Music Video Research

Choose your song and why have you picked it?

The song that we have picked is Ocean Drive by Duke Dumont. We looked at a few different songs and we were struggling to see how we would visually represent the song and were finding it very tough to connect with the lyrics. We wanted a song that we were able to hear and just know how we wanted the music video to look, this was the case with Ocean Drive. It has a real summer feel to it and for me represents a summer day along the coast. Luckily we are blessed with a beautiful coastline and also a hustling seafront which makes our location perfect for our song. Due to the feel good factor that the song connotes as well it would be perfect to get all of our friends together and just have a good time and shoot it well. It seems that this is the method that Duke Dumont use and it works really well, this is the case for Ocean Drive that's for sure.

Duke Dumont is an English DJ and deep house producer who's real name is Adam Dymnt. He has achieved UK number one success with a few of his songs. He also owns the record label Blase Boys Club which he uses as an alias to produce his own music too. Duke Dumont started his career in 2007 where he was creating remixes to current songs and gained some attention from them. After this success he was then mentored by Switch who are big time producers that have worked for the likes of Beyonce. 2008 was a big year for Duke Dumont as he released his first EP and also DJ's in top London clubs. 2010 was another big year for Duke Dumont as he relased two EP's and had a lot of radio play including on Fearne Cotton's show on Radio One which allowed him to reach a larger audience and one that wouldn't have heard his work before. It seemed that the city life was too much for Duke Dumont as well meaning he moved from London to the Hertfordshire countryside in order to clear his head and allow him to concentrate on original tracks. 2012 onwards has been the most successful period yet for Duke Dumont thanks to his songs reaching global success, them songs include 'Ocean Drive' 'Need U' and 'Won't Look Back'



Costume: The costumes have a contrasting look from start to finish to suit that song. The song starts fairly slow paced and the costumes are dull and grey. Then once the first drop happens and the song becomes more upbeat the costume and location changes to something that suits the song more.

As you can see in the first shot all you can see is the grey jumper before he places the virtual reality headset on and is taken to a different world full of hot girls in bikinis and beautiful beaches. Here we don't get to see the main character himself but the costumes that are around him become brighter and more summery to reflect the song and also the location. Then when he comes back into the 'real world' we can see the full outfit and it does get slightly brighter with his trousers and trainers. It's not to the level of the virtual reality world but by being able to see the whole outfit rather than just his grey jumper as he clutches a mug for warmth it makes us feel that the main character is more upbeat, and that is what Duke Dumont wants the listeners to feel, that the song they have just listened to have made them happier. 

Make up: In this particular video it is clear that the main aim is to try and achieve the visual aesthetics through the scenic views of the coast rather than people. Despite that, the video does include mainly female talent which are not made up too heavily. The video is a very natural one and the need for make-up isn't that necessary. Also, the majority of the people are submerged in water so it would be hard to capture the effect that make-up has in there anyway. Make up doesn't really play a part in the creation of this music video.

Genre: I would say that the genre of this music video is 'narrative' as there is a loose storyline within the video. It's very hard to place this music video into a genre though due to the nature of it being very much something that is supposed to be aesthetically pleasing rather than creating emotion with a plot. Due to the fact that Duke Dumont is a deep house producer there are rarely lyrics in his video, simply a few words that are repeated throughout. This means that it would be very tough to create an interpretative genre as there are no lyrics to interpret into the way the video looks. The only way this can be done is the way the song makes you feel and to some extent this is what Duke Dumont does. By having the girls, sun and amazing beaches it interprets the fast paced track and feel good factor that the song is trying to give off. The narrative would be the main character going from feeling glum and bored to having the time of his life in the sun surrounded by girls. It's a basic narrative but a narrative nonetheless. 

Locations in videos: One of the top liked comments below the video is 'This is what I see as a perfect life'. When Duke Dumont and his team gathered to plan this video I think the brief was simple. Find somewhere that has the largest contrast to a winters day in UK. As previously mentioned when the song becomes more upbeat the location changes to a sunny, happy place. The location is a beach surrounded in beautiful cliffs and stunning houses. The location at the start and end of the video is a urban area of the UK on a dull day. The contrast makes the beach setting look even more beautiful and this is a place that people dream of being. 

Lyric content/tone: As mentioned earlier the lyrical content in Duke Dumont's videos are very limited as he is a Deep House producer. One of the recurring lyrics in this song is 'tell me what I did with my life, I spent it with you' this connotes that the couple involved are in love and creating memories together. You could say that this is the dream for most couples, they want to be in a nice place with no worries and creating good memories. Duke Dumont is trying to tell people that if they listen to his stuff that they are more likely to gain happiness in their life, the one common theme that every single person wants, hence opening up his music to a broader audience.