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The Professional Music Videos

By Joanna Lewin

Avril Lavigne- Alice Alice is a song written and performed by singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. The song was featured in the Disney film, Almost Alice.

The concept of the video is very similar to ours, in that a fairy-tale/fantasy world is created and carried out throughout the song . Lavignes video follows the storyline of Alice and Wonderland as she falls into a hole, finding herself in wonderland. Her fall is intercut with shots of Alice (from Burtons films) and colliding objects.

The video cuts and dissolves between Lavigne’s character running through the forest and her singing and performing the song on the piano. The lyrics of the song are emphasized visually through the video. For example, as Lavigne sinks into a chair singing her lyric “echo”, her face, visually, quickly dissolves in and out. The video is very much piano driven. There is high usage of CGI to recreate the eerie, fairytale like imagery of the video. CGI is also used to create the colliding objects and furniture when she falls down the hole. The clothing emphasizes this eerie atmosphere, as she is casted wearing Goth corsets, accompanied by dark, black eye make.

DYER-ALICE Dyers theory on videos constituting their own utopian universe can be applied to Avril Lavignes music video. In this case, the utopia is the ‘wonderland’. Dyer claims that the utopia should evolve from escapist act sequences; it is ontologically part of the visual universe and there is no return to a normative world outside of the act. Avril Lavignes video is pact with vigourous acting. The song is full of intense emotion, which the audience can experience. The video is very spontaneous and there is no sense of holding back. It acts as an escape, with its entertainment offering ‘something better’ to set against the realities of ‘day-to-day existence’

• Shot count- 104

Katy Perry- Wide Awake ‘Wide Awake’ is a song by American recording artist, Katy Perry. The

song utilizes electronic and dance-pop within its composition and is lyrically reminiscent of the reality of a break-up and moving past it. This is very similar to our music video, which also looks at a couples break up through both a reality, and fantasy viewpoint.

‘Wide Awake’ uses a lot of CGI to recreate a fantasy world, which at first is very dark and eerie, but becomes a beautiful labyrinth full of colorful flora by the end. The video also seems to follow a fairytale-like story, as Katy is presented, at the end of the song, with her “prince charming” ridding a unicorn. This transition between a dark reality, and a beautiful fantasy is mirrored in the imagery. For example, shards of glass from a shattered mirror transform into butterflies. Something dark and hurtful transitions into something bright and beautiful. This idea of Katy entering a labyrinthian world is mirrored through her clothing. Katy Perry is dressed in all purple, along side her purple hair do.

The music video features several allusions to past videos including the chest explosions from “Firework” and ends with Katy dressed up in a tour outfit ready to go out on stage and perform ‘Teenage Dream’

• ANDREW GODWIN- ‘WIDE AWAKE’Andrew Godwin believes that one of the key aspect that makes

a great music video is the technical aspects of the music video. These technical aspects involve camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and special effects. Katy Perry’s music video, Wide Awake uses a lot of special effects to keep the video visually interesting. For example, special effects are used to recreate this labyrinth world which Katy finds herself in. They are also used to mirror this dark, mysterious atmosphere, which is eventually broken, through sparks and glitters of lights protruding through the stone walls.

The lighting helps set the mood and emphasize the key movements of the song for dramatic effects. The lighting in the video contrasts between dark, grey lighting, to colorful, bright lighting. The editing shows a variety of shots of this labyrinth world to keep the viewer visually interested. Andrew Godwin argues that it is these features and technical aspects which holds a music video together.

Shot Count- 124

Miley Cyrus- We Can’t stop

• ‘We Cant Stop’ is a song by American recording artist Miley Cyrus. It is a midtempo pop, R&B, dance track. The video portrays Cyrus and her friends at a house party. There are a variety of bizarre scenes, such as a skulls made out of chips, a mountain of bread, and smoke coming out of a mans anus and crotch. The video is full of vibrant colors, and is full of creative imagery. There is an edgier sexual image of the young adult, with Ryan Secreast noting that this edginess “may be a little too much”. The video sends a high-spirited celebration of freedom that young women are blessed with today.

THEODORE ADORNO-WE CANT STOP

• Critic, Theodore Adorno, argues that popular media and music products are characterised by standardisation, (they are basically formulaic and similar) and pseudo- individualisation ( incidental differences make them distinctive, but they're not). Miley Cyrus’s music video presents her in a sexual manner; an object of desire for men to look at. This idea of woman being placed as an object of desire can be seen in other music videos like Christina Aguilera’s ‘Gene in A Bottle’, which portrays Christina rolling around on a beach in skimpy, tight clothing.

Shot Count- 124