Jessie J- Price Tag
This is the song I used to do my screen test shot. I like both the song and the music video, the song is quite fun, catchy and simple, and same with the video, it’s also quite simple and would be easy for me to create. She just uses a green screen, and changes the colour of the background, a basic idea but the video as a whole is really good. A wide range of shots are used for example, long shots, close ups, mid shots etc. The actions that Jessie J does, and the visuals shown in the video, all relate to the lyrics and the song. For example, the song is all about money, and in one scene, Jessie J is standing under a money tree, which relates to the song. Jessie J uses a wide variety of different costumes and props, which is what I would like to do in my own Music Video.
Rihanna - Unfaithful
This music video contains a slow intro, and as the music gets faster, it gets louder and the cuts from each shot are speeding up too. An introduction is used to introduce what the video is going to be about, introduces characters and settings. The video is all about love, and how this woman is stuck between two men, one portrayed as good and one portrayed as bad. High key and low key lighting has an effect on the way the two men are portrayed. This video contains two main locations, which both play a part in telling the story of her song. One location is outside, in public, with high key lighting, which means there are no secrets, nothing is hidden, being portrayed in the public eye means that there are no wrongs or affairs between the couple. However, this is a binary opposite location to the second location, which is with another man, in a dark room, away from all eyes which signifies secrets being kept, maybe tells the audience that the truth is sinful, and since she is with another man, suggests she is having an affair with him. In the first outside location, Rihanna wears white outfits, this shows her as innocent and pure, that she has not committed any sins and that everything between the couple is right and well. The lyrics Rihanna uses for example “And I know the he knows I'm unfaithful, and it kills him inside to know that I am happy with some other guy, I can see him dying” shows that this good guy knows she is having an affair, but he must love her so much because he still sticks around and doesn’t confront her about it, maybe because he just doesn’t want to lose her. She then goes on to sing “I don’t want to do this anymore, I don’t want to be the reason why, every time I walk out the door, I see him die a little more inside, I don’t want to hurt him anymore...” this shows that she cannot do it anymore, she wants to tell him or leave either one of them, she just can’t take doing this to him. This video is effective as normally, it’s the men who are unfaithful, but in this video it’s the woman being unfaithful, which shows the woman’s viewpoint on her cheating.
Rihannas different locations are a good idea, something which I would like to do for mine maybe. The fact she uses the outside, white outfits etc when she is with her current boyfriend, and she is indoors, in a dark room, with black outfits suggests that with this guy she is having an affair with, there are secrets which are not yet out in the open, which is what the song is all about. I think this video most relates to the Music Video which I wish to create, as it is about love and hurt, which is what the song I have chosen to use is about.
The Cribs- I’m a realist
The chorus says it all about this music... “I'm a realist, I'm a romantic, I'm in indecisive piece of sh*t”. Basically, he can’t decide whether he wants to commit to a girl and be romantic or be a realist, and just casually date different girls. The story is of him going on a date with a girl, the video says they plan to meet at 8pm, and the clock next to the phone shows that it is now 5, so the props are used to set the scene and let the audience what is going on. This video contains a record and an old fashioned telephone which straight away gives the audience an idea of what kind of times this music video is set in, as if the video was modern, the girl and the boy would probably be talking on their mobile phones and the music would probably be played from an ipod, CD or mp3 device. As soon as the beat drops, both characters are introduced, the screen is split into two, one showing the boy and one showing the girl, which is called the “butterly effect”. They are both doing the same thing, so we see the exact same things happening throughout, but from both a boys and girls perspective. There is no sound of their dialogue, so what they are saying to each other appears below them. The pair plan to meet up with their two tickets to see “The Cribs”, which is the band that sings the song, therefore this is a form of promotion, by using their own band in the music video. When the phone is put down, the boy and the girl start to get ready, doing the same things, which turn out different in some cases, for example when the girl starts to brush her hair, he plays about with his, and then pops a spot on his face. The music video uses the two characters to sing the lyrics to the song; however it is clear that they are not the actual singers, as the girl mimes a male voice. The male actor always mimes the bit “I'm a realist” and the female always mimes the “I'm a romantic” which is basically saying he is the one who wants to keep it casual and she is probably thinking this date means something more. However they both say they are indecisive, which does make sense as she doesn’t know what she’s doing, maybe she is so excited that she’s just getting confused, because she puts her make up on and tries new things with her hair and then decides she’s going to have a bath, which would ultimately mean that she has just put her make up on for no reason because she will have to re-do it now. As the verse gets faster and the music speeds up, shots of the characters on their own are shown, edited in straight fast cuts of them moving and getting ready, almost like a time lapse, and in time with the beat. Whilst getting ready, with the whole song speeding up and the lyrics are acted out by the male, the woman is in the bath and when the video focuses on her, she ends up killing herself in the bath, meanwhile the boy is waiting outside “The Cribs” concert for a long time, he thinks he has been stood up. Everyone comes out of the doors of the stadium and he is left standing there, with the song then ending.
Florence & The Machine- Dog Days are Over
In the video by Florence and the Machine, I firstly noticed that they use green screen, which basically can erase the background, they can then change it to whatever they want. However the producer/director has chosen to leave the background blank. A wide variety of Music Videos do this, as it creates emphasis on the actual actor and makes them seem more important. At the start of the video, it is just the one actor on screen. The colours used in this video are bright and stand out against the plain background, the actors hair is ginger, so it stands out, however her face is painted white and she is dressed in a long white dress. The use of accessories gives her a retro look. When I look at her in this scene all in white, she seems to resemble a zombie bride or a vampire, what with her pale face and long draped faded white clothes. There is then another shot of her, she is dressed in brown and red, still with a white face, but this time a black mask is covering half of it. This means there are now two shots of her, being swapped and changed between each other regularly. The background is not plain white any more as there is red smoke all around it and she seems to come in when the voice is dragging on at the end of the lines. After the lines “she hid no turning back”, a beat comes in to the song, and two blue girls also come in to the shot with the main actor in the white dress, they clap to the beat. This whole video seems very visual and mythical. When the beat comes in, the shots seem to get faster and vary in which shots are used. The smoke in the other shot is now grey coloured as well as red. The actors and their actions and dance moves seem to have no relevance to the lyrics at all. With only being 34seconds in to the song, I have already noticed a vast majority of shots being used, from long shots, mid shots close ups and over the shoulder shots. This means that the video is not so boring and shows various angles of the scenes which interest the audience. At 54 seconds, instead of wearing the black mask, or wearing just the white face paint, she has red eyes, and this shot is an extreme close-up, the use of strange colours again seems to have little or no relevance to the song, however I have noticed that the more I play of the song, the crazier the characters and make up gets. At 56 seconds, there are people in red capes playing harps, they appear when the sounds of the harp are introduced, so the whole song is basically introducing new things as they appear and as things change and improve. The green screen background of plain white has remained throughout the whole video, with the occasional coloured smoke. At 1:07 she is against the white background, this time with two guys who are covered up and are playing the drums, this goes back to what I was saying when I said, more visuals come in, when more instruments and beats do. The colour theme seems now to be purple and this whole video so far has no relevance to the actual lyrics. The shots are getting faster as the beat speeds up, the drummers are now shown with the main actor and the blue girls, so the scene is getting more and more busier as the song builds up. Her voice is changing a lot when comparing the first chorus with the third time she sings the chorus, she seems to sing at a higher pitch and carry that on for a longer time. At 1:33, there is a bang of the cymbals by a Harajuku boy, and everything seems to go calmer and more quiet, the actors also get low and look down. Suddenly everything turns dark and the white background which has remained white this whole time, changes to a black background. The lyrics when the background is back are “ And I never wanted anything from you, except everything you had and what was left after that too, oh”. I interpret this as the guy who’s making her happy does something bad, or leaves her, due to the previous lines, and also lines such as “she hid around corners”... But then, she goes on to sing again about “happiness hitting her like a bullet in the back”. Everything returns to crazy and white, so I guess she is happy again. The video now makes sense to me, the scenes were white and she was dancing around in the smoke, because she was so happy, and have now returned to this which shows she is happy again. More clapping is introduced and what seems like a whole choir is now introduced to this already busy scene, combined with the smoke and the previous actors, the beat is upbeat and gives the feel of a party as everyone is dancing around and clapping. Slowly, one by one the actors disappear, and leave just her, this is effective as this is how the video started off.
