Here is a spider diagram of our first ideas for our production work. We originally decided that the establishing shot would be of the couple in a shop laughing, holding hands etc. Then they were going to start shopping and he would realise he has no money. For the choruses we were going to have many shots of people lip syncing, the first chorus being the male lip syncing in different settings for example in a street, in a field, in a car etc. For the second chorus we were going to have it similar to the first chorus, but have the girl green screened into the background with another boy - perhaps giving him her number or flirting with him. The final chorus (which is a much longer chorus than the others) we were going to have various faces lip syncing, such as the male, the female, the other male and many several random people. Whilst there is a guitar solo we were going to have him asleep or thinking about them and when they used to have a fun time together without them arguing. We were going to have shots such as them walking into a cinema, and then walking back out laughing with popcorn (to give the effect that it looks as though they have been in to watch a film). For the final shot we were going to have the male lying in bed and he wakes up from this 'dream' and finds that the girl is lying in bed with him and that they are okay and happy. We then decided that for a narrative it could be very confusing, as the spending money scene is irrelevant to her being with another boy, and them being happy. Therefore we spent another lesson planning it again which will be on here shortly.
From our research, we decided that because the younger generations such as our age watch music videos more often that we will aim our video at our own age group. We also decided that because there was only one person that we asked who preferred dancing in a music video that we would stick to a narrative storyline to give the audience "something to latch on to" (Mike Kelly). Unfortunately, the main genre of music which was preferred was R'n'B, however when we were conducting this survey many people asked if they could choose more than one as many of them enjoyed Indie and R'n'B, therefore there would have been more people choosing Indie if they were not limited to one genre. This is very beneficial as we have already gained permission from our preferred band who are an Indie band.
This is our survey that we gave out to 8 different people, girls and boys and we also gave it out to various age groups to try and get a representative sample. From this we decided to create a small video showing some people (who gave consent) to be videoed whilst answering some of the questions on this survey. (Look at the above post to see the video).
As a group we listened to some songs by our three choices, and we have decided that we would like to make the music video and ancillary texts for "The 99s - Oh Me, Oh My" as we believe it is a fun song with a nice, steady beat. We believe that this would be a successful video if we did it to this song, however we must get permission to use the song from The 99s, therefore we sent them an email hoping that they will reply giving us permission. However, if not then we will have to get in contact with "The Painted Lilies" and ask for permission from them.
Thankfully, later that day they replied giving us permission to use their song, and also asking us not to make it too tacky. Here is the email that we got in response to ours.
This means that we can now start to plan our production work, and ancillary texts aswell, meaning that at the moment we are on schedule and are well on our way to creating our music video.
We spent a whole lesson searching on www.unsigned.com and wrote down all of the bands which we liked, or that we thought we would be able to do a music video to. We have concluded with three choices:
The 99s
PK
The Painted Lilies
We have decided that we will discuss which band we will choose from these three when we have all of the group in school as today it was difficult because we were missing one person from the group, making it difficult to choose a group between us.
We had a discussion about what genre of band we would like to create the video for, and we all agreed on searching for an indie band. We have also decided that although we would like to make a video for someone famous, it would be much too difficult getting their permission, therefore we have decided to go with an unsigned band as it would be much more realistic as they are probably hoping for someone to notice their music. Therefore we have now been searching on http://www.unsigned.com/ for an indie band which we will be able to create the video, digipak and poster for them. I decided to research what an indie song actually means and here is the wikipedia answer:
"In popular music, independent music (often shortened to "indie music" or "indie") is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and and autonomous 'Do-it-yourself' approach to record and publishing."
As I struggled to find posters which advertised the songs I chose to research, I decided I should try to find out what some conventions of posters are to help me when creating our poster. I found out that some forms and conventions of posters advertising albums include that many posters seem to have an image of the album on the front. They also seem to advertise the artist(s) more than the actual album themselves, for example if you look at the Jade poster, you can see that the name of the band is more clear than the album title, which is shown here in very small writing which cannot be read. When looking at the Alicia Keys cover, although the title of the album is quite big, it is still not quite as significant as A.K herself, as there is a huge picture of her and her name is also the biggest font on the poster. Also, when it comes to advertising many producers do not create a poster, but instead use the Internet to advertise. For example, they will upload a photo of the album, with then an article advertising the album, the artist and producing the date it is out. Therefore I believe to make a realistic poster we must emphasise on the artist(s) by putting a picture up of them, but also make sure the album name is legible (whether this is down to font or font size) to make it as noticeable as possible. We can also see that due to the pictures the genre of the music comes across differently, for example we can see that the Alicia Keys picture looks very modern, and the shadow across her face creates the impression that her music will be in the style of R'n'B in contrast with the image on the Jade poster. The fact that the poster and picture have been edited in the sepia style, making it seem very old fashioned, especially as we can see that the image seems to be from the 70s era, gives the audience the idea that the music will be quite folk like. We can also see that the difference in font styles create the impression that the Alicia Keys album will be very modern, in contrast with the Jade album which seems quite old especially as it has the funky brown border around certain parts of the poster. Overall to create the impression that the album is going to be modern we would need to use quite a bold, plain font that does not create the idea that the music will be old fashioned, however we also need to make sure the genre of the album will be got across to the audience as well, and font styles are a good way to do this.
The main theme with the lyrics from this song is that she is confronting a male who likes to use women for his own sexual needs. He doesn't mind hurting the women, and he see's cheating as very acceptable. Britney Spears is saying that she will never fall for a womanizer because she can see straight through the 'act'. For example, she says "no way I'm never gonna fall for you". The lyrics link in with the video as in the video she dresses up as different women, and he tries to seduce them all however he ends up getting used by all of them. As the lyrics imply she isn't going to fall for a womanizer as instead she uses them back. The lyrics also imply that although she would like to be with the womanizer in a couple with no cheating, she understands that a womanizer cannot change, for example "You got me going/You're oh so charming/But I can't do it/You Womanizer" implies that although she realizes he is a charmer, she also understands that he is a womanizer and probably says the same things to all of the other women. This video completely backs up Andrew Goodwin's idea that there must be a link between lyrics and visuals, as we can see that the 'womanizer' is an attractive, young male who seems to try and get together with many other women other than his partner. We can also see that throughout the song she is telling the 'womanizer' that she will not be with him, however this doesn't seem apparent until the end of the video when she makes him disappear, showing that there is a link between what she is singing, and what she is doing.
Tempo:
The beat of the song is very fast-paced throughout the whole song, and it has quite a fast tempo and this is conveyed in the cuts. The shots are quite short and in some cases very short as there is only a glimpse, even in the shots in which nothing is changing, the camera will still cut between being in a close up and an extreme close up. There is also a lot of cutting on the beat as there is a constant beat throughout the song, therefore there is often similar cutting on the beat.
Video Analysis:
The establishing shot is black clouds like in a storm, and the words "BRITNEY SPEARS" and "WOMANIZER" appear in bold black lettering. There is then a cut to Britney Spears in a sauna, completely naked. There are several cuts of her lying in the sauna, however when the beat changes and Britney Spears starts singing, there is a cut to a shot of a steamed up mirror, in which a young attractive male wipes the steam from the mirror, revealing his face. There is then a cut to a shot of Britney Spears (BS) stood over a cooker wearing underwear, and a gown over the top. She is lip syncing and bouncing her hip to the beat. We can also see that the word "womanizer" is repeated several times on the back wall. There is then a cut to a long shot of BS near the cooker and the male sat on the other side of the shot reading a newspaper, he is also sat in just his underwear. This implies that they are a couple who share a bed together. BS now takes the food over to the male, and when there is a shot of the food sliding across the table the male puts his phone in front of the meal, implying that he has a hidden life that the female does not know about (or so he believes). However, there is then a close up of BS who lip syncs "I know what you are" which implies that although he believes she is very naive, she clearly understands what he does in his time away from home. When the male has finished playing on his phone, there is a cut to him standing up and then his clothes get pulled onto him, as though they are magnetic to his skin. There is then a cut to him sat at a desk drinking coffee. There is then another cut to BS wearing a black short wig, she is also dressed very smartly, as though she works in the office. She is drinking from the water fountain, trying to seduce the male. The next cut is of the male sat with one of his friends or work colleagues, his colleague then points over the male's shoulder which we can only assume is of BS, however the male still turns around. There is then a shot of BS dancing with some men carrying her around, there are many women dancing on the tables and we can see that the male stands up and smirks, obviously thinking that he will be able to charm this female. However, to his surprise she pushes him onto a chair, and she starts pushing him around. This shows that although he is not rejecting what she is doing, she is still in far more control than he is. Throughout this scene there have been cuts to BS back in the sauna lip syncing. Many women then start dancing in front of the male, with BS at the front. Somehow, the male ends up behind BS whilst she is dancing, he starts lusting after her and at one point he even tries to grab her bum. However she simply grabs his hands just before he touches her and throws them down by his side. This shows that although he is a "womanizer" she can still see what he is planning to do without even looking at him, showing that he is very predictable. When the chorus comes on, she is behind him and when she sings "you say I'm crazy/I got your crazy" she acts as though she is whispering into his ear however he doesn't seem to be paying attention. Then all of a sudden after BS has started to walk away everyone who was standing up sits down in their normal seats, and the male stands up and looks around as though he is lost. There is then a shot of BS stood near the copier machine and then the male walks over, BS sits on the copier however we cannot see her do this through the main camera as the next shot is of BS sitting on the copier, which is very blurry, yet the male has his camera phone in front of her, therefore the shot is seen through his phone instead of the camera. She then kicks the phone and hands him a picture of her bum with her thighs on the picture. She then rips the paper in front of him. This could indicate that she is willing to 'open her legs' as she rips down the middle of the thighs, however she could also be saying that she will be the end of his womanizing days. After she has ripped the paper, she grabs his tie and pulls him so that his face is on the photocopier. She then leans on him, showing that she is in control and he has no control over her anymore. Then the scene changes, and we get a shot of BS who has now changed her wig to a long red haired one, she has also now got many tattoos on her arms and she is now working as a waitress. There is a shot of the male who is sat at a table with two friends and they all start lusting over the waitress. Straight away she starts to dance in front of the male, dancing on the table and then again she grabs him by the tie and makes him follow her, showing that once again she has power over him. There is then the repetition of the previous scene, as there are many females who dance around the male, BS also joins in dancing. The male also licks his lips when BS isn't looking, yet she turns round and puts her finger on his lip, again suggesting that she knows what he is like and that he is very predictable. When the music starts to slow down, there is a shot of the male with all of the women standing around him and they are all leaning away from him. At first this could seem as though he is a real ladies man, and that he is surrounded by women, however there are then many shots of these women kissing other men, suggesting that he thinks he is a womanizer, however in fact the women aren't keen on him because they know he likes to be with many women. BS also leans over the male's shoulder, and grabs his face, she imitates as though she is going to kiss him, however she pulls out at the last second, as though she is teasing him. She then pushes him into a kitchen, and she pushes him onto the table, he smiles as though he really enjoys this, however she starts pretending to seduce him, much like the first scene in on the copier. She starts to eat a cherry in front of him, as though she is seducing him again, yet this time he tries to move to the right of her, and the next shot is of him entering a car from the inside from the left. This is a clever thing to do as it seems that one shot flows on from another, as he leaves from the right and enters the left. The next shot is of the male in the back seat of a car, and then there is a female driver which surprisingly is BS again, yet this time wearing dark glasses and a hat, and she has put her long blonde hair into a ponytail. There is then a shot of the city, and the camera pans down revealing a car driving extremely fast down a road. The next shot is of BS in the back seat with the male putting her finger on his lips once again. We can see that the male's face suddenly goes into a shocked expression, and we can see why when on the next shot we can see BS is driving the car by using her foot to steer the wheel. The next shot is of BS in the back seat of the car, and we see the man quickly struggle as he grabs the wheel and tries to steer the car. This is the perfect way to show the transaction of power, as before the male was completely in control yet now the woman is sitting in the back seat, with the male driving the car, showing that she can now relax in the car whilst the male has to worry about the road; as though he is working for her. There are also now short cuts to him in the shower, for example his chest area. The next shot is of BS and the male sat in the back of the car, he looks very uneasy, whereas she seems very calm as she has her legs over his lap. The following shot is of the steering wheel turning itself (to the beat) and by itself. The next shot is of both BS and the male in separate showers, and BS spins her head around making her hair go everywhere. Then 2 doors open and 3 women are stood there, the three women who he has tried to womanize but always been under their control instead. They all spin around and become the first girl who was cooking him breakfast (BS1) as the male's face drops. It is clear to the audience that he has finally met his match, and that although we as the audience know that all of the characters were BS1, he did not notice. This again implies that she has a lot more control over him, as he seems very naive and idiotic. BS1 now pushes him onto the bed and he tries to get up, however the next shot is of the three caricatures holding him down as though he cannot get up. However, there is then another shot of BS1 sitting on his chest which means he is unable to get up, therefore it is contrasting between the fact that there is 3 of them in his mind but only one in "real" life. Once again, BS1 grabs him by the tie and rolls him over, which inevitably makes him fall off the bed but when he tries to run away, she just grabs him by the neck and throws him back onto the bed. She then walks round the bed lip syncing "womanizer" which could resemble a witch brewing a potion, doing a curse etc. There is another shot of her in the sauna, and then she blows a kiss at him in the bedroom, there is another shot of the three caricatures holding him down, and then BS1 throws the bed sheet over the male, and one of the final shots is of BS1 flattening her bedsheet on the flat bed - which shows that he is no longer there. This could imply that he was never there, or it could also mean that she has got rid of him. The last shot is of her in the sauna again, but she is smiling this time - showing she is happier without him.
Digipak analysis:
This digipak follows the theme of Circus as on the front cover she is sat infront of a light golden curtain. There is a border around the front cover, which is many blue stars which give the idea of glamour and that she is a star, such as in the circus performing for the audience. The fonts are the same as that on the poster, however they do not associate to the fonts on the video. For example, the video is very modern as the fonts are black, silvers and 3D. The colouring is very different as on the digipak the colours are typical colours of the circus, i.e. reds, yellows and gold. When it comes to the back cover, the Circus theme is not very obvious as it seems more towards the christmas theme, especially when it comes to lighting and colouring as red is used frequently, such as dark red and rosey red. One of the only things on this back cover that relates to the circus is the clown who is stood next to the bed as clowns are an often feature of circuses. There is also the band across the top in which the song titles are written which seems very circus-like, these are the only two aspects in which the circus theme is sent across to the audience. In terms of synergy there is not much between the video and the digipack as the video all seems very modern and Britney Spears seems very mischievous and independent, whereas on the digipack she seems very innocent and fragile. So even our interpretations of the artist differ between the two texts. We can see that when it comes to lighting for the images, one of the images (front cover) is very lit up, clearly on a set to make her seem more innocent, whereas on the other side the lighting is very dim and dark, especially as the only forms of lighting on this shot is from what seems to be a lamp out of the shot. This could show that there are two different sides to Britney Spears, making some form of synergy between the video and the digipack. One clear thing to notice on the digipack is that there is a barcode on the back, and there are also some symbols which clearly represent the companies which have been involved in the creation of the digipack, music video and CD itself. This will be something that we will need to make sure we put on our own digipack to make sure it is very realistic.
Poster analysis:
One main thing which I noticed when looking at this poster is that this poster lacks a picture of Britney, and it lacks a picture of the actual album itself aswell. This is the main way in which Britney's campaign differs to Lily Allen's as Britney is very popular and well known, therefore she is trying to sell her album not get herself noticed by the audience. The poster seems to fit in with the 'circus' theme, creating synergy between the poster and the album, therefore you would automatically associate the album and poster together. For example, the font is the same style on the album cover and the poster, especially as 'BRITNEY SPEARS' is written bigger than the actual album title on each of these. Another thing I noticed was that the poster includes that the album features "the #1 hit "womanizer"" which made me decide to base this part of my research on the song which is included on the poster. However, there is not much synergy between the poster and video. There is also - much like the digipack - some symbols on the top of the poster, which clearly represent organisations involved with the production/marketing of the album. To create a realistic album and poster we must include these images.
Lyrics: The main message which Lily Allen is trying to get across is that society at the moment is very materialistic and everyone is more interested in riches, and material goods rather than things such as love. For example, she says "I don't care about clever I don't care about funny" which suggests that many people in this society will marry for money rather than because they are in love. She also implies that people will now do anything to get publicity, for example there are many women who are willing to go half naked in newspapers, for example at this current moment in time there is the whole issue with the X Factor girl who punched her friend, and she is now in the newspapers topless. In this day in age it has become very acceptable for women or men to be shown on television, or in the newspaper half naked or in some cases fully naked. As she says "I'll take my clothes off and it will be shameless/Cause everyone knows that's how you get famous". She also outlines the issues with girls becoming anorexic or obsessed with their weight as she says "everything's cool as long as I'm getting thinner" which suggests that the society at the moment are too obsessed with their appearance. It is also clear from the chorus that society has lost all morals such as not knowing what is right or wrong.
Tempo: The tempo of this song changes between the chorus and the verses. The beat on the verses are quite slow, and this shows on the video as there are quite long shots, however whenever the tempo does suddenly change, on that exact beat it cuts to another shot of her walking into a "fantasy" land, for example when the tempo of the music changes during this shot it cuts and we can suddenly see how different the inside of the caravan in. The tempo in this song varies throughout the whole song.
Camera shots and editing: The establishing shot is of a tree, and then the camera starts to pan towards Lily Allen who is stood leaning on the windowsill of the caravan window. During this first part of the sequence she starts to lip sync and the part of the song is quite slow, for example the first shot is 25 seconds long (approx) and then there is a sudden cut on the beat in which she now jumps out of the caravan and starts to walk very slow forwards (whilst still lip syncing). Next as Andrew Goodwin says there is a "shift in emphasis" as the lyrics seem to become more important, for example as L.A lip syncs the word "shameless" she crosses her hands in front of her genital area, and she looks very shy/embarrassed. This shows that the lyrics are more emphasised as she seems to be highlighting certain words for example on the next line she lip syncs "I look at the sun" and she looks up at the sky. This again shows the importance of the lyrics within the song, as people would then notice the lyrics more rather than the beat. She then turns around and starts to run/skip back into the caravan, and as she opens the door we can now see that it is much bigger and more posh on the inside. This could be referring to the postmodernism idea of using intertextuality as it refers very much to the idea of 'Doctor Who' (the Tardis being bigger on the inside than on the outside) and it could also refer to her being like 'Alice in Wonderland' as she seems to have entered a glamorous life such as having butlers in her house rather than being stuck in her small caravan. The next shot is then a birds eye view of the males stood either side of the carpet with their hands behind their backs, they then start to dance as she is walking down the center of them a long the carpet. When she gets to the other side of the carpet she turns around and some men pick her up and start spinning her. The next shot is of the roof and the camera is also spinning, giving the audience the view from Lily Allen's eyes (eye line match). The shot that follows is the one to the left, in terms of where is appears in the song it is when she starts singing the second verse. This is very similar to the first shot, as in the first shot we can see her just off from center in the shot, and there is also the fact that there is the rail which is very similar to the first shot in which there is the washing line with clothes and a teddy hanging off of it. This is showing us that she has a very rich, laid back lifestyle, for example she has the Hollywood style mirror and she has the rail which is filled with frilly, fluffy and bright clothing. She also has very grand lamps which you would expect to see in a rich household. There is then a cut away shot of a toy car, with a teddy bear sitting inside it. There is also a doll sitting on a sofa, next to some small suitcases. The teddy seems to be the same one at the start which is on the washing line. There is then a cut and a very quick pan across a table covered with cupcakes. This could show her immaturity and childlike nature as these shots are very childish, this could link with the lyrics as the lyrics are emphasising how fast society grows up and that she is clinging onto her childhood and childhood innocence. The next shot is when the men open the door, and there is a huge room filled with huge gift boxes, she then skips into the room and keeps turning round to face the camera whilst lip syncing. As she gets to a pink box she leans down and starts to lean onto it, the shot then keeps cutting between two different angles, one from the side behind the boxes and one front view. The view from the side could make the viewers feel as though they are spying on her, whereas when we are facing her we feel as though she is singing to us personally. There is then quite a humorous shot as the boxes suddenly stand up, and white legs in tights appear underneath the boxes. The next few shots are cutting between a birds eye view and side views. We can see that from the birds eye view shots Lily Allen is the main focus as she is in the center, and the floor is also very patterened, however as it is black and white any colours seem to stand out much more. Also, the big gifts are very light blues and pinks therefore they do not stand out much on the floor, making L.A the center of attention. We then see her leaving the room, pushing the boxes out of the way and then she starts to skip out of the house. This again shows her childlike personality as she skips away. As she is leaving the house the music slows down, and so does the shot. It has been edited so that she is now walking as slow as the beat. They also slowly start to make the background (such as the butlers, the inside of the house and the walls of the house) less saturated therefore she again becomes the main focus of the shot once again. There is then a cut to a close up of her in which the background is almost fully black and white but L.A in the foreground is now fully in colour, therefore she still seems to stand out. It is also clear to see that the slower the tempo of the song, the longer and slower the shots become and the faster the tempo the shorter, and more variations of shots are used. For example, from 2:41 until 2:51 there are approx 11 cuts with there being 7 different shot types between this 10 second gap. This emphasises the importance of the beat and tempo of the song. When L.A is outside there is a shot of the same legs which were attatched to the big gifts, but they are now covered with a lot of balloons which again gives us a very humorous image. When she gets to the bottom of the steps, there are different angles of her walking, and we can see smoke appearing from both sides of her in different colours. We can also see the men skipping in the background and the balloon people in the far background. We can still see that Lily Allen is the main focus as her clothing makes her stand out from the smoke and the people in the background. However, overall it very much looks like a circus. As the music starts to slow down near the finish of the song, it has been edited so that Lily Allen is walking much slower and she is walking again to the pace of the song. One of the final shots is of Lily Allen stood infront of the house, with "Lily Allen" spelt out with big, black 3D lettering on the garden lawn. It is written in the same font as the writing on the front of the album, creating much synergy between the two. The camera then zooms out to an extreme long shot of the mansion and into the clouds.
Digipaks:
The digipak for this album doesn't have much synergy when it comes to referring it to the music video; however at the end of the video as Lily Allen is walking down the path outside of the house we can see that on the lawn hidden by the smoke is large, black 3D letters spelling "Lily Allen" which is the same as the writing on the digipak. The writing for the album title is very small, and not very illegible as it is written in a handwriting style, however the writing in which her name is written is very legible and the outline which is white makes it stand out more. Especially when it is over the big capital "L" which she is sat/lying on. Personally I really like the style on the back of the digipak as I think writing the songs on the album in the top centre of the case as it draws attention from the viewer. I also like how there is a big image which can be linked to the music video, and the front cover.
Advertising: When searching to see if I can find any posters advertising this album, I noticed that especially on the internet they didn't use posters to promote the album but they infact just used an image of the CD cover, for example like the images to the right. It is clear that when it comes to artists such as Lily Allen who is a British singer (in opposition to an American singer), it is important to get images of her whether it is from the CD cover or pictures of her posing infront of a camera to help advertise her more than the album itself.
Lyrics: This song is from the film "The Bodyguard" in which Whitney Houston starred in. The lyrics from this song fit into the narrative of the film because they have to separate for the safety of both of them even though they are in love. Therefore, this music video is not only promoting the song, but it is also promoting the film as well, hence why there are many links between the music video and the film itself. The lyrics contribute towards the plot of the film, however, they could also link to anyone who is breaking up or knows that it is for the best. The lyrics also explain that although the separation is for the best, it doesn't mean that they won't still be in love. The lyrics could play a major part for this song becoming popular because the lyrics could be applied to almost anyone as most people will have gone through a tough breakup in their lives.
Tempo: The song starts off quite slow, which shows it is a very emotional song, however the fact that the tempo is slow, means that there are several shots that are quite long. However when it gets into the middle of the song (1:40) the tempo gradually speeds up, and there are a variety of shot lengths as it cuts on the beat showing extracts of the film. There is also a certain beat which the shots cut, however it does not cut on every one of these beats, but there are mostly cuts on this beat.
Camera shots and edits: The genre of this song is a soul ballad, and the genre of the music video seems to match that of the actual song. The first shot of the music video is an extreme close-up of Whitney Houston singing into a microphone, with quite a light background which looks like falling lights. She sings with her eyes closed, making her seem very emotional whilst singing. It then cuts to a very short shot of plane propellers, which then cuts to another extreme close up of Whitney Houston. However it is clear to see that this shot is from the film as it cuts to a shot of a male who waves her off. There are then many cut away shots of the plane propellers, and the wheels on the plane. Next there is another close up of W.H, but it is obvious that this time she is looking back quite sadly, after seeing the wheels moving it is clear to see that she is inside the plane moving. We can then see that the male is sighing, showing that neither of them want to be apart, but clearly there must be a reason for it. There is now a 12second shot of W.H sat on stage on her own lip syncing. The lighting is very dim and dark, making it seem a very depressing setting, making her seem very distressed about being apart and makes the audience know that she feels lonely without him. The camera then cuts to a close up, but starts to (extremely) slowly zoom in, she starts to lip sync, and closes her eyes making her seem extremely passionate about what she is singing about. The fact that she is sitting down also makes her seem lonely (although apparently she was sat because she was pregnant at the time). There is then a shot from behind her, but there is then a fade of some more shots from the film, especially shots of the male, but it is still clear to see that she is in a empty room as there are many empty seats. There are several of these shots, cutting between a shot of her and the empty room with her reminiscing, and a shot of her lip syncing from the front. This could represent her thinking back on old times when she was with him, especially as she smiles as though she is missing something, or someone. There is then one of my favourite shots in this video (1:29), as the reminiscing shot is of her and the male dancing, and this time when it cuts to a front shot of her, there is a couple dancing in front of her, wearing the same clothes as they were in her memory, however we are not able to see their heads, we are only able to see the centres of their bodies, and when they dance out of the shot her eyes follow them. This implies that the memory is 3D and she can in fact see it suggesting that it was such a special moment that it is so clear in her memory. She then starts lip syncing with her eyes closed again, in which there are memories of the male rescuing her (again this is a clip from the film). The link between her eyes being closed and the memory implies to the audience that she is going through her memories and imagining it. We can then see that in her memory she is wearing a black cape on stage with a black hood. This shot is also involved when she is singing the chorus, which is a very powerful and emotional part of the song, and in this shot she widens her arms, which shows extreme power and could connect to the tempo of the song at this point as the notes go on for several seconds showing they are large notes so she could be emphasizing this in this shot. There are then several shots which are taken from the film, where he is rescuing her from a crowd of fans. After this little montage there is another extreme close up of W.H whilst there is an instrumental happening, she looks very down and looks upset. There is then a light which shines across her face, in which she looks startled... there is then a cut to another clip from the film, in which she is holding a big sword, and the light shines on the male's face. This creates a connection between the two films as it makes it seem as though someone is holding the sword in front of her on the stage. During the memory there is no lyrics, therefore there is a "shift in emphasis" as Andrew Goodwin says, as the audience concentrate on the instrumental and the beat rather than the lyrics. However after this trip down memory lane W.H starts to lip sync again and she also smiles a little bit with her eyes closed yet again. There is also another shot of the empty room with the faded shot of the two dancing again. She starts to reminisce again, and eventually there is an extreme close up right into her face with her eyes closed and all that is visible is W.H's face... there is a 3 second pause and eventually she opens her eyes in one quick motion and starts to sing very powerfully. The camera zooms out again and the setting has now changed to a snowy wood area, with a long river next to her. There is then more synergy between the film and the song as there is another clip from the film where the male and W.H are in a cabin, surrounded by snow. There is then a slow motion clip of the male running through the woods and eventually we can see that he runs onto a pier and dives into the river. However there is a link between the tempo, lyrics and visual viewing as the speed of the male diving into the river may have been slowed down to go at the same pace as the long note of "You". She starts singing the note just as he dives off of the pier. There is then a shot which links in to the start of the music video, as W.H runs off of the plane and starts running towards what can only be presumed as the male. Then as the last notes start the male and W.H meet together and kiss passionately. There is then a slow montage of W.H in different settings that she's been in throughout the video, and of the male and lastly the two of them dancing together. The faded shots now completely fade out revealing a completely empty theatre room, and it cuts to the shot of W.H sat on stage on her own, with the lighting just as dull as the start. There is a slow zoom out and finally the shot fades into black to show the end of the video.
Album Covers
The first album cover that I found was the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard". When I first looked at the album cover I couldn't see much synergy between the two except the fact that there is a picture of the male repeated in the background, and a larger picture of W.H in the foreground. After closely analyzing the video I noticed that in one of the shots W.H is wearing a large black cape, and I could see that there is definitely synergy between the two as she is wearing the same clothing. She is also wearing the same make-up as in the extreme close-ups of her on stage. The main thing that catches the viewer's attention is the writing "THE BODYGUARD" because it is written much larger than the other writing, and it is also written on top of W.H's cape which is dark and makes it stand out more than anything else because there is a harsh contrast between the two colours. However, all of the other writing is written in the same font, but it is in different sized fonts depending on what importance, for example the main characters in the film were more important than the fact that it was the "original soundtrack album".
The second CD cover that I found was this one which is not dedicated to "The Bodyguard". However there is still a bit of synergy between the music video and this CD cover. For example, in some parts of the video she is wearing a white scarf around her head, this could create synergy as she is also wearing the scarf around her head. People would then associate the CD with the music video. There is also synergy between her facial expression, throughout much of the video she sings with her eyes closed, and from the facial expression shown on her face here she looks like she is mid-singing with her eyes closed. The background also makes her stand out as it is mainly quite light except for the right side of it. The fonts are the same font style as the other CD cover, however all of the writing is the same size, making none of it stand out particularly, and the fact that both of the writing is quite thin makes it harder to read.
Personally I think that the first CD case looks much better in terms of synergy. I also think that because the focus is on the writing on the first case it makes it much more effective and is more noticeable, whereas on the other one it looks quite bland. The first one also seems more positive and cheerful unlike the second one which seems completely negative. For example the facial expression on the face.
he shadow across her face creates the impression that her music will be in the style of 
The digipak for this album doesn't have much synergy when it comes to referring it to the music video; however at the end of the video as Lily Allen is walking down the path outside of the house we can see that on the lawn hidden by the smoke is large, black 3D letters spelling "Lily Allen" which is the same as the writing on the digipak. The writing for the album title is very small, and not very illegible as it is written in a handwriting style, however the writing in which her name is written is very legible and the outline which is white makes it stand out more. Especially when it is over the big capital "L" which she is sat/lying on. Personally I really like the style on the back of the digipak as I think writing the songs on the album in the top centre of the case as it draws attention from the viewer. I also like how there is a big image which can be linked to the music video, and the front cover.
