Director Case Study- David Fincher

I decided to create my own case study and timeline using http://timeglider.com/, on the director and producer- David Fincher. David Fincher is perhaps the most influential and acclaimed music video directors of all time, also having huge successes with commercials/ TV advertisements and more recently in feature films. David has achieved renowned success through directing big- budget music videos with artists such as Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Billy Idol and Michael Jackson etc. Also for feature film achievements he's been awarded 'Academy Award for Best Director' for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'Golden Globe Award for Best Director' with 'The Social Network' including many more. According to 'www.complex.com- The 15 Most Accomplished Music Video Directors Of All Time', David Fincher ranks 1st on their list.- http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/08/the-15-most-accomplished-music-video-directors/ As demonstrated within the timeline, David Fincher specialised mainly in music videos until 1992 where he began to concentrate on directing and producing feature films.

Link to timeline below (timeglider):

http://timeglider.com/t/924e0d38b544892d   (Click on 'green headings' in timeline for more information; as demonstrated within the 'print screen' below)

Screen Shot:

Primary Research- Audience Questionnaire

In order for our music video to be successful, it needs audience opinions/ responses to aid our planning and preparation. Primary research is essential in order to create an effective product. To do so, we created a questionnaire for 20 sixth form students to answer (10 boys - 10 girls).

http://www.scribd.com/- Word document link below.

Primary Research- Audience questionnaire.docx





 

The Male Gaze- Laura Mulvey

1st Textual Analysis: Lets Go Surfing- The Drums

Textual Analysis- The Drums 'Lets go Surfing'

Name of track: Let’s go surfing

Band: The Drums- Twenty Seven Records 2009

Directed by: David Fishel

Genre characteristics:

The music video shows the lead singer the entire way through, with the additional band members appearing one by one into the video. By including the all the band members within the video; the lead singer in particular being shown throughout, it provides promotion for the band. The audience will watch the video and familiarise themselves with the band and the song. Typical band characteristics include the band members frequently appearing within their video to create recognition; which is what is a achieved in this music video. This video contains them running across a beach in darkness with 'empty' background space- linking to an indie genre; with instruments randomly appearing. Doing so demonstrates their individuality as an alternative pop band, showing links to an indie genre. The fact that they are shown at one point performing with their instruments on a beach reinforces band and indie genre characteristics.

 

Relationship between lyrics and visuals:

Lip syncing is used by the lead singer, whilst all band members are running across the beach. Some links are shown between lyrics and visuals firstly with 'I wanna go surfin', as the music video is set on a beach. It also consists of them running across the beach; which ties in with the line 'take a run down to the beach'. This demonstrates an illustrative link between lyrics and visuals. However, there also appears to be an antagonistic link between lyrics and visuals as the line 'Wake up, it's a beautiful morning' contradicts the fact they're outside at night, in darkness. The abstract link between the title and video links again to the indie genre.

Relationship between music and visuals:

Few links are demonstrated between the music and visuals other than the band members strides as they run across the beach being relatively parallel to the beat of the song. Also the shot of the band members playing their instruments and clapping their hands is exactly in sync with the song, demonstrating an amplified link between music and visuals.

Shots of the artist:

Various mid to long shots are used through reverse tracking of the band the entire way through, with the lead singer always being in front of the others, signifying a hierarchy of importance within the band. The fact that the lead singer is the first person to see running towards the camera at the beginning and is the last person to be disappear in the video reinforces his importance. Virtually within all The Drums's music videos, the lead singer (Jonathan Pierce) is shown more frequently than the other band members. The wide/long shot that includes all the band members playing their instruments and clapping their hands, includes all the band members within the shot, reinforcing group recognition.

Intertextual references:

An excerpt of the song was used in advertising for Volkswagen. Also used within an episode of the Inbetweeners. But no specific intertextual references are shown within the video.

Performance- based, narrative- based or concept- based?

The video doesn’t really follow a narrative as it’s a very simplistic and random; suitable for its indie/ alternative genre. However I suppose it could say that the music video is more concept- based. This is because the title of the track is ‘let’s go surfing’ and the video itself is shot running across a beach. Audience will respond to them not being a typical pop band as they are not intentionally targeting the mainstream market. The Drums incorporate a 'do-it-yourself' attitude into their music and videos . This is certainly the case in 'Let's go Surfing' as the lyrics are rather repetitive and simplistic and the video is basic in comparison to mainstream music videos, suggesting it didn't require a large budget to make.



Do's and Dont's for our Music Video

10 Things not to do in a music video!

 

1. Well known songs.

2. Overdone effects- you shouldn’t use effects just to disguise poor footage.

3. Aimless driving around.

4. Scenes involve booze, fags or drugs (even simulating).

5. Shots of people just walking around.

6. Speeded up footage or footage run backwards to cover lack of material.

7. Zooms.

8. Found footage- it should be your own unless there’s an exceptionally good reason.

9. Attendance- less stage footage.

10. Over the top stories.

Strengths in previous student work

- Consistency through to the end.

- A clear sense of genre and artist.

- Well- shot footage.

- A powerful performance.

- A good simple effective idea.

- Judicious cutting.

How is the music industry regulated?

Industry Regulators

 

The music industry is mainly a self- regulated organisation, with everyone involved in the industry having some control and their own responsibilities. However, there are regulators in place to police copyright, trade and music representation of songs, cd's and concerts for the production teams behind them. Some of the industries main regulators are: OFCOM, BASCA, APRS, MPA, PRS and BPI.

                    Ofcom in particular is the 'Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries'. This simply means that media prosumers (Mainly parents) are able to report and complain to Ofcom about any viewing content they found inappropriate on TV, Music Videos or Radio Stations etc. Ofcom helps to inform parents to report any inappropriate media to Ofcom and in serious cases the CEOP report. The CEOP report is concerned majorly with online child abuse and urges people who are victims of cyber abuse not to delete any emails images or conversations that contain explicit material.

As technology is continually expanding and Media products are frequently produced and consumed by billions of people on a daily basis, it makes media regulation extremely difficult for companies like Ofcom and BASCA to control. Multi media sharing sites are rife in the online community, such as 'Piratebay', along with many websites that show explicit content and pre- released content; that in turn, cause major problems for the music industry. Copyright, trade and music representation of songs is something the music industry unfortunately have to accept is going to occur, when releasing content onto the Internet.

Music videos face crackdown over sexualised content- The Guardian.com

'Government report into sexualisation of childhood set to propose tougher regulations on retail, advertising and video industry' (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jun/02/music-videos-face-crackdown-sexualised-content)

- A report has been published by the government regarding stricter regulations on 'sexualised music videos'.
- The new report urges parents to report any content that they consider to be inappropriate for child viewing. The governments intentions are to make it much easier to complain to regulatory bodies by simplifying the previously confusing process.
- The retail, advertising and video industry have been given 18 months to make their content cleaner for viewing. Afterwards tougher government regulation will be enforced.
- As an example, Rihanna got heavily criticised by parent groups and the Parents Television Council in the US as they were outraged to see that she filmed a music video with shots of a man that raped her.