Music Video Research - Johnny Cash - Hurt

Johnny Cash - Hurt

This music video provokes more emotion than most full feature films. By challenging the norms and delicacy of death it follows 'Johnny Cash' recall moments from his life in a time where he was very ill. The video evokes tears in more than one place without even being familiar with Johnny. By listening to the lyrics however a new realm of the video is explored which just may build it to be the saddest music video of all time.

The opening notes play over a black screen until a slideshow of images appear on the screen. Later finding out that they are images of Johnny Cash's house. The colour scheme is oriented toward a dark, muted but soft yellow evoking hope and happiness. The next shot is a medium shot below the head of Johnny playing his guitar. The fact you don't see his face in this shot could signify the idea that because he is very ill and close to death he doesn’t feel that he has a place on the screen anymore. Even as though he doesn’t want his fans to see him in his state.

He wears black contrasting his skin evidencing his head and hands more. The next two shots are one of him playing guitar medium shot and the other a close up of his eyes. His eyes however don't look into the camera. They look down to the left. It looks like he isn’t singing to us but yet singing to himself confirming these lyrics are from him, for him. The lyrics evoke emotion as they are "I hurt myself, to see if I can still feel". These lyrics suggesting has been through so much he no longer feels emotion himself so he has to cause himself pain to feel. This is sad due to the fact he is so familiar with what causes himself pain. This accompanies the close up of his face nicely as his expression also evokes emotion when he sings the lines. It evokes emotion however because it looks so real, he means it.

The next shot is of an American shot followed by a 'Cash Museum' that is 'Closed for Business'. This can represent his close to death thoughts. It could also signify his life as being a business finally closing down. A business people may have causing a dehumanising his life. Light is used throughout the video. When Johnny is singing light bounces off his face representing a biblical reference.

Johnny then recalls moments in his life. It cuts to him being young on a train then walking on a beach as he recalls these moments in the lyrics he asks himself how he can be in this position. A scene follows Johnny as he sings 'everyone I know, goes away' the camera pans up onto a picture of an elderly woman. The next scene is an old clip of cash and his supposed girlfriend when they were younger. This is an evident time shift as the colour between changes goes from warm yellow to a muted blue. This tells the viewer’s Johnny Cash is alone and he also sounds scared, knowing of the fact he may be next.

Once again Cash refers to his life as a business singing 'You can have it all'. He has maybe understood that most will profit of his evidential death. This is referred to once again at the end of the text as Cash says 'You can have it all, my empire of dirt'. This is expanded on this time however as he sings about wishing he could start again. This is sad as this is a man who at the end of his life has realised he hasn’t enjoyed his life. It incredibly hard and personal to hear as its true, he’s singing it so bluntly.

Music Video - Pitch

The Content - My presentation for my pitch contained a quick talk through of my planned music video. It explained who the artist is and why I have chosen him as an artist. It also explained why i have chosen the song 'Two Fingers'. I tried to make the whole pitch revolve around the idea that it was relatable by using phrases and themes linking too leaving home as everyone has already or will eventually leave home. I believe that it was important to explain the reasons for me choosing said artist and song. 

The pitch then focused on the story of the song. I incorporated Toderovs theory by explaining how i would want to defy it. I explained that most modern music videos focus on a loving or distressed relationship between two people when i wanted my relationship to be between a boy and his home town. This relationship would have ups and downs similar to a human, physical relationship. I almost personify a home town; the aim anyway. I then proceeded to explain each push and pull factor of him leaving his home town again trying to make the themes as relatable as possible. 

Next were the semiotics featuring in the music video. As I've said, multiple times, I wanted to push the relatable aspect of the music video. This would be evident in the semiotics with the main semiotic being the relatable aspect. Another semiotic is the themes and issues explored in family issues if that is a hard upbringing or on the brink of poverty I would again hope to bring my opinion and add opinions into the music video. The last semiotic I spoke about was youth. This was my favourite as everyone has been or will be younger. It reflects different emotions for different people. Many people reflect on the happy emotions they experienced at that age while some reject thought of youth as it brings back hard memories. I wanted to touch on each aspect as each is equally important. 

The last item I went over were my costs. I explained how I made the chart with all my expenses featured in making said music video. The chart gave a visual aspect.

The Technology - I used Prezi; I like Prezi. Its fun, its quick and it looks less boring than a powerpoint with a few dodgy animations scattered all over it. It doesn't need big walls of text, you can show a picture on the Prezi and explain why it means something through the audible medium of your voice. Prezi therefore, in my opinion, is the perfect medium to produce a music video pitch on for the main reasons once again - Its fun, quick and not a powerpoint. 

The graph for the costs I created using Microsoft XL creating a chart of costs then basing the graph off of that. 

The pictures were all downloaded through Google and music played through YouTube while i believe the video aspect was sorted through using Prezi.

The Evaluation - I believe my pitch went well enough. I don't believe my pitch went well enough. The content and technology, beside the dodgy costs chart, was acceptable. It was my presentation skills which took my to a merit. Even though I personally prefer the idea of having a picture on a Prezi and explaining why its there I do also see it as more of a challenge. You can write a script and say the right things but if the right things can leave your mouth in a non-nervous, audible way there isn't a lot of point knowing the right things. 

So therefore for my resubmission for this assignment I will rehearse the pitch before hand hoping to ace the presentation skills. 

Presentation Script

I will be making a music video for Jake Bugg's - Two Fingers. Genre being neo folk rock he is heavily influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan and 90's Britpop bands such as Oasis and Blur. Bob Dylan based on the voice aspect of his work, its high pitched and from the throat and the Britpop due to the song structure, style and audience he appeals to. Being one of the youngest respected musicians around currently he probably grew up listening to this style of music. At 18 he is currently the youngest solo artist to play the pyramid stage at Glastonbury playing in 2012 to accompany his debut album. He also supported ex Britpop heavyweight Noel Gallagher's tour. At 22 he has released 3 albums. The first being his debut self titled 'Jake Bugg'. The album did very well favourable by critics and fans alike. His second was titled 'Shangri La' and his most recent called 'On My One.

The song ill be doing a music video for will be 'Two Fingers'. Taken from the debut album the song was first released as a single. It has favoured a popular choice of song for live performances proving a fan favourite. Set in Nottingham it follows Jake as himself as he weighs the highs and lows of living in his home town and the pros and cons of leaving. Obviously for cost reasons I will be setting my video in Tamworth which I believe the theme links to just as well.

The song sees Jake weigh up the highs and lows of his hometown including his friends and Nottingham's night life which of course all comes down to his decision. The song also points the bad points of which being issues surrounding trouble with the law and the disrespect youth are sometimes given and issues surrounding his family.

The main recurring theme I wanted to get across regarding the semiotics would be relatability. Everyone has or will be in this position in life eventually. To leave or stay at home. Many people go through the issue with university leaving family and loved ones at home to go study while some people just want too leave. I like the idea of using this quite broad semiotic as it shows everyone's different story. I also expected everyone would do a emotional connection between two people while my video will focus on an emotional connection between a person and his hometown. Another semiotic would be focusing on the protagonists issues surrounding his family. Similar to hometown everyone is different. Some love them some hate them. Jake would have a step Dad he doesn't like as he abuses his Mum. I say again people have different experiences with family once again forcing the relatable themes the audience can therefore connect with. My final theme I'm going to talk about will be youth. Probably the most relatable of all my themes as everyone has seen it through or will eventually live it. Forcing this relatable aspect of the different semiotics will help the audience connect more with the music video, or more importantly connect with Jake as a protagonist.

Costs will include money spent out on the music video. I produced a graph to show this information. As you can see the mac is the most expensive. Using a mac because its perfect for editing and runs very smooth while doing so. Software will be the Adobe Premiere as paired with a mac its brilliant. To make this graph I put the information into XL and made a graph through that.

Risks will be identified and then continue to be controlled. Risks will be in the studio. Things like loose wires needing to be taped to the floor while risks on site like in Birmingham city being carful of people and filming rights obviously needing to ask permission before hand.

The unique selling point of the video will be the fact the views in expressed in the video are Jakes views. This isn't throwaway pop it is music that means something to someone. I also dislike my hometown therefore adding my opinion on the subject.

Script - short - To be used on the day

I will be making a music video for 'Jake Buggs - Two Fingers'

Genre being Neo Folk rock he is heavily influenced by 

Bob Dylan mainly due to the voice sound -

high pitched from throat

and then the britpop era including Oasis and Blur for the song structure, style and audience.

Grew up listening to this music

At 18 he is the youngest solo artist to play the pyramid stage 2012 alongside the debut - 

Huge feat

Supported britpop legend Noel Gallagher on his tour.

At 22 he has released 3 albums, the first of which being his self titled 'Jake Bugg' 

which is favuorable by critics and fans alike

His second 'Shangri La'

and his most recent 'On My One'

The song ill be making a music video for will be 'Two Fingers 

Taken from the Debut it was released a single

favoured at live performances

Set in Nottingham, Jakes home city 

it shows the positives and negatives of his home town 

and the pros and cons of leaving from Jakes views 

Regarding costing issues my video will be set in Tamworth

which i believe the theme links just as well too

The song sees Jake weigh up the highs and lows of his hometown 

including his friends and Nottingham's night life

which of course in the end comes down too his decision

The negatives being issues associated with the law Jake finds himself in

boredom

and issues regarding his family

The main theme i looked toward for semiotics was being relatable 

Everyone in there life will have too or already has left home 

Uni - leaving loved ones 

or leaving because you want too

Broad semiotic 

Showing everyones different story

I wanted to do a love story between a person and his hometown rather than two people

everyone would do that

Another semitic would be regarding Jakes family 

in this case jakes mother gets abuse from his step dad

similar to moving out its different for everyone

this is something the audience can put there own spin on 

The last semiotic I'm going to talk about is Youth

perhaps the most relatable of all of them just as everyone will go through it]

different for everyone

Therefore the use of my semiotics are too connect with the audience on a personal level

they therefore understand Jake 

helping them connect with the music video more

Costs include money spent out on the project

I made a graph to show this

As you can see the mac is the most expensive 

perfect for editing 

ill use premier pro as it accompanies the mac perfectly

I made the graph by putting a table through XL

Ricks have been identified and will be controlled

In the studio risks will be things like wires open to trip 

be controlled by taping the wires to the floor

While on site risks in Birmingham will be careful of people and filming rights 

which will be looked into 

The unique selling point of this video is that its Jakes views 

not throwaway pop

its actually someones life 

Questions 

History Of Film Editing - Essay

HISTORY OF FILM EDITING

Film began with 'Thomas Edison', an inventor and businessman best known for inventing the lightbulb. He invented the kinetoscope. The kinetoscope was a peep show devise mainly shown at circuses around America. It could show 50 foot worth of continues viewing which made the illusion of a moving image. This would have been the first time people would have seen a moving image at the time making it revolutionary. This was around 1888.


After 'Thomas Edison', around 1895, two brothers in Paris were inventing something similar mainly however for commercial purposes. They were called the 'Lumeier brother', Lumeier being French for light. The first film recording on this devise was called 'Arrival of a Train at the Station' and was once again shown around American circuses as an oddity. (4)


In 1903 the medium of film grew further when French theatre director 'Georges Melies' directed and produced the first motion picture feature length film. The film was based roughly on two novels and was called 'A Trip to the Moon'. Georges realised the potential with film and instead of filming a train like everyone else he wrote and directed a story with a full plot. This involved editing. It was the first film to have cuts, dissolves and some post production special effects. This has been parodied a lot in modern pop culture.

Also in 1903 came 'The Great Train Robbery'. Directed by 'Edwin Porter' it also featured a plot, special effects and editing. The special effects at the time involved drawing on each individual frame to gain a super imposed object in the scene. The great train robbery was also shown in American circuses and has many iconic scenes. The themes also explored by 'The Great Train Robbery' were a new concept explored for film; the theme was dark and involved criminals, guns and death. (5)


The first film to be shown in theatres around America was 'DW Griffiths' 'Birth of a Nation'. It was a documentary as such exploring Americas history. Shown in 1915 it is seen by many as the first respected film. Modern directors call 'Griffith' the godfather of film. Many say it set the guidelines for narrative filmmaking creating the concept of genre. It was also controversial however glamourising the religious racist group, the KKK. This shown how the medium of film can impact and change views for people proving the powerful medium. Instances like this continued to be used in the Nazi propaganda movement.

1925: Seen as Hollywoods golden years. They were known to churn out film mostly for the money benefits  Genres included Western, Film Nior and Gangster. This was because people liked to know what they were going to get when going to the cinema. Across Europe and Russia however directers were trying to be more creative. Eisenstein, situated in Russia was exploring ways of portraying meaning through editing and film without offence or speech. His most famous piece of film was 'Battleship Potemkin'. Highly praised for its amounts of symbolism used throughout, it follows the events witnessed during a riot at 'Battleship Potemkin'. What started of with rotten food ends with the sailors raising the red flag trying to ignite the revolution in their home town.
The whole film uses a montage a scenes expressing feelings toward death, revolution and suffering. An example of it using montage is by showing a scene of a cow getting slaughtered following a riot scene. He saw symbolism as being similar to Japanese letters; two together would make a completely different word. This all required him to have high amounts of quality editing throughout.

In 1941, 'Orson Welles' directed the revolutionary film 'Citizen Kane'. At the time and even now 'Citizen Kane' is seen as one of the best films ever produced. It involved techniques people hadn't seen before like fades and experimental angles. The end scene saw the protagonist pronounce his last words before he passed. Last work being 'Rosebud'. While there are many theories based on the last words spoken before his death nobody really knows the reason for the words being added in such a important directed way. Orson believed in film editing being one of the main process in producing a film saying "films are not just made on the set. Editing is the last stop between an idea and the final product".
Orson also produced "The Magnificent Amdersons" and "A Touch Of Evil". Both films also considered ground breaking films for the time.

Orson didn't just direct films. He also acted. One of his starring roles was in 'The Third Man' in 1949. Directed by 'Carol Reede' it is also seen as a revolutionary film due to the camera angles and lighting effects used throughout. It is often called 'the best British movie ever'. The editing used was also ahead of its time; using fades and wipes still under the restraints of a manual editing.

Forward to the 1970s - 'Blondie', 'Fleetwood Mac' and 'The BeeGees' ruled the radio. This time period for film was often seen as the golden age of editing. It was a time when norms changed. Directors didn't simply copy and paste films. Directors defied the normalities people had grew so familiar with; it was exiting. Films were now high concept. People called this new Hollywood. Films like 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars' saved the medium of cinema. New Hollywood was dictated by directors such as Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg and Kubrick with the force of acclaimed films like 'Goodfellas', 'Godfather', 'Jaws' and '2001 - A Space Odyssey' backed behind them. While the directors were the first In fire for the blockbusters the editors were the people planning the operation. They were highly respected through this time. Bring in 'Apocalypse Now', directed by 'Francis Ford Koppela' (same director as the widely praised 'The Godfather') and contextually more important it was edited by 'Walter Murch'. 'Walter' was known mostly for 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Godfather' films. His style was refreshing for the time doing things never done before. The opening of 'Apocalypse Now' saw him fade 5 clips over one another with different audio. At the time this was a really difficult thing to do. 'Murch' increased the prowess of his talent by being able to boast emotion through the editing of the opening. He did this through the fades and sounds. When understanding the technology the feat is highly creditable.

'City Of God' was released in 2002 and is the visual definition for modernism. Modernism being used to break away from the modern traditions used in film creating something new and different. This is seen in 'City Of God' frequently and is shown through the editing. One aspect of this is the abandonment of chronological conventions when portraying a narrative. The film is non-linear. This is an important editing feat as it shows different scenes in different order edited in a way that it doesn't give anything away eventually revealing to the audience the editing feat they had just watched.
Daniel Rezende, the editor of the film identifies heavily with Martin Scorsese in his editing techniques. Its fast paced heavily reminiscent of the favela life the film is based on. This editing also makes the film feel shorter than it is. Backing up to the fast paced life of the Brazilian favela you could also mention that semantically this links to the high number of premature deaths also in the favela the fast editing could reprisent.
'City Of God' creates a sense of urgency and panic with its editing. It does this through POV shots of animals soon to be slaughtered, worm shots and heavily POV of chase scenes.

Bibliography

1. Mastering film . 2007. Good Video Editing Techniques to Consider. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.masteringfilm.com/good-video-editing-techniques-to-consider/. [Accessed 27 September 2016].
2. Clark, V., Baker, J. and Lewis, E. (2002) Key concepts & skills for media studies (Hodder Arnold publication). 7th edn. London: A Hodder Arnold Publication.
3. film/editing terms . 2012. Film/Editing Terms. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.zerocut.com/tech/film_terms.html. [Accessed 27 September 2016].
4. wikapedia . 2016. History of film editing . [ONLINE] Available at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editing. [Accessed 27 September 2016].
5. InfoPlease . 2015. History of editing . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.infoplease.com/cig/movies-flicks-film/fade-brief-history-editing.html. [Accessed 27 September 2016].
6. Mark Ramey (2014). Media Magazine. Compton terrace London : emagazine. 23