Wetsuit, The Vaccines
This use of music videos can be a diversion, use of entertainment, and social relationship as it can be talked about within the audience and even the artists themselves especially those who attended the festival. These conventions make the audience feel festivals are such fun experiences and like a "once in a lifetime experience".
I personally liked the message behind the video, I think it can be very memorable although the editing style is not preferable.
Motivation, Normani
The audience of this music video is teenagers maybe from the age of 18 - 28. This video contains many dancing scenes so the audience who likes dancing could be more interested. This is a very trendy video as well because the scenes captured are more on the "naughty" love line and use the girls' visuals most of the time. This is creative in cases of choreography but it could be too simple.
There is no major storyline that is shown in the video, so it is purely to visualize the song itself. Still, the catchy beat of the song and visualization is likely to keep the audience watching. This represents mostly the black race; the girls in this video all wore very revealing outfits and seemed to find validation from males so I think this represents the dominance of males which for me is not the meaning I would go for.
I personally liked the use of choreography on upbeat music, in my opinion, it was very entertaining but I don't think it is memorable and I prefer using another style of music video.
What You Waiting For, Jeon Somi
The audience of this music video is definitely targeted female teenagers maybe 15 - 25 years old, considering how the meaning of the song itself was focused on relating to female teenagers with the style of the video to have elements of the life of a teenager - messy, full of partying, confused with love. To consider the meaning of this song, the artist talks about herself on why is she so desperate when she has a crush on someone and they know she is also having the crush but no one is still making a move - which can be quite considered a common issue in their age group, capturing heartbreak and teenage confusion.
This music video have distinct features of what a Korean music video would look like, it was very modern it uses elements the west would rarely have, for example the hyper-realistic setting, the multiple personas, though intricate settings are used in both, it is not as prominent in western music video. I really liked this music video as it really utilize eye magnets hence everything was very attention grabbing and kept me engaged, it has a lot of actions with very visually pleasing scenes. Although I dislike how they use and the flow of the music video, I don’t think it matches the song that was played, as the song has a lot of beats and was very quick I think the vide should’ve keep up with that but instead there was many scenes that were slowed down and overall just very slow although the action were big (eg. explosions).
From this music video, I definitely want to keep the scenes visually pleasing though the setting may have to be kept simple. I should also really pay attention to the song we are doing to make sure the music video is kept up to par with the song.
Single Soon, Selena Gomez
This music video is directed to female teenagers or adults of around 20 - 30 years old. This is shown by the mise-en-scene of their outfits which was more revealing and activities done like going to the club and breaking the rules. This music video was definitely more simple as the setting itself was quite straightforward and there were no scenes that was necessarily complicated. This music video also really define and reflect the lyrics. In my opinion, it is a very safe music video that really shows a very fun and relaxed side.
In some cases, I do think it is too simple to the point it felt repetitive and a bit boring, I don’t think there were much exploration in this video which could be the director’s intention after all. These also have a dominant reading of being single is nothing bad and it is actually fun to be single as they show activities a single person can do and still living life. But it definitely represent younger age group more than the older as younger are more keen to take risk and do more dangerous things which is a typical convention of young people.
I liked this music video in way it is very simple and straightforward that it could make the viewers enjoying it and feel like they are part of the experience but I do think in some case, it is too simple that it may not keep all viewers engaged to the video.
You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift
This music video is a representation of a quirky girl who is in love. It took the lore of jock x nerd which is a very stereotypical love story in the media. This video is also heavily targeted to female teenagers as in a way it shows this common theme of love. The character of the ‘nerd’ which is our main characters was shown in mise-en-scene by the glasses, the messy hair, the attire she wear, and how she read book on a bench, or how she is studying to skip prom.
This music video was iconic at The time and it was very memorable due to the distinct storyline. But this video, I don’t think is flexible to other type of target audience although everyone can enjoy it. I find this video to be very engaging and a really good way to keep audience watching as audience would want to know the ending of the story shown.
I liked how they use the storyline, the shots used were simple making it more relatable. The angles was also very straightforward and the way they make the video like a direct visualization of the song so it was easy to understand and entertaining. I don’t think I disliked anything of this video, I might want to incorporate some similar elements to our music video.
5 Star, CL
I think this music video is a really good depiction of a love story, which interestingly doesn’t really aim at teenagers rather than adults as well. This video was like a compilation of the couple’s journey through the time, traveling, doing new activities and just having fun together. Though there were some performance scenes of her silhouette with a bright red background. I think this means there might be a hidden meaning that it is not just their journey but it was like anger and sadness thinking about the relationship.
This music video incorporates mainly 3 angles - close up, medium and wide. The close up shots are used when the couple are being intimate - hugging, holding hands, this highlights the warmth they felt and their connection when being close to each other. The medium shot focus on showing their activities and their surrounding, so it was used when they are doing an activity together while the wide angle signify their freedom and like how large the world are and they were still experiencing it together. This is also those type of music video that wrote the tile in the beginning which is not as common, so this was good to consider.
Personally I liked the simplicity of this video as well, it felt like a very cinematic vlog of the couple’s story hence was easy to digest. It was also very entertaining to watch as it can be considered light, means it was prominently for diversion without the viewers need to think about it. There was nothing I disliked about this video than it being very safe which could make it in risk of boredom but I don’t think they would make the viewers bored especially with the star appeal of CL herself and DPR IAN as the male main character.
Blinding Lights, The Weeknd
Media Language
The narrative of this music video is based on night, revolving around the colorful and chaotic life of Las Vegas. The video features a lot of shaky movements conveying the crazy mood he was in (eg. high or drunk). This was further shown through the use of lights and even how the song was edited, it was slowed down which in this context could mean the build-up of him going crazy or how everything for him moves very quickly to the point the song itself was so slow. This was very suitable considering the meaning of the song itself which is about how one wanted to see someone at night while intoxicated and was "blinded" by all the streetlights when driving toward the person, which explains how this music video was very high-speed as in involving many quick cuts. This video was also very colorful at first which also connotes how so many things are going on then ended with a more low-key and muted color scheme which can be like a scene to show his snap back to reality as he realizes he's the only delusional one.
There were many close-up shots of his face, from the very beginning with the bloodied face, which was also a spoiler from the ending which may made the audience want to watch even more. His face when driving and speeding the car, highlights his fluctuating emotion - serious and full of energy. In a lot of the scenes, his background was also blurred which could be a way to connote the way he saw things - blurry and unclear. This also made the music video more fun to watch and to see the artistic elements as it was also action-packed so the audience wouldn't avert their attention. This video was a very clear notion of aesthetically pleasing visual representation of the song, Blinding Lights.
Representation
This music video focuses on the representation of an intoxicated, drunk driver. This is shown also through the red jacket he wore, it is not a normal suit one would wear and red usually represents love (romance) and fire (wild, crazy). This music video also focused on the representation of LA and Las Vegas, which were the places where they shot the video. They represent these in a way focusing on the nightlife and the whole craziness that one could experience; through the various colors and the mise-en-scene, from cars and buildings they used, they show that LA and LV are luxurious and considered fun places. The actions done also further highlight their aim to show an intoxicated person; how he kept dancing through the night even after he got punched shows him not being in the right mind.
This captures the audience's attention in a way to keeps them watching and staying interested in the plot that was made by the producers. This generates an idea of having the locations be luxurious and dangerous and the idea of the main character being toxic, a risk-taker, and also in a way stupid. This concept is quite common in this genre of music video; having the stereotypical intoxication with the quick speed of shots and scenes. This can be relatable to the theory of Uses and Gratification Theory of Blumler and Katz, of personal identity, they might be able to relate to the main character, although it would be a negative assumption, it can used as a form of reminder or warning towards audience of the negative aspect of being one.
Audience
One main man was used throughout the video, featuring more than one female. It shows him being like a womanizer, loving women. This music video is targeted at both males and females; it targets males in a way of focusing on women's visuals and attracting their interests. The female could be interested in this music video considering how action-packed it was and using the star appeal of the artist himself, Abel Makkonen Tesyafe. Although this music video is definitely not for all ages as there were many explicit scenes and parts where it may not be suitable for younger audiences, the message behind was also not a very positive message - it shows drunk driving and him continuously being infatuated and aroused by different stimuli. This music video appealed in a way of including us in his experiences - there were many close-up shots and was recorded in a way he would also see it hence it felt like we were there with him which was why this music video was very visually appealing - it was very inclusive. It was pretty clear that the director nor the artist himself was encouraging the acts shown in the video as it had this chronological flow expressing how it may be all happy and excitement may end in such failures.
Industry
This music video was very modern - it uses quite complex lighting which may never existed long ago. The editing was also very intricate, in ways they combined both slow motion and flashes, this was never really the style of music video till recently - though in a way it also shows the life of casino, punk, Y2K, and such aesthetics that could be inspired by trends and culture back then. It can't be disregarded how they utilize the internet and social media during distribution as they post it on YouTube and promote it through Instagram hence reaching a huge audience. This allows the audience to interact with it and apply the uses and gratification theory of Blumler and Katz of social relationships as they can comment on the product and spread it in a way of communicating with other people regarding the product.
Party, Girls Generation
I love this music video in ways it radiates such a positive vibe. It shows a group of girls on holiday with the main location being a beach and pool. I chose this music video to research with interest on how they used the beach which is a similar location my group wants to shoot in. I do believe this music video can be a great reference for my group as it delivers almost the exact energy we want to have.
This music video interestingly has animations and doodles that support the positive aura and although it would be something unique to include in our music video, we are not exactly capable of doing that. I also realized that animations could also look messy which is why I wouldn't include animations in our music video. I realized this music video is also very vibrant of the girls' attire and the whole setting as well, I think they added the saturation for the coloring to add more contrast.
From this music video, I am inspired in terms of the mise-en-scene, for the beach scenes I would like to add as many colors as possible, through our props and attire. I personally didn't really like the high saturation though because it doesn't look very natural and might look tacky instead, I also find it very overstimulating so we might not make it as saturated instead.
ETA, New Jeans
I found this video specifically for the car scenes and how they use their phone which caught my eye. I found the way they made the scenes very interesting. They used 2 cars for the scenes and had an unstable pan to show the motion. I loved the positioning of each person to the point they utilized many angles and placement which kept the audience engaged. For the use of phones, I love how they altered both using a camera to show them using the phone from a 3rd person's eye and using what looks like a screen recording from the phone right away to show them using it. The screen recording made it look much more natural and more modern, chill, and easy to watch.
From this video, I concluded that I would like to incorporate the same phone recording they did which should match the concept we are going for. While for the car scenes, although what they did was interesting, I don't think it would be possible to execute the same for our music video as we only have one main character and 5 extras so I don't think they can move positions very much as it would affect our fluidity as well.
Reflection:
Doing this intensive research helped me to get inspiration on how we want our music video to look like. It also gave me guides and references on how music videos in our genre are done and how they usually portray scenes that we want to do. I made these music videos as more ideas for our brainstorming while producing these music videos. This research also identifies what we want to include and what we don't want to include, to produce our most favored music video, which was also done when combining the research I did and the other research my teammates did. The bigger research also allowed me to properly break down the components our music video and identified what made the music video which I find really beneficial for our pre-production.
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