Media

Music video research

I am going to conduct an analysis of two music videos which falls into the genre of the song i have chosen to do a music video to. As my genre is light pop-punk or alternative rock I will look at other bands which fall in this genre such as ‘fall out boy’ and ‘coldplay’

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will first be conducting an analysis of fall out boys song ‘the phoenix’, This video was produced in July 2013. Andrew Goodwin identifies certain aspects of a music video that the audience should look out for, these aspects include synaesthesia (if the sound has been made visual), the relationships between the music and the visual,  narrative and performance etc. Goodwin looks and these aspects he has chosen when analysing a music video and then he is able to classify them into three different groups, these are illustrative, disjunctive and amplifying. Goodwin would class a music video as narrative if the visuals and the sound had the exact relationship. He would class a music video as amplifying if the there was a distant relationship between the visual and the sound. He would class a music video as disjunctive if there was no relationship what so ever between what you were seeing and what you were hearing.

Looking at the video for the song ‘the phoenix’ I would classify this video as amplifying. I believe this video to be amplifying as there are clear relationships between lyrics of the song and what we are seeing some of the time but not all of the time. For example, we see a mid shop of a boy riding his bike which has no connection to what the song is about. But in other parts there are clear links, an example of this would be where there is a mid shot of one of the singers holding a phoenix on his arm with his arm raised with the lyrics ‘raise you like a phoenix’

The song opens with a mid shot opening the doors to a black car where four men are bound-and-blindfolded, the video then goes back on itself as the shot after that is again a cut in over a briefcase which then cuts to a mid shot of the four band mates stood rather closely together, grinning and smirking at each other. This gives us the representation of unity of a boy band and cheekiness of general ‘lad’ friends rebelling and up to no good. Within the start of the video there is a hand-help camera movement as the camera follows one of the singers who has handcuffed the briefcase onto him, this hand-help camera movement gives us the sense of engines and the camera continues to cut back and forth to cut ins on him holding the briefcase and over the shoulder shots behind the singer. There are also close ups used of the singers face which shows his facial expressions being edgy and almost nervous.

 

There is a shot reverse shot used just after we see the singer walking down the road. This shot is very misleading as is shows a middle aged boy riding a bike, the boy catches the singer attention and smiles almost creepily and sarcastically, there is then a focus pull of the singer to a women running up behind him. This shows we are to focus on the women and it shows the narrative. By focusing on the women who is wearing all black leather and red lip stick is almost a play on gender.

The lighting in this scene is normal day light which is again misleading as they are committing crime in day light.

As the tempo of the music builds up the camera movement becomes very fast paced going in all different angles. The singer is also becoming very frustrated which is complemented by the camera movement as it shows the singers aggravation. The lighting in these camera shots is low key lighting which helps build up the tense atmosphere.

The camera jumps between three different shots which are all controversial. One is of the singer getting tortured in a dark, compacted room. Another is of the boy riding his bike in what looks like a friendly neighbourhood in day light and the other shot is two of a couple in bed together.

Towards the end of the video the singer which has been tortured has got blood all over his body as the lyrics read ‘put on your war paint’ again, classing this video as amplifying. The video is suggesting that to have wounds, or having blood, is almost classed as bravery? This responds to the music by having the imagery as portraying what the lyrics are representing. 

 

 

 

The second video I have decided to analyse is ‘the scientist’ by th band coldplay which again is a band which falls into the same genre. The music video is about a car crash, yet again, like the first video I analysed it tells the story backwards. The first shot is of the lead singer, the camera zooms out very slowly going with the pace of the music, supporting Andrew Goodwins theory with the visuals relating to the sound. With the first shot focusing on the performer this also supports Goodwins theory as he states that the performer is often focused on and shown off. Which the first shot is doing. This is important as it gives us a clear understanding of who we should be focusing on in the music video which is what Andrews ideas were.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                               

                                                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                              

 

 

As the whole video is reversed it shows editing plays a big role within the music video. The camera tracks around the performer as reversed editing is used as he gets up. Again with the video being is reverse and going backwards is referring back to Goodwins theory of relationships between visuals and sounds as the lyrics read ‘lets go back to the start’

There is low key lighting used during the video whih adds and creates a dull atmosphere. Mis en scene is used to make the video more realistic. For example the mattress he is lying on isn’t that odd to find in a low classed town with graffiti.

A long shot is used showing the singer walking across the train tracks which again is showing the depressing tone and atmosphere of the song. This is again creating relationship between the visual and sound. There are many close ups used within the video of the performer face to show emotion and reaction.