Write up of 3 Music Video's

As homework set by Mr Seal, we were asked to choose 3 Music Video's of our choice and to write a paragraph about it, using media context.

1. The Streets - Everything is Borrowed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8BHL5SWX0Q

The Video for 'Everything is Borrowed' by The Streets uses a strong narrative structure through out the music video. It also uses Tzetvan Todorov's Theory of the story having a beginning, middle and end. The video starts off with a medium shot of a woman sleeping in bed, then a panning shot to the right, where we see the singer sitting down on a sofa. The room is dark and the only ambient light we see, is on the singers face from the window from the separation from the curtains. The equilibrium is quickly disrupted as he gets up, with the camera following him and him look tense. The jump cut to a man in the mirror in a car and him looking at his friend's watch shows the second party of characters, looking 'hard' and manly suggests that they're the antagonists of the music video. Though out the video me jump cut between both parties of characters which builds up to the disequilibrium which emphasizes on the antagonist party, demanding the singer to 'open the door'. From this point, we see alot of close up shots from the characters which shows the emotion of what's happening and how the Protagonist party is feeling. The disruption is shown using fast tracking shots as well as  shallow focus on the Protagonist party to show the audience that they've lost control of the situation. The last scene is of the singer, singing the last chorus and using a tracking shot to back away from the character which develops into a master shot of both parties and the street showing what's going on and happening in that scene.

2. HURTS - Blood, Tears & Gold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBOEsQCdqpI

HURTS 'Blood, Tears & Gold' music video begins with a scene of a young ladies leg and as the music starts, lap-dissolve editing is used in time with the music, showing her washing her leg which creates an Enigma code. Through out the video, we see the leg getting shaved, washed again, stocking put on and a white long buckled shoe being put on, meaning the Enigma Code remains through out the video. Towards the end of the video, flashbacks of the leg from the start of the video are shown, with edited in shakes to create an uneasy tension. The whole video has been edited to Black and White which illustrates the depression of the song & lyrics. Through out the video, we jump cut to and from the leg and a band performance. They're put against a black screen and use non-ambient lighting to create a dark and unhappy feel. This relates to how the band is feeling as well as showing the darkness of the song itself. In the middle and towards the end of the music video, we have 2 scenes of a woman crying using a close up shot of her face so we're able to see all emotion on her face.

3. Elliot Minor - Time After Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7AonYu2whA

Elliot Minor's 'Time After Time' music video, uses both band performance and a repetitive narrative structure. The story is based of the lyrics from the Chorus, making this a conventional music video. The footage showing the repetitive story-line is shown 3 times in total, with the second and third time showing realizations and the lead singer changing his actions to win over the girl in the video. Though out the video, the story is cut to a band performance where they're in a dark room and the use of ambient light is used to focus on the band. The dark room and bright light also shows the audience that they're stuck in a dark place or a physiological depression and wanting to break out of it (the light representing that). 

3 Music Video's from Music Video Jam's 'Top 100 Music Video's of 2010'

As a piece of homework set my Mr Seal, we had to watch some music video's from the site Music Video Jam and write up on any 3 that we liked and why.

1. HEALTH - 'We Are Water' (#95)

I've already watched this video before as I'm a fan of the band. The Narrative of the music video is of the Lead Singer (if you knew of the band when you watched it) dressed up as a girl and running from a man with a sword. The music video lasts for 3mins 28secs, and for 1min 40secs we are witnessing him/her running away from the man. Most of the shots are wide angle so we're able to see both of the characters running with the gap between them. We have close up shots of the feet running from the start and of the face of both characters to see the expression in their faces from the situation they're in. After 1min 40secs, the victim falls to the ground and the attacker and chaser catches up with her/him and we witness the victim feeling helpless, attacking and killing him with alot of gore and blood. Editing included slow motion as well as dimming of the lighting (lighting is non-ambiant through out the whole music video). I like this music video

2. Gemini Club - 'Future Tidings' (#37)

I decided to write about this music video when I was attracted to the title of the track 'Future Tidings'. The characters featured in the music video are of a male and female. The title of the track works very well with the music video because of the heavy green screen editing work used in this. The characters used in this also try and create a futuristic feel by the male character dancing like a robot and the female is lying on the floor while moving her hands and arms about and edited in lines and triangles follow them about. The heavy editing used int this video creates a huge impact and is important for the message of the video for the title of the track. All lighting in this video is non-ambiant.

3. Hey Champ - 'Neveret' (#35)

Yet again, this music video has a futuristic style through out the whole video, but unlike the previous video, the unsual narrative structure of it leaves the audience to be confused. From the first time you watch it, you can see no real obvious meaning from it. The band feature in this video, dressed up in bright/white colours against the dark screen which makes them stand out and watch them peform with alot of wide shots to feature the whole band in as well as panning shots used to almost 'zoom' into the dark character on the chair (above). I like this music video as the idea's for it are a little bit strange but leaves the audience to remember the music video after as well as the track title and song.

Welcomer.