BSA 131 (Digital Filmmaking I) Week 3 : Music Video Inspiration

I've come up with two music video ideas so far and I am struggling with the the third, so I decided to look from some inspiration. I turned on the television to The Edge channel and watched music videos for approximately an hour. My general knowledge of music videos is very lacking and I wanted to get an idea of what the industry is like at the moment. Here are some things I noticed:

1. Jax Jones - You Don't Know Me

When this one started I was immediately hooked because I thought the cereal box was just the opening, especially since it has the songs' title on it, and that I would be treated to more interesting visuals. I was mistaken. The whole video is this one 2D animated character repeating dance moves on a 3D model of a cereal box. While it is visually appealing at first it gets boring very quickly.

 I think a good measure of a music video's quality is how long it makes the song feels. I had seen a couple up until this one and even though song was the same length as many others it felt much longer.

I do like the idea though, this could work as part of a larger video, as I initially thought it would, and the music itself should make for an interesting video. This one is a good example of no development hindering the quality of the video. Simple music videos are great (like "Somebody I Used To Know" by Gotye), but there has to be something to keep the viewer engaged.

This was my first exposure to this artist and upon further research i found that this isn't his only music video in this style, but for his follow-up (Instruction) there are lyrics on the bottle. Something I thought while watching You Don't Know Me was that it would be better as a lyric video.

2. Alex Gaudino -  Destination Calabria

This is one of many music videos that goes out of it's way to be sexually provocative, which I think is a very lazy way of capturing the audience's attention. The reason I mention this one specifically is because the use of a white background, back and exclusive colours of green, gold and red on the performers is a good example of production design.

I like how clean a white background makes a music video look and their use of props adds to making the images interesting. There isn't a very good concept or narrative with this one, it relies exclusively on the visuals. With the budget we have I can't emulate this type of video exactly (because of the expensive props, many performers + costumes), even if I wanted to, but I can take some tips from the colour combinations and simple background.

3. Chores - Away

Once again this one stood out to me because of the production design. While the main singer isn't dressed that well, I was impressed with the coloured backgrounds. To keep the viewers interested these change colour - something i might want to use in my video. The background dancers wear very good clothes when compared to the background, really making them stand out. The use of coloured confetti adds something extra as well.

If I end up going for a look like this I might want to take inspiration from this video, which I think just uses a green screen. I will have to try out the green screen we have access to in order to see if it will work for my music video.

4. Chris Brown - Paradise

The main thing that stood out to me about this one was once again the production design, but this time I think it had more to do with colour correction as it was shot outside. The clothes the lead singer wears works really well against the background and in general the combination of colours just works really well. 

5. Kendrick Lamar - Humble

This seems to me to be the most expensive music video I saw, the visuals here are completely unachievable for a student like myself, but there are some techniques I can use. The way they make the main singer stand out is really well done. In every shot that he is surrounded by other people there is something that makes him stand out, with him wearing white in front of people dressed in black or whether he's the only one with his face not covered. he stands out even in a long shot. 

What makes this music video work so well is that it is always building on itself. There doesn't seem to be any narrative other than a religious theme, but there is always a new image or technique to be revealed.

6. Alison Wonderland - Cold

This one immediately captured my attention because of the main technique on display. In this video six or so frames are repeated over and over again, synching with the beats in the music. The main singer isn't affected by this though so she stands out. This is a really cool music video because they tried something new and yet still adhered to music video conventions - like maiing the talent pop and editing with the music.

It reminded me a bit of La Jetée or photo novels, as I found myself wondering why they want us to see the frames so many times - what is so important? I think it would be interesting to see a music video use the photo novel style + this technique + full motion. Maybe I can do something like this, that is if the song fits.

7. LDRU - Next To You feat. Savoi

This one is simple, but entertaining. The narrative is that a girl brings here boyfriend to meet her friends, except it turns out that his head dis a banana. The idea is perfect for a music video, because it's cheap and keeps the viewer wondering. Once again the colours here are really good, and I appreciated how it subverted so many music video tropes - specifically the over sexualization, except this time it's a banana.

I think it's the perfect idea for a music video because it made for automatically interesting visuals, kept the viewer engaged because of how absurd it seemed and the filmmakers built on the set up by making the friends eat the banana. 

The production design was also really good, with a more varied colour scheme and consistency in the the type of clothing.

Techniques noticed and potential ideas:

- Quicker cutting on vocal fluctuations
- Changing in aspect ratio in some videos (this could possibly be the focus of a music video)
- Camera attached the moving person
- Lyrics interacting with physical object