Analysing music videos and genres

 Pop

In the music video ' See you again' by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth we are shown Charlie Puth playing the piano. He is overlooking the view of the city which is very high up. This connotes heaven where Paul Walker was sent to after he died.  It starts off with an establishing shot of the setting which is of the sea. The camera is slowly panning up, signifying going up to heaven. The reoccurring theme of expensive race cars in the music video is in tribute of Paul Walker, who was in Fast and Furious. Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth both wear black in points of the video, this is because black signifies despair and sadness for the death of their good friend.  The music video starts off with dark lighting, however ends with bright lighting, this could be a message to the audience that we should celebrate his death instead of feel upset. Also the camera pans upwards at the end of the music video, leaving the audience with a positive feeling and message. The music video cuts frequently to Wiz Khalifa to flashbacks including Paul Walker, these flashbacks are memories of his life with his friends.  This makes the audience feel more connected to the music video as it gives us a greater understanding of how deep their connection was. The song itself challenges stereotypes of which genre artists perform together ( rapper and singer) . It is know becoming more common to see rap artists performing with pop singers, widening the target audience. 

Indie

Let Her Go by Passenger is a very simple music video, however it is the simplicity that makes it so effective, this is because it allows the audience to gather their own interpretation, this could be through their own personal life experiences. As it is an Indie genre song the guitar suits the stereotype of Indie songs perfectly. The frequent close up shots enables the audience to see the meaning and emotion behind the song, this is through facial expression that we can see due to the close up shots. The music video connotes to the audience how it was made and performed, giving the audience a deeper feeling towards the song as they can get a feeling for how it feels to be in the crowd and how it feels to of made the song.

Tinnier Tempah - Written in stars

 

We are first presented with a low angle shot of Tinnier Tempah standing on a building , however there are buildings taller then the one he is standing on, this suggest that he is the ' kid no ones cares about'. The music video is therefore promoting a positive image to younger kids saying anyone can be successful no matter your popularity or personality. The narrative of the music video is of a young kid who has a tough life and gets bullied, who then turns out to become successful, again encoding that message to the audience for them to decode and take in the media product. The narrative is representing Tinnie Tempah's childhood, we know as the low angle shots are on the same building. 

Fix You- Coldplay ( POP/ INDIE)

It starts off with an establishing shot of an undercarriage, where Chris begins to walk to the camera in slow motion, this effect exaggerates the sadness of the song even though the outcome of the song is positive. It is set in an urban setting which will be a familiar setting for the audience, meaning a wide target audience should be able to relate to the song and they will be able to feel a connection with the song. The lighting used is mainly low key lighting adding to the depressing mood of the video. As the song develops the setting changes from an urban setting to a live stage, there are numerous long shots of the musicians. There are also close ups of the artists performing their songs to the audience exaggerating the emotion which the artist is feeling this is then reciprocated to the audience which helps them to get a feeling of how much the song means to the artist. The editing is mainly slow paced, however between 1:30- 1:37 it cuts from a long shot of Chris, to a mid shot, to a close up, then to a mid shot, to a close up shot, then ends with a long shot. The montage of all the different types of shots allows the audience to see the emotion once again, body language, as well as establishing the new setting, all in a close proximity. The slow paced editing throughout is what makes this short montage of fast editing more effective as it grabs the audiences attention. However 2:40 minutes the pace suddenly changes from slow to fast paced and this amplifies the song because the tempo speeds up and so do the cuts. The sudden change of pace signifies them starting to become ' fixed' as once you begin to open up, it all becomes a bit brighter and happier, the mood of the song reflects this. The natural low key lighting reflects the genre of the song (pop/indie) this is as it allows the artist to let the song tell its own story. People will also decode the message in different ways to get their own story from it. The first 6 seconds of the music video is silence, this adds to the enigma code as the audience doesn't know what is going to happen next. All of the musicians and singers are wearing all black, signifying the upsetting mood that the song gives off. It is also a typical convention of a pop/indie genre song, fitting the conventions well. 

If I Were A Boy- Beyonce

Released in 2008, the song lyrics are encoding a message to the audience how men and women are portrayed differently in relationships and how men don't understand feelings. Beyonce is presented in the male mindset in this music video and Eddie Goines in the female mindset, in the final stage of the video it reverts back to stereotypes. It plays a story where Beyonce is getting overly friendly with Ryan Locke and Eddie Goines feels cheated on, this is relatable to women who are going through heartbreak and therefore this gains a wider audience because the song has a meaning which the audience can relate their situations to. It also offers the audience personal identity which again attracts the audience . The use of close-up shots throughout the music video allows us to see all the emotions Beyonce is going through which are relatable to the audience. The black and white filter creates a dramatic feel as it makes it look like lowkey lighting portraying a negative image. 

This is America- Childish Gambino (Rap) 

In the opening scene of “This is America” we see a man in a vibrant mood dancing to the background choir music. One thing that I quickly pick up on is that everyone shown in the music video is of the same race and culture, the title of this song, “This is America” has a big impact as because all the people are shown in the video are of the same racial background, people could decode the message that only people of this race can be classed American. 

 

The mood changes when the black man shoots another black man from happy and upbeat to aggressive and more intense. The fact that this happens portrays the problems that happen in America with gangs and guns being legal. The director Hiro Murai uses Zeitgeist to create issues portrayed and to give awareness of the common problems that happen in America. Another social issue portrayed in through media language in this music video is that the dancers are all young teenage school kids all wearing the same uniform. They all look happy, even though he just killed someone. This shows the problems with the way that guns and killing people is socialised in America and is almost part of their culture. This could be due to the way they are brought up or more likely because of what they might see on media or in real life ,such as the news . Another social issue is the way in which he kills all the people. He kills them with no hesitation and without thinking about it. The song portrays all the problems happening in America, starting off with Race, Social problems such as police and more. In the video when he shoots a group of innocent religious choir singers police don’t go after him but instead run past and go to the dead people, this shows a very big problem in the society of America. Now in America and in its history there has been a lot of conflict which is shown on lots of media such as news, twitter, Instagram and more.

 

The representations created are that because of only one race being in the video it suggests that America are not very diverse and there is a lot of racism in America, it gives off the feeling that black and white are not together and have dislikes for eachother. Another representation is that police are not doing the right job which is a big part of why we see people fighting with the police as they disagree with their actions and the way they handle certain situations, a good example of this would be the George Floyd incident. Stuart Hall’s theory of representation suggests that there is not a true representation of people or events in a text, however there are plenty of ways these can be represented. This theory is how meaning is created. In America there are many stereotypes, especially towards black people. In this music video I think they are trying to encode the message to the audience that not all black people are in gangs or dangerous most of them are innocent and should be treated the same as everyone else, which is not the case at times. Stereotypes try to fix meaning of a representation in a ‘preferred meaning’. These stereotypes are now common in America’s society and is a big issue as many people believe this. Also the stereotypes are not helped by media as whenever a black person is on the news for whatever reason, it proves the peoples point who believe in these stereotypes. A lot of this is due to political and historical events in America which they haven’t left behind. 

 

Wake me up- Avicii 

We are first presented with an establishing shot of the setting what looks like to be I'm South America, it then cuts to another short establishing shot of where the women and her daughter live, it is quite an urban setting. We know that they are mother and daughter due to the close up shot of them both having the same tattoo. When they are in public, the women and daughter are dressed in modern nice clothes, whereas the other people are wearing all similar clothes which are complete opposite to what they are wearing. There are many close up shots of the public who are giving them dirty looks as if they don't belong there, most of the looks are from men, symbolising the way men viewed females and the patriarchal society where men hold the most power and view women as less then them. We are then shown a long shot of the women riding a horse into the distance, this signifies class as having a horse is quite high class, this challenges stereotypes of men being higher class, as it is the women who is of the highest class, not the men. 

Guns n Roses- Sweet Child O Mine ( Rock)

We are first presented with a pedastal down camera movement, which goes up from the lights down to the artist playing the guitar. It is filmed in black and white colour, showcasing how old the music video is. The artist are all wearing rock styled clothes, with rock people assets such as long hair, tattoos, piercings. This suits the conventions of rock perfectly. There are only men in the video, and the men in the video are not nice also fitting the conventions of rock. Guns n Roses were ugly, violent and misogynistic, these are features that typically stereotype men, however they were also vulnerable and sensitive at times. This signifies Levi Strauss' theory of Binary opposites as men are normally seen as violent, aggressive and not vulnerable or sensitive. In the music video there are a lot of rapid cuts, this suits the song perfectly as it is quite a fast paced song. The camera is constantly moving, there are many close ups and extreme close up shots on their faces to show their emotion or on the instruments. There are also wide shots and aerial shots used to establish locations. We can see another camera being used by a man in the music video, because this camera is so close to the performance and artist , it gives a feel that what we as an audience are being shown is like a behind the scenes of how the music video was filmed. This is effective as it allows the audience to get a deeper feeling as if we were there when it was being filmed. As well as the point of view shots that are incorporated to give us an insight into what they are seeing and experiencing. It is almost like the audience can experience from two different perspectives. The lighting is very low key, this signifies the dark atmosphere and reflects the mood in the song. The location is very simple and is filmed like they are performing a live show on stage.

AC/DC- You Shook Me All Night Long (Rock)

We are first presented with an extreme close up of the drums, then an establishing shot of the location, which is on a stage with a drum set and people playing guitars around it. The camera then slowly pans in, zooming into the set and getting a close up shot of the artist singing. There are flashing bright lights which contrast the conventions of rock music videos which normally have low-key lighting. Also they are wearing normal clothes, not clothes that suit rock music videos which are dark. The camera is constantly moving and following the leader of the band (singer).