1985.
The first video I will look at is WHITNEY HOUSTON - HOW WILL I KNOW
The first thing I notice watching the video is the bright colours. The colours of the walls are a striking yellow, pink, purple and reds. Whitney wears a plain grey dress, with the backing dancers wearing all black. This centres the attention on whitney, and the dancers, as there outfits do not clash with the background. The outfits are very simplistic and don't tell much of a story on their own.
Whitney Houston dances down what looks like a maze, bumping into different dancers throughout the way. She then reaches the end, hugs a male dancer and then as the beat changes the shot changes to a close up of Whitney, wearing an oversized headband. She has heavy purple eye makeup and bright pink lips. She is dancing infront of a coloured screen, still wearing the same black dress.
There is a mid-shot where the dancers are completing a dance routine, The dance moves are very basic and some out of time. The dance routines have a clear link to the style of ballet, contrasting with style of the music. The transitions and shots used within the video are basic and mainly include mid-shots and long shots and quick shot changes. As the lyrics begin, Houston lip syncs along extremely well. It then cuts to a mid shot of Whitney dancing where she looks lost. After this there is a set of 'crazy mirror's which appear. These mirrors are associated with circuses, which are places of fun and laughter. This helps add to the fun of the music video, which is a characteristic to pop music. There is then a sped up scene of a bird-eyes view of the maze. This then creates the theme of a crazy house, relating back to the crazy mirrors.
There is also the use of shadows. The dancers dance behind one of the coloured screens, withe the lights reflected to we can see there silhouettes. I really like this and think it could be used in a mysterious way, although that is not how it has been used here.
One of the costumes that stood out the most to me was one consisting of half a bride dress and half a grooms suit. This is very eye-catching and interesting for the audience. This continues to add a fun element to the video, he then fades out representing her chance of finding someone to marry also vanishing.
One of the last scenes is Whitney searching through a line of doors, trying to find the man of her dreams. She finally finds him in the last door and then her along with other female dancers break through the doors. Close up shots are used to show the excitement and happiness on their faces. Bright lighting is used to add to joy of the story.
The video ends with a group of the female dancers handing Houston phones. As the music fades out there is a zoom out shot following Houston walk away. There is then a fade to black with the name of the recording label clearly shown. This is shown so people may then go on to find more of their music if they liked that song, and for copyright reasons.
Overall, the music video was bright, loud and fun. The storyline was not heavy and was easy to follow. Whitney remained in the same outfit the whole time and although there was different scenes, only one location was used. I believe the video represented a pop song clearly with the use of fun props and colours.
2000.
The second video I will look at is 'N SYNC - BYE BYE BYE
The music video begins with the title of the song above the background of a fast moving montage of clips that are in the music video. It then fades to black and we see an old fashioned theatre, with human puppets hanging down in a sepia colour scheme. It then cuts to a coloured crane shot of the puppets being controlled by a female puppeteer. The shots, angles and props are already much more complex then the video from the 1980's which was all very basic angles and locations. The band 'N SYNC are seen as the puppets and complete a styled dance routine which is very effective.
A minute into the video we once again can see how far technology has came in terms of music videos. The puppeteer cuts the strings and two members of N SYNC are seen as falling down, here a green screen has been used to make it appear that the are falling down whilst a moving image has been put onto the green screen in editing. The green screen has also been used to for when the band are running along the top of a train away from the female.
It the cuts to another location, where the boy band are completing a dance routine. The dance moves are different from the 'How Will I Know' video, and are more of the street dance genre. It has been edited so it looks as if one member is walking up walls, defying gravity. The fast pace of the shots represents the genre and speed of the music. The use of the different coloured green screens they are dancing in front of gives the impression of even more locations being used. Whereas in Houston's video only one location was used.
There is much more of a story being told in this video then in the previous one. There are two main parts to the video. The part where the band are running away from the female puppeteer on the train. I believe the metaphor for this is that the woman is controlling there lives and they want to escape, relating to the name of the song 'Bye Bye Bye'. The second part of the video is where they are completing a dance routine within another location, which looks like a box.
A wide variety of angles and shots have been used when showing the dance routine. This creates an interesting image fro the user to look at. For example, some shots appear to have the group dancing on the sides of the wall and upside down. Although this technology seems very basic compared to what we see today there is a noticeable difference from the cuts and editing in this video then in the video studied for the 1980's. Boy bands where very popular in the 1990's and choreographed group dances in videos where very common. This differs to boy bands of this era such as One Direction and The Wanted who are not known for dancing in video's. Throughout the scenes where the band are seen as puppets and the dance routines the members lip sync to the songs well.
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Half way through the video, another member of the group has been cut off the puppet strings. A close up shot has been used to the joy from the female as she cuts the strings. Here we meet another location as lead singer Justin Timberlake lands in what seems to be dark lit warehouse. The low key lighting creates a sense of unknowing and mysteriousness.
We then see the last two member's being cut down, landing in a car. The music then stops, and for the second time in the video, there is an added in part which is not heard in the song. This is to add details into the music video and would be ignored if the song was played on CD or radio for example. Sound effects of the cars engine have also been added in purely for the music videos purpose.
The video ends with the last two members speeding down a road with the female following. It frequently cuts between the location of the cars racing and the dance routine. As the car's increase with speed the dance routine is also sped up. The distorted angles in the 'box' are still used adding a distorted view for the audience. It also appears much more interesting then just one angle of the group completing a dance routine.
This video compared to today does not use as much technology and the quality of the video is quite poor. However it clearly portrays a pop genre song through the use of the dance routine and fun, upbeat shots. The whole theme of the puppets also derives from the album title of which the record was released from, called 'No Strings Attached'. This video now has over 98,500,500 hits on youtube.
2014.
The last video I will look at is MARK RONSON - UPTOWN FUNK ft. BRUNO MARS.
Uptown funk was a huge hit in 2014, spending 14 consecutive weeks at number 1 on the US Billboard 100 and 7 weeks at number one on the UK Top 40. The catchy song's video has now had over 1,700,000,000 hits on youtube, meaning it is the third most watched video on youtube in the world.
The music video begins with a mid shot of a women walking in time with the beat to the music. We then have a mid shot of the two artists, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, this introduces them to the audience. A close up layer is then added on top of this shot of Ronson, lip syncing to the 'Oooow' which is the main start to the song. This is repeated at the end of the music video, which I believe gives the impression of a finished product.
From the outset we can see that the quality of the cameras has improved hugely since the 2000 video. The industry now has access to higher quality camera and more advanced hardware and software. We then see a variety of wide and mid shots whilst the Mars and his backing dancers approach the camera. This helps set the scene and allows us to familiarise with the characters.
THE CLOSE UP SHOTS.
We then see the males all in a line watching a variety of females strut past. This relates to Laura Mulveys Male Gaze Theory. We only see the bodys of the women, which objectifys them and gives more attention to the outfits that they are wearing.
There is then lots of fast pace editing made up of a variety of different angles and shots leading up to the drop of the music. A mid shot is used on the drop of the music and then on the chorus the camera rotates. This camera movement makes it engaging for the viewer and adds a different, fun element to the music video without just using fast pace editing.
The dance moves are all in time and much more neater and slick then the first music video studied. The choreography consists of moves that look quite laid back and simple but complement the genre well. The simplicity of the dance moves associated with the chorus allows the audience members to copy the video well and if they hear the song and all know the famous dance they will feel more connected to the music video and the artists. Bruno Mars lip syncs wonderfully throughout the music video.
The continuous use of different shots, angles and rotations gives the music video an upbeat feel and always give the audience something to watch. With the bright colours used for both the costume and the location and the large emphasis on the dance routine we can definitely tell that it is a pop genre music video. The quick editing represents and links to the song well. The atmosphere given off by the music video is cool and quirky and it is not a sexual videos like other pop videos seen today (e.g. Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop).
Near the middle of the video we meet a new location, a hairdresser's. The equipment being used in the salon, along with the outfits and setting already seen, shows the audience that the music video would have been set in the 60s. Ronson appears in the chair next to Mars, and appears throughout the music video in the background, as he is the producer and not the vocalist. This differs to the previous videos studied as they wouldn't have had the producers as well known or appear in the videos.
At the end of the song we meet another location, a concert. Mars and Ronson and the dancers appear on a stage with flashing lights and instruments singing, dancing and having a great time. If viewers see the artists having fun whilst listening to the song, they will then associate the song with enjoying themselves and join in with the concert they can see on their screens.
Living in such a fast pace society, it is important that music videos appear interesting to their audience. Due to everything being instant now and the high use of social media, people want to watch something quickly and then move on. For example, the success of VINE (a six second video app) was due to the user being able to quickly see the video and move on. However, as songs last around 3-4 minutes, obviously the music video must also. Therefore, the video needs to keep the viewer engaged and wanting to carry on watching throughout, so that they don't skip it and move on to the next thing.
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