If I Were A Boy - Beyonce

One of our main ideas for our music video is the switch of gender stereotypes. In our pitch we had explained how we were going to have the girl stalking and being obsessed with the boy. However, to deter from stereotypes, we were advised to switch the roles, having the boy be obsessed with the girl instead. This is shown in Beyonce's 'If I Were A Boy' as she has a profession and does things which may normally be associated with a man. 

Mac 1 Pitch

Indie Music Video Conventions

Music videos in the indie genre often have very natural and simple settings in their music videos e.g. in a forest or an empty room. Although indie bands often perform their song within the music video, narratives also get included which allows the music video to have meaning, while also showing the band who created the song.

Also, as indie artists often aren't signed up to any major record labels, the budget for the music videos may be less than that of a popular artist, such as Taylor Swift, who is signed up to five major record labels.

Camera shots, which are often either close up or mid-shots, are very static and move to the beat of the music, whether it be slow or fast paced. It means that the audience can feel the emotions of the artist as it highlights their talent. Long and wide shots are used when showing the narrative to create establishing shots to set the scene.

Editing is an important part of a music video within the indie genre as it's what makes the video stand out and interest their audience. Most indie music videos have special effects and are added over the top (such as a black and white effect) to create a worn, classic look.

I particularly noticed these kind of conventions in the music video for Nothing But Thieves' - 'Graveyard Whistling':

The beginning of the music video sets the scene of where the band are performing, before switching over to the narrative where they show shots of the father and his son out having breakfast, before showing a low angled shot of the boy and his father in front of the block of flats. This creates the establishing shot for the narrative section of the music video. 

The camera shots of the performance move around a lot, especially when the beat of the song is fast paced. This can be applied to the editing of the video which reflects the beat of the music.  Also, the lighting in the video is rather dark creating a very doom-laden atmosphere, which makes you know that something isn't going to end well. 

Song List

In class we came up with a list of examples for performance and narrative music videos. As a group, we found that a lot of current music videos often have a mixture of both performance and narrative, which made it difficult to differentiate between the two, but here are our examples: 

Keeping Your Head Up - Birdy

 

I particularly liked the shots that were used in the music video for 'Keeping Your Head Up', especially with the kaleidoscope effect, but also with their choice of colour. The red and blue tones are a nice comparison to the rest of the music video which is quite dark. I also liked the fact that they begin with Birdy laying down, but also finish the music video in the same spot.

Kodaline - All I Want (Part 1 & 2)

As part of our research, we watched the music videos for Kodaline's - 'All I Want', which were broken into two separate parts. Although the second part uses the same song, it follows on with the storyline which was shown in the first part. What I found interesting about these music videos is that it is rather different to other videos I have looked at, the majority of them only having one video.

The narrative in the first part shows a man who stands out from others he works with due to the way he looks. This makes him a target but also unable to talk to the person he loves. It's only when he stands up for her that she truly takes an interest in him. The narrative in the second part is much more emotional as he loses his dog (who means a lot to him as it is the only thing that doesn't judge him for the way he looks). He has to therefore go around putting up posters in order to find it. The reunion seen was very moving as you could almost feel the relief from the main character.

It is very different to other narrative music videos I have watched and it's one of the only ones that I really had a lot of emotions for so it has quickly become one of my favourites.

 

Bruno Mars - Grenade

Here is a great example of Bruno Mars' music video for 'Grenade' which shows a clear narrative but also shows performance:

Three Advert

An advertisement for the phone company Three came out in 2014, starring a girl singing the song 'We Built This City' by Starship. What I particularly liked about this video is the energy the girl has while she is singing which means you can really tell she is putting her all into it. If we were to have created a performance video, I think it would've been funny to have put a similar amount of energy into it, but I feel much more comfortable producing a narrative music video. 

Bearson - Want You feat. Cal

When looking for new music, I came across this song by Bearson (featuring Cal). I recently watched the official music video for it and I was pleasantly surprised. The dancing seemed very contemporary, showing varieties of emotions, and the different inserted shots added to the whole narrative of the video. I do not fully understand the video but it has given me a few ideas in what we can include in our own music video e.g. the multiple exposure shots.

Nothing But Thieves

 Narrative:

Performance:

Happy Prelim

Indie Bands & Record Labels (Genre Research Project)

Arctic Monkeys

A British indie rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The band consists of Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley, Andy Nicholson, Glyn Jones.

Record Labels: Domino Recording Company, EMI, Warner Bros. Records (Major labels)

Their most recent album was released in 2013 and is called 'AM'.

I feel that Arctic Monkeys began with a lot of underground fans but over the past ten or so years, their fan base has expanded greatly, a lot of different people being able to enjoy the music they create. Also, over the years, their music style has changed to appeal to a larger audience.

Coldplay

A British alternative rock band formed in London in 1996. The band consists of Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion.

Record Labels: Parlophone, EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, Fierce Panda Records (Major labels)

Coldplay's most recent album, 'A Head Full of Dreams', was released in 2015.

Coldplay's music has been produced to appeal to a large audience.

Bastille

An English indie rock band formed in London in 2010. The band consists of Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson, Chris Wood and Charlie Barnes.

Record Labels: Virgin Records, Capitol Records, EMI (Major labels)

Bastille's most recent album is called 'Wild World', and was released this year.

Genre Research Project

1. Decide which genre you’re going to produce a music video for and upload 3 (minimum) music videos within your genre under a ‘research and planning’ label

2. Conduct some research about your artists:

a) Which record label does the artist/ band belong to? Is it an independent or major label?
b) What was the name of their last album?
c) Do you think they are designed to have mass appeal (are they pop) or more elite, underground fans?

3. Create a montage of images for genre conventions. Upload pics of hand drawn spider diagrams or prezis for artists in your chosen genre. Comment on how they represent themselves and how this may appeal to their target audience.

Ideas to include:
- Typically narrative or performance videos?

- Mise-en-scene: iconography, props, costume style, high or low key lighting, locations: urban or rural, set design, colour pallet?
- Cinematography: close up shots or wide shots, special effects
- Message of video, generic types: archetypal gender roles etc. 

Indie Music Videos

We're hoping to create a music video with the genre of indie rock/pop. I found a few music videos which helped with giving me ideas in what music we could use. 

Video Ideas

Here are a few music videos which effects and narrative gave me inspiration for our own music video. It may not necessarily be the genre of music we want to go with but the different effects are something I would like to attempt to achieve.

Prelim Idea

After researching different music videos, we came to the conclusion that for our prelim we would like to attempt to replicate the first 30 seconds of 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams. The shots look simple, but getting the movement of each person exactly the same may be challenging.

3 Favourite Music Videos

We were told to look at all the past ECS music videos and choose three that stood out to us. It was difficult to decide but I managed to cut it down to three of my favourites:

My first favourite music video I chose was a narrative music video. The camera work and the effects they have incorporated into the music video really stood out to me. I particularly liked the slow motion and double exposure shots and as the shots were fast paced, it went well with the fast pace of the music. I also liked their use of reversing the clips at the end.

My second favourite was a performance music video. Their use of a black and white filter goes well with the music and the different types of shots used helped with giving me an idea of what I would like to achieve when making a music video, whether it being a narrative or performance one.

My third and final favourite video is also a performance music video. It looked very professional due to the way things were filmed and the different types of effects they used on those shots.

Music Video Examples

Here are a few music video examples from other schools:

My two personal favourites out of the five:

Narrative and Performance Music Videos

When creating a music video, we have two options; narrative or performance. Creating a music video with a narrative shows the audience a story within the few minutes the song is playing. A performance music video is different to that as it usually shows the artist performing their song. 

Here are a few examples of both types of  music videos:


Narrative

Performance

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