Research into similar Media texts Music Videos

Aerosmith ft Run DMC - Walk This Way


When the song was released it was very different to every other song; it combined two very different genres of music into one song, Aerosmith were a very popular rock band and Run DMC were a very popular Rap group, when the two joined it was very unexpected because they were the opposite of each other, this is highlighted right at the start of the video by the split shot of both sides of a wall, on one side Aerosmith are playing their guitars and on the other Run DMC are shouting at them to turn it down, this shows the contrast between the two bands and almost indicates that they are rivals.



Just as Aerosmith are about to start singing their song in one room Run DMC start singing it instead in their room but they do it in a rap style, you can see Aerosmith are shocked by this as the camera gets a close up shot of the lead singers face and the band stop playing, they get angry and start throwing things at the wall which was typical of this rock band anyway however it tells the reader that there is a definite conflict at the start between the two groups. There is a smokiness in both of the rooms and posters on the walls which indicates that they are either in a small run down venue or in a flat, this contrasts to the second part of the video where they are playing on a big stage in front of lots of fans.
One great shot in the video is when the lead singer of Aerosmith breaks through the wall with his microphone stand and starts singing along to the chorus of the song, the whole in the wall that he came through could represent him breaking the barrior between the two genres of music, it also looks like he has come from a completely different world; the bright light behind him and his big shaggy hair along with the high pitch of his voice really contrast with the darker room that Run DMC are in and their deep tone of voice and all black suits and hats.
There is another very clever shot after that in which another member of Aerosmith pokes his head through the whole in the wall from his room and then when he reappears out of the hole the room has completely changed into a big stage with lots of big stage lights and all of Aerosmith are playing on it. This image contrasts with where the band were originally playing and shows that the band are more famous that the video made out at the beginning, the red lights in the background and the costumes of the band all indicate that Aerosmith are a successful rock band, the open top and tight pants of the lead singer were a trademark outfit for him throughout the bands career. The long microphone is also a stereotypical instrument for a band of this genre, likewise the big guitar with the pointy end on it and the shaggy hair of each member of the band. This all contrasts with Run DMC when they come on stage, which highlights the difference between the genres of rock and hip hop. Run DMC have a much more relaxed manner and the matching suits with the black hats are all demonstrations of how the costumes of the two bands separate them into different genres. The main trademark item of clothing for Run DMC is the Adidas trainers with no laces in them, the importance of them is highlighted by the close up of the shoes when the group are on stage, they are tapping along to the hip
hop beat, whereas Aerosmith are dancing more to the sound of the electric guitar.

The main Narrative of the video is the “coming together” of the two bands, at first they seem like rivals and are competing against each other however towards the end of the video it is made clear that they have joined together and are no longer trying to out do each other, the shot of the lead singer of Aerosmith singing with a member of Run DMC either side of him shows the bond that has been made between the two bands, and that the genre of rock can be mixed with hip hop and sound good. This means that the target audience of the two videos could either be rock fans or hip hop fans, I think the age of the target audience would have been for the younger generation because neither rock or hip hop would have appealed as much to older people. The audience could be either male or female; in the crowd there are a mixture of both genders which could be because of the difference between the two bands, because Aerosmith was attractive to females whereas Run DMC was predominantly listened to by males.

Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice

The music video for this song stars Christopher Walken who is a very famous actor, he normally plays quite serious roles in films and is often the villain in lots of films. I think that Is what makes this video so iconic because of the fact that Christopher Walken is normally very serious however he is dancing around the empty hotel.
The start of the video shows him sitting in a chair in a room by himself, he looks very bored or maybe even depressed, the fact he is wearing a suit shows that he may be quite well payed and a respectable business man, the hotel itself looks very luxurious which would also indicate that the man may be of a higher class. You can tell by the luggage cart that he is in a hotel and the shiny marble floor and various different plants inside the building indicate that it is an upmarket hotel. The luggage that he has on the floor next to him could show that he is about to leave or has just arrived, and the way that he is slouched in his seat shows that he has been waiting in the same chair for quite a while by himself. The costume he is wearing is a stereotypical view of a boring business man; the fact that the suit is a boring grey colour and his matching black socks and shoes all contrast highly with his actions in the video.
When the music starts to kick in at the start you see the man look over to the radio and then look back again, he looks annoyed at the noise and fed up. But as the song gets a bit louder his breathing become more and more erratic, then, as there is a tune starting to play his head starts moving along to it, it is still stereotypically fairly boring but he stands up and starts walking towards the middle of the room. What makes all of this so effective is that the man keeps the same emotionless facial expression as he is dancing. When the song starts to play properly he quickly jumps straight into a highly energetic dance which is completely unexpected, this shocks the reader and adds a comical effect to the video.
Even though he is in exactly the same shot as he was at the start of the video, his actions give a completely different feel to the shot, it is no longer boring or depressing but now makes the viewer feel good and shows that the character in the video is much more energetic and happier than the first impression of him. I think that his actions match the mood of the song to indicate that the music is causing him to dance rather than himself, and shows that he is no longer in control of his own body.
I think a good shot of him is when he is going up the escalator dancing, the camera is moving slowly along with him and then takes a stationary position which makes him get further and further away whilst doing the same dance, at this point it is still a bit of a shock that this man is doing a funny dance and it highlights how important he is by keeping him in the center of the screen even as he is getting further away. Then when he starts to run back down the escalator it shows him being immature, and could be a metaphor for the music causing him to stop following the rules and do what he wants to do.

My favourite shot in the video is of the man jumping on top of a table, and kicking a pile of different sheets of paper into the camera, I think that the fact he is jumping on the table firstly shows his rebellion against the boring stereotype of a high class business man and that he is letting out the childish side of himself. He then kicks the papers right into the camera almost covering it, and the other sheets scatter into the air, I think this is a really clever and original shot and would be a really good concept to work on in my own music video. He then remains standing on the table and dances again, this shot is a good example to show why the video is very effective because there is so much symmetry used with the mise-en-scene which gives it a really professional feel and makes it easier to focus on the main character who is again right in the centre of the shot. Nearly everything in the shot is symmetrical including all the pictures on the wall behind him and the chairs either side of the table he is standing on, it gives a really good clean shot without making it look like the room has been set up specifically for the music video. The various different props used give more indication that the hotel is very luxurious and expensive which makes the characters actions seem much more shocking and unusual.
The editing in the scene where he dives head first off the balcony makes it seem like he is going to fall to the bottom and die but instead e appears to be flying, when he appears to be standing horizontally on one of the balcony walls is a good use of visual effects and camera postioning, it makes him look like he is sticking to the walls. I think this video could be related to Chemical brothers video “do it again” because of the fact that the music is influencing people to act in strange ways and is also the same type of music.
The target audience of the music video is adults, I think that the video shows a typical business man doing what all adults like him would dream of doing, it shows him breaking the stereotype of people like him being very boring and dull which relates to lots of people in boring office jobs who want to have fun and let themselves escape from their day to day routine. I think that is why the end shot is exactly the same as the beginning because the man knows he has to go back to being himself once the music finishes.

Utah Saints - Something Good 08

This is similar to the Fat Boy Slim video because it concentrates mainly on one person dancing.
The storyline to the video is a strange man doing a particular dance in a bar starts to get recognised, and gets more and more famous, he starts to make the news and more people join in with the dance.The above shot is good because it shows the pub setting, and shows that everyone in the pub is looking at the main character in the video. the placement of the pool table at the front of the shot makes it look like the camera is in the point of view of the other person playing pool, indicating that he is also staring at the main character.
The clothes that he is wearing make him stand out from the rest of the pub, they seem to be a little bit out dated along with his big gold jewellery which seems a bit tacky or fake. These clothes all relate to the rap star MC Hammer because the dance which he performs in the video was the trademark dancemove of MC Hammer.



The initial reaction from everyone in the pub seems to be shock and confusion, the camera zooms in on the different sets of people in their places around the pub, the women sitting together all seem quite confused at what he is doing however one of the women gives a facial expression which might indicate that she fancies him. There is a shot of two stereotypical men in the pub, both are overweight and one is bald, it goes in slow motion as one of the men spits his beer out in shock whilst the other looks totally bewildered. I think this is a great shot because I think they do exactly what every stereotypical pub dweller up and down the country would do if someone actually started dancing like that in the middle of the pub, it also shows the mood that the man dancing has set and contrasts with the mood by the end of the video. I think the slow motion capture of the beer spraying out of the mans mouth is a very nice effect and would be good to concider doing in my on music video because it is simple and easy to do. The costume of the two men is very important because they are stereotypically boring coloured jumpers which shows that they do not make much effort with their own appearance. The storline progresses by newspapers flying onto the screen with different titles showing that the man has became famous for his dancemoves, more people start to dance with him. The performance side of the video includes a dance routine from lots of the locals in the town and the bar maid is filmed in slow motion in a tight top; which is a common thing to have in the dance genre videos. There are short comments from the locals in the pub who were at the pub when it first happened, the welsh accent gives it a comical edge to it and makes it seem like they are on a regional news channel being interviewed. The tone in each of their voices shows that they now enjoy the mans dancing and think that he is talented. The clothing of the old man is very stereotypical of his age and he quotes "Me and the wife came in for a nice quiet pint" the word quiet is stereotypical of the old man wanting some peace and quiet, however the dancing man was there and by his facial expression the old man isn't very happy about it.
There are lots of fast cuts between the people getting interviewed and the dance routine, which highlights what the people are talking about in the interview and what is actually happening with the main character. When he is made to sign the contract about the dance the camera zooms right in on the sheet to show what he has to sign for and then when it zooms out a different hand picks up the sheet and folds it, when he turns around you see that he is wearin a bright gold suit which shows that he is wealthy and the camera focuses on the writing on his back which says MC Hammer. I think this is effective for the band because it could show the viewers that they know really famous people and may be liked by other famous pop stars.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

This video is all performance based and contains the whole of the band Nirvana, at the very beginning there is a close up of on of the band members shoes, which are a pair of old converse, these were trademark shoes for the grunge bands at the time. The room is dark which fits the mood of the music and the fans.
There is no storyline to the video and it is pretty much all based on the performance aspect which goes with the song because you can see the band playing all of their instruments which makes it look like they were playing live. There are lots of shots of all the crowd headbanging and it has been put in slow motion, this is a good effect because all of the crowd and the band have long hair so you can see it going all over the place.

I think it is aimed at teenagers who like rock or grunge music, because of the way the band and the crowd are dressed and the style in which the band play their instruments. They are quite aggressive and seem to take their music very seriously. In the crowd their are many people crowd surfing and jumping around which was typical of a live gig of this genre of music, there is also a trademark mosh pit shot in slow motion and lots of fast cuts between the different members of the band and the crowd.

Nirvana - When The Lights Go Out (DVD BOXSET)

The DVD cover for Nirvana is quite basic, with a black and orange colour scheme. I think they use these colours because they go with the genre of music. The black and white photo of the band on the front of the DVD cover looks very effective, and the fact they are wearing suits makes it even more effective because it keeps with the black and white theme and also makes it symmetrical.

On the back it has the three discs split into seperate sections, this makes it look formal and professional and also easy to read and understand. Nirvana is written in the same font all over the cover because it is the name of the band, the spine also has Nirvana written on it in the same style along with the name of the DVD. This makes it look professional and not too over-crowded.

I think that the grey box at the top right of the front cover looks effective on the black background and makes the writing seem a little bit more subtle than it would be if it had just been written straight onto the black background.

Introduction

As part of our A level media we were asked to create a music video to accompany a song of our choice. We were put into groups based on how well we worked together and by what the teachers have observed of us as individuals. Our group consisted of, Jake Newstead, Scott Shannon, Rebecca Houghton and Victoria Collings. We researched into songs by artists that we all enjoyed such as Pixie Lott and Kings of Leon, we then selected one that didn’t have a video, the song we have chosen is ‘Cant stand me now’ by The Libertines, this song is well-known and very popular. Once we had selected our song we then began to think of names, we came up with ‘The Youthemisms’ the spelling of the name is a play on the word euphemism which relates to our band well, as it contradicts our storyline.

Analysis of current music videos

I chose to analyse 3 music videos to give me some insparation into the media market.

Lady gaga – Bad Romance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I - Youtube link

Lady Gaga’s bad romance video features many elements of symbolism such as the wax work used on her figure to show how ‘plastic’ the modern day artists seem to be. Lady Gaga uses many shocking ideas to wow the audience and to freak them out. The image that Lady Gaga has in the media currently is enhanced by her wild videos and strange clothing. The dance moves are also quirky and shows this ‘strange’ side to Lady Gaga. The long distance shots show the dance moves and allow the Mise en scene to be seen properly.

The lighting used at 1.00 in the video emphasises the dark and eerie atmosphere to the lyrics and links to the overall theme. The close ups used in the video are used to show Lady Gaga’s expressions and make-up which is what her fans would be interested in. The overall storyline of the video is clearly about a relationship that isn’t working and follows Todorovs theory which says that a video must start well then have a problem and then it to be reconciled. There is no performance shots in the video and is all based on the singer and her narrative.




Beyonce – Ego
Youtube link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQgIxAreK0I&feature=channel

Ego is a continuation of the video ‘Single Ladies’ which features the same dancers and background to the video. This video is very much based around the image of the celebrity, it shows Beyonce and her two dancers from single ladies with a plain brick background and a chair, they dance consistently, and the video shows many good shots. The majority of the video is shot in black and white which gives it an interesting look and emphasises the mise en scene. The video has proved to be a great success as it showed a new sexy side to Beyonce and has been used by many other musicians.


The video shows intertextuality as it is heavily based upon ‘single ladies’ also by Beyonce. The target audience for this song is people who enjoy pop and Rnb music. The main shots used are long shots to show all three dancers and the image they portray as Rnb woman, many close ups are also used to show the artist, this video is also very image surrounding and focus’ on showing Beyonce to her fan base which is very wide. Beyonces videos are largely based around her appearance and sex appeal, this wasn’t always showns in earlier videos such as irreplaceable but as she became a wider known artist the videos became more image conscious and she became more as a sex symbol rather than a normal modern day RnB artist.




Pink – So what
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XKZh3vWeGc - Youtube link
Pink creates a narrative in this video as you see her progress and ‘get over’ her ex in a rebellious way. It is also very much focused on the performer herself and how she spears after the media created such a stir about her divorce, this is shown in the way in which she got her ex, Carey to appear in the video. The overall concept of this video is to show that she doesn’t need a man and has moved on. The video features many great shots and camera angles, the beginning of the video shows pink on a garden mower, the camera is focused on a parking space and Pink rides into the shot, and this is effective and also edgy.


The camera is often placed low and filmed upwards to show the power that pink now has over Carey. A green screen is used in the bridge of the song where Pink is stood with her ex and headlines that papers actually wrote about her break-up are shown in the back ground. I believe the video to be extremely successful; Pink had been off the music production scene for a long time and to then come back with a video that shows her back to her normal rebellious self is relieving. The video shows a typical side to pink that she is well known for. The target audience for this particular song is pop and rock listeners. This video uses many different shots and angles to portray the storyline.