(3) Critical Analysis of Student-Made Music Videos
Pre-Existing A-Level Music Videos
To extend my research on music videos for my preliminary task, I will analyse previous media studies students' work. This will help me with my coursework because it helps me to see the kind of things the exam board specifically want as opposed to the professional music industry. Furthermore, it provides inspiration for my own coursework.
'Stuck' - Canopy Climbers (Henry Nathan)
Editing
The editing of this video is quite generic. They tend to opt for shorter takes to suit the pace of the song, as long takes wouldn't suit the bounciness and repetition. A technique they don't use is cutting-to-the-beat. This choice was effective because the song doesn't really have a defined beat, meaning that cutting to it would be pointless because the purpose of cutting-to-the-beat is to emphasize the beat.
The student also chose to use cross-cutting between different scenes. This is used to create a balanced look, rather than playing them all chronologically so the audience gets bored by watching the same scene for a long period of time before changing to the next one. It also allowed the student to place particular scenes and shots where they fit with the music. For example, the shots that have slow movement tend to be placed further towards the beginning whereas the more dynamic shots are placed in the chorus.
Special effects are used to create a glitchy effect. Although it is aesthetically cool, it seems a little irrelevant to the story and comes out of nowhere, looking out-of-place to the rest of the video.
Performance/Narrative
The student opted to use a mixture of performance and narrative sequences. This was an effective choice because both sequences help bring their own benefits to the video. For example, the performance sequences, in which a character is lip-syncing, help add a professional touch to the video, as this is often used in videos in the professional music industry. The use of lip-syncing not only creates a sense of professionalism, it also helps emphasise particular lines or lyrics to the audience, as these lines are the ones that are visually spoken on screen, drawing the audience's attention to these in particular.
In terms of the narrative sequences, these help grip the audience by giving them a story to follow and characters to root for. Creating a sense of story and character makes a video more memorable, as it provides the audience with something to follow and engage with.
In this video, the narrative sequences are chopped up and don't have any form of chronology to them. This makes the story a little incoherent, however, there isn't really a plot to follow for chronology or structure to benefit. It just shows small snippets of different characters living their lives.
Setting
The choice of setting is used effectively in this video, as each location and time correspond to the nature of the scene. For example, the narrow alleyway seen in the fight scenes as alleys are often associated with danger and crime. Therefore, the dangerous setting corresponds to the violent scene. Lighting and colour are also used to further reinforce this idea. For example, the low-key lighting and low-contrast, cool-toned colour palette help create a dark and scary atmosphere, as darkness and gloom are often associated with fear and danger.
Similarly, the setting is also used to connote peace. For example, in the intro, a field surrounded by trees is used to show the characters at peace. This is because natural environments often connote peace and happiness, which emphasize the calm atmosphere the characters are in as they sit drinking together. The lighting and colour, once again, emphasize the calm setting. The use of natural lighting and direct sunlight adds a layer of warmth to the image, creating a happy atmosphere. This is heightened by the warm tones added in post-production.
In the performance sequences, high-contrast, dramatic lighting is used in a very ordinary, domestic setting. This may have been done to completely contrast with the narrative sequences, making the change-in-scene more dramatic. The bedroom may have been incorporated to help allow the audience to get to know the singer based on their environment, or help create a sense of intimacy to allow the audience to firstly, like them and secondly, familiarise themselves with him, as the singer, to help promote the artist (or at least imitate this).
Pathetic fallacy, such as the rain, helps reflect the desperation the beaten-up character is feeling as he helplessly lays on the floor in agony.
Costume and Props
The costumes in this are relatively ordinary for youths. This helps establish their age to the audience and create a sense of identity for each character, as they're all dressed quite fashionably.
Props are used effectively to define relationships to the audience. For example, the use of drinks and snacks being shared between the two characters. This establishes a relationship, as casually eating snacks and drinking together is something normally done when people are friends, thus showing the audience the friendship between these characters.
Props are also used to reflect a character's inner thought or emotion. For example, the punching-bag being used by one of the characters reflects the character's frustration, anger or even determination, as punching-bags can often be used to relieve stress or anger. Similarly, with the fire, fire can often represent rage. When the character is sat staring into the fire, it could show them reflecting on their own rageful or angry thoughts.
Camerawork and Composition
A range of camera shots are used in this video. For example, close ups are often used to capture a character's emotion and expression. They're also used to draw the audience's attention to important objects, such as the drink can. This allows the audience to understand the meaning behind objects, in this case, the can reflects friendship.
A mid-shot is used effectively to help emphasize the theme of friendship at the beginning by showing how close they are. Furthermore, by containing them equally in the frame suggests they see each other as equals, thus reflecting on their fair and healthy friendship.
While the camera angles are generally neutral (eye-level) in the video, some angles are used to effect. For example, high angles are used to emphasize victimhood when the victim of the assault is shown, as this makes him look vulnerable.
Most of the shots are quite dynamic, with smooth tracking and pans. This creates a sense of professionalism as camera movement has almost become synonymous with the music video aesthetic. It is also used to direct the audience's attention to the movement onscreen, such as the character walking. By moving with the subject, it cancels out the movement (making the shot less chaotic) and keeps the subject in the centre of the frame.
Something I noticed is the fact that in the performance sequences, the shots are static. Whereas, in the narrative sequences the shots are dynamic. This may have been done to mark the change from narrative to performance sequences and create contrast. However, the movement may have been used in narrative and not the performance to reflect how, with the narrative scenes, the story is moving along and progressing.
In terms of composition, the main subjects are almost always positioned in the centre of the frame to highlight their importance to the audience. Similarly, subjects that are of importance are often placed at the front of the set arrangement. Paired with lighting (where the subjects at the front tend to be lit and the objects are the back aren't), this adds more depth to the frame to create an interesting, busy look. While most of the important subjects are placed nearer to the camera, in the shot in which the victim is on the floor, there is a lot of space between him and the camera. This makes the character seem small, insignificant and vulnerable, reinforcing his victim status. In the scenes where he is getting beaten, his perpetrators are always in front of him, showing how they make him insignificant and vulnerable.
Creativity
The video was relatively creative in that it used objects etc. to reflect a deeper meaning. The use of various camera shots is creative and it makes the video visually interesting. However, the story wasn't very original or creative and it failed to grip me.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
The main thing I liked was the visuals. The overall quality, the smoothness of the camera movements and variety of camera shots made it visually interesting to watch. However, I felt that the visuals were often ruined by excessive colour grading, as it removed any natural feel and looked quite tacky. Furthermore, the use of story was quite bad as it was so hard to understand what exactly was going on due to lack of structure. Furthermore, the dark story didn't really fit with the upbeat nature of the song, in my opinion.
'Girls' - The 1975 (Ben Wisdom-Quieros)
Performance/Narrative
Performance in this video is done very effectively as they chose a very talented performer/actor for the role. He is very expressive and good at staying in sync with the music. The student chose to merge narrative with performance to create a seamless effect. The performance element makes the video look professional.
The story is very original as it follows a boy who's attached to things associated with his childhood, such as his hat or the drink 'Sunny D'. The video demonstrates how he feels with and without these items.
Setting
The settings are very generic locations. This helps add a sense of realism. Likewise, with making the video set in a modern period.
The lighting is generally very natural, this creates a neutral effect.
Costume and Props
The costume the character wears is quite dark, which may reflect something about how he's feeling. Furthermore, it contrasts with the nostalgia-inducing item (Sunny D), this may represent how much he has changed since childhood. The costume is quite ordinary for a young person, which adds realism and reflects his identity.
The props are very creative in that they mean something for the audience to infer. For example, the hat and his attachment to it or the relationship between the Sunny D and his childhood.
Camerawork and Composition
There is a range of camera shots used to connote something. For example, the long shots used, particularly in the b&w sequences, help create a sense of distance and perhaps make the character seem lost. Whereas mid-shots are often used when he puts on his hat, the mid-shots are the most natural looking shot and therefore reflect the comfort he feels when he wears his hat.
The angles used are predominantly neutral. This allows the audience to see the character from a very natural perspective, allowing them to form a respect for him as a character as the angles show him in a friendly, natural way.
The camera movements are generally used to move with him and are especially effective if a pedestal shot is used. This elevates with him and therefore show his rise, making him look more dramatic and powerful.
The composition is effective because it portrays him as confident and self-assured. For example, he often dictates where he is in the frame by moving (closer or further away from the camera), meaning that it's not the camera (or audience) that has the influence over where he stands.
Creativity
Overall, the video is very creative, especially compared to the previous two. This is because (unlike the others) it is both creative in terms of narrative and idea as well as creative by visuals and editing. For example, the creative uses of editing techniques or the original and gripping plot.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
Overall, I liked the video, especially the story. This is because it's original and seems to have taken a lot of though. Furthermore, I liked the range of camera shots used and the advanced editing.
This being said, there's one thing I cannot stand in video or photography: selective colouring. This is because it looks so tacky and unprofessional.
'Stuck' - Canopy Climbers (Henry Nathan)
Editing
The editing of this video is quite generic. They tend to opt for shorter takes to suit the pace of the song, as long takes wouldn't suit the bounciness and repetition. A technique they don't use is cutting-to-the-beat. This choice was effective because the song doesn't really have a defined beat, meaning that cutting to it would be pointless because the purpose of cutting-to-the-beat is to emphasize the beat.
The student also chose to use cross-cutting between different scenes. This is used to create a balanced look, rather than playing them all chronologically so the audience gets bored by watching the same scene for a long period of time before changing to the next one. It also allowed the student to place particular scenes and shots where they fit with the music. For example, the shots that have slow movement tend to be placed further towards the beginning whereas the more dynamic shots are placed in the chorus.
Special effects are used to create a glitchy effect. Although it is aesthetically cool, it seems a little irrelevant to the story and comes out of nowhere, looking out-of-place to the rest of the video.
Performance/Narrative
The student opted to use a mixture of performance and narrative sequences. This was an effective choice because both sequences help bring their own benefits to the video. For example, the performance sequences, in which a character is lip-syncing, help add a professional touch to the video, as this is often used in videos in the professional music industry. The use of lip-syncing not only creates a sense of professionalism, it also helps emphasise particular lines or lyrics to the audience, as these lines are the ones that are visually spoken on screen, drawing the audience's attention to these in particular.
In terms of the narrative sequences, these help grip the audience by giving them a story to follow and characters to root for. Creating a sense of story and character makes a video more memorable, as it provides the audience with something to follow and engage with.
In this video, the narrative sequences are chopped up and don't have any form of chronology to them. This makes the story a little incoherent, however, there isn't really a plot to follow for chronology or structure to benefit. It just shows small snippets of different characters living their lives.
Setting
The choice of setting is used effectively in this video, as each location and time correspond to the nature of the scene. For example, the narrow alleyway seen in the fight scenes as alleys are often associated with danger and crime. Therefore, the dangerous setting corresponds to the violent scene. Lighting and colour are also used to further reinforce this idea. For example, the low-key lighting and low-contrast, cool-toned colour palette help create a dark and scary atmosphere, as darkness and gloom are often associated with fear and danger.
Similarly, the setting is also used to connote peace. For example, in the intro, a field surrounded by trees is used to show the characters at peace. This is because natural environments often connote peace and happiness, which emphasize the calm atmosphere the characters are in as they sit drinking together. The lighting and colour, once again, emphasize the calm setting. The use of natural lighting and direct sunlight adds a layer of warmth to the image, creating a happy atmosphere. This is heightened by the warm tones added in post-production.
In the performance sequences, high-contrast, dramatic lighting is used in a very ordinary, domestic setting. This may have been done to completely contrast with the narrative sequences, making the change-in-scene more dramatic. The bedroom may have been incorporated to help allow the audience to get to know the singer based on their environment, or help create a sense of intimacy to allow the audience to firstly, like them and secondly, familiarise themselves with him, as the singer, to help promote the artist (or at least imitate this).
Pathetic fallacy, such as the rain, helps reflect the desperation the beaten-up character is feeling as he helplessly lays on the floor in agony.
Costume and Props
The costumes in this are relatively ordinary for youths. This helps establish their age to the audience and create a sense of identity for each character, as they're all dressed quite fashionably.
Props are used effectively to define relationships to the audience. For example, the use of drinks and snacks being shared between the two characters. This establishes a relationship, as casually eating snacks and drinking together is something normally done when people are friends, thus showing the audience the friendship between these characters.
Props are also used to reflect a character's inner thought or emotion. For example, the punching-bag being used by one of the characters reflects the character's frustration, anger or even determination, as punching-bags can often be used to relieve stress or anger. Similarly, with the fire, fire can often represent rage. When the character is sat staring into the fire, it could show them reflecting on their own rageful or angry thoughts.
Camerawork and Composition
A range of camera shots are used in this video. For example, close ups are often used to capture a character's emotion and expression. They're also used to draw the audience's attention to important objects, such as the drink can. This allows the audience to understand the meaning behind objects, in this case, the can reflects friendship.
A mid-shot is used effectively to help emphasize the theme of friendship at the beginning by showing how close they are. Furthermore, by containing them equally in the frame suggests they see each other as equals, thus reflecting on their fair and healthy friendship.
While the camera angles are generally neutral (eye-level) in the video, some angles are used to effect. For example, high angles are used to emphasize victimhood when the victim of the assault is shown, as this makes him look vulnerable.
Most of the shots are quite dynamic, with smooth tracking and pans. This creates a sense of professionalism as camera movement has almost become synonymous with the music video aesthetic. It is also used to direct the audience's attention to the movement onscreen, such as the character walking. By moving with the subject, it cancels out the movement (making the shot less chaotic) and keeps the subject in the centre of the frame.
Something I noticed is the fact that in the performance sequences, the shots are static. Whereas, in the narrative sequences the shots are dynamic. This may have been done to mark the change from narrative to performance sequences and create contrast. However, the movement may have been used in narrative and not the performance to reflect how, with the narrative scenes, the story is moving along and progressing.
In terms of composition, the main subjects are almost always positioned in the centre of the frame to highlight their importance to the audience. Similarly, subjects that are of importance are often placed at the front of the set arrangement. Paired with lighting (where the subjects at the front tend to be lit and the objects are the back aren't), this adds more depth to the frame to create an interesting, busy look. While most of the important subjects are placed nearer to the camera, in the shot in which the victim is on the floor, there is a lot of space between him and the camera. This makes the character seem small, insignificant and vulnerable, reinforcing his victim status. In the scenes where he is getting beaten, his perpetrators are always in front of him, showing how they make him insignificant and vulnerable.
Creativity
The video was relatively creative in that it used objects etc. to reflect a deeper meaning. The use of various camera shots is creative and it makes the video visually interesting. However, the story wasn't very original or creative and it failed to grip me.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
The main thing I liked was the visuals. The overall quality, the smoothness of the camera movements and variety of camera shots made it visually interesting to watch. However, I felt that the visuals were often ruined by excessive colour grading, as it removed any natural feel and looked quite tacky. Furthermore, the use of story was quite bad as it was so hard to understand what exactly was going on due to lack of structure. Furthermore, the dark story didn't really fit with the upbeat nature of the song, in my opinion.
'Girls' - The 1975 (Ben Wisdom-Quieros)
Editing
The editing is fairly basic in this video: there is no use of creative transitions. The takes are generally quite short or of medium length. This is appropriate for the upbeat nature of the song.
The main editing technique that carries the video is the use of cross-cutting. It is this use of editing that progresses the story and sets up the big reveal as it is used very slyly to alter how the audience perceives the story.
The editor decided to incorporate text to introduce the video, however, this isn't done very effectively. This is because, firstly, the text used is boring and ugly and doesn't suit the happy tone of the song and video. Furthermore, it is placed quite small in the corner of the screen and is unnoticeable as it is. However, a huge mistake is made in that the text is placed to the side of a character. When watching a video, audiences automatically look for faces over anything else in a frame. This means, placing text that the audience should read next to a face makes it the second thing they will look at in the frame - the text isn't on the screen long enough for the audience to even notice it, let alone read it. A way they could have overcome this problem is if they had made the text more visible, larger and across the character, so that the text is now the most prominent subject in the frame, or perhaps even placed the text on a frame in which a person's face is not visible, making the text the first thing the audience will look at.
Another thing this student failed at was attempts at editing techniques such as cutting out certain movements to create a choppy effect that signifies progression. For example, when the male character is walking along the path, time jumps several times so that he's moved further along. The reason this doesn't work so well is the fact that not enough frames were removed to make it look like a jumping effect, as the distance he had moved in between the jump cut was not very far at all. In fact, it doesn't look like it was done purposely at all and looks like bad quality, jumpy footage filmed at a low frame rate.
Performance/Narrative
There is a mixture of both performance and narrative in this video, and it's done quite creatively. This is because they opted to merge the two together so that the characters featured in the video are miming the lyrics. This is interesting because it saves constant cutting between performance and narrative, allowing the story to progress whilst adding an element of performance. Another creative thing
The narrative was really creative because it began with a seemingly generic 'boy-meets-girl' trope as the audience assumes the two characters featured are getting ready to go on a date together. The audience soon finds out that the female character was in fact on a date with her girlfriend, and the male his boyfriend. This creates a pleasant surprise in the audience. While this can be perceived as a fun, creative plot, it can also have a much deeper meaning. This is because it draws the viewer's attention to our very heteronormative culture and the fact that we shouldn't be surprised to see LGBTQ+ characters in media. This video was a lighthearted way of pointing out a deeper social issue.
Setting
The locations featured in the video are very ordinary and fit with the plot. For example, the domestic environments, such as the boy's bedroom, look very boyish and help reflect the character's age (teen/young adult). This adds a sense of realism. Similarly, with the restaurant/cafe, it is a very realistic place for people to meet for a date, making the video more convincing.
The lighting throughout the video is very high-key, this emphasizes the happy, lighthearted sound of the music. Furthermore, the song is quite modern/electronic sounding, so the artificial lighting corresponds to this sound.
Costumes and Props
Props play a really good role in letting the audience get to know the characters without dialogue. For example, the use of makeup and the amount of outfit changes the female character endures shows that she very much cares about her appearance. Similarly, the male character using aftershave shows that he cares about how he smells. Furthermore, the way he uses it (putting so much on) suggests that he's quite nervous about his date as he contemplates putting more on and ultimately does.
The costumes are appropriate because they look like clothes young people would wear, reinforcing the realism.
Camerawork and Composition
There was a small range of camera shots being used, such as the long shot to show the characters travelling or the close-ups to capture expression as they get ready. Close-ups and mid-shots are used most effectively to help tell the story as these very intimate shots stop the audience from seeing what's actually going on, helping the reveal at the end become more dramatic. The use of the two-shots emphasizes this further as the viewer finally sees them with their real dates - the two-shot capturing their intimacy and helping to define their relationship.
Most of the angles are neutral, this creates an equal and respectful relationship between the character and the viewer.
The composition is basic as they follow the basic guidelines stating that the main subject should be positioned in the centre of the frame to stress their significance.
Creativity
This video is extremely creative, especially in terms of story. It's not often the audience are tricked in music videos, especially in such a fun way. However, although the idea for the video is creative, the way they executed it isn't, really. As they don't use very much to make it originally and creative in terms of technical codes, such as the editing or the camera shots.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
The main thing I liked was the plot, as it was original and very fun to watch. However, visually, I feel it could have been better. For example, the way they framed their footage left far too much empty space in the frame - this made it look very amateur and visually boring.
'Polarize' - twenty one pilots (Matt Pummell)
Editing
The editing in this video is very creative because they use editing to both enhance storytelling as well as compliment the music. For example, the footage cuts when the music drops. This provides a visual representation of the music and, therefore, emphasises the drop, heightening the viewer's experience.
The takes are generally quite short, with some exceptions. This is effective because it suits the fast-paced rhythm of the song. There are a few creative transitions rather than only using straight-cuts. For example, short, blank and repetitive intervals create a dramatic lead-up to the next shot.
The use of special effects really help tell the story. For example, selective colouring draws attention to important objects such as the Sunny-D bottle. A dissolve effect is used to make the character disappear and reappear and a different image can be seen when the camera looks through the frame of the character's hands. This not only makes the video visually interesting, but it adds to the story as it helps the audience understand what the character is thinking. Similarly, using greyscale footage and then coloured footage guide the story, making sure the audience understands exactly what is going on.
One editing fallback that occurred was the use of text. While the text use of is becoming increasingly popular in modern music videos, it has to be done effectively to work. At the beginning, the text tells the song and artist. However, it is barely visible because it's white on a very light grey background. Furthermore, it's very small and positioned at the very bottom of the page, making it even more unnoticeable. The choice in font is not very effective, also. The font is very tacky looking and makes the intro look very amateur.
The editing is fairly basic in this video: there is no use of creative transitions. The takes are generally quite short or of medium length. This is appropriate for the upbeat nature of the song.
The main editing technique that carries the video is the use of cross-cutting. It is this use of editing that progresses the story and sets up the big reveal as it is used very slyly to alter how the audience perceives the story.
The editor decided to incorporate text to introduce the video, however, this isn't done very effectively. This is because, firstly, the text used is boring and ugly and doesn't suit the happy tone of the song and video. Furthermore, it is placed quite small in the corner of the screen and is unnoticeable as it is. However, a huge mistake is made in that the text is placed to the side of a character. When watching a video, audiences automatically look for faces over anything else in a frame. This means, placing text that the audience should read next to a face makes it the second thing they will look at in the frame - the text isn't on the screen long enough for the audience to even notice it, let alone read it. A way they could have overcome this problem is if they had made the text more visible, larger and across the character, so that the text is now the most prominent subject in the frame, or perhaps even placed the text on a frame in which a person's face is not visible, making the text the first thing the audience will look at.
Another thing this student failed at was attempts at editing techniques such as cutting out certain movements to create a choppy effect that signifies progression. For example, when the male character is walking along the path, time jumps several times so that he's moved further along. The reason this doesn't work so well is the fact that not enough frames were removed to make it look like a jumping effect, as the distance he had moved in between the jump cut was not very far at all. In fact, it doesn't look like it was done purposely at all and looks like bad quality, jumpy footage filmed at a low frame rate.
Performance/Narrative
There is a mixture of both performance and narrative in this video, and it's done quite creatively. This is because they opted to merge the two together so that the characters featured in the video are miming the lyrics. This is interesting because it saves constant cutting between performance and narrative, allowing the story to progress whilst adding an element of performance. Another creative thing
The narrative was really creative because it began with a seemingly generic 'boy-meets-girl' trope as the audience assumes the two characters featured are getting ready to go on a date together. The audience soon finds out that the female character was in fact on a date with her girlfriend, and the male his boyfriend. This creates a pleasant surprise in the audience. While this can be perceived as a fun, creative plot, it can also have a much deeper meaning. This is because it draws the viewer's attention to our very heteronormative culture and the fact that we shouldn't be surprised to see LGBTQ+ characters in media. This video was a lighthearted way of pointing out a deeper social issue.
Setting
The locations featured in the video are very ordinary and fit with the plot. For example, the domestic environments, such as the boy's bedroom, look very boyish and help reflect the character's age (teen/young adult). This adds a sense of realism. Similarly, with the restaurant/cafe, it is a very realistic place for people to meet for a date, making the video more convincing.
The lighting throughout the video is very high-key, this emphasizes the happy, lighthearted sound of the music. Furthermore, the song is quite modern/electronic sounding, so the artificial lighting corresponds to this sound.
Costumes and Props
Props play a really good role in letting the audience get to know the characters without dialogue. For example, the use of makeup and the amount of outfit changes the female character endures shows that she very much cares about her appearance. Similarly, the male character using aftershave shows that he cares about how he smells. Furthermore, the way he uses it (putting so much on) suggests that he's quite nervous about his date as he contemplates putting more on and ultimately does.
The costumes are appropriate because they look like clothes young people would wear, reinforcing the realism.
Camerawork and Composition
There was a small range of camera shots being used, such as the long shot to show the characters travelling or the close-ups to capture expression as they get ready. Close-ups and mid-shots are used most effectively to help tell the story as these very intimate shots stop the audience from seeing what's actually going on, helping the reveal at the end become more dramatic. The use of the two-shots emphasizes this further as the viewer finally sees them with their real dates - the two-shot capturing their intimacy and helping to define their relationship.
Most of the angles are neutral, this creates an equal and respectful relationship between the character and the viewer.
The composition is basic as they follow the basic guidelines stating that the main subject should be positioned in the centre of the frame to stress their significance.
Creativity
This video is extremely creative, especially in terms of story. It's not often the audience are tricked in music videos, especially in such a fun way. However, although the idea for the video is creative, the way they executed it isn't, really. As they don't use very much to make it originally and creative in terms of technical codes, such as the editing or the camera shots.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
The main thing I liked was the plot, as it was original and very fun to watch. However, visually, I feel it could have been better. For example, the way they framed their footage left far too much empty space in the frame - this made it look very amateur and visually boring.
'Polarize' - twenty one pilots (Matt Pummell)
Editing
The editing in this video is very creative because they use editing to both enhance storytelling as well as compliment the music. For example, the footage cuts when the music drops. This provides a visual representation of the music and, therefore, emphasises the drop, heightening the viewer's experience.
The takes are generally quite short, with some exceptions. This is effective because it suits the fast-paced rhythm of the song. There are a few creative transitions rather than only using straight-cuts. For example, short, blank and repetitive intervals create a dramatic lead-up to the next shot.
The use of special effects really help tell the story. For example, selective colouring draws attention to important objects such as the Sunny-D bottle. A dissolve effect is used to make the character disappear and reappear and a different image can be seen when the camera looks through the frame of the character's hands. This not only makes the video visually interesting, but it adds to the story as it helps the audience understand what the character is thinking. Similarly, using greyscale footage and then coloured footage guide the story, making sure the audience understands exactly what is going on.
One editing fallback that occurred was the use of text. While the text use of is becoming increasingly popular in modern music videos, it has to be done effectively to work. At the beginning, the text tells the song and artist. However, it is barely visible because it's white on a very light grey background. Furthermore, it's very small and positioned at the very bottom of the page, making it even more unnoticeable. The choice in font is not very effective, also. The font is very tacky looking and makes the intro look very amateur.
Performance/Narrative
Performance in this video is done very effectively as they chose a very talented performer/actor for the role. He is very expressive and good at staying in sync with the music. The student chose to merge narrative with performance to create a seamless effect. The performance element makes the video look professional.
The story is very original as it follows a boy who's attached to things associated with his childhood, such as his hat or the drink 'Sunny D'. The video demonstrates how he feels with and without these items.
Setting
The settings are very generic locations. This helps add a sense of realism. Likewise, with making the video set in a modern period.
The lighting is generally very natural, this creates a neutral effect.
Costume and Props
The costume the character wears is quite dark, which may reflect something about how he's feeling. Furthermore, it contrasts with the nostalgia-inducing item (Sunny D), this may represent how much he has changed since childhood. The costume is quite ordinary for a young person, which adds realism and reflects his identity.
The props are very creative in that they mean something for the audience to infer. For example, the hat and his attachment to it or the relationship between the Sunny D and his childhood.
Camerawork and Composition
There is a range of camera shots used to connote something. For example, the long shots used, particularly in the b&w sequences, help create a sense of distance and perhaps make the character seem lost. Whereas mid-shots are often used when he puts on his hat, the mid-shots are the most natural looking shot and therefore reflect the comfort he feels when he wears his hat.
The angles used are predominantly neutral. This allows the audience to see the character from a very natural perspective, allowing them to form a respect for him as a character as the angles show him in a friendly, natural way.
The camera movements are generally used to move with him and are especially effective if a pedestal shot is used. This elevates with him and therefore show his rise, making him look more dramatic and powerful.
The composition is effective because it portrays him as confident and self-assured. For example, he often dictates where he is in the frame by moving (closer or further away from the camera), meaning that it's not the camera (or audience) that has the influence over where he stands.
Creativity
Overall, the video is very creative, especially compared to the previous two. This is because (unlike the others) it is both creative in terms of narrative and idea as well as creative by visuals and editing. For example, the creative uses of editing techniques or the original and gripping plot.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
Overall, I liked the video, especially the story. This is because it's original and seems to have taken a lot of though. Furthermore, I liked the range of camera shots used and the advanced editing.
This being said, there's one thing I cannot stand in video or photography: selective colouring. This is because it looks so tacky and unprofessional.
Comments
Post a Comment