During the lesson we analysed 3 music videos of our choice from the Promonews website, which provides updates on the latest music videos and showcases new directing talent. We had to choose from the 7 genres that the music videos were categorised into and the genre I chose was Indie as this is one of the genres I listen to regularly.
The areas we focussed on was the Use of the Camera (shot types, angles, movement, composition, number of cameras/types of camera), Use of Editing (length of shots, transitions, pace, artist's screen time, fade-in/outs?), and Use of Mise-en-Scene (lighting, make up, acting ability, location, props, artists performance).
Mystery Jets - 'Bombay Blue' - Directed by Tobias Ross-Southall
The main premise for this video seems as though it is to show the home town of one of the band members (none of the other band members appear in the video), however he isn't shown performing, instead interacting with the locals and towards the end of the video travelling to an old water temple and jumping in. To build up excitement for the solo and last chorus the pace of the editing picks up significantly with very quick cuts before the man jumps off the roof of the temple in time with the guitar solo. The location is an important part of the video and so is established straight away with very cinematic aerial and extreme long shots taken with a drone around the outskirts of the city showing the vast landscape and even some of the wildlife, along with more above the city later in the song. Additionally the use of Mise-en Scene also helps to make it very clear that the videos is set in some part of India, as most of the people in the video, especially the women, can be seen wearing traditional Indian clothing and make-up.
One of the most common features of this video, which is used a lot in music videos for songs in the genre of Rock or Indie, that I have noticed from my own research, is editing the video so it is in slow motion, either all the way through like the video above (after the first establishing shot, the drums in the song start at the same time the video cuts to the next long shot which is when the rest of the music video is slowed), or in the climax of the song, which is usually a solo, most commonly by a guitar.
Mount Moriah - 'Precita' - Directed by Fidel Rui-Healy
This music video follows two people running away from a cop after they've gotten into trouble/stolen something, which is clear from the use of Mise-en-Scene, for example, when the male character is first introduced, the camera is zoomed into his stomach (to mimic a close up shot) where it looks as though he has been stabbed or shot, the camera then zooms out into a mid-shot framing the man's wound and his facial expression showing pain whilst the camera, in addition to him wearing a pair of brightly coloured tights as a balaclava which burglars are known to wear. He is later joined by the female character carrying a bag with a red smoke bomb who appears to be his accomplice as she tries to help him up when he trips, which can be seen when the camera is zoomed out as a long shot to show this. additionally, because for this video only one camera was used and was a one-shot style video, the actors are being constantly focussed on despite them moving around a lot, through crabbing and tracking movements, it is emphasised to the audience that the character are under pressure to get away.
In this video, just like the Misery Jets video for Bombay 'Blues', the video footage has been edited during post-production into slow motion and is used throughout. Also, like all of the music videos I have chosen, this one has the band name and title of the song credited at the start of the video which seems to be very common among quite recent music videos of any genre.
Also, another thing this music video has in common with nearly all music videos is that it consists of a lot of close ups. This is because they help emphasise the emotions of characters in the video and also props that are relevant in the narration of the song and lyrics.
The 1975 - 'A Change Of Heart' - Directed by Tim Mattia
This song is about someone's girlfriend telling him her feelings and problems with the relationship to him. Mise-En-Scene plays ,a big part in the production of this video; the girlfriend has the make up of a mime artists which actually correlates to the song itself as she is expressing her feelings in the same way that mime artists use exaggerated movements and facial expressions to express emotions to an audience; the boyfriend is compared to a clown (because he is letting himself go and she cant take him seriously) in the video as he is wearing the appropriate make up, is dressed in clown like shoes, and this is also shown through his actions. For example, in one section of the video there are a few over the shoulder shots allowing the audience to see their facial expressions, both of them are together looking happy until he makes a flower shoot water at her face leaving her upset and angry with him. Other props in the video include a bowler hat, an albino rabbit (the type that would come out of a magicians hat), popcorn, toy gun, umbrella and a raincloud, all of which highlight the theme. To continue with this theme of the video it is set at carnival an they are surrounded by lots of rides and fair ground stalls in the two shots and long shot that we see of them dancing together.
This video has a lot of similarities with other videos, the first being that only the main singer of the band/group has the most screen time - or in this case the only screen time - in a music video. This is common amongst most music videos for songs which were by multiple artists whether is modern groups/bands like The 1975 and One direction or older ones such as Guns n' Roses and Queen. The reason this is common is because the audience and fans are more likely to have a connection with the singer as they are the frontmen of the band in addition to the fact that the band's image, what they are all about and represent is promoted through the singer's style, fashion, attitude etc.
Another thing that this music video shares with others is that it is recognisable to the band's style of videos. A lot of The 1975 music videos are either black and white or filmed at night with dark lighting, and all of the band members usually wear black jeans, leather jackets, and dark clothes. Other artists such as Sia have very recognisable videos too, for example, in all of her videos she is never features in them or if she doe she has very little screen time, instead the music videos will focus on contemporary dancers performing choreographed routines that narrate the song.
Additionally, this music video like many other contains lots of movement as the camera usually follows the singer, which is done by lots of panning, tracking and arcing (horizontally) around him.
Through this research task I have learnt a lot about the different styles, as well as the different conventions of music videos and how to convey the themes, tone, emotions of characters, and narrative of a song through the use of the camera, editing and Mise-en-Scene. All this information will help me during pre-production of my own music video when planning and brainstorming ideas.
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