate subject. I personally think this video was made in this style because Mike skinner wanted it to be visually stunning as it was a tribute to his father, rather than an add to sell his latest record.

Media language

Mise – en – scene: This video is shot in a very scenic part of the world, covered in snow and surrounded by large mountains. This adds to the effect of this song as it is not a very cheerful song as it is focused around the death of his father. The cold conditions and lack of sunlight keep the mood of the video at a fixed level. The costume worn by Mike Skinner is very basic, he is dressed from head to toe in black this could be seen out of respect and mourning for his dad. There are very little props used in this video however one important prop is a slide Mike holds up whilst he is travelling on the train. The slide is a picture of a church and it turns out to be the very same church he is travelling all the way to see. As the song is called “never went to Church” it holds some significance to the lyrics being sung in the chorus.

Camera: There are many camera shots within this video which are very effective at enhancing the images on screen. For example the use of close ups when mike is rapping personal memories like “you tidied you things into the bin the more poorly you grew” into the camera it really hits home how sad these memories are to him.
There is also a very slow vertical pan starting from Mike’s reflection in the water and ending up looking at his lonely figure by the water side. I think this shot is very effective at showing how alone Mike feels after the passing of his dad, and the despairing look on his face at the end of this shot confirms this point of view.
As this song has a fairly slow and steady beat the style of editing reflects this tempo. As a result this song has a fairly slow cutting rate and many prolonged shots which exaggerate the sad mood of the song.

There is no real intertextuality or references to popular culture in this song, this is mainly due to the fact it is a personal story of mikes memories with his dad. The only real thing that could be thought of is intertextuality is any references to God and Christianity which are occasionally mentioned in the lyrics.

Representation

The Streets are represented in this music video mainly through Mike Skinner the main vocalist. His face is very recognisable with his shaven head, stubble and crooked teeth. When Mike appears in close up all these conventions we expect to see and recognise from previous hits like “dry your eyes mate” and “fit but you know it” are revealed even if this time he is appearing in a more thought provoking song. His inclusion adds to the ‘meta Narrative’ already established by the Streets band as an image.
There is only one social group represented in this video as there is only one person who appears in the whole video. Mike skinner is a white male in his late twenties and considered a ‘bit of a lad’. This video could be seen as challenging the stereotype of someone within this age and gender bracket. Too see a young male pouring out his heart on screen about his memories of his father and challenging the conventions of his ‘Lad’ persona.

Institution and Audience

This music video is more likely to be consumed by some form of focused viewing rather than an ambient one. People are more likely to hear the song once on the radio and like it then go out looking for its relating video. I also would see this video to be consumed solo and not part of a communal group. As this song is sad and fairly slow it would not be played in an environment like a club or party as it would not fit the mood. However if viewed alone this video is entertaining as it focuses on a more serious aspect of life which probably would be best thought about whilst alone.

J.J Technical analysis Evaluation - Streets / Dry your eyes mate

I have analysed the music video of ‘Dry your eyes mate’ by the streets and there were a large number of things which came to my attention whilst watching.

Shots

During the video ‘Dry your eyes mate’ a vast amount of similar shot were used to create a specific mood throughout. For example the Mid shot was used heavily during the video, however the main character “mike” was shot off centre almost to one side of the frame. This shot was used frequently and I think it shows a timid side to Mike skinners character, almost a reluctance to appear fully on screen, as he is so upset with his recent break up.
Another popular shot was the long shot. This shot was used on many occasions showing mike alone in many various locations, including the cinema, a football stadium and supermarket. This shot was effective as it gave the audience the bigger picture allowing everyone too see just how alone he is feeling during his relationship torment.

Mise- en-scene

The mise-en-scene of this video is very simple but effective. Costume for example is very ordinary; mikes character appears in a baby blue jumper and jeans for a large portion of the video. The only other change is the inclusion of a black coat when he is appearing outside. This is most probably to portray the character in the video as an ordinary bloke nothing special or different from anyone else.
A dog is also present in the video; this dog is with mike in nearly every frame and is shown to be his companion throughout. It almost suggests now the lady in his life has gone this loyal dog is all he has in the world.
The location in which this music video shot is very urban. There are many different locations like a street at night, a football ground and a betting shop. All these locations are shot at night in low-lit areas giving a sad and lonely feel to the video.

Conclusion

This music video has surprisingly few shots. The total number of shots is 86 and this probably has something to do with the tempo of the music being represented. The song ‘Dry your eyes mate’ is a very slow and sad style rap song, which involves fewer shots, which go on for a longer duration. The length of shots is important when you consider the tempo of the music. This video is a good example of a 3-minute rap song in our style genre and I hope by doing this technical analysis we can pick up valuable tips on what is needed to shoot a successful video.

Audience research - Group 5

We have decided to put together a questionnaire asking questions about the genre of indie rap. we will be asking questions about what people expect to see in this type of genre and gathering information which will help us make decisions later on in our project. We have chosen this style of gathering information because we will be able to send out the questionnaire electronically with a link to our chosen track. By sending it via email we can send to a wide variety of people and only look at the end results, saving time and effort. the advantage of this over say a focus group is that we can ensure more reliable results. In a focus group it may be hard to control people's behaviour and there may be difficulty in gaining valuable answers.

We will for example ask questions about the design of our Digipak, like what designs they would expect to see and what designs would attract them into buying an album. This information could change some of our ideas as we may not have thought of things that people would like to see. We will be designing our questionnaires on either survey monkey, or on a programme like word and we will be using open and closed questions enabling us to gather a range of varied answers. We will obtaining both quantitative and qualitative data from our questions, insuring a varied analysis.

An example of one of our questions is ' What locations would you expect to be used in an Indie rap video ? ' Then we would list a number on different locations for the audience to tick.

We are aiming to send the questionnaire to friends within our age bracket of 15- 21, as this is our target audience.

LH-Technical Analysis Evaluation Plan B- Bizzness Woman

Link

From the technical analysis i have learnt quite a lot that i wasn't expecting to find out. From the technical analysis I learnt the sheer amount of shots that are used within a music video compared to a film opening sequence. I hadn't realised the amount of quick shots that are used as i think that the music and visuals take your mind off of it and therefore disguise it. Within the music video that i analysed the longest shot lasted for about 11seconds but the majority of them last around 2 or 3 seconds. This has taught me that for our video we are going to have to consider every little shot and plan this very carefully when making our storyboard. However i also noticed that a lot of the shots were repeated and used as filler shots especially the performance based shots. The majority of the shots that were used were mid shots however a lot of close ups were used to add emphasis. As the video that i analysed was mainly narrative based i think that a lot of mid shots were used as you needed to know and understand the whole story. The mid shots are used to add this but also used to set the scene and allow you to familiarise yourself with the settings as you can see the character and background. The close ups are used mainly in the performance based shots to show the skill and passion when Plan B is rapping/singing.
Overall the technical analysis has helped me to realise and start to grasp the large amount of planning that needs to be completed and considered before we can start to film our music video. But it has also helped me to see a variety of different shots and filler shots that we could use when making our video to ensure that it of to the highest possible standard.

Brighton preliminary task - group

Link

We posted our edited footage of our School trip to Brighton on Youtube, this enables us to share our shots with other groups and get comments from our teachers.

Analysis

We went to Brighton on 22/09/09 to familiarise ourselves with the camera, practice and explore different shots, use an outdoor location and to show us a variety of different locations. Overall the trip was successful as it has helped us discover a range of shots that otherwise may not have been considered. It also allowed us a chance to discuss and revise ideas for our music video as we discovered locations and shots that we hadn't previously realised were available.
The range of shots that we used are :
High angle tracking shot
Medium long shot
Medium tracking shot handycam
Point of view shot
Indoor close up
360 pan
Close up of feet
Low angle mid shot
Mid shot
Time stretch
Slow pan

After using these shots we have been able to consider a much wider range that we may not have considered previously. So the trip has proved very useful and given us a lot more ideas that we will definatly consider when creating our music video.

E.L - Technical Analysis

Jamie T - Chaka Demus

I analysed the shots and mise-en-scene of the video for Jamie T's Chaka Demus. There were a number of things that i noticed throughout the video.

Shots

There was a great deal of similar shots and repeat angles used all the way through the Chaka Demus video. One example is the high angle long shot that was used a number of times as different cars drove past in quick succession. These shots are interspersed with other repeat angles and adopt a quick cutting rate in order to create the narrative.

Mise-en-scene

The costumes that are used throughout the video are wacky, odd and relatively humerus. This is quite conventional of indie rap as many of the lyrics follow the same unusual path with a number of witty quips. The video Chaka Demus consists of a car chase of 3 old cars and 7 very oddly dressed males. For example there are 3 mines with their faces painted in costumes driving together chasing other absurdly dressed characters.

Most of the video is shot along an empty country road that winds and bends through what seems the middle of a forest. This use of the same road emphasises the race as all the cars are traveling the same way and in order to produce a good narrative the locations have to match. This would possibly fall under continuity editing.

A number of props are used that all add to the narrative and help tell the unusual story. For example two men are trying to read a map on the side of the road which clearly illustrates that they are lost and the audience can see a focus on the car chase.

There is also a focus on the suitcase that Jamie T has with him which is later thrown from the car. This would give the impression that it is the case that is sought after however this is never confirmed.

Conclusion

The video is a very good example of British indie rap and has give me some good ideas that will help us for our own video. By producing the technical analysis i am able to see the volume of shots used to create the narrative and the short duration that they are shown. This is something that we need to think about during our planning of our own video in order to make sure we get enough footage of shots that we can use.

Mood Board

This mood board is a representation of a number of icons within the genre that our track falls under. These artists are all controversial, unconventional Englsih rappers.

These images are able to give us ideas for both costume, locations and motifs that would be important for our music video.

Also images of the urban city and beer are examples of locations and props often associated with the genre and lifestyles that the artists themselves lead. For our video we wish to create a relatively realistic example of the way the artist lives and these images are perfect for chosing props and the best possible locations to film in.