The document discusses synesthesia, which is the concept where listeners imagine images when hearing music. It then provides examples from listening to a specific song where the author imagined scenes of an artist playing the piano, feeling the emotion in the vocals, and envisioning a music video that emphasized the lyrics and melody. The author imagined detailed scenarios that told a story of a relationship breaking up. Overall, the document demonstrates how listening to music can elicit vivid imagined scenes and narratives for the listener based on the musical elements.

1. Evaluation Question 1
BY LIAT SHAMASH

2. Synaesthesia
 Andrew Goodwin in 1992 from ‘dancing in the distraction factory: music
television and popular culture’ states that listeners and composers ‘see’
or imagine images when music is heard.
The concept is called Synaesthesia.
 There was a lot of complicated piano playing in the background and we
could hear a grand piano and the piano was quite a large focus of the track
so we all imagined the artist playing the piano along with the music videos
in some of the scenes. Our images were similar and were socially coded as it
was quite a relevant point and we all thought of the same point.
 Additionally, when listening to the tune and melody, it is quite slow and
sad and there is so much emotion coming from the artist’s voice. I felt the
pain in the lyrics she was singing. I imagined slow motion shots and a
music video emphasising the melody and lyrics.

3. More of my thoughts when listening to the song...
 Furthermore, when focusing on the lyrics, I realised they were very detailed
and told a story. The female artist is singing to this boy, it seemed like a love
story and I imagined a very personal, natural and realistic music video. All the
shots I imagined would have to be in places which were personal to the couple’s
relationship maybe places they had been. I imagined scenes with the couple
together and the girl telling the boy ‘you can tell them all that its over’ this
would be the start of the break up scene ‘stand there and look into my eyes and
tell me that all we had were lies’ I felt her pain and could imagine the girl
singing to the boy wanting him to tell her he lied to make her leave.
She says ‘I’ll stay if you prefer’ or she would leave ‘without a word’ I imagined
the song would be a journey to tell the audience her story of what happened
and the next part of her journey would be her leaving.
We all had very similar ideas and they were socially coded as we all imagined
she would be walking somewhere or getting a train or bus (probably running
away)
 Lastly, As it is a very personal song exposing
the artists thoughts and feelings I imagined a
bed scene where she is lying in bed thinking.
As before you go to bed you think about life.
Maybe she can’t sleep so she’s writing this song
so we could also write lyrics too.

4. Mode of address
 Through the Digi-Pack, Website and music video I wanted to bring
focus to the artist and the artist’s unique style and original songs.
 We also did not want to give everything away and explain to the
audience. We wanted them to think for themselves and make their
own judgements so it becomes more personal.
 From the post production research some of the
storylines our audience thought of where:
-girl leaving town after a break-up
- girl singing her sorrows
-girl wanting to commit suicide
- girl leaving abusive relationship
-lonely girl running away as boy did not show up
<- all these are relevant and they all create their own personal
judgements and it is along the storyline we created
 We wanted to invite the viewer into the music video and to conclude
with them having questions like ‘what happened’ ‘What will happen
to the girl’ ‘What will she do’ so we are inviting them to make
their own verdicts.

5. Preferred reading
 The storyline is about a girl who is heartbroken, she is dealing with
the fact that her relationship is coming to an end. She is trying to
stay away from her lover by leaving town but a part of her wants
him to stop her from leaving.
 We enhance the lyrics that the artist wrote herself for example ‘tell
me that all we had were lies’ she wants him to tell her so it will make
it easier for her to go and she would realise that it is over.
she sings ‘I’ll stay if you prefer’ or she will leave him ‘without a
word’
 So basically the music video shows her journey to her leaving and
the sad emotions she is feeling. She is in a party dress ready to go
out with her boyfriend but he has done something awful to her so
she broke it off with him and is leaving. We end the song with a
cliff-hanger not knowing if she went on the train or not. This leaves
the audience to imagine what happens.

6. Type of Signs
 Symbolic: The significant symbol shows what’s being implied
or represented
e.g. red octagon could be the symbolic meaning to ‘stop’
-Using a white bedroom and white dress and contrasting it with Red lipstick to
highlight innocence and purity. Additionally some people might think of everything
white as being in heaven and being an angel so her being in that room could
symbolise how she is dead as she is heartbroken without her lover.
-A symbolic location we used was the train station which highlights her journey.
The girl does not get on a train straight away and we show her waiting around which
shows how she is thinking. She is unsure is she should get on the train and run away
from her problems.
 Iconic: A sign that gets its meaning because of its resemblance to what it implies.
- When the girl is at the station she is walking with
a suitcase. We included the suitcase to highlight
that she is not just at the station – she is leaving.
The suitcase is an iconic symbol to highlight to the
audience the journey she is going on to leave her
boyfriend, as suitcases are known to be used for
when you are leaving for a long time and packing
away all your belongings.

7. Semiology
 Semiology is the deconstruction of the significance of images and words, the
meaning of images and the relations the audience brings to the symbol. Ferdinand
de Saussure describes Semiology as the science of signs in his ‘course on general
linguistics’ (1916)
 Roland Barthes examines the Semiology of the image in ‘Mythologies’ 1973. He
breaks down the myth into three sections like Saussure does.
-The signifier – the associations
-The signified – the meaning behind association
-The sign – the signifier and the signified are intertwined in the shape you see
For example the red lipstick we use in our music video could represent
love as when you see red you think of a heart, a rose or even danger of a
broken heart and blood.
 When you deconstruct an image it can be
divided into two tasks:
-denotation – the visual details
- connotation – explains the possible meanings
 These theories argue how images are reinforced from cultural myths and belief
systems. It is true as we use white and when people think of white they thing of
angels and purity as they are brought up of these ideas

8. Interpellation
 Interpellation is an idea introduced by Louis Althusser.
Interpellation explains the method in which ideas get into our
heads and how effective it is on our lives. It’s so effective that
our cultural information and ideas have such a hold on us that
we believe they are our own. Interpellation is a development
stage in which we come across our culture’s values and
assume that they are true.
 We intended to interpellate our audience
by making a broad narrative that the
audience can create their own
interpretation to what really is
happening and going on. Therefore the
ideas they create relate to their cultural
ideas and values. Our music video is
generally a love story and the audience
interpellate the meaning of
what happens in their own way.

9. Hegemony
 Hegemony is the leadership, control and authority
 Hegemony is when the values and beliefs of most powerful people in
society dominate and influence the less powerful
 For the music video, digi-pac and website we could have created
something like Rihanna and Beyonce where they clearly show the
development of the relationship and the details of what happened.
Beyonce and Rihanna are very powerful artists and have a
big influence on audiences and other artists. However we
did not want to make something so obvious and include lots
of other characters. We were going against the idea that the
values and beliefs of powerful people in society dominate
the less powerful by going against the powerful people in
society’s ideas. We did this by creating a very personal music video
focusing on the music and the artist telling her story and how she
felt. So the level of hegemony used in the meaning of our music
video is very low.

10. Continuing Hegemony...
 E.A Kaplan in rocking around the clock:
music television, postmodernism and
consumer culture 1987 describes the
requirement to return to the close-up of the
singers face as a key anchoring motif, a
visual hook – which is what we did as we wanted
to make sure the audience remembered and
recognised that this song belonged to the artist
that kept on showing in the music video. It’s
important to show close-ups of the artist face
so it becomes memorable to the audience and creates a visual hook.
 Furthermore, in the digi-pac which holds the
CD with the songs of the artist, I followed
beliefs of powerful people in society who think
that you must use close-up shots of the artists
face to highlight the importance that that is
the artist. I felt it was important for people to
know that that is the face of these powerful
songs. I did not want to go against these ideas
as I feel that they are correct.

11. Looking at Laura Mulvey...
 ‘Visual pleasures and narrative cinema’ screen vol.16. no.3 1975 Laura
Mulvey describes the concept of Scopophilia whereby films use images
of women for the satisfaction of men. When a women stares at
the camera it invites the male to ‘look’ at her. Therefore this
objectifies women as sexual objects which are popular in music
videos. These scopophilic hooks are used to offer a visual addiction to
keep watching which creates an argument concerning sexism.
 The idea of Scopophilia is definitely used in the music video as the artist is
placed in this white room with white walls, white sheets and a white dress
and a white bed. The bed and the girl in a short white dress definitely gains
the male gaze even though we did not mean it to be like that. Some would
think of angels and purity whereas some men would think of the bed she is
laying on and therefore the girl is sexually objectified.

12. Scopophilia
 Additionally the close-ups of the artists face which highlight
the use of the red lipstick creates a strong male-gaze too which
agrees with Laura Mulvey’s idea of
Scopophilia.
 Lastly, at some points during the music video we just have the
artist staring at the camera and fluttering her eyes and it
makes the males wonder what she is thinking and it brings
visual pleasure and a visual hook. Furthermore by her staring
at the camera it creates a personal attraction and invites the
male spectator to ‘look’ at her.

13. Pastiche
 We make reference to intertextuality by using pastiche in the music video.
Pastiche is a piece of work that imitates the work of a previous artist. The
music video reflects features of another genre for example our music video
includes the genre of romance and mystery.
 An artist I was particularly inspired by was Duffy. Her music video to
‘Warwick avenue’ shows an extremely long shot of her journey her man. It’s
a very personal music video with mostly close-up shots and shots showing
her emotion and her pain. I was inspired to create something similar and
make the music video personal and to tell the artists feelings and story.
Duffy shows how simplicity can be so effective.
Additionally another music video that inspired me by Duffy was ‘Rockferry’
which is all in black and white and also shows her past and tells her story.
The use of black and white enhances the feeling of memories and gives a
sad feeling. This made us want to include some black and white in our
film to contrast the past and the present and the decisions she needs to
make whether to leave or not.

14. Elements of a music video – Andrew Goodwin
 Typical elements of a music video Andrew Goodwin has pinpointed:
-personal imagery arising from the individual memories associated with the song
-images associated with the song itself which may be conveyed through metaphors
-images of musician
-visual signifiers arising from national popular iconography
-popular cultural signs associated with rock music which often link with a
mythologized ‘America’
 elements we have included that Andrew Goodwin has pointed out are:
- using the artist in the music video and many close-ups and images of the artist
- making the music video broad and about love so audience can create their own
associations and feelings and meanings towards the song.
-we include images associated with the song and lyrics to tell the story of the lyrics.
Birdy claims she’ll ‘leave without a word’ This is why we show her at a train station
on her way to leave her boyfriend. We use a suitcase to highlight that she would be
leaving for good.
- We included shots of Birdy playing the piano and
performing the song we felt it was important to not just
have narrative but to also highlight that the song is
sung by the artist performing it.

15. Typical of a music video...
 I include that I think are typical of a music video:
-I felt lip synching was important and for the artist to stare into the camera
as if singing to the audience so the audience receive a more personal
experience and relate to the song more as they see her pain and emotion.
-close-ups of artists face
-Mise en scene having appropriate and relatable locations and clothing
that suits the artist and props that are relevant and that enhance the lyrics.
-making sure cuts fit in time with the music and that it is appropriate. E.g.
slow music – longer shots but cut in time with piano chords.
-a range of cuts between different types of shots
 I include that created ourselves:
-the contrast of having both colour and black and white together in one
music video. I have seen many music videos using black and white such as
Duffy and Beyonce however I have not seen music videos using both colour
and black and white. I feel that it really suits our artist and helps show her
past and the pain she’s going through and also her present and what she is
going to do about it.
-using a white room, white dress and white bed to highlight purity and
contrast with red lipstick to highlight her broken heart. Hidden meanings
that we have put into the music video.

16. Montage – Sergei Einstein
 Quick cutting between shots that is seen within music
videos is resulting from the film form – Montage which
was inspired by Sergei Eisenstein who created silent
films showing propaganda.
 Even though we choose a slow song
there are still many shots and fast cuts
within the music video to show
continuity and make the music video
flow. We do this to include a range of
shots, close-up, medium close-up and
even long shots. This gives the
audience a better understanding of
the setting of the music video.

17. Narrative Structure
 Amplification is used within the music video to enhance the
lyrics and to create a narrative structure.
-The audience understand she is leaving as she is at the train
station with a suitcase
-Amplification is created when she sings ‘look into my eyes’
and she is staring into the camera it creates a feeling of
sadness for the girl and an understanding of her pain.
-We use the bed scene as when in bed it’s the time when your
brain thinks about everything and this enhances the song
which talks about her personal thoughts and feelings.

18. Richard Dyer
 In ‘heavenly bodies: film stars and society 1987’ Richard dyer contributes to the
definition of the star system by saying that it’s a major generator of the
mainstream film industry
 Andrew Goodwin claims that the purpose of the music video for the music
industry is to advertise and sell a CD as well as maintain image of artist.
 Star quality of the performer in the music video was created through:
-Staring through the camera to get more of a personal connection with the
artist.
-showing the power of the voice by including a performance using a piano.
-making the artist look vulnerable and alone at points. Also showing how she is
ordinary and indie.
-Even though we wanted to make her look innocent she looked erotic to the
male viewers and gained there attention.
-the sexual identity of our star is enhanced
through the bed scene where she is lying on
her bed and it cuts to her in many different
positions. We wanted her to look innocent
however from out post-production survey
many males responded by saying she looked
sexual. The way she stares into the camera
it gains their attention.

19. ‘WE MEDIA’
 By using a range of websites such as YouTube, Facebook, twitter
and blogger. By using a large range of websites, the music video gets
distributed widely and a bigger audience will see it
 Websites such as Facebook allows you to
‘share’ and ‘retweet’ the music video which
then gets sent to their friends who send to
their friends who send to their friends.
 ‘We Media’ was thought of by David Gauntlet
who created the idea of ‘web2.0’
 Furthermore the website which is online would be a part of we
media as people will send around the link to the website.
Additionally within the website there are links to other websites
such as YouTube, Facebook, twitter, MySpace and sound cloud.
These links create a larger audience within the artist’s fans.