Will have chosen three music videos to analyse, we will look at a similar track by Natalie Imbruglia (Torn) and discuss how it gave us ideas. Then we will look at two Natasha Bedingfield songs: Unwritten and the song we have chosen These Words. We will also take screen grabs of what we feel are the most interetsing shots and talk about them.
First Music Video Analysis
Link To The Video:
http://www.muzu.tv/NatalieImbruglia/torn-music-video/16675?country=gb
At the beginning of the video it has a shot of the protagonist walking up to the camera. The lighting is quite bright and the costume is quite casual , the location is very simple and doesn't have a lot of props within it. This has giving us the idea to keep the location quite simple and the costume quite casual but we will make it quite feminine because we think it will look suit our video more with few props and bright lighting. Also we liked the idea of the protagonist walking up to the camera so we are going to try and do something similar with our first shot.
The top shot is a medium shot of the protagonist doing the performance part of the video. During the video it continuously cuts between this performance and the narrative piece of two actors who are being a pretend couple. Mise en scene is very similar to the shot before. After seeing this is gave us the idea to have both a performance and a narrative video. We will most likely use this type of medium shot as well as we believe that it looks quite effective in this video so it will work well for us. These part of the video also gave us the idea to have a performing and a narrative piece but instead of having it all shot on one location will we be using two separate locations.
We found these three shots very interest because in this music video the protagonist is always moving around in the performance piece to give a variation of shots. This gave us the idea to do our performance piece in a similar way but start the shots of in a medium then have our protagonist moving into different shot types.
Technical aspects of the video
In this video the camera is fixed in position and doesn't move or change angle, instead the protagonist moves around and moves to the camera and places herself into the different shots. This is quite interesting because not many music videos do this and it looks effective. There are only four main shot types that are used, close up, medium, long and extreme long shots. the close up is used to help illustrate her emotion of being "torn". The other shots used help to make an effective piece of filming because it's always changing between them so it will change from medium to long or long to extreme long shot, this is interesting because the camera shots are always changing. The cut rate varies through out the song. During the video when it switches from performance to narrative the cut rate is fast, but when it's just focusing on the performance piece the cut rate is slower most likely to illustrate the lyrics to the song because the chorus is quite slow. There are no major effects used so nothing like green scene or lighting effects, it's just filmed with the effects quick simple. The mise en scene is quite interesting for this video, the location of a filming studio which looks like a floor of a house or flat which is quite empty, there are only a few key props which are used in certain places and the key lighting is bright and doesn't change. By doing this is helps to illustrate the song which seems to be about emptiness and relationships not being real. the costume is very casual and look like something you would wear when lazing around the house this seems to illustrate the song because the protagonist seems to have given up and just wants to wear comfy clothes. The lip syncing is constant in this video as the camera is mostly focused on the perfomance and it is only not used when the narrative is going on.
Narrative/Genre aspects
The narrative for the video seems to be actors who are trying to act like a couple but it doesn't seem to work as the director keeps getting them to move or to change things to make them look better for his filming then at the end the set is taken away and the protagonist is just left in an empty room, with her and the fellow actor starring at the camera. The narrative seems to show the protagonist getting frustrated and not being able to do the scene effectively. This is quite an interesting narrative piece as it seems to be a metaphor for the song as the song seems to be about a couple loosing what they had and the protagonist ends up frustrated because nothing seems to be going right and she is "torn". The genre of this music video is pop and it shows the genres features as pop songs are usually about love and relationships and just focus on the singer like this one does and the other pop videos we have looked at have done the same. The performance aspect is different to other pop videos we have looked at because the performance piece takes place in the same place as the narrative and not many other pop videos do that as they usually have two different locations. The balance in this seems near enough equal as the video is always switching between the two, but may be the performance is shown a bit more then the narrative.
Overall aspect
There are many things that make this an effective music video, one would be the use of movement of the protagonist and how she changes into all the different positions. Another aspect of this video would be the mise en scene and even tho it's simple it's extremely effective with what the song is about, i also like how the cut rate changes with the beat of the song, when the songs upbeat the cut rates fast and when the beats slow the cut rate is much slower.
Second Music Video Analysis
Now we look at Natasha Bedingfields song Unwritten this is quite an interesting pop video because the style is very different to the previous video we have looked at but yet it sticks to the conventions of focusing on the performer like the other videos of this genre. We will pick out some of our favourite shots which we think are the most interesting and compare them to the previous video.
Link to song:
http://www.muzu.tv/natashabedingfield/unwritten-music-video/16793?country=gb
The beginning of the video is very different to other music videos we have looked at. In this we have the setting of a library and it cuts to different bits of the library before zooming into the main prop of the fairy tale style storybook, where the protagonist does her performance piece. The lighting is very different to the other music videos as it seems to be natural lighting so it gives of a realistic effect.
From these shots you can see it cuts form the performance piece of a medium shot to the narrative piece of the story book which seems to be climbing up the book shelves. The mise en scene is very interesting in the performance part that key lighting is bright which goes with her costume as it is bright flowing dress which would be worn in summer. The prop of the story book is interesting as it gives a fairy tale style feel to the narrative.
This video is also interesting because the narrative and the performance are so closely linked this is shown by these shots here, as the book is climbing up the mountain the protagonists costume changes to shown that the book is now in a cold place. So the costume has gone form a summer dress to a big fluffy coat and a woolly hat so it helps to illustrate the narrative. The lighting is still natural in the narrative and bright in the performance piece. But the camera has changed in both, the narrative is a low angle long shot of the book climbing and the performance is a medium shot.
Technical aspects of the video
Technical aspects of the video are quite interesting as it changes a lot from the first video we analysed, this video uses a lot of SFX to help make the narrative part of the video. The camera is very different to the first video as well, in this video the camera cut between the still performance that are filled with medium, long and close up shot to the narrative piece that has lots of high and low angles, panning shots and point of view, this is very interesting for a pop video because it's quite different. The cut rate seems to be quite fast in the narrative and slowed down in the performance piece, which seems to be a conventions for this style of pop video as the ones we have looked at all do this. The mise en scene for this video is very interesting for both the performance and narrative piece. In the performing piece the key lighting is bright and the costume is a feminine summer dress, which changes to a big coat and a woolly hat the costumes changes to go with the narrative. SFX are also used in the background of the narrative piece and changes from summer weather to a winter background it does this to link with the narrative piece. In the narrative the lighting is natural to help make the piece look realistic. The location for the narrative is set a library which seems to be filled with lots of books that are quite old, the other location is a type of mountain which the book is climbing up to towards the end and the other location is at the end is on a street with people picking up the pages to the book. Also this video has very little lip syncing which is particular for a 'Pop' music video because it's usually full of the protagonist singing.
Narrative/Genre Aspects
The genre of the music video is 'Pop' and the narrative is very different to all the other videos we have looked at. The narrative of this video is a storybook who seems to be climbing up bookshelves at first which then turns into mountain then at the end the book falls and all it's pages come out. The song seems to be about releasing 'your inhibitions' so not carrying out what people think or being self conscious, we feel that the video illustrates this as the book is living it's life by climbing up the mountain, then at the end when it falls it seems to inspire the people that it falls on as they seem to turn happy. The protagonist in the narrative is different to the one in the performance which is unusual as not many other 'Pop' videos do that. the protagonist in the narrative is the storybook and the protagonist in the performance is Natasha Bedingfield. both pieces are set in different places but they are still closely linked which is interesting as when the book climbs higher up the mountain it gets colder so the costume changes dramatically for the protagonist in the performance piece. The narrative seems to take up most of the video with not a lot on performance this is interesting because usually the performing makes up most of the video.
Overall Aspects
This video is very unique as there are not many other pop videos like it. It uses a lot of SFX and has camera angles that we haven't seen in the other videos we have looked at. the narrative uses a lot of low angle shots to illustrate how far up the book has climb it also uses point of view and some bits of the video seem to be shot in a hand held style to show other books falling down. After watching this video we have decided that it does follow the conventions of a 'Pop' video with the performance piece but is very different when it comes to the narrative. this video is very entertaining and it shows how different Natasha Bedingfields videos can be.
Third Music Video
Now we will look at Natasha Bedingfeilds - These Words and explain how it gave us some more ideas for our music video and why we choose it for our final song.
Link to the video:
http://www.muzu.tv/natashabedingfield/unwritten-music-video/16793?country=gb
The opening shot is good because it uses the beat of the song to pick up the different cups and put them in one another. This gave us the idea to do a jump cut at the start of our music video. The mise en scene in good in this shot because it shows a garden table in the bright lighting with colourful props and colourful costume to make the setting of the video appealing to the audience with it being so bright.
These three shots are interesting because it again uses the beat of the song to move the camera into different shots. It used the line "D-E-F" to move the camera form long to extreme long to medium close up. This has given us some ideas to use these camera movements In a similar way for a different part in our music video.
We like the idea of stop motion that is used within this video and after watching this clip in the video we have decided to incorporate something similar into our own. The lighting is very different to all the other lighting in the video the room is nto as bright as the other locations perhaps it's to show the seriousness of the verse as now the protagonist is relaising that she can not write a good enough song. Also using stop motion could help to illustarte that everythign is piling up around her.
This shot is interesting because it's a tracking shot of the protagonist moving forward so the camera is backing back to capture it. We liked this idea so we will be using this and having a tracking shot at the beginning of our video.We also liked the fact that with a different location a different costume is used but the costumes are still feminine.
We really liked these shots in particular because it shows the different locations that are used. Also for the different locations there are different costumes which is really good because not many 'Pop' videos do this. We liked the look of these costumes and decided that the type of costume we want would be something feminine, but we decided on a dress rather than a top and a skirt.
Technical aspects of the video
This video is full of technical aspects. It's a Natasha Bedingfield video but it's completely different to the one we have just looked at. The camera shots are just the basic close up, medium, long and extreme long shot not like the previous video where there were low angle shots as well. but this video does use a tracking shot like the previous video. There are some SFX for example the use of stop motion it it used in a few different shots throughout the video and helps to make the video look more interesting instead of if the objects have just been placed there. Another good thing about the use of stop motion is that it is used in time with the beat of the song to help the music video to look very interesting. The cut rate is rather fast in the video and seems to cut when the camera angle changes to the beat of the song. The cut rate is also quite fast when it gets to the verse of 'getting of my stage...' and it cuts between the performance piece and the narrative of being on a beach. The mise en scene in this video is quite interesting because it uses such a wide variety of locations, the locations vary from a being at a table to being by a pool, to beign down an ally then being in a room or on a beach. Having all these different locations helps to contribute to the fast cut rate because the video continuously cuts between them all. The costume is also quite different because it's continuously changing just like the location. All the costumes are very feminine which sticks to the usually conventions of a 'pop' music video, feminine but not revealing to keep it appropriate for our target audience. They key lighting for the outside locations is bright but when it gets to the part with the room the lighting is not as bright to give it a type of contrast and alos to help keep the lighting looking natural. Also the video is mostly lip-syncing and doesn’t have many parts where the song is being sung.
Narrative/ Genre Aspects
The narrative isn’t very clear in this music video compared to the others we have looked at. This music video is always cutting between the different locations and the different costumes and within the different locations something different things happen for example when the protagonist is in the room there is a use of stop motion with the books and when the protagonist in the garden she is just sat at a table with cups and plates and things. There seems to be a bit of a narrative towards the end of the video when the protagonist is sat on a roof drawing in a maze and a man follows it until he reaches her. The balance is very much performance with only the shots changing. This which seems to be following the convention of a 'Pop' video because it's mostly performance and similar 'Pop' videos we have looked at have done this. The song is about writing a song and the use of stop motion seems to help illustrate this by using all the different books.
Overall Aspect
This video is good because so much is going on. With each location being completely different to the next so having a music video that is always changing is good because it would keep the target audience interested. I also like the fact that the cut rate is so fast and doesn’t really slow down. Also the song is very catchy and this is one of the reasons why we have picked this for our video. The use of stop motion is good as not many 'Pop' videos use this and it makes the video stand out. This video has gave us many ideas. for our music video which is another reason why we have picked it.
Overall Conclusion
From the videos we have looked at we can conclude that the normal conventions of a 'Pop' video use close ups for emotion, have both performance and a narrative and also the videos don’t contain many people apart from the protagonist. Each of these videos follow the conventions but do the video in their own way to make them unique, for example in 'Torn' the protagonist is always moving round the camera where as 'Unwritten' the protagonist is a story book and is singer is not often seen. Each video has gave us ideas so hopefully we will be able to make a successful music video with our chosen song.
No comments:
Post a Comment