In concert and 'as live' footage
In concert or as live footage does what is says on the tin and is where you can see the band or artist performing live to an audience or the public.
For this example I have used Vampire Weekend's song, Cousins. Here you can see them performing the song in a street and the members of the public are clearly visible walking past. It's also clear that the members of the public are curious to see what is going on as there is a lot of turning heads which proves this has been recorded while the rest of the world carries on their normal life. This is more 'as live' than in a concert but the outdoor nature makes this one stand out from the rest.
Narrative and interpretive
Narrative and interpretive is the way the video captures the audience by telling a story, that may be in line with the lyrics or completely off on a tangent. Sometimes these narratives help extend the understanding of the lyrics and gives the viewer more information on what the lyrics could be about. It's also not rare for the narrative to be completely different to the song.
The video I have used is from one of Biggie Smalls' most famous songs, Juicy. In this music video we see Biggie's journey from the bottom to the top. We know this because of the shots from within a prison cell and the contrasting shots where he is sipping on champagne in a large house dressed in nice clothes. Biggie has used the narrative style as he wanted his audience to have a visual representation of what his journey was like as well as the audio that the song portrays.
Surrealist/absurdist
Surreal or absurd music videos are surprising and unconventional creating an effect of curiosity as to how the artist thought about making that kind of video.
Usually surrealist videos have no relation to the lyrics whatsoever but occasionally they do. I have chosen Rihanna's song Disturbia as a good example of a surreal video. In this video you see Rihanna with no pupils in her eyes and it looks like she is almost having some kind of fit. The sharp body movements and harsh camera movements creates a really uneasy watch and a video that is almost uncomfortable to consume. Rihanna has always been an artist to push the boundaries and her music videos have always created controversy - Distrubia more than any. Despite being edgy and surreal the connection that felt by the viewer to continue watching because you just don't know what is around the corner is very powerful.
Impressionist
Impressionist music videos stem from the 19th century art movement of impressionism. They concentrate more on the emotional tone of the music rather than the literal meaning of the lyrics. This usually means that the videos have a more artistic look as it concentrates on feelings and emotions. A common theme of impressionist videos are soft lighting and soft edges.
An example I have found of an impressionist video is Adele's song Rolling In The Deep. The song itself is a passionate one oozing with pure emotion and the video reflects the feelings in this video. The soft colours and soft edges create the impressionist look that I was talking about earlier. The soft focus on all of the subjects create a flowing movement. There is no harsh lighting in the video either which helps and doesn't create the clinical look or anything too happy and cheery that is sometimes seen in music videos.
Intertextual: Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody and Homage
Music videos are sometimes made with references to other media sources within them. For example they may sometimes use actual footage from films within them which would be an example of synergy. A pastiche would be a light hearted imitation of another artists video but wouldn't take the mick, instead paying respect to that particular artist. A parody is a joke video that pokes fun at the original subject matter and is there to make people laugh and finally a homage is where respect is paid through the use of a music video, almost a thank you.
An example of a homage is Dance by Nas. This song was released in 2002 but the music video is very basic. The song concentrates on the struggle he has faced since his mum lost her battle with cancer and paying respect to her. This video includes pictures of his mum and also very old video. Due to the old pictures of hos mum the video is very basic and grainy but that adds to the emotional, respectful nature of the song.
A good example of a synergistic music video that is also a homage is Wiz Khalifa's see you again which was the soundtrack to Fast And Furious 7 which pays respect to Paul Walker. There are clips used from the films on this music video which proves the synergy and the homage to Walker is also visable.
The Midnight Beast were very popular back in the last 2000's and this was one of their biggest tunes. It's a rip off of Kesha's song Tik Tok but they passed it off as their own song and became a huge success. The lyrics are their own and this kicked off their own career from which they produced more songs.
Man Like Me's - You'll always find me in the kitchen is a good example of a pastiche as it is a light hearted imitation of how people used to act and dress in the 1980's. This is done in a subtle way and it suits the song really well but the light hearted jokes are evident within the video.
Animation
This does what it says on the tin, it's animation within a music video. This could mean that part of the video is animated or the whole video. It can either be stop motion or digital animation as well.
Avenged Sevenfold's, Little Piece Of Heaven uses digital animation throughout the whole music video. Animation is a good way to achieve visual effects that wouldn't usually be able to be achieved in real life, for example having people flying and skeleton's playing the violin is simply not achievable in other methods bt has been shown via animation in this music video.
Cutting To Beat
One of the techniques used in creating a visually pleasing music video is cutting the shots you take and matching them to the rhythm of the song.This will, in turn, establish a rhythm to your edits as well. The pace of a song can appear to be increased by using lots of cuts to increase the pace of the video.
As you can see in the above video the cutting to beat editing technique is clearly visable. The song is a fairly mellow one and slow paces and the use of the cutting to beat allows the song to move on in a gradual way and the visuals supports this so well. It's a sad song about death as well and the use of the fades in between the cuts to beat also makes it a more gradual and calming transition which suits the style of the song.
Lip Synch
If the music video includes elements of live performance, the artist would need to mime the lyrics and music to the track so that when the audio was overlaid, they would sync.
The example above is created entirely through having various celebrities, talent and members of the public lip-syncing/miming the lyrics of the song from various, unrelated locations. This works really well as the endorsements from the celebrities is very powerful and by having them lip syncing the song it shows that they care about it and have spent time and effort to learn the words.
Post-production effects
As with any video, visual effects can be a good way of attracting the audience. Aesthetically pleasing effects will please the audience and technically impressive effects may also attract another audience who may be interested in the complexity of what you have done. The effects used should be appropriate to the genre of the song.
This song falls into the Death Metal sub-genre which justifies the videos use of dark, torturous effects to make certain subjects appear evil or possessed such as the lead singers glowing red eyes. These effects add to the video and give the song more meaning and without these post production editing effects it wouldn't be possible, hence this is where the value lies for these effects - when it can't be created in shot but the end goal will add value.
Split Screen
Split screen is a term that all of us are aware of but it's very rarely used in music videos. However some music videos include this technique to create a really nice effect that engages the viewer. In this video from Michael Jackson the split screen method is used really well to capture the dancing scenes and also the most important parts of the video where the shot needs to be in the viewers mind for more than a frame. In these sections they can freeze what is happening and use the split screen method.
Chroma Key
Chroma key is when the footage you are using is shot in front of a greenscreen. This means that the block colour behind can be removed and replaced with a second image behind the subject. This can be used to accomplish an effect that would have been otherwise impossible such as flying in the sky.
It may also be due to budgetary constraints that make going to some locations too expensive; instead, chroma key can be used in the situation.
An example of chroma key use is: Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams – The technique is used here to place the band members amongst a chaotic background. The decision to use chroma key could have been a health and safety concern or due to any aforementioned budgetary concerns.
Camera Movements
The way that the camera moves has a great impact on the aesthetics and effectiveness of a music video. They can be used to create excitement and add to the tone of the video.
An example of where the camera is moved to good effect is: Survivor – Eye of the Tiger – This follows the band on their walk through the streets from face on. They walk with a powerful stride which the camera matches, keeping them level and creating pace for the music video accentuated by the cutting to beat editing used with the strong bass line and clearly structured versing.
Camera Angles And Shot Types
The way a camera is placed will have a huge impact on the meaning and tone of a music video. By having a variety of different shot lengths and angles, you can create a music video that is more visually interesting and focuses on different elements of the action to communicate different messages to the audience.
In Depeche Mode's Blasphemous Rumours video sometimes the camera is placed so as to partially or totally conceal certain on-screen subjects. They are also used to give the impression of separation as well as low angles and lighting being manipulated to defy some of these on-screen subjects. Not only does the different camera angles creating meaning and gives the audience some insight into the song but it also makes the video a lot more entertaining and engaging.
Mise-en-scene
Mise en-scene is evident in all music videos, it's the way a music video is constructed and how everything looks on screen. Sometimes though this is more evident in certain videos. With the lighting, objects and settings it can all come together to create the mood of the video and reinforce some specific emotions.
The first video I have selected is Jeremy Loops - Down South. This is a song all about following a journey and that taking a risk and stepping out of a comfort zone is often the best thing to do. This video is here to inspire and also has a fast beat - it's an upbeat song. This is reflected in the mise-en-scene. The lighting is bright but also soft to create a happy feeling and the setting is also green, has blue skies and filled with happy people to reinforce this emotion.
The second video I have chosen is the recent song from Zayn Malik. I have picked this one out of the millions of music videos because of the dramatic use of mise-en-scene to reinforce the emotions that are sung about. This is all about passion and love and the vivid colours and contrasting lighting used creates this effect and connects the audio and the visuals so well.
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