Example 1: Paolo Nutini - New Shoes (CLICK HERE FOR LINK)
Here is a very conventional style of music video. The song itself tells a story, so the artist acts as a narrator to this story and carrys out the lyrical story, whilst miming along with the song. The start of the video shows a small animation of a neighbourhood, followed by introduction text overlayed on the clip, to resemble the start of a television programme or film. Editing is very conventional to that of a film or T.V programme, shot mostly in mid-shot and occasionally in full shot to show his location/position. There is some clever cutting, including the opening of the fridge door and wardrobe, framing the character, and each shot is generally interesting, but maintains the narrator as the focus point. The entire clip itself seems to follow the structure of a normal day, from morning to night, and as the song is upbeat, the mise-en-scene suggests an upbeat atmosphere, for example. There is clever suggestions of instruments, but fitted into the party scene, not as if a live performance like in other music videos. The clip finished with a standard information bar overlayed on the final shot, with the name of the song, the artist and the album.
Conventions to Note:
- Narration of the lyrical story by character.
- Character miming the lyrics throughout.
- Mostly shot in Mid-Shot, occasionally Full Shot.
- Interesting and clever cuts.
- Mise-en-scene appropriate for the upbeat genre of the song.
- Suggestions of the instruments played in the song.
- Ending Information Bar.
Example 2: Bon Jovi - Always (CLICK HERE FOR LINK)
Another music video which tells a story, however it isn't as obvious as the previous example. The video cuts from the story to a live performance of the clip by the band, with a story being acted out by actors. As the story is separated from the live performance, it is filmed much more to the style of a film, with a wider variety of shots and camera angles, and the performance with simple mid-shots and close ups to relate to the romantic genre of the song. Another thing i notice when watching this music video is that a lot of the cuts go to the beat of the song, another convention of a music video. Slow motion shots are also used to emphasize the romantic genre also.Conventions to Note:
- Live performance from band.
- Cuts between story and Live performance.
- Story shot in similar style to a film.
- Camera cuts to the beat of the song.
- Close up shots of instruments being played during solos or key instrumental parts.
Example 3: The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way (CLICK HERE FOR LINK)
Another slightly different style to the previous two examples, rather than having a story, the music video is simply the band playing in a variety of random places, with vague shots of them traveling from place to place. The entire time the lead singer continues singing to keep the realism of him singing. There is a lot of hand held camera use, to give the impression that its an up beat, messing about sort of video, which could have been filmed by one of the members, giving the video a very laid back, relaxed feel to it, which goes with the genre of the song well. Camera shot are very simple, with mid-shots of the lead singer, full shots of the whole band, close ups of the instruments being played, and establishing shots to recognise the location.
Conventions to Note:
- "Fun video" - quite random, vague story/ little relevance to the song.
- Continuous singing/playing of instruments, keeping the realism.
- Hand held camera for fun, upbeat, laid back feel.
- Mid-shot for lead singer.
- Full shot for band.
- Establishing shot for location.
Example 4: Nerina Pallot - Everybody's Going To War (CLICK HERE FOR LINK)
This music video has a very loose story line, based on the idea of war, relating to the lyrics of the song itself. However, the music video has a clever spin off of this idea by setting it in a supermarket, lightening the concept of war in order to not make the song appear depressing or too serious, a clever concept for a music video. The artist (Nerina Pallot) is the character in the music video, miming along to the song being played, similar to Example 1. This gives the music video a more realistic feel as the audience will recognise the song being sung by a woman. Unlike the previous 3 examples, the shots on the character singing are most often close ups, and this is because the song itself has a deeper meaning behind its lyrics, so this is emphasized by the close ups. The music video often cuts away from the singing character, with shots of the public fighting in this supermarket.. This adds a very comical element to the music video and also is a convention that a lot of music videos use. As the music video begins, there is a simple instrumental introduction, to which the music video uses to establish the location of the video. Also, the singer isn't singing the entire time when in shot, for example towards the end. This gives her a more realistic role in the storyline itself, as we wouldn't imagine her to be singing, and is another convention often used in a music video.
Conventions to Note:
- "Fun Storyline Video" - random and vague story, relates to the song and puts a comical twist on it.
- Singer miming in the video.
- Singer is artist.
- Close up shots for powerful lyrics.
- Cuts between storyline and character singing.
- Instrumental introduction used to establish location.
- Singer not singing entire time for realism.
Example 5: Foo Fighters - Pretender (CLICK HERE FOR LINK)
The reason why I chose this music video is because I think that it is a very clever concept. As the music video begins, the location of a band set up in this large white room is establish during the short musical introduction. During the first few lines of the song, the shot doesn't actually show the singers face, showing that the shot doesn't necessarily have to show miming if the lyrics are being sung. After making the audience think that the music video is simply a live performance, the audience is introduced to this line on the ground and a riot police character, which through establishing shot, we find is facing the bands live performance. Soon the audience is introduced to an entire line of riot police characters, who appear to be getting aggravated by the music, as we can tell from the close up of the singers faces cut to the close up of angry riot police faces. With the clever use of the quiet interval of the song, the riot police begin to run towards the band, when suddenly, in sync with the climatic burst of music, masses of red water sprays out from behind the band, knocking over all the riot police as the band remain standing. The entire scene is shot in slow motion as to capture the drama of the shots, even the instruments being played, which despite being played out of sync, can still be understood as playing the beat. The entire concept of the music video goes well with the genre of the song, which is heavy rock, known for its rebellion, which the music video epitomises here.
Conventions to Note:
- Shot reverse shot to relate the characters.
- Challenging styles of music videos.
- Setting up the scene during the musical introduction.
- Don't necessarily have to show singers face whilst miming.
- Simple story line.
- Slow motion shot capturing dramatic moments.
- Instruments can have slow motion shots and still be established as being played with the music.
- Music video relates to the genre of the song.
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