Music Video Research

You Me At Six - Save it for the Bedroom
This music video features a narrative style. It involves a talk show, much like "Jerry Springer", this is a topical reference that will appeal to their target audience. The video also features all of the band members playing various character roles, until the end of the video when the band perform for the audience. This follows typical media conventions for a music video featuring narrative and performance. However the lyrics and the video do not run parallel, and have no distinctive link.

The genre is alternative, this is shown in the artists clothing and performance style. There is no special editing involved, except for the censoring of nudity. The cameras use a shaking effect to make them appear as if the show in the narrative is broadcasting live and is fast paced. The camera focuses on the lead singer, but uses fast cuts to close ups of the other band members, thus allowing the audience to see the entire band and recognise them more. Furthermore the speed of the camera cuts suit the tempo of the music and offer a party style view of the performance.


Blur - Coffee & T.V.
The video features a narrative style, following the adventures of a run away milk carton, this story suits the indie genre of breaking away from mainstream concepts of narrative. The camera remains focused on the carton at all times; using close up to make the environment appear larger, adding a sense of realism. The man playing the milk carton has been edited infront of a green screen to inclued a background that was filmed spereatley, to make the adventure appear more real. Also a real model of the milk carton is used in certain scenes where a live actor is needed and a costumed man would not be feasable and would alter the realism. This video does however conform to the media concept of music videos including a narrative and a performance, as the band perform a short set at the end of the video. The camera movements are steady and include mainly single shots.


Escape the Fate - Situations
This video also follows a narrative format, and charts a young, obease american childs first day of school. The band is seen to intervene in order to make this, stereotypically uncool, boy popular, and therefore are shown to be cool and popular themseleves making the audience want to be like them and buy their merchandise. The band also perform a set in the classroom on a make shift stage, made from school desks, this suits the target audience as rockers tend to be more inclined to cause havok. The rock genre comes through in the video from the clothes the bands wear and the disrespect towards authority they show. The camera features many close ups of the lead singer, emphasizing his outrageousness. The camera also pans across the room, and band members to track their rock style and the fun they're having, making the audience want to be like them and listen to their music. They are shown to have a lot of female fans, emphasizing their popularity and sex appeal. These female fans are seen from the male gaze, thus attracting a strong male fanbase, wanting to be as attractive as the band members. The lighting is generally dark also suiting the rock genre, and the final shot is a long shot featuring the entire band leaving the school, showing that they're finnished.

This research has helped me to understand the fundamentals of creating a music video, although each video included both a narrative and a performance, I have opted to leave out the performance as I feel it would take away some of the impact of the narrative itself. I will endevour to include many close ups of the lead character in order to establish him as the point of focus. Furthermore the pace of camera shots should not detatch itself from the tempo of the music. The narrative chosen suits the target audience as many teenagers go through periods of angst and relationship issues, also the lead characters are unoffensive and do not conform to a particular style or group and therefore can be related to all those within the age bracket of the target audience.