Critical Analysis of Music Videos of different Genres

This is the music video for the number one single ‘Somebody that I used to know’ by Gotye featuring Kimbra. This music video is from the alternative genre of music. This video is part performance, abstract and narrative making it post-modern. This is because the video has the artists singing the song whilst abstract artwork is covering their bodies and background. It also has a slight narrative because at the end of the track the female vocalist no longer has the artwork covering her body indicating that the pair have split up which reflects the song lyrics. The first shot shows a pink background that turns into a tracking shot up the right hand side of the artists’ naked body finally moving the shot into the centre showing his face. The artist sings to the camera the first part of the song. This is then followed by a shot of drawings of lines that turn into shapes. After short shots of the drawings, the next shots are medium close ups of the artist performing (singing) which is then followed by other shots of the drawings. These shots go back and forth showing the artist one second and then the drawings another. Short shots of the drawings being painted interrupt the medium close ups of the artists singing until the shots change to the drawings being drawn around the artists naked body. When the chorus starts the paintings behind him are complete and there is a medium head shot of the artist singing with the paintings in the background. This shot is interrupted by other short close ups off different parts of his body being painted to blend into the backdrop. By the end of the chorus the artist is coloured in completely to blend in with the background. Animation is used throughout as the paintings become complete without showing who is actually drawing them. At the end of the chorus the shot zooms out from the artist to show that a female singer is next to him coloured in with the background as well. However her face isn’t coloured in like his is. The female singer is looking at him as though she is singing a message to him. The shot changes to a medium tracking shot of her moving closer to him and singing into his face. As the chorus starts again the shot changes to a medium close up of both faces however the male singer isn’t looking at her he is looking and singing at the camera – indicating how he feels. There is a medium close up of the female artists face looking upset at the fact she is being ignored, she then moves back to her original position making her body blend in with the background once again. At the end of the chorus as she is moving there is a medium close up of his face turning to look at her whilst he is singing. Whilst he is singing there are lots of short close up shots of her body with the paint disappearing which indicates that she has left his life (split up) which reflects the song title and lyrics ‘somebody that I used to know’. Editing is used cleverly throughout the video as stop motion animation is used on both artists and the cuts are to the rhythm of the music.

This is a music video for the R&B song ‘Yeah’ by the artists ‘Usher, Lil-Jon and Ludacris’. The first shot shows a diamond necklace at the right side of the frame with a ‘U’ on it which stands for the main artist’s name ‘Usher’. This type of jewellery is conventional for an R&B music video because these kinds of artist often wear this type of jewellery. The video starts with a long shot of the artist dancing; he is wearing baggy jeans, cap, trainers, white jacket, and jewellery which are all conventional for an R&B music video. The next shot shows a long shot of ‘Lil-Jon’ who is wearing a striped jacket, sunglasses, cap, large jewellery and dreadlocks. This is again a stereotypical R&B artist’s look and is conventional for the genre. There is a panning shot of girls in the club singing ‘Ushers’ name, this is again one of the codes and conventions of an R&B music video – they always include attractive girls who dance during the video. The mis-en-scene is also conventional for these types of videos as it is set in a nightclub were this type of dancing usually would take place. There are slow motion long shots of usher wearing different clothes talking to girls in the nightclub; this tells the narrative of the music video. There is a slow motion low angle shot of the girl he is trying to talk to which suggests that she is in charge. A medium close up shot of both of their faces using shot reverse shot is used to show each of their reactions to each other. The video is cut between narrative and performance and the lyrics reflect the narrative so much so that the girl lip-syncs some of the song that he is quoting. There are a mixture of medium and long shots of the girl and ‘Usher’ dancing, which are edited together with ‘Usher’ dancing by himself to show that he is telling a story whilst performing. The camera often slowly pans around ‘Usher’ whilst he is dancing and then cuts to other angles to show the dance from different angles. Half way through the video ‘Lil-Jon’ and ‘Usher’ share the same frame whilst dancing to the song which again cuts to the beat to show ‘Usher’ dancing with the girl creating joint performance and narrative. The dance sequences in the video are very detailed and in time which is conventional for the R&B genre especially with an up-tempo song like this. ‘Ludacris’ raps in the second part of the song, he again fits the stereotypical R&B artist. The shots vary from long and medium shots of him rapping whilst dancing with girls to close ups of his face and other long shots of him dancing with ‘Usher’ and ‘Lil-Jon’, this again implies he is telling a story. During this rap there is a dance sequence of the girls in the club dancing together which uses lots of fast editing of shots from different angles. The medium close up of the girl ‘Usher’ has been flirting asking him to come over, indicates that in the end he got the girl. At the end of the video there is a long shot were ‘Usher’ stops dancing and walks away.

This is a music video for the song ‘Going Under’ by the gothic rock band ‘Evanescence’. This video is mainly performance however narrative can be seen as the lyrics do reflect what the video is representing - how she feels when doing a performance. The first shot is a medium close up of the lead singers face getting her make-up done. This shot is interrupted several times by a medium shot of her underwater screaming whilst wearing a flowing white dress which connotes purity. This is conventional for the gothic rock genre. Short close ups of the make-up artists faces are portrayed differently to how they were previously shown by making them look like monsters. There is a medium shot of the artist walking down a red corridor which has connotations of blood and death which again is conventional for this genre. There are lots of high angle shots showing the audience dancing to the music yet CGI is used to make them look like monsters. There is a long shot of the artist singing the chorus which is followed by lots of fast cuts to the beat of the music. Medium close up shots are used to show the other performers of the band (drummer, guitarist etc). There are also low angle shots which creates the illusion of being in the audience looking up at the artist. Lots of fast editing is used throughout the video whilst performing, this is because of the tempo of the song. There is a high angle shot of the artist jumping into the crowd and landing underneath which reflects the lyrics creating a narrative. The next shot is a long shot of her landing under water which could reflect how she feels. The performance is still there as there fast shots showing close ups of the band playing their instruments in slow motion. There is a medium shot of her singing underwater for a short while whilst showing aggression in her words which tells us how she is feeling. The mid-shot of her coming up out of the water dissolves into a mid-shot of her coming out of the crowd, wearing the outfit she wore whilst performing. At the end of the video there are lots of fast long shots of the crowd. Editing is used to make their faces distorted and look like monsters and when the song is over they return back to normal. Shot reverse shot is used at the end of the video as the artist looks at her band mate, when the shot goes back onto him his face is distorted like the rest of the audience. This horror genre is conventional for gothic rock videos as it reflects the lyrics of the song and appeals to their target audience.

History of Music Videos

History of Music Videos

A music video is produced for promotional purposes. It is a short film integrating a song and imagery. Music videos became big in the 1980’s and were created by MTV. Music videos usually include a narrative, performance or an abstract film. Music videos often blend together these different styles. Some music videos include animation, for example ‘Gorillas’.  

December 2^nd 1983 – Michael Jackson, Thriller.

This video is 14 minutes long and promotes Michael Jacksons Album and song ‘Thriller’. It was directed by John Landis and produced by George Folsey, Jr, Michael Jackson and John Landis. This music video uses a blend of narrative and performance and has been voted the most influential music video of all time. This video uses all the codes and conventions of a typical horror film. For example a young man and his girlfriend walking through the woods, the girl is very vulnerable. The couple are walking home by themselves through a graveyard. The mis-en-scene is dark and gloomy. You can tell that the video is promoting his song as the film the couple are going to see is called ‘Thriller’. You can tell the genre is horror as there are undead zombies coming to life. This is when the video becomes a performance as Michael and the zombies perform one of the most famous and influential dances of all time. The girl runs to a rundown house which looks as though it should be in a horror film as it looks haunted and this is were the story of the video ends. This music video won 2 Grammy awards and 3 MTV awards in 1984-1985 and in 1999 it won another MTV award for the greatest 100 music videos of all time. This video has sold over 9 million copies.

February 19^th 1991 – REM, Loosing My Religion.

This music video is 4:46 minutes long and is used to promote the band REM and their single ‘Loosing My Religion’. This music video was directed by Tarsem Singh and REM front man Michael Stipe. The video begins with a dark room were class is collecting rain from the window yet when the glass smashes on the floor the audience see that it is milk, this could symbolise purity as it is white. This is when the song begins. This music video is a mixture of narrative and performance is it shows the band playing the instruments and the singer lip syncing to the soundtrack. Angels are a key element to this music video and play a big part in showing that the narrator is loosing his belief in religion. You can clearly see that the angels’ wings are very fake, which could be seen to symbolise that religion is fake. At one point an angel has his wig pulled off his head this again symbolises that religion isn’t real. This video is filled with religious imagery such as Saint Sebastian and Hindu deities and is created in the style of a type of Indian filmmaking. This video won 6 MTV music video awards including video of the year in 1991.

August 10^th 2011 – Jessie J, Who’s Laughing Now.

This music video is 4:06 minutes long and has a very strong narrative. The song is about how Jessie got bullied when she was younger. A young actress is made to look like Jessie and the music video uses the codes and conventions of a high school film. For example at the beginning of the video the young Jessie is walking down a school corridor and all the other girls are pointing and staring at her and also shows a class of kids working in a classroom with an unrealistic teacher played by Jessie. Jessie also plays a stereotypical nasty dinner lady and a dirty janitor. The young Jessie gets her own back on all of the people at the school that has been nasty to her, and the lyrics relate to the video on screen. At the end of the video we see how the young girl has become happy and is laughing at the bully’s which is what the lyrics are about. This is very different to the other 2 videos as it has a very strong narrative and not much performance from the artist. This shows that this song has a deep meaning and that the music video isn’t just created to promote the artist.

Music videos often use CGI as in the ‘Thriller’ video. Every popular band and artist releases a music video to promote themselves and the single that they are releasing. Websites such as Youtube and VEVO make it easier for a global audience to watch the music video as soon as they are released and have made artists such as Jessie J very famous worldwide. Before these types of websites it was difficult for the audience to watch music videos without buying them. In the 80’s not all artists had to make music videos to promote themselves like they do today.

Change of Brief

I have decided to change my origional idea and have decided to create a promotion package for the release of an album. I have to include a music promo video, together with either a website homepage for the band, a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package) or a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

Critical Analysis of Horror Film Trailers

Insidious Film Trailer (horror)

The title of the film is shown at the beginning of the trailer in white and red bold writing; the colour red represents death, blood and hell and is one of the codes and conventions of a film in the horror genre. The colour white represents innocence and purity; this contrasts with the red and strongly relates to the narrative of the film. An animated text transition occurs changing the word ‘insidious’ into ‘is’ and then back to ‘insidious’ again. After doing this twice, the shots of the film begin, this shows that this trailer is trying to show what ‘insidious’ actually is. The first shot of the trailer is a medium close up of the main character (hero) of the film looking worried. We know that he is the hero of the film because he is the victim throughout the trailer and has a close relationship with the other characters. The next shot is a metronome ticking, this sound effect starts off as diegetic as you can see what is making the sound, and then it turns to non-diegetic as the sound is still being played whilst another animated text transition occurs. This text is important as it tells us that the makers of this film also created ‘saw ‘ and ‘paranormal activity’ which tells the audience what kind of film this is going to be and if you liked those films then you will like this one. This non-diegetic sound continues and a montage of shots from the film is edited together and each shot is cut on the tick from the metronome. In the last few clips of the montage happiness seems to be fading away. This creates suspense as you know that when the ticking stops something bad is going to happen. Once the metronome has stopped a short scene from the film is shown, this is a quiet scene and it quickly cuts into another animated text transition of the word ‘insidious’ whilst a loud supernatural sound is played intending on frightening the audience. Another montage of shots from the film is then shown with occasional loud noises intended on frightening the audience again. This montage shows all of the main characters and gets across narrative of the film. The diegetic sound is cut out of this montage and a non-diegetic paranormal noise is played throughout and as this noise gets louder the shots cut together faster. Half way through this montage it shows a dark corridor, which is a longer shot than the others; the ticking from the metronome starts again. When the ticking stops the pace of the edits becomes faster. At the end of the trailer another animated text transition occurs, this is to remind the audience what the film is called if they like the look of the trailer they will remember the films name. Throughout this trailer we see lots of codes and conventions of the horror genre, for example the metronome - which relates to paranormal activities, a large house, a dark attic, something moving by itself, shadows outside, dark corridors, demons, blood, paranormal tracking equipment, ghosts and darkness.

30 Days of Night Film Trailer

The beginning of this trailer shows 2 medium shots of a male and female in separate rooms, this looks as though they are arguing. There is no sound at this point therefore when the vampire dives through the window the diegetic loud sound of shattering class intends on making the audience jump. Continuity editing is then used to show the man in the other room run to see what has happened and shows the female being dragged out of the window screaming. There is an over the shoulder shot of a man trying to pull the female out from under the building she has been dragged into. This is then followed by a zoom out of the man who tried to pull her out which makes it look as though the audience is seeing what the female is seeing. Then the screen cuts to darkness which gives us the impression that the female has now died. The man’s screams then change from diegetic to non-diegetic sound as we can no longer see him on the screen. An animated text transition tells us the background story of this film and is written in white writing which connotes cold i.e. vampires. This is then followed by an establishing shot of the town with the silhouettes of the villains looking onto the town.  This shot then fades into another animated text transition and further background information which then fades into a short shot of a vampire feeding off another human. This is very conventional of a horror genre. A long shot to show the snow is then followed by another establishing shot of the town to show were the film is set. The next shot consists of fast editing to show the speed of the vampires when they attack and ends with a white flash of light that connotes death. Another animated text transition is followed by a close up of the vampires face for the audience to recognise that they are not human. The main character is then introduced into the trailer; we know this because he is more important than the other characters we have seen so far and has a closer relationship to the other victims. Conversation is then shown by shot reverse shot. The mis en scene throughout is dark which is conventional for the horror genre. At the end of the conversation the lights in the town go out, again this is conventional and has connotations of death. The animated text transition has now turned red connoting blood. Non-diegetic sound is added for dramatic effect whilst fast paced editing shows the vampires stalking a woman, this consists of long shots and medium close ups followed by close ups of the characters hiding. Non-diegetic speech ‘there’s so many teeth’ is followed by an extreme close up of the vampire’s mouth showing its teeth.  A conversation is then shown using shot reverse shot discussing vampires and diegetic speech of the woman talking says ‘vampires don’t exist’. This is also conventional for the horror genre as the characters don’t believe what is actually happening. This speech is then followed by a close up of a female vampires face lasting half a second. The shot of the vampire’s fingernail again shows that these are supernatural beings and as his hand is blood-stained it connotes murder and death. Non-diegetic sound is played throughout the next montage showing the action in the film. Non-diegetic speech throughout this montage relates to what the audience are seeing on screen. For example ‘there tearing through everyone’s home’, shots of vampires burning down houses are on screen. This montage also has animated text transitions which also relate to the shots being shown. The trailer ends with someone screaming whilst being bitten by one of the vampires, followed by another animated text transition of the title of the film.

Brief

I have been asked to create a package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with either a website homepage for the film, a film magazine front cover featuring the film or a poster for the film. I have chosen to create a film trailer of the horror genre.