Media Timeline of the Romantic Genre

Timed Analysis 2

The Killers - "Miss Atomic Bomb"

0:00-0:04: A white screen fading into a location of a desert. The cinematography is the camera panelling at a fast pace.

0:05-0:12: The song title "Miss Atomic Bomb" fades onto the screen, whilst still panelling through a desert.

0:15-0:17: A medium shot of a caravan, whilst the camera slowly zooms into it.

0:20-0:30: Eye-line match of the old man looking at a letter on the floor. The camera zooms in closer towards to males face as he picks up the letter, which emphasises his emotions, therefore making the audience sympathise with him.

0:30-0:35: Fades of the old man, photo frames and onto a cartoon ballerina. 

0:36-0:44: A close up of a ballerina glowing, as well as wearing white, which links to Barthes Semantic code due to the image of the woman being angelic, as well as the symbolic code being used due to white connoting innocence and purity. 

1:02-1:05: Medium shot of the old man against a white background in natural light and causal clothing. This might connote that this is a normal everyday situation without an exaggerated or surreal narrative that the audience would be able to relate to.

1:06-1:12: Shot reverse shot of the cartoon version of the old male throwing stones at a window and the old man himself walking around in his caravan and looking out of the window, which connotes him looking back on old memories which is shown by the cartoon. Lots of close-up shots are used to emphasise the characters emotions, making the audience sympathise with them. In this case, the emotion shown is love and broken hearted.

1:16-1:27: Shot reverse shot is used again with the cartoon female looking out to the audience whilst on stage. The shots of the female are in colour, connoting that she is full of life as she is young and bold. However the audience are all in black and white, as well as wearing dark colours connoting society being dull and everyone being the same like a herd of sheep. This gives a moral message of standing out from the crowd.

1:30: A medium shot of a bouquet of flowers being thrown on the floor. The flowers are red, which signifies love and the shoes are pink, which signifies lust as well as being a stereotypical colour for females as it's seen as a "girly" colour. This therefore suggests that the female has mixed emotions at this time as she isn't sure whether to choose her love for the man or the lust for fame.

1:43-1:50: Close-up shots are used for the male and female looking at each other when they finally meet, then a fade is used onto a close-up shot of two bugs who also seem in love. One bug is grey with green lines (symbolising the male) and the other is pink with blue lines (symbolising the female). This connotes that the male was feeling empty and this woman has brought happiness and growth to his life, whereas the female is in love but she still isn't completely happy as the blue signifies sorrow and sadness, which may be the lust for fame which he cannot give her.

2:08-2:14: Eye-line match is used when the female is looking up to the sky, then the sky having shooting stars. Shot reverse shot is used with the eye-line match as the camera goes back to the woman and then an extreme close up shot of her gripping onto the man tighter. This symbolises that she wishes to be with him as she smiles only when she's with him.

2:16-2:20: Shot reverse shot is used again with the man looking the opposite way of where he's driving to as he sees a mysterious male figure wearing a hat leaning on a fancy car watching them go by, signifying that there is a distraction in the man and woman's relationship.

2:29-2:31: A medium shot of the female standing next to the mysterious man wearing a dark pink, which symbolises that she chose the lust for fame over love. This is also shown by the colour of the flowers being a dark pink, which connotes the strength for her lust for fame.

2:38-2:39: Medium shot of the man looking directly at the camera in sorrow, whilst the background is sucked in and then turned black, connoting his heartbreak. This makes the audience sympathise with him.

2:46-2:53: The lighting around the man is red, connoting his anger about his love leaving him. Also, a close-up shot is used of him holding a ring in his hand, showing that he wanted to marry her. However, when the ring is shown, the red light reflects off of the diamond and turns it to pink, connoting the woman's lust for fame, which makes the man throw the ring on the floor and walk off, symbolising that he's letting her go.

3:02-3:05: Time-lapse of the ma ageing, whilst looking directly at the camera. This gains the audiences attention and sympathise with him.

3:06-3:12: A pan shot going in different directions of the woman ageing with her rich boyfriend, then shows her life story by a medium shot of her doing drugs and then her eventually having children with someone else. This can show that she wasn't happy with the choice she made and she's regretting it.

3:21-3:25: A close-up and zoom out is used at the same time on a clock which is going anti-clockwise with a black background, making the audience focus on that. Then a medium shot of a guitarist, connoting that the man is thinking of what he could've been.

3:33-3:53: The woman comes out of a fancy car dressed in fur and wearing lots of makeup, connoting that she's still living the famous life and she's not wanting to age. She looks at the edge of the cliff in front of the moonlight thinking about what could've been, due to her watching herself getting proposed to and being happy. Eventually she walks off back into the car. This connotes that she misses the man and she regrets her choices.

4:41-4:46: A close-up shot of a photo frame with an image of a ballerina, which is the woman, showing that the man has never forgotten about her.

4:47-4:48: Blackout, showing that it's the end of the video.

4:49: Credits.


From this video, it has inspired my group and I to use some of its aspects to create our own music video. For example, the synopsis of a romance and a video telling the story by using actors and actresses. Also, we will use editing such as blackouts and fades to change scenes, which keeps the audience wanting to watch more and understand what's going on. The cinematography used will be close-ups, extreme close-ups, medium and long shots to help the audience sympathise with characters and know the locations of which they are in. The mise-en-scene used will be casual clothing as shown in this video of the 'Killers' as well as using a variety of locations and props. The sound will be used as the same as this video, which will mainly be the non-diegetic sound of the song playing throughout the video.

Textual Analysis-Influences Part 2

A Thousand Years - Christina Perry

Timed Analysis

Timed Analysis of James Arthur "Say You Won't Let Go"

0:00-0:01: Blackout and then fade-out to the first shot of James Arthur sitting on the sofa alone.

0:01-0:02: Medium shot of James Arthur sitting alone on the sofa, playing his guitar. The editing used is a black and white filter, which creates a chilled but dull mood within the scene.

0:03-0:05: Close-up of James' face. This is used to help emphasise the emotions shown, which will make the audience sympathise with James.

0:05-0:07: Extreme close-up shot of rain falling into water in slow motion. This can also create a relaxed atmosphere.

0:07-0:08: Long shot of two people in a boat, with their figures and the boat looking like a silhouette. 

0:08-0:09: An over the shoulder shot is used to look over James' shoulder and see him looking down at the window. This shows that he is trying to hide his emotions, however, the audience want to continue to sympathise with him. This is also shown by the camera putting all the focus on his face, whilst blurring out the scenery outside.

0:13-0:15: Low-angle shot of a couple walking. The camera panels to the right to focus on the woman. Again, the main focus is on her and everything else is blurred out, connoting that nothing else matters to the man other than her.

0:16-0:20: Shot reverse shot is used due to the camera continuing to go back to James singing whilst playing the guitar, then going to the couple. This connotes that he's telling a personal story to the audience due to the flashbacks being used.

0:20-0:23: A medium shot of the couple standing still is used and then eventually blurs out whilst they are walking and playing around in the field. This connotes that they want privacy.

0:32-0:34: A medium shot of a man in the studio is used, showing the audience the scenes in the background which occurred whilst James was filming this video. Therefore showing the audience how much work he puts in into his music. 

0:43-0:47: Shot reverse shot is used as shot one is the couple are looking down at the equipment, then the second shot shows the equipment. This helps the audience engage with whats happening, therefore making them want to watch more to find out what may happen next.

0:54: A medium shot of James is shown looking at the audience, which is known as direct address. This, again, engages the audience to watch more of the video as James is singing directly at them, making them feel comfortable.

1:03-1:05: A medium shot of a man holding his baby is shown and then a close-up of the baby's face. The costume, which the baby is wearing is white, connoting innocence and purity. However, the male is wearing a grey shirt, connoting that he's ageing due to old people stereotypically having grey hair as they age. Also, it connotes maturity as the male is a fully-grown adult.

1:14-1:19: Extreme close-up shots are used at the same time as shot reverse shot as the camera starts at the baby's face, then to the baby holding onto the fathers fingers. This symbolises love ad the fathers hands are gentle with the baby's delicate hands, as well as him looking down at the baby smiling, showing the strong bond that they have.

2:11-2:15: A medium shot of a man and a dog, linking to the quote "a dog is a mans best friend".

2:35-2:37: A medium shot of tan elderly woman in a hospital bed with family gathered around her. The camera slowly panels closer to them. This links to the stereotype of elderly due to them being seen as weak and a burden.

2:42-2:45: A close-up shot of the man at a much older age crying, making the audience sympathise with him as they understand the reason why. This also links to the stereotype of the elderly due to elderly couples sticking together and having a long lasting relationship.

2:50-3:10: The camera panels and shakes in every shot shown, connoting the roller coaster of emotions which the man is facing, due to him knowing that his wife is dying. Shot reverse shot is used too by the camera being on the old man, back to James.

3:12-3:15: The camera goes back to the medium shot of the elderly woman in the hospital bed but this time, the camera panels away from her, connoting that she doesn't have long to live and is leaving her and the family to say their goodbyes.

3:16-3:17: Goes back to the medium shot of James Arthur sitting alone on the sofa, playing his guitar, connoting that he's only been telling his personal story based on the future.

3:23-3:30: Close-up shot of James' face and a blur-out was used to connote the end of the story and video. Also a credit is shown saying "Directed by Felix Urbauer".


From this video of James Arthur "Say You Won't Let Go", my group and I have been inspired to use some of its conventions. For example the use of editing such as the black and white filter in some parts of the video and fades to change shots and let the audience know what's happening. Also, the mise-en-scene used will be casual clothing which is used in this video, as well as a variety of locations to keep the narrative going and the audience engaged. The cinematography used will be close-up, extreme close-up, long and medium shots of the characters and props. Finally, the sound used will be the non-diegetic sound of the song playing throughout the music video to help tell the narrative of the performance occurring. 

Primary Research

Audience Evaluation

From these results, our audience are mainly female. This is very stereotypical as females tend to prefer romantic genres. In our music video, we will include young female characters within our video, which will help to sell our music video easier to the target audience. 

Majority of our target audience were aged between 16-25, whilst the least were aged 45 or older. Due to our music video being aimed at such a young target audience, we will have to include characters of similar age to help the audience watching connect with them and sympathise. Also, many music videos nowadays include young actors as it's easier to attract the younger audience as they're more likely to watch and get involved with promoting the video.

In addition, most of our target audience prefer to listen to the pop genre, as well as some listening to rap and other music. This shows that nowadays, majority of youth listen to pop music as it is the most trendy and popular music genre. However, my groups music video is based on a more on an alternative rock/pop genre. Our song is called 'Hallelujah' by Jeff Buckley.

From these results above, it was a very close result of whether it is important to send a clear moral message in a music video. 18 people said yes whilst 17 said no. Therefore, we will include a very small moral message, which will be more based on not taking drugs. 

In contrast, original music videos use to just show the artist/ band performing, and no moral messages were given. However, today, many music videos include moral messages to engage the audience to watch it and spread awareness.

Most of our audience expect to see lots of emotion within a romantic genre music video. Others have mentioned slow music, which links well to emotion. Also, a storyline and happy ending was mentioned. Stereotypically, a romantic video would include two people falling in love and have a 'happily ever after'. However, in my groups video, we will include a storyline which is tense at times with lots of emotions shown throughout the video, as well as there not being a happy ending as the main narrative is about heartbreak.

Furthermore, most of our young target audience prefer a hybrid music video. A hybrid music video is when two or more different types of music videos are merged into one. This links well to my groups music video as we are creating a hybrid music video, which includes a narrative and performance. A narrative music video is where a story is being told to the audience. A performance however, includes a performance from the artist/band which could be live in front of an audience or in a studio.

36 out of the 42 people whom answered our survey said that they didn't feel uncomfortable with sexual themes being included in a music video. This will help our group with filming our video as there will be a little sexual scene included due to it being a romantic genre, but it will not be graphical therefore it is still suitable to watch.

Half of our respondents said that they don't mind if the music video is long or short. However, two-thirds mentioned that they prefer shorter music videos, which is because they would rather listen to the song rather than having different scenes in-between interfering with the song. Therefore, our group will film a shorter music video with a short introduction to keep our audience watching and interested.

In addition, most of our target audience rated a 3 for wanting to see a introduction, whilst others mainly rated either 1 star or 4. Therefore, my group will include an introduction at the beginning to give the audience an understanding of the storyline, as well as introducing them to characters and engage them to watch the music video.

In conclusion, my group and I intend to include young characters to help our young audience engage with the characters and sympathise with them, which will make the audience watching enjoy the music video. We will try our best to make the video look realistic as much as possible to make the audience believe whats happening (Barthes Enigma Theory). This links to Barthes Enigma Theory due to us using the Enigma, Symbolic and Action code to keep the audience question on what may happen next, making them want to watch more.

Also, an introduction will be included, but it will be a short one to make sure our target audience do not get bored of watching the video. Our story will focus on a variety of emotions as we will include flashbacks, as well as giving a dramatic storyline.

For our primary research we are going to be making a video with 6-8 people from the target audience that we would like our final music video to appeal to. in our focus group we will ask a questions on a variety of topics regarding audience and the style of music video that they would like to see.

1. Do you prefer the message of a music video to be clear or more ambiguous ?
2. Do you think that the use of black and white will add to or take away from the meaning of the song?
3.  Is it important to you that the lyrics within the song relate to the narrative of the video?
4. Would you prefer a romantic music video to be centred around the relationship or the loss of that relationship (a breakup)?
5. Do you prefer fast or slow paced videos?
6. which clip is more visually appealing to you? A or B 
7. What props do you think would best represent a breakup within a music video?
8. Would you prefer a music video to be from the perspective of one person or multiple? 
9. When you think of romance what is the first thing that comes to mind
10. What songs do you know of that are about romance? now what are the music videos like for these songs 
11. Do you find music videos about romance to be a realistic representation of real life? 
12. Can you provide an example of something you saw in a music video that particularly stood out to you?
13. What features in a music video do you consider to render it 'good'?

Essay 
By Ryan Griffiths

For our primary research we are going to be making a focus group with 6-8 people from the target audience that we would like our final music video to appeal to. In our focus group we will ask a questions on a variety of topics regarding audience and the style of music video that they would like to see.

However we did face some difficulties as  our focus group was slightly larger than expected and only a select few members of those involved actually participated in the discussion, therefore we did not receive the broadest range of answers since as expected some participants were more actively involved in the answering of questions than others.

Upon viewing the resultant footage of our focus group video we are able to find that our audience would prefer if our final music video was to be ambiguous and have an open ended narrative as those who we interviewed said that they would like to explore their own different interpretations of the video as they would feel like they could engage with the video and its narrative more as it feels more personal if they can apply their own perspective to it.

Those who we interviewed in our focus group also agreed that the use of black and white will add ambience to the video as they feel that it would make the video clearer as they will be able to distinguish which scenes are set in the past or present depending on whether they are in black and white or colour. This then relates to Barthes semantic code as the audience would have associated black and white with the past as music videos, when they first started to become popular would have been in black and white.

The audience also felt that it would be important for the lyrics of the song to relate to the narrative of the music video as they feel the lyrics relating to the narrative would add to the meaning of the song and is more likely to have a lasting impact on the audience as they will have both the visual and aural meanings from the video that are cohesive. The focus group also stated that they would prefer a romance music video to be slow paced as it would reflect the relationship blossoming and the connection between the two people growing, which they would prefer the music video to focus on over the breakup of the relationship.

Those who participated in our focus group listed some examples of props that they felt would symbolise romance these included

• Love Letters
• Photos of the couple together
• Roses
• Teddy Bears
• Places the couple have been together
• Text messages between the couple

This then relates to Barthes semantic code as the audience associate these items with romance and therefore we will include these props within our final music video so that it will conform to what the target audience considers to be genre conventions of a romantic music video.

Most of our audience expect to see lots of emotion within a romantic music video. Others mentioned the lyrics of the song being linked to emotion. Also, a storyline and happy ending was mentioned. Stereotypically, a romantic video would include two people falling in love and have a 'happily ever after'. However, in my groups video, we will include a storyline which shows a mixture of ups and downs within a relations and the emotions the characters are feeling shown, However we do would wish to subvert the stereotype of  a happy ending as the central theme of the song we have chosen for our music video is heartbreak.

Finally, the members of our focus group felt that the features of a music video that would render it to be good are a focus on emotion and the relationship growing between two people and if it was to be about a breakup to be about the happy times the couple had instead of it being about heartbreak. We also found that our audience are mainly female. This is very stereotypical as females tend to prefer romantic genres. In our music video, we will include young female characters within our video, which will help to sell our music video easier to the target audience. 

Textual Analysis- Influences Part 1

Influence 1: Plain White T's- Hey There Delilah

'Hey There Delilah' Textual Analysis from RebeccaIH