Music Video Analysis

Jason Myraz- I’m yours
I have chosen this video as it is also in the singer/songwriter genre he is also a solo performer that plays the guitar. The concept of this video is that the lead character (Jason) is travelling somewhere along the way he meets various interesting groups and landmarks.
At the start of the video the shots are quite dark and lots of close ups are used as well as most of the shot being within the confined space of a room. This sense of being trapped is mirrored in the fish in the tank who cannot escape. As the video progresses and we see him travelling the mood becomes more relaxed and carefree, this is shown in a number of ways such as his laid back clothing, lighting becoming much brighter and scenes of him relaxing with friends. Spaced out in the video are long shots of beautiful natural landscape which help to reinforce the message if being free and natural.
The editing of the video is edited to the beat, so as a chord changes so does the scene, making it smoother and matching the song to the action taking place. This will be important in our video so that everything looks synchronised and in fitting with the song.


Lily Allen- LDN
In this video lily is walking along the streets of London at first everything seems bright and cheery a she passes though the saturation levels change from high to low as the real version of the dirty streets is shown. One of the ideas we had for our music video was to shoot in black and with when the mood is sad but then change to colour as everything becomes happy again.
The lyrics support the way the video shows the two versions of the world “When you look with your eyes, everything seems nice, but if you look twice, you can see its all lies” This connotes that although at first something or someone may appear nice if you look deeper the flaws will be exposed. Close ups are used to highlight this change for example a sweet seen on the floor then becomes a cigarette butt.
Throughout the video lily is wearing a feminine dress with trainers possibly showing her different sides like the world. Although lily remains the same other characters change as she passes, two people having lunch change into two yobs on a bench. I think this could show how you outlook on life can affect the way you look at things making them more positive than they are.

Music Video Research

Coldplay- The scientist

 

I have chosen to analyse on of coldplays videos as they are similar to my artist Chris Cohen and he lists them as his main influence upon his music. The reason i chose the scientist is that it follows a narrative all the way throughout which is something we wanted to replicate in our video.

However the narrative is shot in reverse sequence leaving the viewer guessing what the singer is walking, this draws in the audience and lures them into watching the rest of the video. It isn’t until 2:50 we see why he is walking away, his girlfriend laying on the floor possibly as the result of his actions. It is unclear whether she is dead or not creating disequilibrium.

From seeing this scene, a close up in which you can see him walking away in the distance, the lyrics of the song start to make sense as they begin to relate to the storyline that is being portrayed. “oh lets go back to the start” referring to him wishing the incident never took place and towards the end of the video we understand why he wants to go back  to the start, revealing the mystery that has drawn in the viewer. For our music video the main inspiration for the content and story line was the lyrics this video is a good example of that.

Some of the video is shown in slow motion this is to create synchronicity with the song. If it was in normal speed the action would be too fast and unsuitable for the song ruining the effect created. The music also matches the speed in the video. At the start when just the piano is playing he is walking in slow motion but when the drums begin he move in normal speed as more action on screen begins to happen.

Cross fade transitions are used at the opening these make the cuts less dramatic and softer in keeping with the videos tone. I think they also help to emphasise the slow and gentle pace of the song. Cross fades make scenes seem more continuous like all the action is happening in linear time.

Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaliuation stages?

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use challenge or develop forms and conventions of real media products?

When designing my digipack I looked on Chris Cohen’s MySpace to see who he had listed as inspiration as this would show me similar artists and ones who reflect his style. When I had found a few I looked at their album artwork and adverts for them this inspired me by letting me see products that I could create. A lot of the similar artists use black and white photos this is one convention that I have also used as it reflects my music video and also fits in with Chris Cohens style. He belongs to the acoustic/ singer-song writer genre I feel that My video and print productions reflect this although our video is different to most from this Genre.

We challenged convections of music videos as nearly our whole video is narrative. Viewers will recognise performing shots in our video although they are part of the narrative. Most other videos will have more performing shots and less of a storyline our production is almost like a short film. Our video is also in black and white which you do not see very often in videos however it suits the song and content shown.

In my print production for the magazine advert I used a large picture as the base and a smaller picture of the CD pack something you commonly see in most adverts. I have included logos of store you can buy the CD at again this is seen on a lot of adverts and is something the audience will instantly recognise.

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To gain audience feedback for my print productions and my music video I posted them on social networking site facebook. This then allowed my friends, most of whom are a similar age to my target audience to comment on my photos and video giving me an idea of how successful they were. Although not that many people chose to comment on my products it did enable me to get some valuable feedback. I learnt that at times people felt the video was too slow in pace, some of the effects were unnecessary but i also learnt that people liked our video and thought that it was mostly successful.

With my print productions several people commented on my photos saying they liked certain aspects of them, it was good to see people thought they were successful. However it didn’t allow me to gain any real feedback, perhaps because they were my friends and didn’t want to criticise it, which is one disadvantage of using facebook for audience feedback.

We also had the opportunity to get feedback from a professional called Matt who produces music videos. This was very valuable as he is a professional that has worked on other videos and he could give us an honest opinion. Overall his feedback was mainly positive he did advise use to change the contrast in some of our shots and check that the music synced with the video

Chris Cohen- If you Only Knew (final version)

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary products?

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary products?
As the music genre of the song and artist we used was acoustic we decided it needed to be a simple theme without any fast action or special effects. So we choose a story that reflected the meaning of the song and worked from here. We decided it should be black and white as this would show the emotions of sadness in our break-up story.
  For both productions I have used the same theme of black and white. My making both my video and print productions in black and white it links them together, making them look like they are from the same artist and album. As they are a combination this will make them more recognisable to the target audience for example if they have see the video then they will recognise the album in shops or the magazine advert in the magazine they are reading meaning they will link these together which will encourage them to buy Chris Cohen’s music.
  They may also recognise the images used in my print productions as I took these from my music video. I did this as I thought our video had some storing images in it, it also saved the time it would have taken to do a photo shoot.
  As a promotional package I think the continuity I have used between my two productions works effectively to promote the artist and make the audience want to know more about him. The video and images I have used are interesting and thought provoking which was one of the aims of our production.