Parodies

'Parody is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text' Linda Hutcheon

A parody is an imitative work created to imitate, comment on or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target by means of satiric or ironic imitation.



In one of our lesson,  we were given the task to go and imitate a specific genre of music videos and take photos of our parodies. We chose to make a parody of a rap/hip-hop video as this is the most distinctive genre, and we thought not only would it be easy to do, but funny. We found it harder than we thought as it seemed that everyone thought the same way and we suddenly found it difficult to come up with original ideas.

Firstly, we chose to take a photo in front of a whiteboard in the sixth form. We thought this was funny because hip hop videos are mostly filmed in front of graffiti, and are often advertising themselves or the writing includes censored words. We used words and phrases one would generally call silly than anything else, and posed covering our mouths as this is what rappers are often seen doing.

The next shot we took was outside of a convenience store next to our sixth form. Using hand gestures to show off the £6 sign, we thought this was ironic as hip hop videos often boast and show off about how much money they have, and champagne is also featured often. I think this links with Rick Altman's theory, as rap videos have easily recognisable features to connect with the audience, or in this case, show off. Once again we covered our mouths and Amy made sure her hood was up as this is typical rapper attire. This happens to link with Steve Neale's theory of repetition in music videos. We liked two shots that took as one was front a typical low angle used in rap and hip hop videos to make the artist look bigger and more powerful, and in both we had eye contact and we looking straight into the camera.

When we first went outside, we were looking for some graffiti to pose in front of. We couldn't find any except for on this subway sign. We thought this would be ironic as usually the graffiti is on high buildings, compared to the small sign. As well, lots of rap/hip hop videos are filmed in underpasses in front of graffiti and in the dark. We made a joke out of all these aspects through this photo.

Another shot we took was taken from the idea that hip hop videos always include flashy and expensive cars. to parody this, we tried to find a bashed up old car to pose in front of, and took a photo from a low angle which is what is always used in this genre video. In both photos, Amy has her hood up and we are trying to cover our mouths. As well, we use hand gestures and wide arm movements which we were imitating from rap videos we have previously seen. This links with Goodwin's feature of music videos theory, as this is a typical genre characteristic.

In the rap videos we have analysed in class, we found that there was always some form of money involved in shots. However, this is always in vast quantities and in note form. We came up with the idea of using any spare change  and dropping it on the floor whilst Amy tried to take a picture. We did this to imitate showing off our money, even though we don't really have any in the photo. It is taken from a low angle as we are crouched on a table to emphasise this stereotype.

Finally, we decided to include the fact that women are often used to be promiscuous in rappers videos, and are not used for much else. As we are a group of girls this is obviously really annoying and upsetting, so we agreed to turn it around and asked our guy friend to dance with his behind facing the camera, as this is usually the only angle of women that we see. Amy and I pose in the background of this, but in reality, the dancers and women are usually only in the background of the video as they are only seen as an extra and a proof of wealth and success. This is one of Goodwin's features of music videos called the notion of looking, and is an incredibly common feature of many genres of music videos.

Post modernism



Here is another presentation that we made to show our understanding of post modernism and how it is included in music videos. Whilst making this presentation, we had many discussions about how we wanted to include post modernism in our video, and decided on doing this mostly through camera angles and filters applied during the editing stage of production. Mostly though, we want to keep our video as realistic as possible, and focus on the music more than anything else.

Analysis

In class, we were taught a process of analysis to identify the purpose and features of a music video and why this was important. This helped to define which genre we had chosen to make a music video for and what style we should film. I analysed 'Endorphins' by Sub Focus which is a stereotypical drum and bass video, yet this was very useful in terms of comparison and to look at how different genres of music make music videos in similar/different ways.

To compare this fully, we were advised to create another presentation using the same technique and compare them. I think this will help with our understanding of genres as well as helping when completing our planning stages. I decided to evaluate Beyonce's Love On Top video, as it is a pop song and almost opposite to Sub Focus's video.

Postmodernism

For our second piece of analysation, we focussed on the postmodern elements that are in videos, and how these effect the enjoyment and understanding of a music video. I chose a video by my favourite artist, Lana Del Rey, as this is one of my favourite videos that she she as ever made as I feel like it is honest and raw and real. Personally, this is what inspired me to consider using different filters on different shots throughout the video as previously I didn't think it would work, but here Del Rey proves that it can work and it can work effectively by creating a feel for the different lives she is trying to portray.

Detailed ideas

Brainstorming

 Together, Amy and I wrote down some ideas relating to stereotypical indie-pop videos and what is usually used. There is a mix as indie videos tend to be story based, which we thought would be easier to film as we wouldn't need to organise filming dates with the band, only each other. This is mostly seen in Ed Sheeran's video's, such as 'The A Team', which he only features in for about 2 seconds.
However some indie videos focus on the artist throughout the video as performance based videos are also popular amongst this genre. This links with pop videos where the artist is always the centre of attention throughout. These brainstorms leads to ideas about filming in 3 different locations: busking in town, in a car park and on the downs. This means we could make the video all about the music, which, in my opinion, is what indie-pop music is all about. Inspiration for this was videos such a Coldplay's 'A sky full of stars'.
During more brainstorming, we came up with the idea that we could film in black and white, or sepia to create an old-fashioned and more original feel and look to the video, although we agreed that this could be done in post-production and we could decide on this later.



Once we had come up with a basic storyboard idea (which we are waiting for our friend to draw for us as we want it to look as professional as possible) we came up with roles for each person on the day of filming, to organise ourselves ourselves as much as possible to create minimal stress. We also created a list of equipment that we will use so nothing gets lost and we can make sure we have everything we need. This includes a list of instruments that the band will need, and even though it is not complete on this photo, we found out later on that they simply use two acoustic guitars.






The brainstorming was really useful as it was a way of trying to organise our ideas and thoughts, and narrow them down to create a story board. We struggled a little bit as we felt we were being influenced by many artist, such as Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Coldplay, Marina and the Diamonds, the Script and many more, This made it difficult to come up with an original idea that had not already been done. Despite this difficulty, we actually found the research useful in the end as a way to inspire us, and to get a greater understanding of the way indie pop videos are framed.

Postmodernism

Here is one of the first presentations where we analysed a chosen music video in relation to our chosen genre. By this point we knew we would be creating an indie-pop styled video, a perfect example of an indie-pop artist is Ed Sheeran so we analysed his video in relation to Goodwin's theory. This gave us a basic, but good understand of this genre and what was popular, it also inspired us to look into creating a narrative based video, which is a recurring theme of Sheeran's videos. We also liked the fact that this is one of the first video's Sheeran appears in for longer than a single shot, and are now debating whether to go down more of a typical pop video route and having the artists in shot throughout the video, as we are proud of the band and want to promote them and their image as much as we can as directors.

The beginning

At the beginning of the year, we were told that our brief for A2 Media was to create a music video in our chosen genre. We straight away had to find a band that wrote original songs with no copyright on them yet. Luckily for us, Amy knows an indie-pop styled band who's songs we both love, so we messaged them asking if they would like to be involved in this project, and we had a very enthusiastic response from them.

Genre
Indie Pop is the most up and coming genre in the current day music industry. This means that there are loads of new ideas for videos being released every day, which is great for us to analyse but makes it slightly harder to come up with an original idea. We started brainstorming straight after watching what we thought were our favourite indie pop songs/videos. This included Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Two Door Cinema Club, Kodaline, Marina and The Diamonds, Arctic Monkeys, Ella Eyre, Lana Del Rey and Noah and the Whale.

Ideas
Immediately we came up with ideas relating to video's such as 'A Team' by Ed Sheeran, which is a narrative based. We liked this idea but in the end we agreed on going down a more pop route, with having the artists in shot throughout the video, such as The 1975 do in their video 'Heart out'. However we were also inspired by the black and white filter throughout the A Team video, which made us consider using a filter such as sepia over certain shots in the video. Eventually we agreed that we would decide or apply these filters in the editing stage of our video, but it was very encouraging to know we had so many ideas at the early stage.