Music Video Evaluation

Our coursework brief was to create a music video for a song lasting three to four minutes long including conventions of a music video. Examples of music video conventions would be close-ups of our artist and it’s mainly a concept based video with a performance. Before we started creating our music video we researched artists with similar genres to Lana Del Rey. We briefly analysed her and other sadcore artist’s music videos and outlined the similarities and differences between them. As part of our music video coursework we had to analyse how an artist’s image is portrayed by a music video and this made us get a greater understanding of how to shoot our video. The aim of our music video was to create a concept and performance based video that would fit into the sadcore genre. To create the visual of the genre we included natural, distinctive shots and extreme close-ups of our artist/model. Our primary target audience was female students with their age ranging from sixteen to twenty six. The target audience was primarily aimed at females as they are stereotypically known to prefer break up songs rather than males.

By following the codes and conventions which Andrew Goodwin states are most common in a music videos we applied appropriate ones. We connected some of the lyrics throughout the song with visuals in our video, to create a relationship with them both making our video not 'random' and unpredictable all the time. For example during the lyric "Gangster, said you had to leave to start your life over" we have filmed a man who has the right appearance to be a potential gangster with his back facing the camera walking away. This man did not know we were filming him therefor it applies to Andrew Goodwin's codes and conventions. There is also a relationship between the pace of the song to the pace of the music video which Andrew Goodwin states is a typical characteristic. For example during the bridge of the song, which is faster than the rest, we used a range of short shots and because they changed from one to another quickly, it kept up with the pace of the song. However, the song is mainly slow paced and the singer has quite a monotone voice. We visualised this by making our model have a blank expression during these parts. We included close-ups of our model/artist as she is a solo artist meaning she needs to be full attention of the viewers. The aim of the music video is for people to remember who she is and what she looks like, which is why we made our video distinct from other pop videos in the charts. 

Our music video specifically represents young females. This is because our artist is a young female singing about her love for someone and therefor females would be able to relate, especially since its in the a females point of view. Throughout our music video we have represented our artist as a memorable individual as the music video isn't predictable like many others of the same genre. Some shots in our video have a bright lighting but some have dark lighting. This relates to the meaning of the song and lyrics due to emotions being unpredictable and sometimes bright (happiness) or dark (sadness). Wherever our model is seen we have shot in rural and natural areas, she is also wearing an abstract and colourful outfit. We did this as it makes her stand out from the shots. The use of natural filming areas also relates to the lyrics/meaning of the song as it's based on emotions and feelings towards an significant other. The chosen outfit for our model makes her stand out from the crowd of other pop artists as they wear clothing that shows a lot of their skin to gain more attention in the industry and from the public. 

Our music video would be shown on TV music channels such as Q and MTV Rocks because they both play independent pop music. Our video would have also been shown on NME but they don't show music videos any more. The music video will be uploaded onto video sharing sites such as Youtube or Vimeo. This would allow people to share them onto their personal social networking sites which would add to the artists popularity. The video would be mainly shown online as the Internet is the fastest way for information to turn global. Additionally our target audience's generation are known for being online majority online due to the technology used now days.

Our video is mostly made up of our original shots but it does feature a few scenes which we have taken from the Internet and therefor copyright laws would effect us. If we still wanted to use other people clips, we would have to hire a lawyer to see if we could legally use them with their permission. If they said we could use them then our video would remain as it is now but if they didn't agree to us using their shots in our music video then we would have to replace the shots with ones we have taken ourselves. Although this would take extra time, we did shoot more footage that wasn't featured in our music video and so we could replace the found shots with these ones. Since a swear word is featured in the lyrics of the song we've used OFCOM would have to censor the word out during 5:00-21:00 as this is what the watershed states. After 21:00 in the evening the uncensored version of our video would be able to be shown on music channels.

We believe out music video has both strengths and weaknesses. Two weaknesses of our video would be that we haven't used all our own footage and the camera quality of some scenes. When our model is standing on the rock in the pond, the camera quality doesn't look as good as it should be because of the bright lighting. This made us question if we should use the pond shots we took of our model. Additionally we might have liked to use a grainy effect on some of our footage as that's a characteristic of the Indie genre. Some of the strengths of our video would be that we used a wide range of variety with lighting, settings and the angle of shots. The setting of the music video shows two different sides of the meaning of the song; natural and materialistic. For example wherever the model is seen she is in a forest area representing the nature/natural side of emotions and we have a few clips of the sky but other shots consist of money and adverts which shows the materialistic side. This is why I believe we have shown the meaning of the song well though our music video but not in an obvious way. I also believe that the direction of where the model should be in the different shots was good. We didn't want our video to be predictable so she's shown leaning on a fence, sitting on the floor, standing on a rock in the middle of a pond and sitting on a bench. The video is suited to our target audience as its the most popular genre of people their age (pop). Our artist is also a female who is just a year or two older than our target audience making her seem more relatable. We also believe our editing was done well as everything flows with the tempo of the song, for instance where the song may speed up we have shown that with the use of many shots for a small amount of time. Overall we are proud with our creation of an Indie Pop music video.

Analysing the Key Features of Music Videos

I am going to be analysing three music videos from different genres. The first video is Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, the second is Lust for Life by Girls and the last is Trouble On My Mind by Pusha T ft. Tyler, The Creator.

Lady Gaga's genre is Pop/Dance music and this is clearly displayed in her video Bad Romance. The characteristics of this genre are notion of looking, women in revealing clothes and dance moves. In this video all these characteristics are featured showing its genre obviously to its viewers. There are many shots of Lady Gaga throughout this video, as she's the artist and they want the public to remember her image. There isn't really a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as most of the time she is just shown dancing to a routine. This music video is performance based with a slight narrative which builds up mainly at the end. Her body is on display a lot during the video and there are many shots when she's looking directly into the camera. Lady Gaga has used this video to promote certain brands such as Heartbeats headphones and Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.

Lust for Life by Girls is in the Indie Rock genre. Some characteristics for Indie Rock music videos are the use of a grainy effect, a narrative and performances based video and lots of close-ups of the band. The video is filmed of 8mm film which gives it a grainy effect and an independent feel to the video representing its genre well. However there is only two close up shots of the lead singer in the band as he is hardly featured in the video at all, as well as the band. The video could be described as performance based and concept based because although you don't see the singer singing, the whole video is made up of little shots where people are singing and dancing along to the song. At 1:37 and 1:43 (both on youtube link) the lead singer of the band is shown playing instruments adding to the performance based idea. There isn't many relationships between the lyrics and the video apart from the lyric 'Fucked in the head' where a girl point at her forehead. Also, where clapping is heard in the song, a shot is shown of people clapping. There is no relationship between the pace of the video with the pace of the song.

Both Pusha T and Tyler, The Creator are both in the Hip Hop genre however Tyler, The Creator is classified as Alternative Hip Hop and and you can see this genre portrayed in some parts of the video. The typical Hip Hop characteristics featured in this video are women in skimpy clothing, alcohol, an expensive setting at the start and them driving in a car. Their are other shots in this video which aren't typically Hip Hop like when they're crashing the house and when Tyler's riding around on ----. This music video consists of many close up shots of the artists, this is because they mostly rap about how they see themselves in the industry. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of the video. For example when the word 'tripped' is featured, someone trips over and falls to the floor. Another example is when Pusha T makes a gesture towards his mind during the second last chorus which features the words 'Trouble on My Mind'. This video is mainly performance based because throughout it they're rapping directly to the cameras. Tyler, The Creator talks a lot about pop culture icons and in this song Sarah Palin's daughter is featured, 'Tripped on Bristol Palin'.

Music Video: Filming Schedule

Music Video Idea