Researching videos for my A2 Media Project

1. Market Research
Abigail Kernaghan
Music
Video

2. Videos and Notes
Sia - Chandelier Ed Sheeran – The A Team Hoobastank – The Reason
- Black and white
- Shaky cam
- Follows a narrative
- Vocalist makes an appearance
- Links lyrics to video
- Clear message
- Gets repetitive
- Sensitive story
- Medium close ups of protagonist
- Props, big issue, to link character
with situation
- Comes into focus slowly
- Scene of traffic at night sped up to
show length of her duration outside
- ^ same with her sitting outside a
shop
- Close-up shows tears
- Costume, changes from many layers
to provocative clothes
- Shot from behind of a long, grand
hallway
- Plains of focus – focuses on drugs
- Close up
- Different protagonists, all join to
same narrative
- Shot, reverse shot between
characters across the street
- Links lyrics to video
- Eye line match
- Repetition of same sequence to
see it from different characters’
point of view
- Plains of focus (shallow)
- Tracking shot, to show further
information on props etc.
- Reaction shot to car accident
- Use of band members and
instruments throughout video
- Different settings
- Many extras to distort the
meaning of the video
- Tracking shot, follows characters
through the journey taken in the
video.
- Tracking shots
- Location not setting
- Costume, simplistic yet
recognisable
- Long Shot
- Match-on-Action, to sync with
movement
- Dark, light in background so
silhouetted
- Medium and medium long
shots, rarely close-ups
- Props, furniture
- Transition to different rooms
as section changes from
chorus to bridge
- All takes place at same time
- Close up, does not show
emotion, as it is staged/fake
- Repetition as camera moves
away
17/10

3. Breakdown – Song 1 (Chandelier)
Shots?
Edits?
Setting?
Lighting?
Narrative?
Costume?
Colours?
Characters?
Establishing shot, shows location/
set.
Long shot – most frequently used.
Close-up of feet.
Medium-long shot, subject takes
up the frame.
Medium close-up, shows features.
Tracking shot, the subject is
followed.
Extreme-long shot, of corridor.
Transition to show
locations.
Eye-line match, girl’s
height is at the
viewer’s eye line.
Lack of edits –
simplicity,
interesting and
unique, artistic,
challenging to keep
focus (ref. OK Go –
Here it Goes Again).
Natural, low-key
lighting.
More fill than key,
coming from behind.
Placement of windows.
Dark corridor.
Light assists in
portraying the multiple
emotions.
Significantly darker at
end than beginning.
Iconic blonde wig.
Nude leotard.
Pale blues and cool tones.
Cream furniture, neutral
but clean.
The bluey-green tones
reflect onto her skin, give
an ill/upset effect – as
opposed to full of colour.
Browns show ageing and
maturity.
Gives impression of natural ‘location’ as
opposed to artificial ‘set’.
Old, empty flat/apartment.
Little décor, plain, peeling and discoloured
wallpaper.
2 paintings, fridge has many photographs.
Writing on canvases, lamp.
Graffiti in first room.
Cluttered kitchen counter.
Windows in kitchen are darkened with
black marks, but not in the other rooms.
Singular character, but
personality seems to
vary, which is very
effective.
Young, slim blonde
female dancer, around
11 years old.
Frequently changes
between innocent child
and graceful and
independent woman.
Iconic blonde wig.
Nude leotard.
Bandages/support on feet.
Interacts with windows quite a bit –
using curtains to ‘strangle’.
Furniture, uncovered mattress to sit on,
sofa to land on.
Door frame and doorway repeatedly
used for beginning and end sequence.
Emotions appear to change.
Difficult to interpret.
Abstract dancing video – no real defined
beginning and end.
Stillness at beginning, curtsy to symbolise
ending.
The expressions hold most of the story.
Childish excitement, with severity within
dance that could represent anger/hurt.
The entire video seems directed at
someone though no other character is
seen.
Sound?
Deep hum at beginning.
No singer on screen, so most
sound is non-diegetic.
However, the video intentionally
matches the dance moves to the
beat.
E.g. slapping belly, jumping,
running etc.
In high pitch/long notes (in
chorus) girl opens up more,
elegant movements.
Sometimes matches lyrics to
expression and moves.
3/11

4. Breakdown – Song 2 (The A Team)
Shots? Edits? Colours?
Narrative?
Lighting?
Setting?
Costume?
Characters?
Sound?
Close-up of face and emotion.
Zooms out to show whole picture and location.
Long shot of her on bench so able to see clothing
and sleeping bag.
Shaky cam, in which shots are taken from many
different angles of the subject.
Multiple people appear in the frame.
Two-shot shows the relationship between the
protagonist and vocalist.
Aerial shot as she gets ready, taken from stairwell but
perhaps to convey looking down on her.
Shot, reverse shot of the car and the girl in the
prostitution scene.
Tracking shot, follows hand as It goes up her leg.
Close-up of drugs toward end, shows the outcome.
Black and white added in post.
Zooming and panning used a lot.
Abrupt cuts between girl and
crowds, shows her isolation.
Shallow focus with road behind
her.
Speeding up the hustle and
bustle of the city.
Cuts to show her tears, quick
shift to extreme emotion.
Jump cut from rough street to
client’s posh house.
Fast paced.
Cleverly edited so that the
beginning becomes the end of
the video.
Grayscale, which is quite cliché when
presenting serious topics.
The only time that colour is
introduced is at the very end, where
it shows the sunshine on rooftops
with a moving image of the girl
masked over.
Natural lighting as the majority of the
video is set outside in real locations
such as streets, fields etc. It is also
mainly be shot in the evening, just as
the sun is going down to achieve a
subtle glow. Therefore it is difficult to
distinguish certain aspects.
All locations. Natural places; parks
and streets. Transitions between
open areas in the daytime to
crowded city at night. Streets are
portrayed as dangerous and
unforgiving. The busyness of the
town is to show that nobody stops.
The apartment is a surprising
appearance for somebody that is
homeless, but gives the impression
that the character is a squatter. There
is a huge contrast between that and
the ‘client’s house, which is very
middle class and luxurious.
Central protagonist is a young lady, in
her early 20s? There are many other
people (extras) with which she never
interacts. The vocalist makes a short
appearance as a ‘good Samaritan’ –
the only person that stops to give her
money. The client is not given a
personality, in fact you never even see
his face. The fact it is a young woman
emphasises the desperation and
isolation. It appeals more to the
audience as they feel sympathetic
towards the vulnerability and
weakness.
Bird tweeting, repeated at start,
combined with the wind. Guitar
strumming, can hear the fingers on
strings which gives a raw sound.
There is a background/melodic
‘oooh’ throughout, which gives the
impression of more than one artist,
and people being together, which
the protagonist is not with
anybody. You never see the vocalist
singing, therefore the entire song is
non-diegetic. The bird sounds are
then heard again at the end.
Dark makeup – emphasises tears. Sleeping
bag, shows she’s sleeping rough. Layers;
hoodie, coat etc. means the audience feels
sympathy. The ripped fishnets have a
negative stigma towards promiscuous
women. Magazine and collection cup give
context. Stops to look at flowers – possibly
wondering what it would be like to be given
them? Hair gets tied back, mascara added
over current makeup. Lipstick; question why
she is making effort? Chewing gum gives an
ironic nonchalant feel. Car – a pricey model,
picks her up. Money, taken from ‘client’s’
pocket. Drugs taken through old glass tube.
Beginning becomes the end, laying there, presumably dead, with
woman crying over her. Then back in time – waking up in park,
embracing the day. Night falls, desperately tries to sell magazines.
Vocalist buys one and stays with her for a short amount of time.
Watches the world go by, traffic and people. She cries into her
sleeve. Goes to an apartment and does her makeup. Waits in a
car park, gets picked up by a man in a BMW, her expression
before this happens clearly shows she is not happy with what is
about to happen. Prostitution – she takes approximately £60 out
of the man’s pocket, after she is done, her face is filled with
regret. She trades the money for drugs, goes ‘home’ to take the
drugs. And the beginning becomes the end as she flops on the
bed. There is an extremely clear narrative, perhaps too spelt out,
no interpretation by the audience.
7/11

5. Breakdown – Song 3 (The Reason)
Shots? Edits?
Lighting?
Setting?
Costume?
Narrative?
Characters?
Colours?
Sound?
Over the shoulder shot, shot-reverse shot.
Eye line match across the road. Close ups, to
show expression. Reaction shot. Tracking shot
on feet, and following guy into the antique
store. Panning/zooming is repeated as there
are many aspects to focus on. Shaky cam,
from the perspective of the girl that gets ‘hit’.
Match on action, lip syncing from singer in
house and in scenes.
Screen goes black as girl gets ‘hit’ at
beginning. Slow motion reactions. Multiple
cutaways to the band, playing the song in a
house, away from the scene. Using pace, as
police arrive everything moves much quicker
– which shows everyone’s confusion.
Repeating scenes from different aspects and
with new information. ‘Looking through the
ruby’, a red colour-screen on camera.
Clear story, but interesting as it is not as it first appears. You learn
more about the characters and events. Girl sees boy, crosses road to
him, gets ‘hit’. Driver goes to body, boy goes into antique store to rob
it with his partner. The owner of the shop is meanwhile distracted by
the girl passed out on the road. The driver then leaves, moments
before the police arrive. The two guys break in and take the ruby. A
man on a bike comes to pick up the girl, who instantly regains
consciousness. They go to the house to celebrate as a group.
First boy – is guitarist, in love with girl. Girl,
crosses street and gets ‘hit’ by a car. Driver –
is vocalist, you could assume that he was the
drive behind the robbery, and it was his idea.
The shop owner, simply feels sympathy for
the girl and is oblivious of anything else.
10/11
Natural lighting, high-key. No scenes are visibly shot at
night (band in house could be), significantly different
atmosphere in house, darker, mood-lighting? Majority
must be light to capture all expressions/acting. Gets
dimmer throughout, daylight goes on, but reality kicks in.
Significance of red scarf on
girl? Vocalist/driver wearing
black t-shirt – symbolises
death/darkness. In fact, all
of the band are wearing
dark t-shirts. Contrasted
with light colour of shop
keepers shirt, to show
innocence. Very casual, but
there is clearly a scheme.
Mysterious beige jacket and
helmet of biker, gives an
official/uniformed
appearance.
Realistic sounds of the street,
followed by screeching of
tyres before the song starts.
As car ‘hits’ – non-diegetic
sound as the screen goes
black. This c=gives the
impression that something
has happened, without
actually seeing it. The video
is split to approximately half
and half of the musicians
playing/singing and the
narrative. So there is a
successful balance of
synchronous and
asynchronous sound.
Daylight, blues and neutrals. Black van used to hide the
incident, and shot of black birds. The colour of the
costumes also poses some significance. The entirety of
the video has a blue/grey wash. Continuity of red as the
robbery is happening – exterior and interior. Looking
through red screen/ruby at the end conveys
passion/emotion.
Beginning – scene of road, repeated multiple
times. Minimal significant locations are used. The
happiness/calming atmosphere of the house,
contrasted with the fast-paced danger of the
street. The vault is an obvious focus, and
therefore does not need much camera time. Car,
the vocalist’s isolation, whereas he is much
happier in the house with his band/friends.

6. Analysis – Song 1
Silence whilst the camera zooms in to establish the location from a long
shot. This allows several locations to be introduced at the same time.
First appearance of solo protagonist, shows costume, the iconic blonde
wig and nude leotard (to stay neutral). It is also an extreme long shot
when compared to the height of the girl.
Zooming in to various features to emphasise them, for example, this
match on action of the girl jumping down, zooms to bare feet with
bandages, which conveys injuries or deprivation.
The use of artificial expressions of the protagonist give a feeling of
fantasy as opposed to reality. Though featured very rarely, this shows a
different side to the girl, and breaks up the severity of the narrative.
This sequence is very recognisable. It gives more depth to
the character with the closest shots. There is also a change of
scenery which splits the video effectively.
The transition to this scene is her smiling and walking away, which then
jumps to her kicking a door, so a fast paced change of emotion
represented through body language. The positioning of the camera is
clever here, as it isolates the character even more, and makes the space
around her seem so much darker.
Although the video is clearly low-key lighting, with the addition of
dull/cold colours – this small sequence is lightest due to the close-up
featuring the window in the back.
14/11

7. Analysis – Song 2
Repeated shot at beginning and end of video.
Establishing shot, shows location and conditions that the young girl has slept in.
Very effective use of space of protagonist in frame, creates a
warm feeling of embracing the day.
Appearance of vocalist in narrative, gives a personal touch to the video.
Speed up of the hustle and bustle, despite being at a low angle,
it is an eye line match with the protagonist through the many
people walking past her.
Close-up of girls face to show extreme emotion, aided by mise-en-scene;
her appearance includes dark makeup which emphasises the tears, and she
is crying into the sleeve of her heavy coat.
The ‘client’ is never revealed, his face is never shown, which gives him a
sense of insignificance. The money is an important prop which is used
later by the protagonist to buy drugs, which could create a separation in
opinion of the audience, sympathy or pity.
15/11

8. Analysis – Song 3
The opening scene is repeated multiple times throughout the video, either
giving a different perspective, introducing a new character, or adding in
newly-revealed information.
Effective placement of reaction shot, which leads the audience to
believe the false narrative being set up.
The use of an alternative location does not give context to the narrative, but
allows the audience to see the musicians play, and also breaks up the
segregated scenes of the story.
There is a close-up drawing of the main thing they are intending on
‘robbing’, this is useful as it gives context to the video. It is also a contrast
of dark and light scenes.
17/11
This is a short but effective sequence where the girl has left the scene. It
combines match-on-action (as the vocalist is also travelling, as well as a
motivated cut to show us as the audience where they are escaping to,
The use of colour in this shot is effective and represents emotion, as
well as the obvious initial impression that it shows they have the ruby.
The camera pans in random directions, to convey it is from the
perspective of a character.
The end shot is again full of emotion, as shown on the expression of the
visible characters’ faces, and definitely creates a conclusive atmosphere
to the narrative.

9. Collecting Ideas
From the music videos that I have researched, I will take some inspiration to apply to my own production.
However, I have also learnt some things that are not as effective, which is important to recognise when
evaluating these three videos.
Firstly, from the ‘Chandelier’ video, I
found the use of space and camera
shots to be very effective, however the
raw content of the video turned out to
be fairly dull. I will therefore use a
variety of shots such as; extreme close-
ups, over the shoulder shots, and high
and low angles. But I will improve the
abstract base to the video’s narrative
by including a structure (beginning,
middle and end), and more than one
character so that it maintains the
viewers interest. They do well to
establish a relationship between
protagonist and audience, which is
something I had not previously
considered, but could somehow work
into my piece.
The video for ‘The A-Team’, whilst cliché
and with questionable realism, used subtle
production and filming techniques to
create their desired atmosphere. It also
managed to connect well with the
message of the song, without the lyrics
spelling out what was included in the
motion picture. What I will takeaway from
researching this video, is the clever
distinction of ‘character’. There are certain
people that, despite being significant,
their face was not shown – such as the
prostitution ‘client’. This is significant as it
not only places all emphasis on the
protagonist, but also represents her
isolation through people coming and
going throughout her life and not needing
a persona.
Lastly, the video I researched for ‘The
Reason’ had a slightly different approach
when structuring the music video. It
instead has a very clear narrative, with
multiple protagonists, and a definitive link
between the artist and storyline. The best
element of this video is by far their use of
time to manipulate the viewer’s perception
of what is going on. By repeating the same
scenes through different perspectives, it
allows the story – whilst technically staying
the same – to change and have increasing
significance in relation to the lyrics of the
song. However, this video seems to all
take place in one day, I would like to use
edits and lighting to portray a longer
amount of time taking place.
21/11