Category: Music Video

Below is a music video done by a previous student which I have completed a self assessment on:

What went well and why?

The video effects have been chosen well and contribute to the overall feel of the video, for example when the character ‘punches the screen’ a comic speech bubble appears in the place he punched. This was a really effective way to ‘show her that I’m a catch’ as it portrays his strength and power.

There was an effective variety of shot distances, specifically in these two snapshots. The close up showcases his emotions as he got rejected, and the long shot portrays what the performer is doing (running).

What could be improved and how?

This clip specifically was the performer playing the drums during an instrumental section. However since it was in slow motion it wasn’t to the beat. Therefore I think the video would have benefited having the drums to the beat of the song.

Some of the clips of the band was slightly shaky and not done with a tripod. However it may represent the overall feel of the video by not having the camera still. They could resolve this by using a tripod of some sort of equipment to get a steadier camera movement.

Why this music video is my favourite?

This music video is my favourite because they display a clear narrative that the audience can encode, but still including some performance parts. For this video they have chosen to amplify the lyrics to allow the audience to also decode some aspects and bring their own ideologies to the video.

The technical conventions were done well, specifically the lip syncing and framing of shots to capture the emotions or actions of the characters. Following on from this, the style of the video and the way it has been designed/filmed/edited conveyed their star as a hopeless romantic as they are attempting to ‘get their ex back’ and listening to his feelings of what he wanted. They also promote the artist as being ordinary (Hall) because he is showing the audience it’s normal to experience such emotions towards someone.

Focus Forward

By doing this task it has developed my knowledge on the skills to create a music video, in particular editing, design and filming movements/angles. For instance, include a variety of shots (close up, middle, long) and creative editing effects to make it more intriguing for my audience and so they decode the overall theme of the video.

Below is a table I filled out to analyse 3 different music videos of different genres; Pop, R&B, and Indie/Alternative

A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Artists may do this in different ways whether that is to produce a video that illustrates, amplifies, or disjuncture’s the song. Illustration is the term used where the narrative in the video closely echoes the lyrics and music, amplification is the narrative, inspired by the song but adds a new element to complement the themes in the song, and finally disjuncture is when the narrative seems to hold very little relationship to the song and appears to be quite random. Music videos are primarily either a narrative, performance or a mixture of both! Performance videos tend to be exclusively a performance in an unusual place, whereas a narrative lacks performance and often tells a socially important story.

I analysed these music videos by considering the following theorists; Dyer, Barthes, and Hall. Dyer’s central idea was that the star image could be described using two key paradoxes; a star is both ordinary & extraordinary and a star is both present & absent. Hall explained how society interacts and how individuals in society have different interpretations and responses to media texts (encoding & decoding). Barthes suggested that texts are open to many possible interpretations (readings) from many different perspectives.

Below is the Taylor Swift music video:

Below is the Beyonce music video:

Below is the Declan Mckenna music video:

Focus Forward

From watching and analysing these music videos, it will influence the way I film and edit my music video, this is because I am aware of some of the conventions of a music video. As well as this I will keep in mind the theorist Hall because when creating my narrative, the audience decodes my video correctly and receive the right message about it.