Analysing Music Videos For My Genre

I've analysed three different music videos by several artists in the same music genre as I want to use for my music video. The reason I found it useful to research and analyse a range of music videos is because it’s given me a clear insight as to the type of mood I want to create for my audience. When analysing the music videos I considered about how the lyrics relate to the song and also what kind of actions taking place in the video. I have indentified whether the video is a performance or has a narrative. I looked at the different camera shots in the video and have analysed the effect this has on the audience. By analysing different music videos helped me to understand the genre of the music and also what a professional music video looks like in order to influence the planning of own video. I have print screened camera shots and saved the images I then analysed the images in detail and spoke about their effects.

Florence and The Machine-Dog Days Are Over

The lighting throughout the whole video is neutral as it’s being set in a natural setting and the sunlight in a significance to the time frame it is being set in. The artist is being shown acting in the video but we don’t tend to see her singing. The video is more of the artist performing to the music. The main narrative of the story is the idea that the story is rotational and is told with the beginning and ending linking together. The idea is that the artist has been kidnapped and blindfolded to be transported into another land full of clowns.

The first camera shot is an establishing shot of the surroundings and then a mid shot of just the characters feet to show that the camera is what’s taking the character around the space.

This long shot of the character allows for us to see her whole body and see that she’s laying down so they can indentify body language. This starting position of the character is also repeated at the end to show the breaking into and rounding off of the piece

This image is an establishing shot and allows for the audience to get a feel for the place it is set, it also allows for the action to be moving forward and the camera following the action so it makes sense to the audience.

The artist never looks directly at the camera throughout the video it’s mostly acting out the different scenes in order to tell the story. The camera follows the artist around and creates a blurred image to give a sense of urgency and panic so the audience can grasp a feel of the characters emotions. There are slowly camera shots of the clown characters to show that there relaxed about being in that atmosphere and when the camera changes to the artist a lot of fast pace image are made to show the contrast in emotions.

The close ups of the clown characters in this still image demonstrates they have power over the artist and are quite intimidating. They all have pieces of wood which they bang together to the beat of the music which is a good motif and ties in nicely to the video.

This extreme close up of the characters face appears frantic and worried as the camera slowly circles different angles of her face. Later on in the video the artist slowly falls to the ground which is when the camera goes blurred and show this fast pace movement then the clown characters appear over the artist which is interesting as we see this happen in all different perspectives.

Kate Nash-Foundations Video

The lighting at the beginning is neutral as its set in a natural setting. This shot is slightly to the left but close up towards the camera so the audience can see the objects in the background but still know that the objects are the main focus. There is a motif of several objects animated at the beginning of the video this is also repeated but reversed at the end of the video to show there is a beginning middle and end to the story.

Here is a pan/establishing shot of a few objects which tie into the video and are used at the beginning and end. This gives the audience a sense of place and it’s immediately recognisable that the video is set at a women’s house.

A lot of the objects used, create a sense of irony which makes the video work quite effectively as minor hints are given to the audience. Here a neat line of women’s shoes are in a perfect line and a ball is dropped straight through and the pile is destroyed. The audience can make this link with the lyrics and we immediately see that the character in the video is trying to make this connection with her feelings.

This establishing shot allows for the audience to be introduced to the characters involved in the video and also gives a sense of place. Again the lighting is neutral but quite dull and bland which also links back to the moral of the story.

The mid shot of the artist allows for her to have control and dominance in this part of the video as she become the character and narrator in the video. We are immediately aware that she has power and control in the video. Objects in the background have also been blurred so the main focus is on the artist/character the reason the artist has been chosen to be in her own video is to get herself recognised.

The natural light breaking through here makes the image almost seem surreal and has a magical element towards it.
The extreme close up allows for the audience to directly see the main focus and give away the idea of breaking a bond.

After establishing that the artist has the main power in this scene, the audience can only see a blurred vision of the back on the mans head this is so the audience can see who she is aiming her lyrics at. Again objects in the background have been slightly blurred out so we are drawn directly to the main focus.

The camera is then reversed so the audience is able to see the man in the video. Again the camera has been angled so it’s on a diagonal and we can still see a section of blurred head to the right, this also shows the individuality between the two.

Another long on looking shot of the couples legs and bodies, to impose their distance and directly there body language. The main movement here is aimed at their feet so this is why there’s only the bottom half of their bodies in the image.

A long shot is used here this allows for the audience to establish the scene and also gives the artist domineering. It also shows independence. The lighting is again neutral to make the scene look realistic and natural.

A lot of difference camera angle’s are used here the main focus is on the fridge as the artist is being pushed towards the right. However the artist is diagonally looking out so this adds emphasis again on the object being used in the image. This staging also makes the audience connect to the character as she’s directly looking just passed the camera to imply she’s talking to both the audience and the guy in the video.

This pan shot of the two characters allows for the audience to see the image from a high and helps identify the body language between the two characters which is the theme throughout the video.