RESEARCH: THE SONG'S PROMOTION

Initially released as a single in November 2010, the song's popularity was increased after its use in various media. Google used the song in its 2010 "in review" video.^[1] The song is featured in the trailers for the films Eat Pray Love and One Day, the film Easy A,^[2] and in the television series Cougar Town, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Rookie Blue and 90210. The group performed the song at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, 2011 Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards of 2011, Live with Regis and Kelly, Dancing with the Stars and recently at the 2011 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.

In August 2012, "Good Life" was featured in a Honda Summer Clearance Event commercial.

The music video for "Good Life" was released on February 14, 2011. The video shows the band performing the song in a field, shot through a vintage lens. It shows many different symbols and is a bit different from their previous videos. The original video was filmed in a mountain valley located in West Hills, California.

In December 2011, a second music video, filmed entirely at Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort was released. It features the band performing at Cinderella Castle as well as riding on several attractions.^[

RESEARCH: Good life sucess (wikiepedia)

Good Life" is a song by American alternative rock band OneRepublic, taken from their second studio album, Waking Up (2009). The song was written by group members Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle, and Eddie Fisher along with group associate Noel Zancanella, with production done by Tedder. Featuring upbeat lyrics describing the travels of its narrator, the song is accompanied by prominent whistles and fast-paced drumming.

The song was released on November 19, 2010 as the album's third single in the United States, and as its overall fourth single. Its popularity was increased by its use in various films and television series and advertisements. The single was a commercial success, peaking at number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and eventually being certified multi-platinum, as well as reaching the top twenty of other music charts across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Critical reception of "Good Life" was generally positive.

A remix of the song, featuring American rapper B.o.B, was released to radio stations in June 2011.
The background music of this song was played on a Walt Disney World Resort radio commercial.

MY CHOSEN BRIEF

I have chosen to go along with the music video brief, oppose to the other 14 briefs which involve film trailers and radio. The music video brief involves:
- A music promo video;
- A digipak for the albums release;
- A magazine advertisement for the digipak.

RESEARCH: Definition of a music video:

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/music+video

Music video, videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dance or a fragmentary story and sometimes employing concert footage. Typically three to five minutes long, music videos frequently include quick cuts, stylizations, fanciful and often erotic imagery, and computer graphics.

Originally vehicles for promoting singles, most music videos are in the rock idiom. Although many examples of the genre feature the macho rock stars and scantily clad dancers that have become cultural clichés, certain music videos are notable for their cutting-edge techniques and artistic innovations, and some of their directors have achieved auteur status.
The music video form was popularized by the MTV cable network (est. 1981) and began to have wide popularity and influence in the early 1980s. By the 1990s many hundreds of videos, representing a cross-section of musical forms—from traditional to experimental rock, heavy metal to hip hop—were being produced yearly. Although music videos have usually been aimed at a teenage audience, many videos of ballads or "soft rock" songs are now directed at an older group of viewers. Since shortly after their inception, the style and content of music videos have strongly influenced advertising, television, film, and popular culture as a whole.

RESEARCH: THIRTY FRAMES PER SECOND: THE VISIONARY ART OF THE MUSIC VIDEO By Steven Reiss and Neil Feinman (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 2000)

The music video has to be densely textured so that it can hold up over repeated viewings. It has to be edgy enough to be noticed, but palatable enough to satisfy the often divergent demands of the performer, the record company and the public ( A.K.A the lowest common denominator).

A plot-driven narrative usually gets boring...knowing that their music videos are meant to be seen repeatedly, most video directors prefer a denser, more abstract style to telling a simple story.

For Jim Farber ( 'The 100 Top Music Videos', Rolling stone October 14 1993), 'Video directors reprove what good film directors knew all along-that visuals can also be music. When executed with elan, an edit becomes a back-beat, a crane shot a solo, a close-up a hook.'

Thirty Frames Per Second: The Visionary art of the music video is a lavishly produced paean to music video that is half overheated cultural defence and half resume book of the medium's most celebrated practitioners.

RESEARCH: HEIDI PEETERS

Heidi Peeters' view that narrative in music video is much more about building the emotional environment surrounding the band or star and thereby making connections with the audience than about plot or interpreting lyrics. For Peeters, this ability to connect the band to the audience is the KEY GENRE CONVENTION: 'One would be surprised at how the majority of theorists still consider music videos to be visualizations of a song. While they may seem discontinuous .., the shots (in music videos)are highly connected through the image of the star.” 

“The star promotes the phenomenon of identification, a process by which viewers become attached to a star, ranging from emotional affinity limited to the context of the movie theatre to projection, by which fans try to become their idols through imitating speech, movements and consumer patterns.'

RESEARCH: Music video 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' by the Manic Street Performers.

Being an alternative rock band, alternative bands often show similar characteristics and conventions. These people mysterious and often have political themed songs and visuals. ‘If you tolerate this your children will be next’ is clearly very political as within the title itself it holds a message. This is demonstrated visually through the images of the faceless people, supposedly being neglected by the government.  The drum kit is coated in plastic, and across the metal wall is a group of faceless people, restrained. The Blood used also makes a visually striking appearance allowing viewers to see that violence and possibly even death occurs. The lyrics used in this song such as the word fascists shows that political messages are being told in this song.

Furthermore Political themes emerge through hints of violence and faceless characters - a similar music video would be by another alternative rock band, Muse's Plug In Baby, which features women with entire body parts missing as opposed to faces showing abuse. Faceless characters are also used to shock audiences for example they are often used in horror films etc. This music video hints that the faceless children are victims due to their age and innocence and huge physical disorder.

The manic street preachers opposes Theodor Adorno theory that music is used to promote capitalism and conform to governments. Like most alternative-rock band music videos the majority of the shots are of the band performing in an unusual location.  This is to create mystery and a sense of unfamiliarity and emphasise the alternativeness of the band. Another example where this is used in another alternative band is fall out boy, where monkeys are used as the band members. This could be seen to be part of the genre of a music video (band performance). Andrew Goodwin believes that music videos are not at all original art forms, but like films and television programs, follow a list of codes and conventions.