Research

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In this music video i like the use of a canvas projection to highlight the main performers which i think is very effective. What i dislike about this video is that the majority of the video is performance and there is little narrative throughout the video which can make it seem quite boring which is why in my music video I am going to include an even amount of both performance and narrative.




What i like about this music video is the use of a continuous combination of both performance and activity throughout the video. For example the use of different uses of everyday items creating a continuous line of motion which builds up to create and different and interesting end to the video and also the use of the band performing whilst all this is going on works well.What i dislike about this video is that there isn't many varied shots and only focuses on one shot which makes it seem repetitive and quite boring as it carries on, and also there is a distinct lack of narrative.

                

In this music video i like the use of stop motion throughout the song which i think makes it more effective and interesting as it can illustrate the lyrics very well and we could include features of this video in our own project.
I also like the combination of narrative and performance which makes the video more interesting which is what I plan to do in our music video.

                

In this music video the majority is narrative which is good because it keeps the audience entertained, I would like the majority of our music video to be narrative. According to the Pop Star theory research I have looked into, stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people".



I like this video because there is only one person performing each role of the band, this is an effective technique as is a interesting and unique way of illustrating the song and its lyrics. From the pop star theory Dyer proposes that a star is an image not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. One of the things I dislike about the video is that there is very little narrative and the majority of the video is performance.

Final Choice



I will be working in a group with Ashley Scott and Aaron Scott. When discussing ideas for music videos with my group members, we felt that a music video that relies mainly on narrative would be more interesting to watch and therefore keep the audiences attention. I asked for the opinions of Ash and Aaron on the song 'Where is The Love' by 'The Black Eyed Peas' as a potential choice for our music video, my reasons for choosing this video where that it was a song that I was very familiar with and had lots of ideas for narrative that we could use. Ash and Aaron both agreed that this would be a great music video to recreate for our A2 coursework and contributed a wide variety of ideas towards the narrative and performance elements of the video.

Research Into The Artist



Taboo, Will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Fergie


The black eyed peas are an american hip-hop group formed in Los Angeles, California in 1995. The group includes rappers Taboo, Will.i.am, apl.de.ap and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide. Their first worldwide song was 'Where Is The Love?' in 2003, which topped over ten charts worldwide. 



Research of Videos in Our Genre of Music Video




Firstly there are various close ups of the artist Akon which emphasises he is the main artist and makes him stand out from the rest of the characters in the video. There is a use of low key lighting which suggests a quite mysterious and gloomy atmosphere which relates to the use of characters as prisoners as fairly suspicious and mysterious, and this is emphasised through the whole video, and also creates a stereo type of prisoners as being the bad guys.

The use of a new artist being promoted, Eminem at 2:14 keeps the audience interested, the tempo increases along with the editing used such as shorter shots. This foreshadows a more upbeat part of the song where Eminem raps and lets the song and artist being 'one' and together throughout the whole video. It also promotes the artist and maintains the interest of the audience.

There are various slow motions throughout the music video which allows the artists to gain more attention and represents the importance they have. The close ups of the female character at 1:50 enhances the females beauty and emphasises her effort to look good for the other males in the room. The use of fades emphasise the time passed that the prisoners have withdrawn while being in prison and foreshadows that they will soon be let out.

The narrative used at the start of the song is used to build up the relationship of the characters and the story behind the video to the audience. The start of the narrative shows the artist Akon in prison and gives the audience a outline of what will happen and why he has been let out of prison.

The costumes used are very dull using colours of black on their clothing, this emphasises a very mysterious and inauspiciousness to the video. It also suggests that they are trying to stay hidden and perhaps that they are not meant to be there but instead doing something else. Akon's costume is very dull and mysterious as he is out of prison and suggests that he is not meant to be doing what he is doing in the video which contrasts with the next artist Eminem. His costume is very bright which emphasises that he can do what he wants and may not have to worry about being caught as he has not been in prison in the video.

The male artists are all shown to be wealthy from the clothing they are wearing which suggests their power and wealth from the other characters and emphasises that they are the main artists in the video. The male artists are all wearing rich jewellery and rich clothing for example Akon is wearing a suit, which suggests the stereotype of males being more wealthy and their status as being much higher compared with the other artists.

The impact these videos have had on making decisions for our music video are to create a great impact on the audience by thinking about the costumes used and promoting the main artists and to emphasise their power over other characters in our video. These videos have given ideas such as varied shots such as close ups promoting the artist and slow motion/fast motion shots to focus more on the artists themselves.

I feel our music video will relate to these as these promote the stereotype of R&B songs as being wealthy and promoting the artists to a big extent to show their power towards the audience.



Another video I am going to analyse is Justin Timberlake "I'm Lovin' it. The narrative in this song basically shows the artist trying to find a woman. The first feature I noticed was that it has an unusual pace compared to other R&B videos. It was fast at some points but then quite slow at others. This was to relate with the quick paced narrative of the artist rushing around a city but then getting delayed at parts. At one point in the video the artist uses direct address to the audience, this is quite an unusual but effective feature, as it makes the audience feel part of the narrative. This is an idea that I intend to use in our music video because the video is asking the audience where is the love, so we are directly addressing the audience and asking them to help make the world a better place. Another thing I like about this video, as that it does not focus around wealth and fame, something that a lot of R&B videos do focus on. In our music video I want to show the less wealthy side of society and so will also not focus on wealth and fame. As the song progresses the pace of the song quickens as the artist nearly reaches the woman he is after, this is effective because it helps to build tension towards the narrative, something that I wish to do in our music video

The use of costume in this video is quite basic, I like this because it does not make the artist stand out that much from the crowd, and therefore audiences can relate with the artist more. The lighting is quite dull, which is odd because the video is quite a fast paced, and interesting narrative. I feel that brighter light could have been used for this video. However in our video I feel that quite dull natural lighting would be effective because it fits in with the run-down locations we intend to use. With regards to setting, this music video is filmed in an urban city, we intend to film some of our music video in a city, however the city is slightly less modern and quite run-down in comparison, this fits in with the theme of the song.





Conventions of an R&B/Hip-Hop music video


From my research I have found that the most common conventions of the genre are:

• Black male artists are a common convention of this genre, we have decided to challenge this convention, as we are going to use white artists, we hope to show that white people can perform songs of this genre and disprove the stereotype

• Run-down urban settings are used a lot in the videos that we have looked at, we are going to use a lot of these locations as it fits in with the theme of the song, and helps to show the economic depression of some areas of the world.

• Lots of jewellery was worn by the artists, this is not a convention that we intend to use in our music video, as I feel it would draw attention away from the run-down poorer locations.

• Attractive women are another common convention of this genre, we do not intend to focus on attractive women in our video as it could draw focus away from the main message of the music video.