Task 5

Task 5

Research into existing music video’s
(past students work)

Video 1
The first music which I think was a success was a
video from Shenfield High School in Essex. The
group did a song by Mac Miller called Frick Park
Market. Mac Miller is a young British rap artist.
The group who have done this music video has
managed to pull off a successful video by using
actors with a age similar to Mac Miller but also
the urban/suburbia areas which fits in with Mac
Millers style.
http://vimeo.com/33499385

The video as a whole was made by using quite
high tec. gadgets which in the end did pay off for
example they used various different lenses
(Canon 18-55mm kit lens, Tamrom 80-210mm
lens, Samyang 8mm fisheye lens) which all had
different purposes within the video making the
quality of the video better but also making the
video appear more realistic to an actual music
video.

There is also use of montage editing in the video. There is plenty of
shots which don’t have a meaning in the video but somehow they do
give a background to the song. An example of this is with the cows.
The cows come up often in the video but they have no relevance to
the song. I think the use of having montage editing is to show the
personality of the characters. Personally I think that they have done
this because they aren’t supposed to be near the cows show it shows
a rebellion side same with the firework scene, it has no relevance but
it shows rebellion. The video has credits at the beginning and the end.
The colors of blue and white suit the song and audience because rap
tends to be a more male genre of music. The credits appear in time
with the music too which gives it a more professional look. They have
also put the name of the song at the start and end of the music video
as well as making a record label also consisting of the same colors of
blue and white.

Editing

The editing is important in this song because of the pace of
the song the editing should match it’s fast tempo. In this
video there are plenty of shots and plenty of editing
techniques such as jump cuts are used often in the video.
An example of a successful jump cut in the video is 2.13 –
2.15 the jumpiness matches the jumpiness of the song. The
video also uses slow motion as well as a rewind technique
which both work together which gives the video a sort of
future feeling as if after that point of editing you can only
go forward within the video. An example of the slow
motion rewind effect is 2:16 – 2:18

Sound
The sound for this music video at the start they
don’t go directly into the music video they start of
with like a scene with the lead singer slapping
hands with his friend sat down on the bench. Here
you can hear the diegetic sounds of the road, the
wind and the trees. This is all effective because it
gives us as the audience an idea what type of video
this is going to be and where the music video will
be held mostly which is outside. The music as a
whole goes in time with the clips being played
which is effective because it makes it look a lot
more professional.

Mise en Scene
The lighting in this music video uses mostly
natural lighting because a lot of it is set outside
when they are inside the house when the singer
is in bed there is a scene where they use a
normal ceiling light. The costume of the three
boys are round about the same. They all come
across as quite fashionable.

Camera Shots
The camera shots for this music video have
loads of different shots all working in different
ways. The most popular shot they used is long
shots and mid shots. The long shot is the most
popular one and I think it was used to show the
locations, actions of the singer but also to show
costume change. The mid shot was used to
show the miming of the lyrics which looked
effective because it was like the lyrics were
being sung to us as the audience.

Narrative

This video doesn’t have a storyline but the lyrics and the visuals do connect
with each other. The group that has done this has also included the start of
the song which is more of a intro than part of the actual song. They have
used humor in a way which does link in with the song such as in the song it
goes “you cockroach” and the visuals show the ‘lead singer’ with his tongue
out trying to lick a spider which isn’t a cockroach but because you only see
that clip for a short second you can’t tell the difference. The video is mostly
lyrically and visually connected which I think works for this video having a
bit of humor so the audience doesn’t get bored watching the lyrics being
shown out to them when this song is pretty self explanatory. Also the
locations chosen fit in with the song. The young boys riding around in their
cars, messing around and going to skate parks are all typical of young boys
and especially this kind of audience who listen to rap music.

Video 2
The second video I am going to analyze is a music video
from Luton sixth form college. The group did a song by
Justin Timberlake and Timberland called What You Got
(oh no). Obviously Justin Timberlake was in Nsync then
moved onto doing solo work and Timberland collaborates
with many different artists. Both men are in their 30’s so
their video will reflect their lifestyle. The group who have
done this music video has managed to pull off a
successful video by doing similar actions which they think
people of Justin and Timberlands age would get up to but
also they have also taken influence in other videos in the
same genre to create their video which has worked in
their favour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xblMkNKd_ss

The video as a whole was made by using a blue
screen. A blue screen is a special effect which
involves layer two video compositions on top of
each other to create one whole video. The use of
blue screen in this video was effective because it
they didn’t overcomplicate their video by using
different backgrounds, they used a plain black
screen which in the end does work with the genre of
music the group chose. Also another effect the
group has used is a grey pattern around the ‘singer’
as he moves and sings the pattern fits around him
which looks effective.

Editing

The editing is important in this song because of the pace of the song the editing
should match it’s fast tempo. In this video the video has long takes rather than
short takes compared to the Mac Miller video but it of editing techniques of
this video makes the video look like the shots are shorter takes. A edit which is
used a lot in this video is a in out motion. This in out motion has a part where it
is extremely successful and that is 2:00 when the singer and the girl are doing a
grinding movement. The editing does the in out technique which creates a
thrusting movement. Another edit which is used a lot in this video is a close up
on the background dancer then a quick zoom out to the foreground dancer
with the background dancer still in frame this again creates movement in the
video but also it allows the take of the video to be long rather than taking lots
of shots. An example of this is 2.06 – 2.12. Another editing is the credits at the
beginning making the video realistic.

Sound

The sound in this video has two different sound
effects one being the song added on top and the
other at the start the sound of talking. The sound of
the talking crowd at the beginning of the video gives
an atmosphere but also it adds to the
scenario/narrative of the video. After researching into
the song I found out that the start of the song doesn’t
have the talking which the group has added. Because
the sound has been so successfully and worked with
the song it made it believable that the talking was in
the song.

Mise En Scene

The lighting is hard to tell in this video because the colour has
been changed to black and white. I think the black and white
gives the video a new feel to it but also makes the video look
crisp and clean. I think the black and white coloured has been
inspired by other videos from the same genre of music such as
the music video for My Love also by Justin Timberlake. The
costume of this video you can see that everyone in the video is
wearing black or white clothing which suggests that the actors
had a strict clothing to be worn but also that the group knew
they wanted their video to be in black and white. The lead
singers are wearing similar clothing with the smart looking
costume making us aware that they are the main characters in
this music video.

Camera shots
The camera shots used in this music video has a
large variety of shots from close up shots to show
the girls eyes looking seductive as if she is drawing
us in to medium close up of the ‘lead singers’ face
and the dancer in the background to extreme long
shots two show the two boys singing next to each
other. The different camera shots are important
because it’s a way to show us what is happening
and a way to make us understand the video and the
narrative.

Narrative
The narrative of this music video is a club sort of
scene and the two boys playing Justin Timberlake
and Timberland notice a girl, this is very generic for
this type of music genre with the scene at a club
and a girl. I think the video has a whole is trying to
hint that they want to take the girl home with
them. The video isn’t actually visually set in a club
but you get the vibe/feeling that this is the feel for
the video they wanted their audience to have. They
have done this by the use of sound at the start of
the video with the sounds of music and talking in
the background.

Video 3
The last good music video I analyzed was by a group who
did a song by The Pretty Reckless called Zombie. The
group who did this music video got an A grade for their
work. The Pretty Reckless is American rock band with
female lead singer Taylor Momsen. I think what makes
this music video successful was that the group used a
strong narrative but they also used a female actress to
portray the story which is good because the lead singer
of The Pretty Reckless is female and the song is written in
first person so it would make sense to have a female
actress portraying Taylor Momsen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHHL39JmbWs

To make this video the person who made it used
a good quality camera which in the end did pay
off because there were scenes in the video
when using a handheld camera was effective
and the camera didn’t unfocused the shot which
as good but also the scenes where the person
who was filming went to focus the camera to
unfocus is looked good, this is something which
with a low quality camera wouldn’t have been
achieved.

Editing

The editing in this song I think is used to a minimal but it’s been
used in an effective way. For instance a really effective edit the
video has, is when the girl looks in the mirror the reflection in the
mirror is a different video image and it’s different to what the girl
is doing which links to the zombie song because zombies have two
sides to them. Another effect is the disorientated edit which is
used a lot in this music video the disoriented effect gives an insane
sort of look to it. A particularly good use of this is when the room is
dark and there is lights flashing on her body but there’s a red tint
in the light which again refers to the blood.

Sound
In this music video there is no diegetic sounds
it’s just the non diegetic sounds of the music
track being played on top of the clips. The song
does fit in with the timing of the clips such as
the drums will have a solo and the clips will
match the same amount of time. Also another
thing I noticed which in comparison to the other
two videos I have analyzed, this one doesn’t
have an intro of some sort, it goes straight into
the music video.

Mise En Scene

The location for this music video is set both outside and inside. The outside
scenes are both in rural and urban areas such as the beginning of the music
video the girl is seen waking up in a field area and the rest of the urban
areas is along streets with houses or churches near them. The inside scenes
are in a house, parts of the house which are shown mostly are the bathroom
and kitchen, as a whole the locations give a journey like feel to it as she is
always moving/going somewhere. The costume at the start of the music
video was mostly black which links in with the stereotypical rock music
means black but also the actress also has piercings another stereotype for
people who listen to rock music. The costume changes into pajamas which
indicates a time and day within the music video. The lighting in the music
video for the outside shots mostly use natural lighting whereas the lighting
in the house shots are used by artificial lighting from the ceiling light but
when we see her in a dark room with a red tint to the light barely seeing her
I think that the lighting used in that scene was a torch.

Camera Shots
The camera shots used in this music video has a lot of difference shots
all having a different purpose. The opening shots are close ups of the girl
showing us that she is our main character but it also makes us as the
audience question why she has red on her face. When she is walking
through streets the camera switches between mid shot and long shot
which both show her looking around wherever she is looking but also
they are seen by using a handheld camera giving it an edgy/rough look.
When the girl vomits the camera uses fast pace editing of close up to
mid shot this scene is significant to the video because it explains why
she has blood on her face. When she is looking into the mirror over the
shoulder shots are used so we can what she sees. There is continuity
when the girl is swallowing pills to stop her from vomiting blood which
uses close up to mid shot just like when she was vomitting. Close up of
the blood and the pills in the sink to emphasize how many pills she took
to stop her from vomitting. The ending shot closes with a close up of the
girl in the bath after she has been in a blood bath which then fades out
and becomes blurry.

Narrative
I think the narrative for this music video is that the girl is a
zombie by night but by day she isn’t and she doesn’t
know she’s a zombie so when she wakes up the next day
in places she doesn’t know and when she is vomitting up
blood from perhaps her victims from the night before,
that’s when she becomes confused and wonders why she
is vomitting blood. The way this music video has been
shot makes it seem like we are going on the journey with
her to find out why she is vomitting blood. After looking
at the lyrics for the song I think that the lyrics were
unclear so I think that the makers of this music video have
done really well to think of a story line which would help
us understand the song.

Video 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53le1akcazo&fe
ature=plcp

This video is a song by The Saturdays called Had it
with today. The Saturdays are an all girl British pop
group. The Saturdays are young adult women so
the song will reflect what problems they will be
going through at their age. The Saturdays are also a
fashionable girl group so I would expect to see that
in their video.

The narrative of this music video is a girl has been dumped and she is having a
hard time at school, I think. The narrative is very unclear in this music video
because there are scenes which make you question why they have decided to
film that? Which to me suggests that they started filming random things to fill
up time an example of this was pan shots of trees. There was no reason to
have trees but they decided to film these. The acting as well wasn’t great
either as the actress started laughing at one point where a serious scene was
happening but also I think she should have learnt the song more because her
miming wasn’t on time again making it look unprofessional. The mise en scene
of this music video I didn’t think was thought out very well. The locations for
the music video was obvious at a school or outside the school which was really
obvious and it made the video not look very professional. The costume for the
music video wasn’t right especially for the artists who wrote the songs which
are said to be the sexiest British girl band. The lighting was roughly the same
which could have been improved by experimenting with different times of the
day or using artificial lighting. The camera shots were explored but they
weren’t used effectively so I think that needed improving on. The editing was
quite poor and made the video look unprofessional as if the software they
used wasn’t of good quality.

Video 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZjiqKLfsco

This video is a song by a band called Fountains of
Wayne and the song is called ‘Stacy's mom’.
Fountains of Wayne are an American boy band
who’s first hit single was Stacy’s Mom. The video for
this song I would expect to see a girl playing Stacy
and someone playing her mum. The lyrics mostly
refer to her house so I would also expect to see it to
be at a house location but also a boy or boys
admiring Stacy’s mum.

The narrative of this music video is a group of boys who by the look of it
are stalking a girl around who is a similar age as them which makes me
think that the girl they are stalking is Stacy’s mum. The narrative is okay, it’s
not amazing but it does describe the meaning of the song. The mise en
scene of this music video I didn’t think was thought out very well. The
locations for the music video was obvious at a school which looked very
professional. The costume for the music video was good for the ‘band’ but
not good for the person playing Stacy’s mum who is supposed to be a sexy
mum when what the girl playing Stacys mum wasn’t wearing sexy clothes.
The props for the music video was very minimal which didn’t work for
when the band were playing all together because the band didn’t have any
instruments so they were air playing instruments which made the quality
of the video look poor and not thought out. Another thing is there was a
green screen behind them which is designed to do background changes but
it wasn’t being used for that it was used more as a backdrop but also the
camera was so zoomed out that you could see around green screen such as
the books on the side which makes the video look like the group didn’t
thought out their video. The camera shots weren’t explored a lot and were
mostly long shots and mid shots, I think the group should have tried out
more different types of shots. The video as a whole there wasn’t much
editing besides the slow motion during the car washing scene, I think this is
something which the group should have thought about more.

Video 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAj3cY92800

This video is a song by a band called The Offspring and
the song is called ‘Pretty Fly for a White Guy’. The
Offspring are an American boy band who’s have been
around since 1984 but Pretty Fly for a White Guy is their
most popular and well known song. The video for this
song I would expect to see a male playing the white guy
because the song is written from a males point of view. I
would also expect the music video to be funny because
the song isn’t a serious song, it’s quite a jokey song.

The narrative of this music video is a about a boy who is nerdy and trying
to get people to like him. The narrative isn’t the best purely because the
song chosen is quite hard to show the meaning of the song in a way to still
make the song funny but also make the narrative just as funny. The mise en
scene was throughout okay what I did like though was the start when the
guitarist was walking down the corridor playing guitar because I thought
that was really effective. The part with the studio like effect worked
because bands sometimes put videos of them recording in their music
videos.
The costume for the music video wasn’t the best for the ‘band’ because
the music which the group chose was by a punk rock band but the
costumes they wore didn’t fit in with the punk rock genre especially the
lead singer who wore trackies in the video which is something not typical
or realistic of a punk rock band. The outfit for the guy who was the nerd
did look good though. The acting for this video I thought was really poor.
The band scenes the whole band didn’t look confident which made the
video look unprofessional and the part with the nerdy guy going through
the crowd looked really try hard making it look like the video wasn’t a
serious media video. The camera shots used for the music video I don’t
believe were explored loads which I think could have been improved on by
using different and more interesting shots. The editing was very basic and
didn’t experiment with different techniques.

Task 5

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Task 5

More from alewalker

Recently uploaded

Task 5