[JB] Evaluation (1)

• Goodwin’s critical framework (Dancing In The Distraction Factory, 1993) shows us that there are certain aspects of videos which are recurrent across all genres of music video, and our video is no exception - our video conforms to these genres. It has a strong link between the music and visuals.

• A music video is a tool to promote the song and artist it is made for. For this reason, the visuals are constructed around the song, rather than vice-versa. There are certain points during our video where this applies; stop animation is used for a playful effect, and in most occurrences each new frame is carefully synced in time with the beats and tempo of the soundtrack, thus conforming with conventions of the form.

• There are also points during the performance section of our video where we show lip syncing and syncing with instruments. This gives the video an ‘authentic’ feel because it makes it seem like the band is playing the music in the video itself as opposed to just on a soundtrack which has been placed over it. This, alongside the stop animation, shows that there is a strong link between the music and visuals.

• Another point to note is that the lip syncing is illustrated by use of close-ups and so-called ‘meat shots’ (close-ups of the singer’s face and mouth — often making use of a first person mode of address, although this is absent in our production). This conforms with the idea of a music video, because the close-ups used help to show the artist to the audience and thus, when they are represented through use of semiotics, it constructs a star image for them.

• We chose to feature a variety of shot types in our video, ranging from extreme close-ups to extreme long shots. We mostly used close-ups in our performance shots, to show the band to the audience, and we used long shots in our narrative where it seemed much more appropriate - and where there was more of a need to convey the narrative, rather than the people acting in this narrative.

• It is important to note that, although the vast majority of music videos feature heavily with the use of first person mode of address, it is subtly absent from our production. Rather, the artist appears to be addressing an unseen audience, within the fourth wall.

• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. Our production takes heavy influence from the song name ‘Parade of punk rock t-shirts’ and the lyrics which feature in this song. In our video can be seen people wearing plain white t-shirts and not having much fun, contrasted with many clips of the same people but in very bright and expressive t-shirts.

• Another particularly prominent set of links between the lyrics and visuals are the points at which these lyrics actually appear on screen during the performance shots, as seen at precisely 0:40 in the clip below.

• In our production we aimed to achieve narrative fuzz to some extent - we hoped that by having a narrative which was not necessarily illustrative of the lyrics we would create a captivating & more enigmatic video in which the audience would like to continually engage, and view in a focused way.

• The video reinforces the dominant ideology that the youth of today enjoy having a lot of fun. The nature and tone of the video is lighthearted fun which is illustrative of this ideology, as it shows the band members enjoying themselves.