Editing Investigation: You're Nobody Till' Somebody Loves You - James Arthur

I decided to observe James Arthur's new song, "You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You". I counted the cuts in this, which came to 182.

There is a large proportion of the music video which involves shrinking cinematic time, for example, the party/performance starts earlier in the day which is visible through the natural lighting and also by usual everyday happenings, however this fades into nightime where everything is a little looser and 'wild'. In realtime, this would probably take at least 6 hours, however in the music video it took 3 minutes!

There are also points in the movie where cinematic time has been expanded, for example when he first enters the music video towards the stage, alongside some shots of the people dancing at night.

The cuts generally occur when we have taken in enough information to build a picture/understanding of the culture. For example, there are several quick close ups of individuals who contribute to the urban community which are embedded within the video. The cuts are very snappy and allow us to take in the concept without becoming bored. Once we have taken this in, the editor has made it so it cuts to a different representation.

I compared this to the amount of cuts in the first 3 minutes of the film, "stick it" which resulted in 44 cuts.

This shows that music videos often operate at a far faster pace than films, and more cuts are needed. This is something we need to refine and establish to move away from the conventions of film which we studied for AS and more towards that of music videos.

Artist Research: John Newman Representation & Style

Newman's style is rather retro and vintage; high contrasts of black and white with splashes of bold colours. His facial expression in bith his album and single CD covers is quite reflective, which links to the style of his songs, as they often follow themes of love, regret and forgiveness; not giving up. He explains that his album is a break up album. Most of his influences come from blues/jazz music after he worked in a bar, which he expands on below:

In the cover of his Love Me Again single and the Tribute album, his retro influences are clear to see. From this, we can tell that his music will be more than a pop/indie album; it is a throwback and vintage with a modern twist. The colour contrasts add energy to what would have been a purely blackand white album, which again relates to the style of his music
In terms of his fashion style, his love of vintage and retro comes through in this sense too. In love me again music video, the dancers all were very 60's style clothing, so floral dresses with slim waists and bold skirts and casual suits. Newman's hair also reminds me of the 60's aura, due to the statement quiff and slight colour streak. So in conclusion, his retro roots have had a huge influence on the style of his music as well as his look.

How are Females Represented in Music Videos?

I created the brainstorm below to bring together all of the points we had discussed in class surrounding the representation of females in music videos. We were exploring mostly the use of voyeurism within the convenctional world.Voyerism by definition means the practice of obtaining sexual gratification by looking at sexual objects or acts. It is a common feature  of many modern media pieces and more often than not shows females in a negative light rather than vice versa.  

This is clearly demonstrated in the music video below, where the females are explioted and over-sexualised: