Analysing music video's outside our genre generally

I have researched many different music videos so that I could get ideas about what to do in my music video and what to include. I have watched different ways that music videos have been put together to be unique in their own very way, as our group have decided to put many different camera angles and shot sizes to make our music video match its narrative. In our music video we want to represent the emotions of a character that is very upset about his love life as our group has decided to include flashbacks to show what has happened in the past so symbolise his feelings and emotions, therefore I have tried to look for such video’s which are about feelings and emotions so that I could get an idea on how the camera has been used including the location and close ups.

1^st Case Study = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JszzxCCd6tc&feature=related

The first music video that I have watched is called “Ramzi - Love is blind” I have found this music video on YouTube as around 4,047,731 have watched and commented on this. In my opinion I believe that this music video is really successful as there are my different media techniques which have been used within this. The most important part of this music video that has inspired me is the fact that at the beginning of this music video the boy who is singing the song is standing in front of a dark background which reveals how he is feeling inside however the colour black also connotes being sad and upset which is what the message is trying to show. Whereas by watching this music video I have been inspired to make the boy also have a dark black background where he sings in front of it. In this music video’s flashbacks are used, ones that we thought we would also include and by watching an example we definitely would want to include flashbacks in our music video. Different media techniques have also been applied within this music video such as eye angle, close ups, long shot, over the shoulder shot which makes their music video very unconventional. We also want our music video to be unique and unconventional. The total length this music video is actually just under 4 minutes and I believe that within this time to show a narrative is quite difficult as people who have made this music video have been successful in making this video match the song and the narrative at the same time. For us to do this type of thing we will need to work hard and look at every lyric of this line to match what the mise-en-scene would be. The primary target audience for this music video would mainly be teenagers as match the genre of this music video which is love. Also the primary audience which is young people and teenagers would also be able to tell that they are the target as the music type would interest them, its estimated that around 89% of teenagers are mostly interested in this type of music as just by looking at the people who have watched this clip alone are mostly teenagers. On the other hand the actors within this music video are teenagers themselves which also represents the primary target audience that they would automatically see who this is targeting. Whereas there is no age limit for this music video, everyone can watch this as the secondary target audience for this music video would actually be adults which are 30+. They would also be interested in this music video, even though they might not be the first target some elderly might like this type of music video, this has made us think that even though our primary target audience might be young people we could also get feedback from the secondary target audience which would be elders. Most of the time I have noticed that music video’s get more popular with celebrity endorsement. However in this case there was no celebrity in this music video but it still achieved a high success, which shows me and my group that it doesn’t matter who we chose for the music video, it’s just about how well they fit in and how well they play their roles. There are many different special effects that have been used in this music video such as fade when the main character is singing the song. This make the song look professional and it catches the attention of the audience’s eye. Also when the flashback is being shown the black and white effect has been used to symbolise the past, our group have also thought of using such black and white effects as we are still deciding. The costume that have been used are just normal clothes worn in a day to day routine which I believe reflects reality and gives it that realistic effect that it’s based on a true story.

Throughout this music video there is no moral or message, it is just revealing how the boy feels in this scenario and what his friend who has left him, it’s clear and has a strong simple narrative for the audience to see which is what also want to aim to have. Mostly close-ups have been shown to represent the expression and emotions, the representation a media text matters the most depending on what the text is and this music video the represented different features of a music video really well by showing a clear narrative which matches the song, camera angles, shot sizes which location and costume. It all combines together in a good way which is why this music video has inspired me a lot.

2^nd Case Study = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-whp15J2nM

The second music video that I watched was called ‘Arash, Broken angel’ this music video also revolves around our main theme and genre which is about love and emotion. I really love this music video as the mise-en scene is really very good as it has a very unique video put with the song. It starts off with the girl sitting on a mountain and a lot of images falling on the ground. The unique thing about this part is that when the girl is lying down on the ground the sunlight reflects down and gives the grass a golden look which really contrasts with the white dress that she is wearing holding the white images. I think that this look is really good which is why this music video is really unconventional. Also the song that is being sung at that time is non-diegetic as it’s a voice over of the girl and what is going on in her mind. There is a close of from a bird’s eye view angle which is really slow that zooms into her showing her looking at the pictures. This technique is simple but gives a strong effect. The main thing that has inspired me is these simple techniques that have been used as our group has also decided to include these effects. However magical effects have also been used in this music video such as the boy disappearing and the girl coming into the scene. These special effects are the main reason why this video has been popular, unique and unconventional.

During the beginning the use of costumes has been really eye catching giving it a strong effect however as the narrative carries on the clothes worn after that are seem to be normal clothes on a day to day routine. This represents that the producer of this music video is trying to show flashbacks so that the audience could just automatically realise that the scene is representing something that has happened in the past. We will also have something in which the audience will know that we are showing flashbacks.

There are various different locations within this music video such as the park, house, the river and the road. I think that these locations are good as they match with the story that is being shown. However in this music video there is one thing that I actually like, which is the part when the boy is singing and there is some animation at the back, it looks as if the boy is dreaming and is in his own little world which also is something very different and unique.

The length of this music video is 3 minutes 23 seconds, so round about 3-4 minutes. I have noticed that the majority of music videos are actually just 3-4 minutes long and I think that if a music video goes over 4 minutes to 5 or 6 then the music video would seem too long and may lose audience’s attention however our music video will also be between 3-4 minutes long.

The celebrity endorsement here in this music video is a little different as this person ‘Arash’ is also famous for other songs and he has been successful in those songs aswel as this one. The celebrity is becoming quite popular as YouTube shows a link under the music video of Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/arashlabaf, this represents that people are getting attracted to him and his songs as they comment and like his songs on his Facebook. This is a way to get your audience attracted to your song and to let them know about any new songs that he will be producing. In our case we are only making one music video which we will be actually posting on YouTube for people to watch, however if did create more songs then we would have made a website, page or some sort of place where we could be able to hear feedback and tell others about our forthcoming song. 

There are many scenes which cut away and joined onto another scene which also makes this music video look more attractive, the way it cuts interests the audience as it feels as if something will happen. The way the narrative is shown is really very unique. The narrative is very simple and unconventional. The main primary target audience for this music video would again be young people and teenagers as they are the ones who are mostly interested in this type of music and theme. The way the animations are shown would just automatically make the target audience know who they are as these types of special effects are something that young people find something and get interested in. on the other hand the secondary target audience would be adults who would also find this type of music interesting when comparing it to the narrative. 

Something that is really different about this music video is that this song involves two different languages mixed together. English and Arabic, these two languages are from total different places from the world. People who don’t know how to speak Arabic would still be interested in this song because the way the actors have acted what is being said no one would have a problem to understand on what is being said. This is what I think makes a music video achieve the highest points, making the target audience understand something by the mise-en- scene even though they don’t know what is being said. 

Overall I think that what has inspired me the most about this music video is the mise-en-scene and the way non-diegetic and diegetic sound has been presented.  First of all I like the opening clip the way they have decided to show the opening of this music video the contrast, and the second thing that inspired me was about the voice over and the way the girl was sleeping and there was the voice of the man which showed that she was dreaming about him.

3^rd Case study = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9fToekkUJg

Out of all three music videos that have watched I loved this music video, the way the different colours have made this music video look more attractive makes it very unique. The theme of this music video is very different to the other two. This music video is about love but it’s not emotional and depressing as them. This music video shows a boy and how he is eager to find a girl in the city. The music video shows him taking images of different girls which match the song lyrics of how he is looking for a girl for himself. I would say the primary target audience is teenagers as throughout this whole music video all you could see are young people and teenagers, just by looking at this teenagers would automatically assume that they are targeted for this music video. The secondary target audience would be people who are older, adults who sometimes prefer to listen to this sort of music such as people between the ages of 30-40.

The transitions effects which are used from each scene to another have a good effect on the whole thing. When the music is slow the camera slowly goes pass Iyaz’s and his friends face where the transitions from each scene to another is slow and has a fade effect, however when the music speeds with the beat the transitions from each scene cuts off really fast which shows that even the transitions have a their own tune which makes it look really good. By noticing this I have actually realised that even the way one scene follows to the next scene it really matters whether you decide to use an effect or not such as cut, fade dissolve etc.

Sometimes music videos have theme colours such as only dark colours used in one video or just normal day to day colours; this is mainly to match the theme and the mood of the music video. In this music video the theme is quite lively as bright colours have been used. The director of this video has also located this where there is strong sunlight and that I could really show the different colours that all the different girls are wearing. Each girl is wearing a different colour and the way it has been represented and shown within the video is very unconventional. They represent the colours of the ‘rainbow’ which also link to what their lyrics are actually about. They are trying to convey that every girl has a different uniqueness and they have tried to show this in a very different way which in my opinion makes it really eye catching and attractive.

There are many different features which are used to make a music video successful and one of the features is the camera angles and the shot types used. The camera angles used in this music video and used in a way to start of the music video. The opening scene starts off with a girls shoe’s with a low camera angle, Pan is a camera angle which is actually used here where the camera is actually at a low level and then moves as the girl is walking. The camera angle tracks the girl at first but then as she walks off the boy in the background come into the scene and begins to sing. The way the music video starts off is very different and something which not many different video’s start off with.

At first the song that is being sung is non-diegetic however when the girl walks of the boy is sitting in the background where the non-diegetic voiceover becomes diegetic as he is shown sitting there and singing it.

The words in this music video are repeated constantly and every time he says ‘Pretty girls’ there is a different girl in the mise-en-scene which creates a kind of pattern in the music video which is something very unconventional. 

There is only one location in this music video which is an open place, probably on a park side. There is a board at the back where the girls stand, the board has different colours and graffiti all over it which shows that it’s a place where they could relax it also connotes the target audience as I have mentioned earlier. This shows that to make a successful music video we don’t have to have different locations, we could make different experiments with the different features of a good music video to make ours unconventional and something which will attract our target audience too.