Research | Year1

Music Video Research

Secondary

Performance Video

- Todrick Hall

Fag

(Pop/2019)

The video for the song Fag by Todrick Hall is just performance as it showcases the artist in the for front throughout the video as he dances around lip syncing very well throughout which is very typical of the pop genre yet still fits very well with the song and the message involved with it. I thought that the cinematography and editing in this video was excellent with the smooth pans and camera tilts to go with the beat of the music as well as close ups of the singer and wide shots of the dancers. I felt it all went together very well and was very effective at keeping an audience engaged and interested in the video. In addition the fact that it was all shot in one take was incredible and I thought looked amazing as the camera steadily followed Todrick as he danced around the set. In addition the lighting used throughout was very bright (high key) and colourful to give of happy positive vibes to coincide with the message of the song. I found the lighting was very effective at engaging the audience and showing the happy vibe throughout and dancey clubey theme. However the video is more focused on the dance and lyrics of the song not the cinematography or editing which is why I found it quite slow paced as there was zero cuts or character changes so although it was engaging it was quite repetitive. The set design I did think was very basic though just a house with lots of props left around everywhere, yet although it was basic and low budget it did get the job done and looked ok but in my music video I would like my set design to be quite a prominent stand out feature. I did find this video very interesting to watch and I did learn lots from it for example I thought the way in which it was all done in one take was amazing yet subtle however I won’t need to do this in my video as I need the cuts to speed the pace up to go with the song I have chosen. To add on I liked the way the camera followed the artist throughout and I felt this gave a very good sense of presence and gave him centre stage throughout as he sang and danced.

- The Cranberries

Zombie

(Rock/1994)

The music video for the song by The Cranberries is a mix between a performance video and narrative as it shows the band playing in an old derelict building and then cutting to different war and devastation themed shots. I found the video very fast paced with lots of stereotypical conventions of a rock music video. It has lots of close ups of the singer performing with close ups of the guitar strings and drums as well, typical of the genre. There are also some mid and wide shots of the whole band as they play the song which I find helps keep the video interesting as you can see the whole band. They have also used dark, dingey, low key lighting which I think is an effective way of showing the destruction the war has caused and also keeping that feeling throughout the whole video which is the theme of the video due to the lyrics of the song. The video also cuts to the beat most of the time between the three different scenes which I really like and I find it helps speed up the pace of the video and keep it engaging and interesting. The cinematography they have used in the video is very subtle but effective they use lots of tracking shots as the camera follows the action on screen which I like and I will use in my video as it makes the video look professional but doesn’t distract to much from the visuals on screen. In addition they have also used colour to evoke certain emotions for example they use black and white in the scenes where war is being shown to make the audience realise how bad it is and feel sad for what is happening but then when the band or singer were shown it would be in colour which may be a way of showing that there is still hope as in one scene the singer was dressed in gold which could mean she is the savour and the war will be ending. I find this very clever and effective at giving of the story line of war mixed with the song’s lyrics that go very well with the visuals. The editing in the video is very clean as well however, due to the time the video was made (1994) there is not a lot to it but it is still good for the time. From this video I have learnt how to effectively mix performance with narrative and I really liked the way this looks on screen and will try to do this in my music video I also like how it was very fast paced and cut to the beat a lot so will try to do this in my video to give it a professional look and keep it fast and engaging like this video.

-Tyla Yaweh

Gemini

(Hip-Hop/Rap/2018)

The video for the song Gemini is a very typical rap music video it shows sports cars, girls, money, drugs and lots of diamonds just like most rap videos. It is mostly a performance video but does have a few other shots involved that could be seen as more narrative based. The cinematography in this video was very good and really went well with the song and theme of the video, with lots of mid shots to show the whole scene, lots of low angle shots to make the rapper seem bigger and more important as well as close ups of the singer the heighten the production value of the video. They also used panning and tracking shots to show what was happening where the artist was performing in an effective way that went with the songs theme. The editing of the video is very smooth and steady with the video not being slow paced but also not to fast either just very much in the middle (mid paced) which I feel is due to the pacing of the song not being too fast or slow either so by editing the video like this it fits with the song. The lighting in the video is very bright and colourful (high key) to showcase all the material things being shown on screen which is a very typical convention of the rap genre and also makes the video seem happier in a way. Furthermore, in the video the artist is being shown as the main character throughout as he does the very stereotypical head bobbing and throwing his arms about as he sings just like every other rap music video, but he does do a very good job of lip syncing the song throughout the video which gives a seamless look to the video which I would really like to transfer to my video as it makes the video look very professional. In addition the costumes that were used are also very typical of a rap music video with gold chains, diamonds and very abstract stand out clothing which does help keep the feeling of wealth throughout this video which the rapper obviosity wants to portray. In conclusion from this video I have learnt about the importance of lip syncing in a music video and how when it is done well it can really help enhance the video and make it look more professional so I will be using this in my music video. It was also a very good video to show how the lyrics of the song can really be used to set the theme and setting of a video which I liked and with the song I have choose will try to achieve this in my music video.

Abstract Video

-Benny Benassi

Satisfaction

(Electronic pop/2007)

The music video for satisfaction is very much out of the ordinary and fits in well with the abstract category of music videos. The video is very much a product of its time with the over sexualising of the women acting in it as they were dressed in very little clothing. However it does in a way juxtapose the stereotypes as it shows these women using all the heavy power tools and equipment which is good but does still have the strange titles that come up telling the audience which each tool does making the video fit the abstract theme. The visuals on screen do seem to go to the beat and the fact that there is no lip syncing or a singer/artist shows that the focus is on the visuals more than the song which seems to be the way with most abstract videos. The cinematography used is very good as well for the time this video was produced and does a good job of keeping the audience engaged and entertained with the video, they use lots of steady camera movements, pans and tracking shots of the dancers to help keep the video moving and exiting to watch. I really like the way they tilt the camera as they get close up to the dancers and will do this in my video as I feel it looks really cool and different. In addition they have also used lots of mid shots, close ups and wide-angle shots all together to help show off the full set and what is happening on scene in the chosen location of what is just a colourful building. I find this is a good way of directing focus to different parts of the video which I will try and do in my video with all the different shot types. Then there is the lighting used which is quite high key and bright with lots of colourful lights used to give of a party/club kind of vibe off which helps go very well with the dance theme of the song as it gives it a disco vibe. I found the editing to be quite fast paced with lots of cuts and shot changes throughout as the beat changed which looked really smooth and professional and with the speed of the edit it helped make you want to dance which is good as this is a dance song. I did find this music video helpful and I learnt from it, for example the way they tilt the camera and make the camera shake with the beat of the song I really liked and will use in my video as I felt it kept the video entertaining and made it look professional. I did not like the way they used the women like objects so won’t be doing this in my video however the way in which it followed a clear theme (even if it’s weird) I did like and I will have this in my video as I want it to be understandable not confusing.

- OK GO

The One Moment

(Pop/2016)

I found this video very abstract and different to any other video out there it was extremely engaging and different in the way it was focused on the visuals not the song. The visuals on screen seemed to fit well with the song with certain explosions going along with the beat of the song. The lighting was very bright to help keep the video positive and the video was still full of colour to help keep it happy and exiting. The way the video was put together was very clever in the way it was using instruments or lip syncing as they did it through picture books when flicked it would create a video type visual of a guitar being played or a singer singing which I thought was a very clever way of doing it and very abstract. The cinematography used was very smooth with lots of pans as what was in the shot changed with lots of zooming in and out to keep the visuals engaging and draw the audience’s attention to certain aspects of the video. They also used lots of mid and wide-angle shots throughout to give a good field of view of the scene and what was happening I found this a very good way of keeping it simple but still very professional. And then the last shot of the singer walking to the camera as the camera (on a tracking dolly) follows him backwards to give a very cinematic professional shot. The editing was pretty mid paced due to the video being in slow motion most of the time and as it is all in one take there isn’t much to the editing however the end video does look really good. The visuals on screen do go very well with the instruments being used with different things being shown when different instruments are being played. I found this video very interesting in the way they had recorded a 4 second clip and then slowed it down to the 3 min long music video which I thought was so clever and almost like artwork. From this video I have learnt that you don’t necessarily need lip syncing to make a good music video and you can just focus on the visuals which when done right is just as good as a lip-syncing video. However I will not being doing this in my video as it would not fit with my film but the way in which they used a tracking dolly shot I will be using in my music video as I really liked the professional look it gave of and I will be sure to do this throughout my video along with the pans to change what was in the shots.

-Becky Hill

Overdrive

(Pop/2014)

The music video for overdrive is extremely creepy and disturbing which shows it is an abstract video however it does still have a narrative to it, following some creepy parents and their daughter. The cinematography in the video is very good at fitting with the theme of the video with lots of tracking shots as the camera zooms in and out of the characters which I thought looked good and fitted with the song and pacing. They also have the camera shake as the beat changes which I really like and I think it looks really cool. Throughout the video I found that the camera was always moving which I thought really helped keep the video engaging and interesting to watch as well as enhancing the production value of the video. As most abstract videos seem, it comes across that the visuals are more important than the song as there is no lip syncing at any point there is no signs of the artist it just follows the storyline of these weird creatures. The lighting that has been used changes throughout the music video depending on the scene for example to begin with it is bright to give of positive energy but then as the parents do their thing it goes more colourful to evoke the emotions of love and intimacy throughout the video it changes between these two different kinds of light but depending on the scene mostly high key and colourful throughout. I thought that the editing of the music video was very fast paced with lots of cuts to the beat to keep the speed of the video up and to keep it interesting to watch. Then there where the tentacle things that would have been CGI’ed in to keep the video creepy. I found although this video was weird it did manage to fit with the song which I thought was very clever and the end result did look good. From this I have learnt about how to use different cues in the song to change the shot or camera angle which I feel looks really smooth and professional. However, I did not like the way there was no lip-syncing I feel there should have been at least a little bit so in my video I will be including this as I think the video for a song should have some links to the music itself.

Narrative Video

-Logic

1-800-273-8255

(Pop/2017)

-Melanie Martinez

Mrs Potato Head

(Pop/2016)

The music video for the song is a lot longer than the actual song this is due to it having lots of narrative elements to it as it follows the story of a young kid as he grows up to a teenager and struggles with the fact he is gay however although the beginning is long I feel it adds lots of context to the story. The song stops at lots of points through the video as more narrative scenes happen this is a good way of only having the audience’s attention on what is happening on screen not the song which really does help to get the audience to understand the storyline and the message that goes with the song throughout the whole video. I found the cinematography of the video to be really good with lots of smooth tracking shots and dolly shots all to help give you some depth into the setting and any hidden messages that go with the theme of the song, I feel with the use of these shots it really does help to give the production value of the video a big boost and enhances the footage to a very high professional level which I like and will try to recreate in my video. I also saw that they used some good close ups of the boy and his father’s reactions to help get their emotions across and give the audience the sad feeling the director wants to. The way this was edited really does help to keep you engaged in the story and song as the video is pretty slow paced throughout due to the story being slow as well however they do still cut to the beat now and again which always helps to keep a video interesting which I like as it looks very professional and well put together. I found that most of the time the lyrics of the song would go alongside with the visuals on screen as they showed the story as the song narrated it in a way which I thought was very clever and a good way of making a music video with such an important message and no lip syncing. The lighting of the video is mostly dark and dingey (low key) to help evoke the negative emotions as all the sad stuff is happening on screen but then at the end as the story line picks up and the happy ending is put in place the lighting gets brighter and more high key to help pick the audiences emotions up and give of the more happy vibe they are now portraying. From my research I found most of the other narrative videos did this as well but in the video it began with a dad holding a baby and although it was a different scenario at the end it had another dad holding a baby which I thought was a clever way of bringing the whole story together and linking it to the start and it helped keep the video engaging to watch. From this video I learnt the importance of a good plot and why you need one to really keep a fully narrative video interesting like this video and I also like the way they had a message they wanted to show throughout and for the narrative elements of my video I will try and experiment with this to add some production value. In addition I really liked the way they used dolly/tracking shots and I will be using these in my video as I think they look really cinematic and professional.

This video seems to follow the same format of most narrative music videos as it begins again with a little opening scene before the song starts which around 1 min and 30 seconds long and it really does help to set the plot of the story and the message involved in the song. Then at the end of the video a similar clip is shown again to end the video which I think is very clever as It links the beginning to the ending very well and loops the storyline as well as keeping the narrative going throughout. The video is about a women who has been manipulated by a horrible man to get all kinds of surgery done even though she looked fine before and the end result is a lot worse than how she looked first so this video is being used to spread a message how all these surgeries won’t always help and that you don’t need them to be beautiful which I really like as I feel this is a good way to use a narrative video to spread a message like this. The editing in this video I found to be pretty mid paced which through my research most narrative videos seem to be as you need it to be not to fast so you can follow the story and understand the message. In addition they used a cool morphing affect to show how her face changed which I did like however I don’t think it would fit in my video so I won’t be able to use it. The lighting began quite bright colourful and happy to evoke the feeling of happiness although as the story unravels it began to get darker and darker to show the sadness the characters are feeling. The darkest point of the video was in the surgery room where lots of low-key lighting was being used to make an audience feel bad for the girl and sad for what she has to go through. The cinematography in the video was pretty good as well with the use of the close ups as the surgery took place to fit with the theme of the song and the lyrics that where being sang as this went along with the visuals on screen as well as giving the audience full attention on how bad the surgery is and what they do to further spread the message of the song. I did find this video to be mixed with an abstract vibe with the use of a rabbit as a surgent which made the video have a more creepy feel to it which I thought was a very good way of keeping the audience engaged and interested as the story line was evolving. Lastly, they used lots off low angle shots when the man was in shot to help make him feel big and powerful as the main character (who is also the artist) is shown as being scared of him through this technique as well. I have learnt from this video how to use low angle shots to make people seem more powerful or on the other hand make people seem scared and I will try and use this in my video as I thought it was a very clever way of engaging the audiences feelings and emotions to what is happening on screen. To add on the way the director also used morphing I thought was a cool way of showing how people change and even though I won’t be using it in my upcoming music video I may use it in a future project later on as I thought it was a good way of engaging the audience and making the video look professional. Lastly, I did not like the way there was no lip syncing in this video as I feel a music video should at least have some otherwise you lose the feeling for the song however the way they themed the video to do with the lyrics did kind of make up for this.

-Fall Out Boy

Dance Dance

(Pop-Rock/2009)

The music video for Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy is mostly a narrative video but does have very cleverly added performance elements to it. The video follows a typical high school love story at a school dance, but the band playing at the venue is fall out boy so it flicks between the narrative and the performance of the band. The video begins with a dialog scene almost like an intro to a film to help give you some context and set the scene which I really like and will try and use this in my video as I feel it is a very clever way of mixing music and film together. I find the video very engaging throughout even though the actual production of it seemed pretty simple with the cinematography consisting of the typical close ups of the band as they play and the wide and mid shots around the venue to show you the scene. They had very little camera movement throughout the video, however one shot I did really like although it might be considered gimmicky was the shot they did where the camera was facing down on the dance floor from up high and I will try and use this in my music video as I think it looked really fun and showed an interesting perspective. The editing of the video was pretty standard the video was cut to the beat like most music videos and it mid paced due to the focus mainly being on the story so if it was too fast paced you wouldn’t be able to follow properly. In addition the lighting throughout the video was pretty low key this is due to the video being set in a school disco so the lighting needed to be pretty dark to fit with a typical disco theme. In the middle of the song the music cut out to give you a more in depth look at the narrative as the boys went into the bathroom to talk, I thought this was a really clever way of keeping the story going alongside this being a music video. Lastly the video had more dialog near the end of the video to wrap up the video and give it an ending to the love story and then finally a kiss that links to a kiss that happened at the beginning so you could kind of see this video as a loop of events which I thought was a clever way of making a narrative. I found this video very helpful and from it I can see how a music video can coincide with a narrative very well. I really like the way they used the top down shot and I’m going to use this in my video as I thought it looked really cool I also liked the way the video didn’t start off with music straight away it begin with some context to the story and I think I will use this in my music video as well to give the audience an understanding of why the things that are happening on screen are happening. However I did not like the way they had very little camera movement throughout and I thought this made the video a little bit basic and uninteresting in a way so in my video I will definitely have the camera move around as often as possible.

Video Production putting theory into practise (Book)

I thought it would be a good idea to look at a book next in particular the book “Video production putting theory into practise.” I looked at this book to see what advise they had regarding different camera equipment and the different ways they can make a shot look when used. They started by talking about the different kinds of tripods: monopods, a basic tripod good for static shots and a fluid head tripod good for moving shots. I have all three of these kinds of tripods and plan to use them all in my video, the fluid head for steady pans and moving shots and the basic tripod for any of the static shots as this will keep my video looking nice and cinematic. They also talked about using a steady cam which I have and would like to learn how to use to its full potential to use in this music video and get nice and smooth steady shots as im not that knowledgeable on it at the minute but I still plan to use it in the production of this music video. They next talked about tracking dolly’s and jibs I don’t have these pieces of equipment but I do wish to purchase them in the future as I feel they give a very cinematic look to your video and make it look very professional but as I don’t own them at the minute I will not be able to include them in this music video. Lastly, they spoke about car mounts and magic arms I will not require these in this video as I don’t plan for any car shots or shots that would require a magic arm so I will not be using them. I also don’t own them so wouldn’t be able to use them if I wanted to anyway. I found looking at this book very useful for my research as it gave me a lot of insight into how many different ways there are to support your camera and the different looks and uses they can be used for from looking at this I know I really would like to use a steady cam in this video as well as a fluid head tripod as I feel they will help keep my footage very smooth and professional looking which is what I am aiming for so my video looks at its best.

How to make a music video for beginners (Adobe website)

I next wanted to look into the basics of making a music video what to do before filming, during filming and after filming so I looked at adobes website and found this article “how to make a music video for beginners.” It began by speaking about the importance of genre in making a music video where you need to try and keep you video coinciding with what genre the song is from unless you are going for an abstract video which I don’t think I will be. I plan on mixing performance and narrative together in my video so I will try and stay true to that throughout. They also talked about the importance of pre-production and in particle the need to make a shot list and storyboard for a music video which I already knew and will be doing this for this project to ensure it runs as smoothly as possible and has a structure and story to it. Next they said about how lighting is one of the most important parts of a music video to give off whatever mood you need to go with the song so I will try and experiment with some different lighting in my video to make my audience feel the speed I want in my video and the intensity of it. They spoke about how when making a music video there will be more cuts than anything else so you will need to shoot as much footage as possible to keep the speed of a music video up so I will take this into account in pre-production to make sure I plan as many shots as I can to achieve a very fast paced music video that cuts to the beat as much as possible. They also said about how if you have one big main shot in your video this will really help you with pacing and being able to build up to it then have the climax of the video and slowly slow down after it I am not sure yet if I will do this in my video but it is a very helpful tip that I will use at some point to help with the pacing of video making. I found reading this article very useful for my research and it has helped me understand how I need to film as much footage as possible for a music video to help keep the pacing up. It also taught me how lighting is also a very key part to set the mood you want in a scene so I will take all this into account when planning the music video and filming it to ensure my video looks as professional as possible and fits with the typical music video look.

6 Tips to making a low budget music video

(Blog)

I next looked at a blog written by Chris Robley on diy musican I did this to see what advise he had when making a music video and overall from reading this I found it very useful. He spoke about how using friends for actors and crew is the best thing to do when you have a low budget so I will defiantly be doing this. He also said plan to shoot as quickly as you can as you don’t want your shoot to run over a few days you want it all done in one day to ensure it is as cost effective as possible and you can use your actors while you have them so I will definitely be trying my hardest to get it all done in one day to make sure no hiccups happen with actors dropping out last minute. He said how one location is your best bet to ensure you are not asking too much of your friends I plan to use a few locations but as they are all close together and on my property this shouldn’t be an issue. He said to have one interesting visual effect and for this I plan to use flamethrowers and fire to give the audience something to make my video exiting as well as going along with the theme of my chosen song “fire” by Kasabian. Next he said to do as much as you can yourself to make sure your vision is put across in your video and so not too much stress is put on your actors I will try and do this in my video so everything is how I want it to be on the filming and editing side which I want to do all on my own. Lastly, Chris said to do as much preparation as you can in pre-production so everything goes as smoothly as possible and everything you need to film is easily transferable to anyone helping you so it goes to plan and runs smoothly. From looking at this blog I felt I have learnt a lot of valuable information to help me with the production of my music video in particular to do as much as I can myself and film all my shots in one day. I will keep this in mind in pre-production and production so I can make sure there are no issues with actors in the filming.

Conclusion

In conclusion to my research I have learnt a lot about all the different genres and video types. To start, performance videos tend to have lots of different close ups of the band and singer I found this a very clever way of keeping the video engaging and entertaining, in addition they also tend to be quite fast paced this is due to them normally only having one location so by adding lots of cuts and camera angle changes it takes away from that it is all set in one building and keeps the video interesting. Quite often I found that performance videos would also mix with narrative videos as this would help keep the video engaging and make it look more professional and as I really liked the way this looked I will be mixing a performance and a narrative video for my music video like I saw in lots of my research and as you can see above. Then there are the abstract videos which I found extremely interesting and different to anything else (which is the idea of them) and the videos themselves tended to be quite mid to fast paced with lots of different locations and lighting types. I also found they did a very good job of keeping the viewer engaged throughout due to them being so strange and different. I found abstract videos never really had any message they wanted to get across it was all just very full on and crazy which I did like however I will not being doing this for my video as I don’t like the way they don’t always use lip syncing as I feel a music video should have some aspects of this. Lastly there is the narrative videos which where also very interesting and quite often where being used to give of some really meaningful messages like the logic video or the Melanie Martinez video. To add on narrative videos also tends to have lots of points where the song stops so the director can get the story across and the video would almost be kind of like a film, I found the points they would show the narrative tended to be at the beginning middle and end kind of like a structure of a story. In addition I did find narrative videos tended to loop in a way as there would be something that happened at the beginning that would also happen at the end which I thought was a very clever way of keeping the video engaging and interesting to watch as narratives where always very slow paced so they need stuff like that to keep you watching. Furthermore in music videos in general I found most of them tended to cut to the beat which I really liked and will be doing in my video as I feel it helps to keep the pacing of the video up while keeping it smooth and well edited. And also the way the videos where made (mainly in the performance videos) really did vary depending on what genre of music was being used for the video and I have decided to go for a mix between an indie/rock/pop genre of a song for my video as I feel this will give me lots of freedom when making the video and what I can do with it. To conclude I would like to quickly talk about my idea so far I will be using the song fire by the artist Kasabian due to the lyrics of the song I would like to have the video themed around fire in addition it will be a mix between narrative and performance and the narrative elements of it will follow a man who is burring all his old memories on a big fire as the camera switches between him and the band who will be set up behind him in the field I am using.