New target audience

Although we have chosen a song on a different genre to our original, there are not many features of our target audience that have changed. We are still aiming at urban girls aged 15-19 (or in a similar age bracket) that are in or have recently left full time education. These females are most likely working to lower middle class.

The main changes are in interests and hobbies. The girls we are aiming at usually socialise slightly less than our previous audience, often preferring their own company to do something artistic like draw/sketch and listen to music rather than watch television. They also choose to shun Facebook, preferring Twitter and the more less known micro blogging site Tumblr.

Their music choices are generally more broad, spanning most of the subgenres of rock, including metalcore (bands like Suicide Silence) and post-hardcore (bands like Bring Me The Horizon). Many of the music choices coupled with interests and hobbies tend to have females I have just described as "scene kids", which they usually aren't.

Similar Text: Fixed at Zero - VersaEmerge

A band similar in sound and formation to Paramore is New York rock band VersaEmerge. Both bands are signed to pop punk label Fueled By Ramen and fronted by females, in this case Sierra Kusterbeck. 

The video is fully performance based with illustration of lyrics and is set in a forest. As the lyrics are struggling with inner turmoil and personal identity as is also common in many subgenres of rock, the setting of a forest is projecting this idea as it is easy to get lost in a both a forest and in your own mind. The video is illustrative of the lyrics in that the dark lighting and theme of rebirth (seen in Kusterbeck laying in a birds nest) can both relate back to the idea of an inner struggle.

At the start of the video there are many shots held on Kusterbeck as she performs to the audience, though as the song increases in pace these cuts increase also. This change can symbolise the human psyching beginning to deteriorate, enhanced by the earthquake effect added onto sections of footage where the song becomes "heavier".

As is incredibly common with rock videos there is a large focus on the instruments of the rest of the band. This can remind the audience that a band is about many people working together to produce a piece of music, rather than one person taking all of the credit.

Kusterbeck embodies the vision of a "rock chick", wearing skin tight jeans and chunky bracelets and necklaces. She also wears the symbolic and almost stereotypic heavy eyeliner. These differences from a pop artist serve to remind the audience that although she is different from what is considered the norm, she confines to a particular style.

Similar texts: Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies.

Another band part of the Fueled by Ramen record label and ranking a very high similarity to Paramore on Last.fm is American pop punk band Panic! At The Disco. 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies' was the lead single from debut album 'A Fever you Can't Sweat Out' and is to date their most famous song.

The opening shots of the video set up some of the visual themes and motifs. The plot of the video is somewhat illustrative of the lyrics, taking place at a wedding where the bride is concealing her promiscuity from nobody except her groom. The lyrics tell us that everyone is aware of her adulterous habits as they state

"'What a beautiful wedding, what a beautiful wedding' says a bridesmaid to a waiter. 'Oh yes, but what a shame, what a shame the poor grooms bride is a whore.'",

interlinking the song title referring to sinning and sins being created rather than tragedies, although to discover the woman you were about to marry is known as a whore can be seen as a tragedy. This is also reflected in the costume choice of  lead singer Brendan Urie: the circus ringmaster. Many people consider weddings to be like a circus as all members of the families involved are present, even those seen as "odd". When people haven't seen each other in years lies are told as to who is the more successful, especially among gatherings of relations. Consequently this could be hinting that weddings are comparable to the freak shows of old as people are acting not like their normal selves, as they have a mask on to the rest of the world. The idea of people wearing masks can be stretched further to imply that all of society wear masks in order to cover up their "inner freak".

Visually whilst this is being sung (and performed in cutaways) the scene taking place is an old fashioned wedding is taking, made evident by the quill pen in an ink pot behind a priest conducting the ceremony. The introduction of the priest is also the introduction of the religious motif observable throughout if the link was not made with the title. The wedding seems at first to be a traditional church wedding performed "in the eyes of the Lord", though the cameras focus on lips throughout detracts from the innocence of a white wedding (white being symbolic of innocence) and refers back to the adultery in question about the bride. The colours black and white feature prominently in the video as they symbolise both the light and the dark within someone.

Similar Texts: The Only Exception - Paramore

A very similar song and track from the same album as our chosen piece is "The Only Exception". In this video lead singer Hayley Williams alternates between laying on a bed of love letters singing to the camera, performing solemnly with the other band members and, most predominant to the narrative, walking through many scenarios looking for "true love" and realising she left him behind.

In the video there are very few costume changes and the outfits that feature are more demure than those seen in R&B, hip hop and rap videos, as is more common in pop punk. The theme of the song is unsurprising as love songs span all genres, with searching for love and breakups most popular even within the subgenres of rock.

In the video Hayley walks through many doors into different locations. This could mean she is searching for love as she is not sure the man she was with at the start of the video is "The One". This reinforces the lyrics as she sings

"That was the day that I promised I'd never sing of love if it does not exist,

But darling you are the only exception"

Here she is admitting her feelings but perhaps out of fear, seen in the lyrics

"I got a tight grip on reality but I can't let go of what's in front of me here",

she isn't ready to confront them, which is why she is running and looking for someone else, possibly to see if what she thinks she feels is true.

The opening shot of the  video is an image which can really only be described as domestic bliss; Hayley and the male the song in question is about are asleep on a sofa together. As it is daytime, evident by the soft golden light illuminating the room, they have probably fallen asleep together watching a film. Both are dressed casually, showing they have probably been together for a long enough time to feel they do not have to dress to impress each other, something Williams does later on in the video. In the foreground there are two coffee mugs positioned close together on a small coffee table, reflecting the closeness of the couple on the sofa. When she gets up, it's clear Williams is wearing a delicate chain with a heart on it, possibly connoting that her emotions when it comes to a relationship are as fragile as her jewellery.

Song And Video Change

Unfortunately we encountered many problems and obstacles when trying to complete the filming for our original video. These problems included unavailability of locations to film within. The Bridge Cafe was to be a main location as previous classes had gotten permission to film there but after many students agreed previously and did not use the location he wanted to charge us. We also had stars who had issues being able to film, including one getting hit by a car. Eventually it became so problematic we decided to just change the video idea. As we were starting to run out of time before the deadline we felt a rock song would be easiest to create in our time constraint. We felt this as there are few costume and location changes in rock videos. Because we chose a pop punk band in Paramore, there is less focus on instruments as is common in many videos of the genre.

The song we have chosen is "All I Wanted" by Paramore, and again we chose this song due to it not having a video already. However the song doesn't have a video as it was only unreleased, rather than specially written for a film as our last song was. The lack of official video still means that there is no expectation to create a similar piece. 

The idea we've come up with to create a new video is to use the codes and conventions of sorrowful love songs and show a female character mourning the end of her relationship. We plan on having her in a garden that may have been a frequent spot for her and her former love. As we live in London we felt that having a short sequence filmed in Liverpool street station would be perfect as it is recognisable as a London station. We also plan on using an iconic red phone box to make full use of our surroundings.

Similar Texts: Lady Marmalade

Lady Marmalade is a cover of a song by the girl group Labelle in 1974. Originally a soul/funk track, it was remixed into a more modern song by Missy Elliott in 2001 for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, with the vocals split between popular female singers Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Mya and rapper Lil' Kim. The song has always come under scrutiny for it's sexually aggressive chorus "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi c'est soir?", which translates into English as "would you like to sleep with me tonight?". This is also the song we feel is most similar to our own.

The video has a very sexually visual theme to it as it falls back on the film from which the soundtrack is from. The Moulin Rouge was well known all over the world for it's dancers and the invention of the can-can dance by the Parisian courtesans. Because of this the costumes are very revealing and are more often than not just considered lingerie. This is reflective of the lyrics as they are singing about a prostitute picking up a customer for the night, especially  when P!nk sings the line

"He sat in her boudoir while she freshened up

Boy drank all that magnolia wine"

she is seen sitting at a make up table, as is Aguilera in a cutaway, before moving to the bed seen in the background for the following line

"On her black satin sheets is where he started to freak, yeah"

Similar Artist and Text: Christina Aguilera's Stripped

Over the span of her career Christina Aguilera has released albums similar to Jessie J's Who You Are. A notable example is Stripped, released in 2002.

Both album covers feature the artists with their arms above their heads. This could be seen as a submissive sexual invitation, relating back to Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. However with Stripped it is seen as a literal invitation when seen in conjunction with the lyrics on the record. The image is in black and white, which may indicate that some of the views she expresses on the album are very straight forwards, having no 'grey area' to their interpretation. The image, a long wide shot showing her entire body, has most likely been utilised in order to show off her body in a sexual manner, enhanced by the fact she is not wearing a top or bra and instead has long (and obviously blonde) extensions covering her bare breasts, as well as a pair of leather-esque trousers.

The look which has been encompassed on the album cover can be seen throughout the singles released from the record, save Beautiful which, like Who You Are's lead track with the same name, has a more demure video and theme about personal identity. The lead single for Stripped, "Dirrty" has been heavily criticized for being overly sexual both lyrically and visually. However it is this sexuality that is the binding motif between the album and its singles, making them obviously a part of her musical change, as before she was seen as a very clean cut artist. Despite criticisms the song was nominated for three different Grammy Awards, enforcing the point that sex sells.

As the album was released 10 years ago it is difficult to find a magazine advert for its release. I did however find the tour poster that accompanied the release. It followed a very common theme among tours that coincide with the release of a new album in that uses the album cover as its main image. This helps it tie in with everything else.