Music video analysis

Music Video Analysis
The Weeknd - The Hills | PartyNextDoor - Come and See me

Conventions Used
The Weeknd - The Hills
The conventions of the Alternative R&B genre
which this video uses are:
Good looking females
Dark colours (black is used to portray emotion)
The video follows a narrative (of an affair)
Cars
Clear close ups
PARTYNEXTDOOR - Come and See Me
The conventions of the Alternative R&B genre
which this video uses are:
Good looking females
Alcohol (shown throughout the bar setting)
Dark colours (to express emotion and add to
the tone of the song)
Relationship motif
Clear close ups

Camerawork
The beginning of this video does not show many different camera
shots. This is due to the fact that there is only one shot (mid shot) of
the artist himself for around half of the running time for the video and
that shot is being tracked. However, at the very beginning of the song
there is establishment shots of the wrecked car which sets the tone of
danger for the video. The second half of the video shows more of a
variety such as long shots and close ups however all the shots do not
distinctly show the artists face, whether the shot is too far away from
the artist of the lighting of the shot makes his face darker. This can
present him as a figure of mystery as his full face in clear light is hardly
shown.
The video uses a wide range of camera shots throughout. However there is a
majority of close ups on the artist’s face and the other main character within
the narrative of the video. The reason for this is to show the audience a better
understanding of the emotion coming through their facial expressions in order
to set a tone for the video which is the same as the song. Furthermore the shots
usually contain the surroundings of the environments that the characters are
in. For example the male is seen at a bar so there is an extreme close up of him
holding an alcoholic beverage. In addition there is the repetitive use of
panning throughout many of the shots. This can connote that there is much
more that meets the eye suggesting that the video has a moral of knowing the
full story before making assumptions.

Editing
The final product of the video shows itself as being full packed with
emotion which is shown by the slow pan from the walking artist as well
as the quick straight cuts which are put in time with the music. This is
useful as it shows the simultaneous use of transitions and music create
a more dramatic effect for the audience. In addition as this is for an
alternative R&B song it can also seen to be used to show the emotion
that is shown by the characters within the video, mainly the singer
himself.
The majority of the editing used throughout the video are straight cuts
from one shot to another to show a clear narrative and time lapse
within the video. However there is one other transition that is used,
which is a wipe. This is used when the camera pans behind the wall it
pans out of another wall. This could have been used to show a contrast
between the settings and/or characters which shows the music video is
used to show how visuals can change the mood of the song.

Genre
This video for the song ‘The Hills’ is of the
alternative R&B genre. This video contains
conventions in alternative R&B videos and in this
particular case it involves: cars, females, fancy
living (the room at the end of the video).
This video is for the alternative R&B song ‘Come
and See Me’. Like I said earlier it has many
conventions of what is in an alternative R&B song.
For example having females, alcohol and fancy
living expenses (in this instance the apartment at
the beginning of the video).

Narrative
Even though the video is mainly performanced based it can be
shown to have a narrative when matching the lyrics and the
video together. The lyrics are saying that there is an affair going
on where the singer wants the affair to be more open whereas
the woman wants to keep it a secret at all costs. This can be
shown as the singer sings ‘you say keep our business on the low
low’ and at this point in the video he is escaping from the car
which suggests he doesn’t want to do this with someone if they
are not open about it and can’t ‘get her out the friend zone’.
The video is mainly performanced based with the singer -
PARTYNEXTDOOR - singing and playing the piano throughout a
majority of the video. The video focuses on the singer being in a bar
with a lot of people to portray him being influenced by things such as
alcohol and friends but it also shows the singer separated from
everyone to be on his own to play a piano. This can suggest in this part
of the video it is showing the singer using some self reflection to reflect
on his actions. It may also suggest the singer is showing his true nature
when with music as he is alone and is shown singing from the heart
passionately as shown from his facial expressions.

Performance
Throughout the first halve of the video the singer is singing
towards the camera as the camera continues to track back from
the singers face. During this sequence the singer is being pushed
by one of the other female characters and the car from the
beginning of the sequence explodes. As this is all going on as the
singer is performing to the camera it suggests that this is used to
portray the emotion of the song and it reflects on the facial
expressions that the singer is performing as he is singing to the
camera.
The performance element of the video is well performed. The artist is
able to portray his emotion of confusion and love well by him being
alone at the piano playing by himself. In addition he keeps his head
down throughout the beginning of the video which perfectly shows he
has no confidence. However, as the song picks up the video also does
by the artist picking his head up whilst playing showing he has picked
up his confidence. This is then linked with the narrative of the video as
he goes to see his ‘lover’ showing that he has picked up his confidence
and is no longer confused at what he wants.

Representation
The use of the exploding car when taking into context of the song and
video can suggests that karma is acting upon them. This is because the
narrative of the video and song shows that there is or was an affair
taking place. Therefore the accident at the beginning of the video
shows that. In addition the long sequence of the singer just walking not
taking anything else into consideration (such as the woman pushing
him or the exploding car) can suggest that he has given up on his
morales hence the reason he has taken part in an affair.
The good length of this video is set at a bar and in a room where
the singer plays piano on his own. This contrast between these
two settings represent the singer of having two personalities as
for one of them he is drinking and showing not much care
whereas when he is playing the piano he is expressing a lot of his
emotion by performing.

Institutions
The Weeknd is signed to XO and Republic which
both have the parent company of the Universal
Music Group (UMG). UMG has a range of artists
such as Drake, ABBA and The Wanted, which
cover a range of different genres in the music
industry. These genres could include R&B, Rap,
Pop etc.
PARTYNEXTDOOR is signed to OVO Sound which is a
subsidiary of Warner Music Group. (WMG). WMG is
based in New York USA and like many other music
institutions today, hosts many different types of artists such
as Wiz Khalifa, Ed Sheeran and Jason Derulo. Therefore it
shows that WMG have artists who make music for
different types of genre such as Rap, Pop, Folk Music
which shows WMG do not focus on one type of genre.

Values and Ideology
One of the main ideas behind this video is karma. This can
be suggested when linking the video and the lyrics together.
As the narrative of the video shows there is an affair going
and the beginning of the video shows the singer and the
woman, who are presumably the culprits of the affair,
escaping from a crashed car suggests that there is
consequences for every action you take. Furthermore it can
also suggests that love hurts and scars as in the video the
car explodes. The exploding car can then represent the fact
that love burns down relationships whether it is intentional
or not.
Personally I think this video is used represent the value of
respecting one another equally when in a relationship. The
repetitive lyric throughout the video ‘come and see me for once’
suggest that only one person is making an effort. Linking this
with the singer being shown in a bar whereas the woman is
shown at her hours suggests that it's the man not making any
effort. Therefore this is used to show that in order to make a
relationship work there is efforts that both people need to make.
In addition it also shows that people in relationships need to
stop some of their hobbies. For example the singer is shown in a
bar throughout the video which could suggest he repeatedly
visits bars.

Music video analysis

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