Analysis - Music Videos

Music Video Analysis.

When choosing which music videos to analyse, I decided to choose one concept, one performance and one narrative, as well as two combinations. I feel that this would give me a big variation in genres and styles of videos.


Music Video Analysis 1: Britney Spears - 'Every time' (Narrative)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UQzHaOG2uI

This music video defies it's pop genre characteristic, as it is not your stereotypical pop video. A stereotypical pop video would be bouncy and high energy, quite often including teenagers and a very conceptual basis. This video on the other hand, tells quite a sad story,or who seems to be Britney Spears herself. A very slow moving yet effective video displays an array of emotions which are easily portrayed to the viewer.

There is a very strong relationship between the lyrics and you can see, as you hear the lyrics; "My weakness cause you pain" you clearly see Britney lying in the bath, naked with a very neutral tone to the shot, portraying a clean and pure yet venerable image as it is a high angled shot. She places her hand on her head, and sees that her head is bleeding, at the same time, time man who she arrives with, places his hand on his head, and looks in dismay. The man seems to be less venerable and more in control, as he is show from a low angle. Also, both of the characters removed their tops at the same time, this may show a connection or bond between the two characters, the same as when the man realises that Britney is drowning, he comes in and lifts he our gracefully, this two shot shows the strong relationship between the two characters and the difference in emotions between the argument and the rescuing.

The music in the video is slow and calm, which corresponds with the visuals quite well. As you can see, the video has a very neutral colour scheme, which in itself, shows innocence and purity, but so does the music, I feel this also amplifies the impact on which the music video portrays the song to the viewer.

A few close-ups and focuses on Britney show her innocence and purity, but not particularly for any benefits of the record label or any kind of motif she may possess. I think especially in the 3-4 second shot of Britney turning around, you can see how bare and venerable she is, having wet hair could symbolise that she is clean and her innocence is reflected in the colour scheme.

There is quite a lot of reference to the notion of looking at the beginning and towards the end of the video, in particular the paparazzi which focus on the main character both on the way into the building and on the way into the ambulance. This also shows the relationship between both of the characters and the man. The man has throws a pile of magazines at the photographer and pushes him away, as he gets more outraged, the photographer gets more amused and continues taking pictures. Britney on the other hand pulls him back and stops him from attacking the photographer, which may exploit her gentile and sensitive nature.

I personally think that this video is a very good one to study, as it defies it's typical genre characteristics and shows the audience another side of the artist. I also found that this music video formulated well with the theory of Andrew Goodwin's, extracted from, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992 Routledge).


Music Video Analysis 2: La Roux - 'Bulletproof' (Concept)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOYufRHQSms

I personally found this video slightly hard to fully analyse in details, so to help me, I decided to base this video on the theory of Stewart Lordy. His theory was that the majority of visual effects came from Fashion, Cinema and Artistic Photography.

From the very beginning of the video, you see the visual effects that take place. We see black strips that lead up to an image of the artist's name 'La Roux' in the background. As the visual effects get closer, they seem to bring life to the objects around her, as when she starts singing she sits up and a light comes on above her head. This may relate to the song title 'Bulletproof' implying she will never die.

I think that this particularly music video demonstrates strong genre characteristics for the Electro-Pop genre. This includes a lot of visual effects, enhancements and a high energy and high impact video. As there is only one person in the band, there was no performance or narrative correspondence.

There is a small relationship between the lyrics and the music video as it mainly has to do with the fact that she's has gone round repeating the situation she's singing about and she doesn't want to get into another relationship, she just wants to have fun, according to the line: "been there, done that, messed around. I'm having fun, don't let me down. I'll never let you sweep me off my feet." This colourful and energetic video gives a nice fun feel to the video.

There is also quite a good relationship with the music an the visuals. Almost all the way though, you can see the camera angles rapidly change to go with the beat of the song, also, as La Roux is walking, you can see squares on the wall flash to the beat of the song. This enhances the song and also makes it more energetic.

There are a few good close-ups on the singer here, especially on her fact. This is possibly due to the demands of the record label and incorporating motifs to go with the artist. Typically speaking, the motif being portrayed here could be her hair, which is a very unique and individual, and may not be, as common motifs include symbols, beats or movements.

There is a lot of reference to the notion of looking in this video. as you can see, towards the end, the screen splits up into what looks like shattered glass, and it makes up a collage of the singer, in all her outfits throughout the video. This could be to portray the feelings and emotions in the song, and bring them together as one. There is also notional referees when the singer is standing in a square, and the camera zooms out to an even bigger version of the singer, sitting with her back against the wall.

I think that analysing this video has helped me study and gain a good sense of the conceptual side of music videos, however I don't feel that it is that strong as a narrative or performance based video would be.


Music Video Analysis 3: Lady GaGa - 'Paparazzi' (Narrative & Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOrKLUlh-To

This video does not demonstrate typical genre characteristics. This music video is pretty much a short film, which you can tell from the first shot, which are the opening credits of the music video. Just like a film, it goes through the cast and crew then showing: "Lady GaGa In: Paparazzi" The video the focuses on the garden, and having close up shots of plants and flowers, creating a serene environment, before going into the house, which is shown at a low angle in the background of the shot. As entering the house, the camera focuses on very classical aspects of the house, such as the fountain, chandelier and the terrace. After which, the camera focuses on piles of money, which, differently have "The united states of Lady GaGa" printed on dollar bills. After watching Lady GaGa and her man on the bed, we are then taken to the terrace where they have a fight, when he doesn't stop harassing her when seen my paparazzi. When she is pushed off the balcony you see her lying on the ground, with photographers crowding her. This is the start of an image known as 'Death By Fashion'. We then see short clips of models around the house grounds, dead, in the latest designer trends. This, does not stereotypically fit with the pop genre of this song, however, it just makes the video more interesting and appealing.

There is a very strong relationship between the lyrics and the video. You hear the line "Baby you'll be famous, chase you down until you love me, Papa-Paparazzi."This could be describing the fact that Paparazzi, in this day and age, are driving celebrities to insanity after having their life under constant scrutiny. However, the video doesn't totally correspond with the lyrics. Although the video shows a very strong and clear story, it doesn't correspond with the lyrics with such strength, which is in some respects,quite contradictory.

The story behind this video explains the great life of one celebrity, who then loses it all after the paparazzi force her boyfriend to throw her over the edge of the terrace when he didn't stop harassing her in front of the camera. After falling down and, seemingly dying, the song starts when a car pulls up to the house, and she steps out wearing a neck brace, and is carried into a wheelchair. After which she is wheeled up, into the house, and then gets into a full, gold bodysuit with crutches, and dance to the chorus. This may seem offensive and discriminative towards disabled people, however, it is representing the fall of her character, and developing from a wheelchair to crutches represents her getting on and rising back to the top. When she is seen lying on the chair, you get the sense of sleaze, seeing Lady GaGa in a skimpy, all leather piece. This is followed up by suggestive hand gestures, corresponding with this make-up she could be represented as a prostitute. After which, you see images of the 'death my fashion' theory i mentioned before. After this you get another shot of Lady GaGa on the chair, but this time she is with three other girls. This shows voyeurism when they start to kiss as all our are being shown for one specific purpose. This also represents her sexuality as bisexual. This scene quickly jumps to a more faced paced and high energy performance, of GaGa dancing, in white jumpsuits, with small dark patches of ruffle. This could indicate her transition from all dark, to coming back into light and representing her more innocent side. After the performance, we see very dark scenes of the main character dancing, with close ups and very fast paced cuts, this takes us back to the next scene, where she is back with her original boyfriend. As the magazine suggests, she is 'The new It Girl' which leads you to think that maybe nobody knows that she has come back. the next shot shows GaGa poisoning her boyfriend, quickly being arrested and taken to jail when caught. However, she confesses to the police that she killed him, and when she is taken away, newspaper articles show headline's of "She's back" and "We love her again".

There is however, quite a strong relationship between music and the video, as the music is fairly classically set, and so is the video. As you can see the classic mansion with terrace, big garden, piano and large bedroom. The old fashioned cameras, newspapers and screen credits also show this.

there is a lot of reference to the notion of looking, ranging from the cameras, to the newspapers. there are also quite a few close ups on shots such as her peace sign tattoo which could be a demand for a motif. There is also a lot of inter textual reference with the magazines, newspapers, films and stories.

This is, by far my favorite video, of all time. Simply because of the fact it is set as a story and has been elaborated and extended very well.


Music Video Analysis 4: Paramore - 'Crushcrushcrush (Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-NjVaSNNgg&feature=related

This music video is entirely performance based. However it goes against the stereotypical idea of having the band on stage and performing as if at a concert or gig. The band in this video are performing in the desert. The video also has a small idea of concept, which does not demonstrate genre characteristics of rock.

The camera pans around the band which could possibly be representative of vulture in the desert, making the band vunerable, which could have some relationship with the lyrics. Throughout the duration of the video, a lot of cuts are made to focus on the spies in the desert, which ties in perfectly with the line of the song; "They taped over your mouth, scribbles out the truth with their lies, you little spies". Even though this video is shot in the desert, I think that the colours are quite vibrant and still stand out.This could possibly be to highlight the vibrancy of the lead singers (Hayley Williams) red and orange hair, this could be a demand of the record label for a motif to associate with the band.

There is frequent reference to the notion of looking, with the spies of the desert watching the band through binoculars, and frequently cutting from a shot of the spies with the binoculars to a point of view shot, of the band through the binoculars. Even though there is a lot of reference to the notion of looking, it is not in a voyeuristic manor, but to get across the point of the song.

There is some inter textual reference, possibly to the film, 'The Hills Have Eyes' which consists of deformed people/spies living in the desert, in ruins left over by people who have visited.

Over all, I think this is one of the mos successful performance music videos I have seen, as it incorporates a small amount of conceptual reference, which makes the video a lot more interesting.


Music Video Analysis 5: Cheryl Cole - 'Fight For This Love' (Concept & Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiy_UsrPDs

This video demonstrates quite clearly the pop genre characteristics, from the choreographed dances and backup dancers, to the layout and shots of the video. The video starts off with a close up of Cheryl Cole's face, you can see, out of focus, in the background, her back up dancers, who are all female, which could indicate some issues of female empowerment. Almost all of the shots in this video are mid shots which cut to close ups on her face. A lot of close ups on the face of the signer and used to capture the emotions, as it is quite a sad song, the close ups on her face portray sad emotions, which also interlinks with the lyrics and music.

There is a very strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals both illustrative and amplifying. The lyrics written on the screen illustrate this as well as the dance when the line "We gotta' fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love." are heard, you see Cheryl and the dancers performing fighting movements, which amplifies the fact she is fighting the love.

There is also quite a deep relationship between the lyrics and music and the visuals as a lot of the close ups of the singer illustrates sad emotions, and seeing as it is a sad song, it flows well.

There is also a lot of voyeuristic reference to the notion of looking, but not exclusively for the male form, as the video is an all female video, It could be argued that it has been made so, exclusively for men, or for female empowerment.

Personally I really like this video, and feel that it is a true and realistic representation of pop videos.