Before shooting my final video for the band Mechanical Museum, I have done various key steps of research in order to give me guidance and ideas towards grafting my own music video.
By analysing music videos of my chosen genre (Electro) many of the conventions from the genre have been adapted into mine. I found there was a general pattern in all of them for example; fast paced cuts,fragmented narrative or no narrative at all, bold bright colour palettes and colourful costume and make-up.
The music video ‘Where is the love’ by black-eyed peas conceptualises and captures the lyrical content by its planned story board/ ‘script’. With the use of iconography and location we are able to understand that the music video is located/filmed in a city in America this is achieved with the first opening fast cuts of close ups and mid-long shots of moving cars and people (climaxing beat is playing). The audience then are tracking (shot) a black van with the focus on the symbolic posters on the boot, finally through editing and cut transition is used to focus on the initial band members, two drivers and two in the back distributing these posters focus is then on whom ever is singing the verse. The lyrics and music is closely and smoothly synchronised. Also through editing and choice of shots the music video develops this sense of community thus keeps in tie with the lyrics, as mid-shots, two shots and close ups are used to capture the ‘general public’ singing parts of the song in some cases it is just one person. There are never more than 3 people singing the lyrics/chorus.
The symbolic posters focused on at the beginning become an on going theme linking the band and their secret like organisation to the general public; this is shown when a shot of other people other than the band appear to be placing the posters up in public areas. Through the mise en scene and symbiotic objects we also gather another atmospheric/naturalistic surrounding that once again suits the lyrics and the song genre, such as we see suffering ‘cardboard box, which associates to homeless’. Through costume we clearly understand authority in this ‘police state’ as typical policing costume is worn ‘black hats, blue shirt, badges, guns, black baton etc. this particular scene is when the band member is being arrested and he sings in tie with what the audience are visually seeing on camera ‘the big CIA’, ‘the blood to the cribs and the KKK’. Children are also represented once again reinforcing this sense of different age bands thus linking in with this idea of society and city life, a mid shot and close ups are used to focus on the two children lying down on the floor (composition attribute) their tableaux with the TV on in front of them, in which a focus (close up) shows they are playing a violent game (remotes controls in their hands) corresponds to lyrics being sung at over the top “kids want to act like they see in the cinema” the symbolic link is again made when the a pixilated image of the poster appears on the TV screen in front of the children through their performance and close up of their face expression they react to this symbol. The last shot which then is faded to black ends with a mid long shot having the whole band standing saying the last line of the song, with the band members in the fore front it is ensure throughout that the back ground is always some kind of naturalist street motifs such as bricked wall a graffiti wall, streets etc. once again keeping in tie with the city, community atmosphere.
Overall the fast paced cuts giving the audience a sense of jumping/travelling around with the band seeing different classes of people and buildings keeps it fast paced, interesting to watched and keeps up the busy city society. The fact the band is wearing ‘normal’ young clothing also keeps the naturalistic feel and also expresses their character persona, the camera in some cases is also jerky (hand held) giving this sense of naturalism, in with the action. The video layout suits its purpose and genre (R n’B, pop) and the wide range of age band that are included through character choice
People naturally day to day life) make the video feel more personal, real for the audience.
Metronomy- Radio LadioThe music video for ‘Radio Ladio’ is very bizarre but suits its ‘Electro’ genre in a number of ways. The narrative is very vague and surreal, it appears to have no real story line, and what is lyrically said is not precisely in sink with what is visually happening in the music video, the only part this does happen is when the verse ‘see that girl she is taking my breathe away’ is said and a girl similar to there costume will walk across. Otherwise the music video appears to have no storyline therefore it relies on good performance, which in this case the band me
mber’s performance and acting add huge contribution into the unrealistic, robotic like humans they are in the video. At the start the camera shots are mainly close ups of the bands face this is firstly striking as there make up on their face and overall body is brightly painted in a bold colour, They are also placed in front of a contrasting bold coloured background, this already sets up the mise en scene of surrealism. As clean cuts are used with the close ups the audience are concentrating solely on their face expressions which through performance is very robotic for example, sudden short movements through eyes and lips and neck rotation, these twitch like movements give off the characteristics associated to robots or robotic movements. Through editing this bizarre twitch like motion is emulated with the cuts being in beat but scatty/random, and as the beat picks up and the vocals start the close u
ps start to vary with face close ups (miming) and instruments being played in this case a keyboard the shots then broaden to mid-shots which normally show all the band members together playing or a band member and a girl. In some of the shots, mostly mid shots, a various number of painted hands come in on the side of the screen moving to the beat of the music, this adds variation to the shots and adds to the randomness of the video.
Finally, it appears the vital feature for this music video is the development of the mise en scene. Through the formula of costume, make up and setting it creates this robotic surreal persona. The band members themselves painted in either green or blue are wearing just as brightly coloured clothing, for example; yellow shoes, purple skinny jeans and a blue jumper. The style choice though bright is still modern and young, ‘skinny jeans’ for example are a v
ery fashionable style therefore it still keeps the band members appealing to the younger, student audiences. Their props (instruments) are as visually bizarre, you can tell they are playing keyboards but they are painted in bold colours to making them look very toy like once again adding to the unrealism. The settings are very similar they are in various rooms painted in two bold colours and are very empty; it is only the band members and their instruments that are in them most of the time.
The music video overall suits its genre it is creative and unrealistic and this achieved through the use of colours and performance.
Front cover designs for Electronical Doctors
