Singer-songwriter:
The main genre I am focusing on is the singer-songwriter genre. I chose this genre as my main focus as I feel that it is very current and has grown evidently in the mass media. With artist such as James Morrison, Joss Stone, Ed Sheeran and Laura Marling (2011 Brit Award Winner for best female artist) bringing the genre to the forefront of music it is no wonder that its popularity has increased since the late 1990’s when some people didn’t even class it as a style of music. This particular genre can sometimes be hard to define as it can overlap with other genres such as alternative, rock and pop, I like this aspect as I feel the genre will give me a lot of creative freedom when comprising elements together for my music video.
Music videos for this genre can vary depending on what the song is about, most videos focus on a protagonist in a natural setting, not needing any gimmicks or futuristic effects mainly because they want to focus on the here and now.
For Example:
The video “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran focuses on a female protagonist following her story throughout the video. It starts with no music just the sound of birds; this is used to represent realism and sets the scene for the viewer. A close up of the woman’s face is used to show her crying portraying to the audience what is happening or has happened. The whole video is in black and white which is just one of the effects used in the video; blur is also used, mixed with fade to cut to another scene. Also in parts of the video people are sped up excluding the protagonist which is an effect often used to show the passing of time. The setting is basically the same all the way through. We are shown a low angle shot of the female’s legs/shoes; this shows the audience what she is wearing so we can make judgements on the character. The technique of blurring the background and focusing on the foreground is used to show the importance of the protagonist. This video does a particular something that I want to do when shooting my video, which is to make the lyrics relate to what is shown on screen, for example when in the video the lyrics go “it’s too cold outside for angels to fly” this coincides with the story in the video, showing how the world is a tough place “cold” and how innocence fades away “angel will die”. I feel this video influenced my ideas because of the use of black and white and the other various effects that are used. The only thing I would do in my video that is not featured it this video is lip syncing.
This is a close up used to show the female protagonists emotions at the particular stage in the music video and to put emphasis on the importance of the character.
This is a Mid-Shot and the only scene where we see the actually artist. The audience is given a contrast in this scene between the two classes of people, the female in large, baggy clothing which is a stereotype, allowing the audience to easily recognize the situation and the male in jeans and fitted clothes which illustrates him being better off.
Another Example is:
“No Lies” by Jason Reeves & Colbie Caillat sticks to the same conventions which I talked about above. The setting is on a beach and in the suburbs (nature) and only flicks between these locations. The video starts with an intro showing various shots of different places, the way it’s done is half the screen is a shot of one place and the other side is of a different place, contrasting with each other such as the beach and hills, one of the protagonists is shown on the beach and the other at the other location. Through the video the audience sees the protagonists moving to one another. The setting matches the calm musical intro. The shots used are long shots to establish the scene and the characters. In the video there are two protagonists one male and one female, they are both shown to be writing on paper. Straight away the audience can start to understand what’s going on and how what the protagonists are doing in the video relates to what the song is about. The colour used is bright and clear and is all natural light. The use of two different shots shown next to each other is a clever idea, as when the video comes to the end the two separate shots merge together as if the two characters are now one. The song lyrics talk about a couple that want to know everything about each other so the use of the two shots next to each other shows that they are separate, until the end when the letters they had been writing are passed over and they finally open up to one another. The end shot is a close up of both characters feet, to which they have the same tattoo on the same foot, this gives the video a bit of humour but also to show there connection.
Unfortunately this graphic is not the best quality but it shows a split screen of both characters in different locations giving contrast. One of the characters is shown walking which leaves the audience to assume that he is making his way to the other character who is staying still.
Example 3:
"Parachute" by Charlie Simpson is a recent song which is very creative. The video features the artist walking continually towards the audience in a mid shot. Tha artist is shown with a tv screen over him, playing a siumtaneous video of the character walking in the same manner, the screen seems to show a alternative reality to the main action in the video. In the main action the lighting is more or less pitch black, this is a contrast to the alternative reality as it is daytime, giving light and dark. As action unfolds in the both reality and the alternative reality we see that one is the opposite to the other, for example when he picks the flowers out of the vase the flowers are dead in the main reality but are alive in the alternative one, the song lyrics say "im sorry for the pain, sorry for the ache, sorry for the moods im swinging" these lyrics in comparson to the music video make me think that the fact he is sorry is because he has done things that he regrets and the alternative reality is representing what i would of done differently. At the end of the video he stops and the screen tunrs of possibly portraying he has given up. The video relys on teh audience understanding the connection between the two realities and seeing the contrasting situations as they unfold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mgd288_lTg
The contrasting situation in the video of a wedding and a furneral, possibly showing how he is dead inside but the wedding can represent the love and acceptance that he is soo longing for.
Another contrasting situation where the female chracter is happy and looking at the artist lovingly but in the other version she is looking away from him and disappointed.
"Parachute" by Charlie Simpson is a recent song which is very creative. The video features the artist walking continually towards the audience in a mid shot. Tha artist is shown with a tv screen over him, playing a siumtaneous video of the character walking in the same manner, the screen seems to show a alternative reality to the main action in the video. In the main action the lighting is more or less pitch black, this is a contrast to the alternative reality as it is daytime, giving light and dark. As action unfolds in the both reality and the alternative reality we see that one is the opposite to the other, for example when he picks the flowers out of the vase the flowers are dead in the main reality but are alive in the alternative one, the song lyrics say "im sorry for the pain, sorry for the ache, sorry for the moods im swinging" these lyrics in comparson to the music video make me think that the fact he is sorry is because he has done things that he regrets and the alternative reality is representing what i would of done differently. At the end of the video he stops and the screen tunrs of possibly portraying he has given up. The video relys on teh audience understanding the connection between the two realities and seeing the contrasting situations as they unfold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mgd288_lTg
Example 4:
"Old Pine" by Ben Howard is an alternative song, Ben Howard is not a very well known artist, but i decided to analyse this because of the natural beauty and magical atmosphere it portrays. The video starts with shots of various landscapes such as the sea, a field and woods, these serene shots reflect the crisp guitar featured in the song. The fact the male protagonist is shown alone with the scenery gives the viewer a sense of being one with nature and free. The use of sunlight is clever as it gives a warm feel to the video, for example the sunset and the slight red tint illustrate the tranquil environment in which the artist is set in. We see a lot of nature which reflects the title of the song and gives the video a lot of realism and sets the scene. The smooth panning movement which tracks the character reflects the calm, relaxed environment.
"Old Pine" by Ben Howard is an alternative song, Ben Howard is not a very well known artist, but i decided to analyse this because of the natural beauty and magical atmosphere it portrays. The video starts with shots of various landscapes such as the sea, a field and woods, these serene shots reflect the crisp guitar featured in the song. The fact the male protagonist is shown alone with the scenery gives the viewer a sense of being one with nature and free. The use of sunlight is clever as it gives a warm feel to the video, for example the sunset and the slight red tint illustrate the tranquil environment in which the artist is set in. We see a lot of nature which reflects the title of the song and gives the video a lot of realism and sets the scene. The smooth panning movement which tracks the character reflects the calm, relaxed environment.
As you can see the use of the sunlight create a calm, serene environment and sets the mood of the song.
The fact the artist is alone shows how the world can be beautiful and not over crowded like a lot of what we see. The mid-shot allows the audience to see the facial expression.
The fact the artist is alone shows how the world can be beautiful and not over crowded like a lot of what we see. The mid-shot allows the audience to see the facial expression.
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