Music Video Influences

MUSIC VIDEO INFLUENCES

Throughout my research into different music videos and styles of filming, the important of various shots, transitions and effects used grabbed my attention. The following music videos all have scenes in which we would like to make our own and implement into our own music video with our own twist on it. The following music videos are:

Cheryl Cole ft Will.I.Am - 3 Words
London Grammar - Nightcall
Lorde - Tennis Courts
Kanye West - Mercy
Tom Odell - Another Love

Cheryl Cole Ft Will.I.Am - 3 Words

This music video was in our favour due to the use of the split screen effect that video consists of throughout. We liked this video effect because it was an obvious split in the screen that would then join back together central to the screen on a significant object or person. From this video, we also noticed that a bright red chiffon fabric had been used as blind folds for the characters in the music video, the fabric is transparent so we are still able to partially see the characters' features, but the majority of their faces are hidden. Each scene incorporates "dance shots" interspersed with sequences in which the focus falls on the two stars alone. Although the dancers look good in this music video and grab the attention of the audience, implementing a dance routine into our own music video is not something that we would like to consider as we feel like this is more of a Pop music video genre convention.

London Grammar - Night Call

The setting in this music video appealed to us. The dark night sky back ground and open field created an eerie sense which kept our eyes drawn to the screen. The transitions and cut-aways to random objects, such as the caravan, held our attention from the beginning of the video and throughout. On the wide shot of the dark field, the main artists were central to the camera and to our attention making us aware that they were the main focus. The artists made direct eye contact with us and as the camera panned around them, their gaze did not follow, they remained facing forwards. We noticed that the band were organised in a triangle shape, with the guitarist in the back left, the pianist in the back right and the main singer being the top of the triangle making her the main focus. The limited amount of makeup on the main artist also appealed to us as she looked very natural and suited the soundtrack.

Lorde - Tennis Courts

Throughout this entire video, the focus of the camera is on Lorde only. We liked this idea as the black background and dark makeup created an on edge and mysterious vibe for us as the viewers and causes us to feel slightly unsettled. The use of the thick, dark makeup was very effective as our attention was solely upon her and her movements. The lighting effects in this video were good as the set lighting would fade in and out highlighting particular features of Lorde. This video is very simplistic and the effect of this is that more attention will be focused on the actual soundtrack and the meaning behind the lyrics. If we were to use this simplistic idea, I think it would be used in short, sharp cut-aways as the video can become quite boring as it is the same thing for the entire running time.

Kanye West - Mercy

When we watched this video, we firstly addressed the clothing of the artists. They were all wearing practically the same, each of them had a different styled leather biker jacket and this created 'gang-like' vibes. The use of editing throughout this entire video was extremely good, split screens were used to double the artists, for example, as Kanye West would take up the position in the centre of the camera, a double of him would appear in the background. This video was filmed in what looks like a parking garage and throughout the video the camera is panning across the room whilst the artists rap. The video is again rather simplistic, however, the editing involved and the sly camera movements make it brilliant. A key part in this video that we admire is when the camera 'swerves' from one side to another on par with Kanye saying 'Swerve'. The camera moves to correlate the lyrics.

Tom Odell - Another Love

The opening to this music video is with Odell being the central focus of the camera making it obvious that he is the main character and artist as the camera is privileging him the most. We like the way the lighting changed in direct proportion to the zoom of the camera lens, for example, as the camera would zoom out of Odells' face so that we were able to see the surroundings, the light changed and became brighter as opposed to the starting dim lighting. We registered that the narrative parts of this music video connoted the lyrics of the song as Odell became immune to the touches of his love and he also became oblivious to the changes in his surroundings as he stayed still in his chair in the same position throughout the video with his eyes fixated on us as the viewers. The setting of this video was very 'vintage-like' including a lot of very old style vintage objects such as book cases, old stereos and old wooden chairs. For our own music video we would like to use this convention for a possible cut away scene which could be used as a time lapse.