RESEARCH - Research into existing music video's

CONDUCING RESEARCH INTO EXISTING MUSIC VIDEOS BEFORE THE MAIN TASK.

Before starting this task we have decided to do much research into existing music videos to get ideas and inspiration for our own and to help us choose a song. Our group have made a list of some artists and songs that are of each different genre and have all looked at these music video's. We will then write about what we think of each one and discuss our findings together. I am going to do research into whether music videos from a certain genre contain similar aspects and the differences between music videos from different genres of music. Also I did some research into conventions in music videos. I will researched the narratives in music videos.


First of all I am going to do research into music video's from the genre of 'Rock'.

These are a few shots from the song That Golden Rule by the band Biffy Clyro who's genre of music is heavy rock music. I found that this music video is mainly a performance based video which mainly shows the band performing with their instruments. I also found that lighting and location in this music video are used effectively in determining much of the emotion/feeling. This song is a very fast paced song and the fast editing and range of camera shows compliment this also. There are a lot of different shots and they usually focus on the band as a whole and mainly the front-man.

Here are a few shots from the music video of the song The Pretender by the Foo Fighters. This music video is mainly a performance based video as is the one above. However a little bit of a narrative is added in the form of the riot police throughout the performance. I believe that the location adds to the feeling in this music video. As you can see from these shots there is a wide range of shot choices from extreme close-ups to long shots which change very rapidly and go with the fast-paced beat of the song.

I found during my research of the above songs and other research that in a lot of fast paced and upbeat Rock music video's where the artist's are commonly bands that consist of people that play Drums, Guitars and Bass guitars often have scenes in there music video where they are playing there instruments along to the song. If there is a story-line in the music video's they are usually intertwined with a performance from the band. The editing of these music video's are usually very fast paced and match the song and it's tempo. The band's usually appear in the video playing their own instruments, this could be to show that they are the creators of the music and the main focus.There are usually elements such as location that add to the emotion/passion of the performance.

Target Audience - The target audience for rock videos could be anyone! As they all contain such diverse ideas in each and every video, almost anyone could like them. However, they are probably tailored more towards an older teenage audience, as children don't often like this genre of music and are more into softer pop sounds.

Next I did research into dance music video's:

Here are some shots from the music video from Call On Me by Eric Pridz. This video is basically just a choreographed dance. It has representations of females as being "sexy" due to the dance routine. The dance routine fits with the upbeat song and there are a variety of camera shots used and the editing is very fast and the camera movement is very fast also.

Here are some shots from the music video of the song Raindrops by Sash ft. Stunt. This is a typical dance song and is set in a club which is a typical location this song would be played in. There are shots of a DJ playing and shots of people dancing. However there is a performance element intertwined within this video as there are individual shots of the singer in a different location added in which shows 2 different locations. Also there is a storyline in the video which is the boy meeting the girl. The camera shots are varied and it switches between two different locations here.

During this research and others mainly what I found was a very stereotypical view of women, as a lot of dance music contained women dressed inappropriately dancing. As the music is very upbeat and fast paced, the video's often reflect this by having very fast editing and the lighting it usually very intense (e.g strobe lighting) many dance music video's are set in locations like nightclubs/beaches/parties/dance halls as this reflects where the music is usually played and heard and what sort of audience it attracts, which is usually young adults (18-30 year old) who go out and listen to this music (clubbing etc). There are usually dancers in the video dancing in rhythm to the song, it is usually choreographed, making it look quite professional, and people could learn the dance moves and relate them to the song. Usually there is not a story line to the music video, it's just performance (dancing) and they are usually attractive men and women who dance, who wear bright revealing articles of clothing. They usually do not feature the artist per se as most of the time they mix the track but do not sing on it and aren't the main focus of the video's.

Target Audience - Usually the target audience for Dance Music are older teens as they would be the ones going to clubs and dancing to this sort of music. The videos are often more tailored towards this age as they usually have club scenes in them.

Next I have looked at typical love songs usually in the genre of pop or soft rock:

This is the video for "Decode" by "Paramore" who are a rock band, but this is a softer song of theirs that is above love. The location in this video is very good at creating emotion. The performance being intertwined is a good method. It doesn't really tell much of a story, but it does evoke emotions.

Here are a few shots from the song Warwick Avenue by Duffy. I found this to be very unusual but very effective in portraying the emotion of the song. This music video is just ONE continuous shot and it does not change. I believe this helps with the emotion of the song as it focuses on her face as she sings like song. This is a very simple music video as it is as though she is telling a story. It can be seen that she is portraying a stereotypical view of an "emotional female" as she is crying about a relationship. As this is a gentle slow paced song the fact there there isn't loads of different shots and fast editing adds to the emotion of the song. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhZ5-L9znt8)

Here are some shots from the music video of the song Run by Leona Lewis. This music video is very good at portraying emotions as the location helps with this, by using the forest and also the view of the sky. A variety of shots are used and a lot of close ups of her face to show the emotion. This is also a very simple idea as a music video and it relates to the song as she starts running and the song is called Run. Slow motion is used to capture the movement but in a gentle way. Also fades are used to soften the shots which gives it a graceful feel. There is still a performance element to this song as she is singing along during the video but I believe that the video helps exaggerate the emotion of the lyrics. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0rjfGvwMdE)

Here is the video from the song Break Even by The Script. This video has 2 elements to it as there are 2 locations, one is the performance by the band and the other is a storyline going on between a man and a woman which are both unconnected. I think the use of black&white is very good in showing emotion. The story going on follows the song throughout.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrJE7jj5Yv0)

Here are some shots from the video of Only Time by Enya. I think this video is very powerful in showing emotion as the whole video is in slow motion. I think that the slow motion effect goes very well with gentle songs as it compliments the peacefulness. Also one of the shots is a layered shot of 2 different pictures; a flower and a close-up of a face which i believe is a very beautiful shot. This video is filmed in different locations and i like this idea. At the time is about time this is incorporated in the video in the form of a giant hourglass and the narrative of this video is that we is walking through time showed by the different seasons. Many of the shots fade into eachother instead of just cutting to the next shot to give it a elegant gentle feel. There is also an element of performance in this video as she is singing the lyrics. (view the video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV-R5B9OisA&feature=related)

What I found was that it was a performance that usually evokes emotion or it was a video with a storyline based around the issue in the song e.g love. The editing is not usually as fast paced as rock songs are, as it depicts the emotion of the song and helps towards these emotions. There are usually close-up shots of faces to show emotion as this seems to be the main focus of the videos if they are about subjects like love which slow songs usually are about. If there is a story it usually could focus around one person/ a couple and the singer is usually singing along to the song during or along side the story as it goes on. I also found that the stereotype of the "emotional female" is present in many of these music video's as it shows them upset/emotional or crying like in the Duffy video. However like in most other music video's a variety of shot types are used and different types of editing are used.

Target Audience - The target audience for this sort of music, I feel would be children and teenagers. It could be seen that it's mainly girls that like soft love songs as they relate more towards the song. The videos are often liked by females as usually they contain emotion which females are often stereotypically related to.

Next I looked at music video's from typical pop songs:

This is a few shots from the music video of the song Biology from Girls Aloud. This music video consists of the girls from the band singing the lyrics while dancing to a choreographed routine. The clothes that the girls are wearing (e.g the pink dresses) are stereotypical "girly" clothes. There is no storyline to this music video it is simply a performance.

Here are a few shows from the music video Buttons by the Pussycat Dolls. This is very similar to the above video in the sense that it is a performance video and is of the girls in the band doing a choreographed dance routine. The use of mise-en-scene e.g the chair and the clothing adds to the stereotypical view of females being "sexy".

Here are some shots from the music video of Get Sexy by the Sugababes. The title and lyrics of the song are obviously very relevant to the music video. Like the previous 2 also this is purely a video of the girls from the band singing and dancing to the song which follows conventions of a "sexy" female in revealing outfits etc.There is no real storyline to this video it's a performance mostly. There are many sexual stereotypes of women shown here, especially when she's in the cage which suggests "females as objects".

What I found when looking at these video's and other pop music video's there is usually a stereotypical view of women in many of these pop song music video's portrayed through their actions like dancing and the mise-en-scene such as clothing and also movement. I also found that as these are fast paced pop songs which a fast beat, the editing and camera movement is usually fast and fits with the choreography of the dancers etc. There is also a variety of shots but mainly they are quite long shots as to get shots of the dance routines being performed. These are mostly performance video's and can have elements of a narrative in them throughout but mainly focus of the band/singer.

Target Audience - Target audiences for this type of music are mainly girls as they often idolize the female band members. However, males may appreciate the videos more than females would!

Next I looked at what different narratives the music videos contained.

Story Music Videos

Many music video's incorporate some sort of story line in with the song which is individually different and usually matches the song lyrics and tells the story of the song.

This song Waking Up In Vegas by Katy Perry, is obviously, a song about Las Vegas, and as this story board shows, the music video was shot to look like it was taking place there and follows the song well incorporating the lyrics into the video. This video is very obvious to the song and as well as the singer singing along to the song there is a narrative to the story. For example when she sings "did we get hitched last night?" it goes to a scene where they are getting married. So the music video is very literal to the song.

Another example of a video with a storyline is this song by Taylor Swift called Love Story. In the song lyrics it refers to Romeo and Juliet and as the mise-en-scene such as the costumes etc show the music video was meant to be in this era. This is also very literal as it very obviously shows a love story between two people.

Only Performance

However I also found that music video's don't always have to be stories, they can also just be a straight forward performance video of the band playing the song.

An example of this is Charmer by Kings Of Leon. All this video is, is a performance from the band. To make it more interesting however a range of camera shots/lighting etc are used. But essentially this type of video has no storyline.

I also found that the video can sometimes be no reflection on the song, and can be completely random or even sometimes has a comedic effect.

For example the video of OK Go with Here It Goes Again has a comedic effect to it and it very effective as a music video even though it has no narrative, but has a performance effect to it. The music video has no reflection on the lyrics but this still makes an effective music video due to it's humor and fun-like qualities.

Overall I found that even though some characteristics are present in music video's of the same genre, it is hard to categorize them as they can be absolutely anything, and in a way there are no rules and conventions to a music video! Most music video's however focus around one idea or inspiration (which is usually tailored to fit the pace, lyrics, emotions and genre of the song) and can be filmed in any way at all! For example the song Dog Days by Florence and the Machine was filmed using a simple handheld camera (as below) (view the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZPTFfpO40)

and also the song Just a Day by Feeder ( view the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGrUVHqt2mE) is many different clips of people singing along to the song edited together. However I did find that representations are quite strong and similar to those seen in films/on TV. Especially in dance music/pop video's, especially of females. A lot of these music video contain idea's of women being "sexy" and also if they are love songs they can show a women being "emotional" so I do believe that in ways there are conventions used in music video's to portray certain stereotypes. It can be said that music video's are a very postmodern form of media due to the way that they incorporate many different elements into them. For example the song Fire by Kasabian includes shots that are meant to look like they were filmed on a CCTV camera (shown below)

Music videos that include stories can sometimes be made to look like scene's out of a film etc. I believe music video's to be a very creative form of video as ideas used can be anything.