Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri Lyrics Analysis and Initial Idea

The lyrics link to our music video ideas as the lyrics are the female rising above and being better than the male and overcoming her broken heart and making him look useless. The idea that we have for our music video concept is to make artist look like the bigger person and making the male look silly and disgustingly cruel to females. The initial ideas that we have are to create a video with the female singing and then having jars smashing to express how the females are destroying his hearts.

Change of Concept

After a lot of discussion, Laura and I have decided to change our song choice from Happy by Pharrell Williams to Jar of Hearts Christina Perri. The reasoning behind this is because we felt our original concept and song would not promote or represent a new artist successfully. We were showing a variety of characters which made it unclear as to who the artist was. In the music industry, it is very important that a new artist is advertised and promoted as much as possible and by not being seen in the video this would've been difficult to do. From looking at exemplar work from the OCR website, we felt it best to change our song concept to make the artist representation very clear and to fit the pop genre successfully. For example, "E.G.O - Do My Thing".

Pharrell Williams factfile

Pharrell Williams
About:
Pharrell was born April 5th 1973. He was born in Virginia Beach, US. He was born to Pharaoh and Carolyn Williams and has two younger brothers: Cato (a professional skateboarder) and Psolomon. He is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer.


Career:
Pharrell is one half of the record production duo 'The Neptunes'. He is also the lead vocalist and drummer of rock, funk and hip hop band N.E.R.D. His first single was released in 2003 and is called 'Frontin' which was followed by his debut solo album 'In My Mind' in 2006 and his second album 'Girl' was released on March 3rd 2014.

Personal Life:
Pharrell Williams married his long term girlfriend Helen Lasichanh who is a model and designer on 12th October 2013. Together, they have a son - Rocket Williams who was born in November 2008.
Pharrell is building a $35 million after school centre in his hometown. His charity "From one hand to another" is a foundation developed for youth between the ages 7 and 20 who are living in at risk communities through America.

Awards:
He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2014 for the song "Happy" which featured in the film Despicable Me 2.
He also won a Grammy Award with Ludacris in 2007 for the Best Rap Song - Money Maker.
Across 2013 and 2014, Pharrell has been nominated for six American Music Awards for the songs 'Blurred Lines', 'Girl', 'Happy' and himself for artist of the year.
In 2014 he won two BBC Music Awards.

Requesting Permission

I have emailed Columbia Records to ask whether or not we can have their permission regarding the use of Happy by Pharrell Williams for our music video.

Branding/Style Construction

We have researched into existing record labels for the pop genre and from the research we have created our own record label. We think that this will appeal to our target audience and the name 'superstar records' will suit the pop genre. We have chosen to use the record in the logo as a record is symbolic of music and it is aesthetically pleasing to the look at. The colour gold shows that our record brand is wealthy and can afford to fund for the needs and cost of the artists signed to superstar records.

Happy - Pharrell Williams Lyric Analysis

Analysis of Previous Students Work

A2 Media, Music Video - 'Do my thing'

This students work achieved 60/60. 
According to OCR marking criteria I would award this candidate a level 4 because they had excellent shooting material appropriate to the task set. They had a sufficient camera, lighting, coloured back drops.
I would award the candidate a level 4 for their ability to framing a shot as each person is centred in the middle of the back drop. This is important as when shooting a music video, everyone has to be seen effectively.                
They have used a variety of shot distances as appropriate, they have included long shots, close ups, mid shots. This is to capture the different movement and enthusiasm. I would award this candidate a level 4 using the mark scheme. 
I would award the candidate a level 4 for their use of variety of camera angles. For example, close up, mid-shot, establishing shot, birds eye view, high and low angles, wide shot and extreme long shots. These gave the student higher marks, as they have experimented further to include a variety of angles rather than just a few, to make their music video professional. 
They have used professional editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer. They have used bright coloured boxes outlining the singers which goes well with the back drops. They have also incorporated two different shots in the same scene, so two dancers and then a dancer with a different back drop next to it. I would give this candidate a level 4 as they have experimented with editing. 
They have used the typical mise en scene elements, they used the R&B style as they are wearing casual clothing and stereotypically R&B artists are usually people of colour. I would award this candidate a level 4 for their use of mise en scene elements. 
I would award this candidate a level 4 for their use of sound with images. Their lip-syncing is in sync throughout the video which makes the music video professional as there isn't any mistakes. 

A2 Media, Music Video - Daughter "Youth"  
This students work achieved 32/60.           They had professional shooting material appropriate to the task set. They have used a sufficient camera and high-key lighting. I would award this candidate a level 4 for this category. They are good at holding a steady shot as they do this throughout the video, for example, the tap, guitar, phone. I would award this candidate a level 3 for this candidate as they have used this technique professionally.

I would award this candidate a level 2 for their basic amount of camera angles used. For example, birds eye view, high and low angles, wide shot, extreme long shot.   

I would award the candidate a level 2 for their use of mise en scene elements. They have used a basic setting and they have used high key lighting. They used a black and white hue to reflect the man and woman which adds drama and emotion. They also used a blur effect on the black and white hue.

They have used professional editing as they have used a fade transition when it changes to the black and white scenes. They also used focus on certain parts, for example, the door knob. I would award this candidate a level 3 for their use of editing. 
I would award this candidate a level 4 for their use of sound with images. Their lip-syncing is generally good throughout the video as it is in timing.

A2 Media, Music Video - 'Disco lights'

This students work achieved 16/60.  I would award this candidate level 1 as they had poor shooting material to the task set. They had a basic camera and lighting which meant that it didn't look professional. They  also didn't have much equipment. They had basic knowledge of framing a shot. Which was shown throughout the video with little consideration into angle and distance.They used a poor variety of shot distances. Therefore I would award this candidate a level 1.They didn't use many camera angles. For example, birds eye view, high and low angles, wide shot, extreme long shot.  I would award this candidate a level 2 for their use of camera angles. I would award a level 1 for their use of basic mise en scene elements, they used a few props for example hats, they had a basic setting which is at a house.

I would award this candidate a level 2 for their use of sound with images. The lip-syncing is at times in sync however there are a number of occasions where it is out of timing. The track and footage generally work together as per Goodwins Theory that the video and music should accompany each other yet there are scenes that aren't necessary and don't link to the lyrics or the timings in the song.