Music Videos

Music Videos

There are three main types of music videos:

Performance Based- This type concentrates mainly on the artist performing in a studio or a stage. Artists such as Adele and U2 utilise this style of video a lot.

Narrative Based- This type of video revolves around a story and characters in the video. An example of this is Gorillaz- Feel Good Inc.

Abstract/Artistic- This is an unusual style of video and has abstract ideas and themes. An example of this is Christine and the Queens.

Nowadays, most popular music videos are a mix between performance and narrative videos.

Christian Metz model of genre development

Experimental: This stage is where techniques and styles are first explored.

-       Gus Visser- First ever music video. This video was very simplistic and used simple techniques such as a static middle shot of the artist who was centred in the picture as he was the main focus of the video.

Classic: These music videos established certain conventions in its most successful period.

-       Michael Jacksons Thriller is an example of this and is now seen as an iconic music video.

Parody: This is when something famous is mimicked in a comedic way.

-       Weird Al Jankovic’s Eat it is an example of this.

Deconstruction: This is when a video takes elements and ideas from a previous video but in a slightly different way.

-       Madonna “Material Girl” is a deconstruction of Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Question1:

Quite a few aspects of the Hard Days Night performance are used in mainstream, modern day music videos. For example, camera shots such as a close up of the instruments and close ups of the artists singing. The slow pans to show the band members are also used frequently in modern videos. As well as this, the video uses conventional camera shots such as an establishing shot to show where the video is taking place.

Question 2:

MTV in the 1980s was the first tv show of its kind. This was its main lure as people who were big fans of music had a channel they could use to listen to music 24/7. Also around this time, videos such as Thriller and Video killed the radio star were made and shown on the channel, which made the artists more money through MTV.

Question 3:

Madonna uses lots of visual aspects of the Marilyn Monroe musical scene. Props that were borrowed include the dress worn, which is basically exactly the same as well as the jewellery. The back up dancers are also wearing the same costumes: Black suits. They are also holding cut out hearts behind Madonna, which was a main visual idea in the Marilyn Monroe sketch. The setting used in both of the videos are very similar. They are both plain pink backgrounds. Madonna and Marilyn’s body language is also very similar. They both are trying to be seductive and are seen as appealing.

Short Films: Comparative Analysis

What is a short film?

A short film is defined as a short motion picture, usually less than 40 minutes long with credits included. It shows a small snippet of someone's life or a story. The codes and conventions are very similar to those of full-length films. For example, they include opening titles, credits and a storyline, even though this might be vague in a short film due to the restricted time. Character development may also be flawed, as each character may not get enough screen time for the audience to fully grasp what the character is like.




In Andrea Arnolds 'Wasp' the settings used for the majority of the film is a typical working class estate with tall, ugly flats. This setting is usually associated with the 'working class' and issues with anti social people. This ideology is then backed up within the first minute of the film, which shows a single mother with her children going to another family’s home and attacking them and arguing. This could show that this is a dysfunctional family and one that you would usually try and avoid. However, this is the purpose of the short film. It gets you to think about a family one way but then gives you an in-depth look into their lives and shows you their struggles. In this scene, a shaky handheld camera shot is used which makes the audience feel as if they are there with the family, experiencing their problems. This would make them feel sympathetic. The rest of the mise en scene supports the setting as the family is shown in tatty clothes and the mother is wearing a nighty and no shoes. The baby is also half naked which shows the mother was in a rush to cause trouble. This puts her in a bad light as she is shown as aggressive and a troublemaker but really she is just standing up for her children and is being protective.

Despite this, the scene below shows the mother sending the children into the darkness of the car park. This could represent her sending them into danger, as she would rather go to the pub than take care of her children. This would make the mother seem like she neglecting her children and that the children need help to be led out of the darkness. This would again challenge the audiences view of the mother as she has shown love to the children but she has also been a terrible mother.

In Lynne Ramsey’s ‘Gasman’ the setting used is very similar to the one used in ‘Wasp’: a working class council estate with flats. These flats are the famous Red Road flats, which are iconic as they were supposed to be destroyed for the Athletics stadium but still stand today. This could show that just like the family, the flats are still together and still stand despite problems and threats such as a secret family. As well as this an abandoned, overgrown train track is also used with the flats in the background. This makes the whole are seem decrepit and not a very nice place to live. Yet again this could make the audience feel like the family and the environment they live in would represent the society in the film: Not very pleasant and dodgy. At first the family seem like a normal, small family until the story unravels and we are introduced to the fathers other family that the mother is not aware of. This makes us feel like the fathers actions and characterisation matches that of the area that the short film is set in. Despite this both the daughters idolise him, which shows the bond within the family. Yet again, this film shows you one view of a family but then delves deeply into their lives and shows what they are truly like and just that they are a struggling family.

In the scene shown in ‘Gasman’, a dark effect is used at the edges of the camera. This effect could represent that the little girl is currently feeling light and joyful but the dark is creeping up on her. This foreboding reflects the storyline as later on in the film the girl feels pain and jealousy when she finds out that she has a sister. By the end of the film however, this effect disappears which could show that despite her anger, the girl has let go of her negative feelings and is instead concentrating on what is good as she is shown standing in the shadows with a single spotlight shining on her. The light also illuminates the rails of the train track as they go into the distance, which could represent her looking into the future, and as the other family are walking up the track, this could show that the girl wants the other family in her future.

Both of the directors have showed children growing up in extreme circumstances, especially with ‘Wasp’. It also shows however, that despite how bad the childhood is, the parents, with all of their problems, love their children even though they may make mistakes