Case study three

Case Study Three

The Script ft Will.i.am - Hall of Fame

In the music video hall of fame by the script they have both narrative and performance included. The genre of this music video is soft rock also known as pop rock. Pop rock is a sub genre of the main genre rock and pop. In this genre they have certain codes and conventions they must stick to in this video i believe they do this very well. In my opinion i believe there is a good balance of both narrative and performance but some people could critic this and say there is too much, and there is too much narrative.

In the scripts music video, the hall of fame it takes 30 seconds to actually get in to the song in some ways this is a good thing because it is setting the scene for the music video but some people could criticize and say that too much narrative takes the attention away from the song. As the first 30 seconds are occurring it does have people talking and we can hear sounds. One sound which grabbed my attention was the sound of the streets you can hear dogs barking and so on this suggests the music video is set in the streets. One of the main conventions for a pop rock music video are it to be set in a natural setting so they look like they are naturally talented i believe this works in this video and i  also believe the audience will enjoy this video because of its narrative and performance side.

Another thing which has got my attention again is the relation to visuals, as the first section of piano starts playing we jump to a close up cut of someone’s hands playing the piano. This is very effective because as the audience is watching the video they are more likely to remember what happened because they have visuals to back it up. Within 20 seconds we increase the shot to a long shot we shows us it was the main singer, Danny o'donoghue playing. But before getting to this cut we jump to the narrative side where we she both people setting off on their day, in this shot we can see the social class difference between them. In the first 45 seconds of the video i believe they have set up the narrative side and starting to relate to the star image and this is key in most videos because they people listening to the song will obliviously have an interest in the artist/ band so showing them in the music video is key in having the audience enjoy the video.

Another thing which i noticed is the fast pace cuts between the narrative and performance side because this is to keep the pace of the song. When you get to the chorus of the song it is a fast paced song so they have included fast cuts to emphasis this. Additionally they could have fast cuts to emphasis how much there is too show you but not enough time.

In relations to lyrics/ thought beats they are quite good because in the song there is a lyrics which says “You can be the best, you can be the king Kong banging on your chest” as Danny and will as signing this we see Danny getting in wills face and banging on his chest, this is to emphasis the lyrics more. I wanted to prove have reliable this was so i asked 8 people when you hear that lyric from the song what do you see they all went round the lines of someone banging on their chest.

Another lyric which relates to the song is “you can throw your hands up” and this shot we see all the members who are able to put their hands up have raised them. To me after hearing the name of the song and seeing that it kind of reminds me of a group of people all fighting for the same cause which is to be in the hall of fame.

As the fast beat occurs we jump to a shot of someone punching a punch bag thing which is going at the same pace of the beats which are actually being played. In we don’t see this we tend to see will.i.am air drumming to the beat which again adds emphasis on the song.

In this video although star image is important i don’t believe it is important as the other two case studies i have looked at because when looking through the entire video we don’t actually her that many clips of the script or will.i.am. I believe the music video should have more shots of the band because it will make the star image more significant and noticeable.

Case study two

Case Study Two

Demi Lovato - Heart Attack 

 

In Demi Lovato’s music video, “heart attack” she doesn’t stick to the main conventions of a pop video is some ways this helps the music video because we care more about the song and not so much on the video. Although this is what I believe, some could critic this and say that because she has not narrative it causes the music video to be vain and no one will really want to watch it because all we see is her. Applying to Goodwin’s theory he would say there should be a balance between narrative and performance but this case study is a bad example of the balance.

Unlike my first case study the music and lyrics begin start away and the first shot we see is a close up of demi’s face this adds the emphasis that she is the star image and she is the only thing that matters in the video. In this music video they use more close up than the other genres I am studying because I creates the image that the artist is the most significant thing in the music video.

At first when listening to the title of the song I believed there would be a love story narrative side but the director has not gone with the stereotypical convections. In this video he has Demi is different rooms with different clothes on just singing and dancing a little.

In relation to lyrics throughout the song she goes “if I ever did that I think I’d have a heart attack” this is a very effect line because as she is singing this they do a medium shot of her putting her hand over her heart to illustrate that she is having a heart attack. Additionally this isn’t just a once off thing, they continue to does this shot every time the lyrics occur. Personally i believe this to be very effective because the audience will understand the music video more. 

Another thing the director uses all the way through is “I think I need a cover up” and throughout the video we jump to a scene where Demi is getting covered paint and this creates the image she is hiding so she doesn’t fall in love and so she doesn’t have a “heart attack”. Every time we jump to this clip we see more of her covered in black paint. The use of the white wall adds a lot of emphasis to the black paint. I believe this is a symbol saying the white is innocence and the black is covering from love and this is bad.

In the other case study the girl who was singing didn’t really wear clothes what wear in fashion she just wore casual clothing. In a pop video this is different because the artists have to look in style because everyone who is listening to the music also is in style so they have to keep up the famous image.  Although I said the performance all the ways doesn’t drag our attention away from the song, I believe the clothing may affect some audiences and make them stray from the song. Additionally in this shot she is wearing a revealing top, which will appeal to the males. Furthermore in this shot we can see artist and the band performing, but the band is blurred out so all the attention is focused on the artist.

Case study one

Case Study One
Gabrielle Aplin - Please don't say you love me

In this case study I will be analyzing Gabrielle Aplin’s music video “please don’t say you love me”. In my personal opinion I believe Gabrielle’s Video is fantastic because I personally prefer when a music video has a big narrative based video. But others would critic and say that the director and singer are just trying to turn it into a short film rather than a music video. Although I do like the story which plays along to the song, I believe that it is too copied. I understand that music video genres must stick by conventions but I think this video has been influenced by her other videos. In similar ways her music video “Panic cord” was filled with the performance side.

At the beginning of this music video they use a massive narrative base by having a boy and a girl driving through a field on a summer’s day. During this scene they director uses close up shots of their reaction to show the chemistry between these two. When the audience is watching this music video after watching the first 25 seconds they will realise it a strongly narrative based. When the audience watch the music video they tend to see what sort of genre it is and does it fulfill its conventions. I believe in this music the director and Gabrielle do fulfill the indie/folk genre conventions.

In this shot we can see that the couple have broken down and we can see the man has come to rescue the girl. This creates an image which makes us feel it is a prince and the princess narrative. When first looking at this music video I could tell it is a love story aimed narrative. As this shot is occurring the soft indie music beginnings. This shot is where the backup story bit ends and performance bit starts to occur.  In this second shot we can see the narrative coming into play, with the girl being all worried as the man is doing the manual labor. I believe this video shows how emotional females are and how masculine men are. Throughout this video they stick by the female being weak and emotional and the man being strong and masculine. As the audience can see it is heavily narrative based still, although why this is happening they still doing cuts to Gabrielle singing in different scenes.

When watching the video I realised that in indie/ folk music videos the artist tends to appear all the way in them. After the music has begun we see two different settings both with Gabrielle Aplin in them. The first one, she is standing in the middle of the field with a red/ orange sun set in the background. In the second one we have Gabrielle Aplin sitting on the blue car. Unlike other genre, in indie/ folk music video’s they have soft cuttings between scenes.

Another thing I noticed when watching this music video to other genres was that it took about 40 seconds to actually get into the singing into the camera. In relation to Goodwin’s theory he says that there should be an equal split between performance and narrative. In his theory he says that some songs fail to show the whole narrative which leaves the audience trying to decide what happens. I believe that this music video has too much performance. As Goodwin says he believes that they do include narrative but tend to turn the music video into a short film with music.

According to Goodwin he says “The star image is another key aspect of the music video”. He believes when the audience watch the music video they look at what the artist is wearing, their personality and their overall appearance.  In this video she plays her role in the performance side but the thing which initially confused me was the girl playing in the narrative side looks a lot like Gabrielle. I believe they have done this to promote Gabrielle and say how pretty she is, this suggests that in indie/ folk videos it is significant to have the artist in the video. In pop it isn't as key to have the artist in both narrative and performance. An example of not using the artist in the video is Ed Sheeran’s “you need me but I don’t need you”.  Although Ed sheeran’s video is different to other pop I believe it is quite hard to find a pop video where the artist plays parts in both selections. Although there isn't a lot of close ups of Gabrielle’s he still appears in the music video is basically every clip. In every clip she is in a different setting and different clothes.

In the relation to lyrics, at the first 45 – 50 seconds the lyrics start with “let’s not give the game away”. After looking at the title of the song I gathered that she is trying to hide that she doesn't know if she loves him. So when it says “let’s not give the game away” the actress playing the person grabs her boyfriend and starts flirting with him so it doesn't look like she is trying to hide the truth. I believe Gabrielle’s videos are very much linked to the lyrics quite closely.

I believe in this music video on the narrative side they are stuck to the story a happy couple, have an argument then by the end they are back together and happy. Throughout the narrative side they stick to all the conventions of Indie/folk. On the first shot shown below, while they are kissing in the sunlight she sings “everything falls into place” This suggests there love is happy and good, there are no troubles.  Later on there is a short bit of music where the tone lowers and they have their argument while this is happening the lyrics say “And fools rush in, And I've been the fool before, This time I'm gonna slow down, 'Cause I think this could be more, The thing I'm looking for “. This suggests the way the lyrics are describing it suggests that she can’t handle the cover and she is being silly she actually loves him and she is sorry for what she has done. In the second screen shot it shows one of the shots when the lyrics are playing.  Finally at the end of the music video she drives him away and they make us and drive away it the sun shines on them as he is kissing her hand, the use of the sun on the hands shows how significant the romance is in this video and how they have saved their love and they are actually in love. 

Pop rock conventions

Pop rock conventions from Beckyscott1234

Goodwin's Theory

Andrew goodwin’s theory on music video’s from Beckyscott1234