What makes a successful music video?

Generally, successful music videos are predominantly based around close-ups and mid-shots, some of which will be of the singer or the band. As in most TV this is partly due to the size of the screen as well as to meet the desire of the viewer so that they feel personally connected to their band or artist. It has been stated by ‘John Stewart of Oil Factory’ that he sees the music video as ‘essentially having the aesthetics of the TV commercial, with lots of close ups and lighting being used most prominently for the stars face’.
It could be argued that the music video is a means of advertising; if people who are not yet fans are able to view a music video which is exciting and captivating, they will have a stronger desire to buy the artists records than if they were exposed to an uninteresting music video.
Continually, to maintain audience interest, directors and editors make sure to use the most effective means of editing in music videos. This is known as ‘fast cut montage’ which does not allow the viewer to be immediately aware of what the images are as they move so quickly, meaning that they will want to watch the sequence again to have a greater understanding; thus ensuring a higher level of hits on websites like ‘Youtube’ while keeping the audience interest very high

Video diary 1

Research: Existing BFL Website

Bat for Lashes Web

Permission for using song;

These images show that we sent an email to the Bat for Lashes asking for their permission to use their song 'Pearl's Dream'.

Analysis of The Knife- "Pass This On"

This music video is for the song 'Pass This On', by an electro-pop/alternative band called The knife. This music video reflects the bands genre as it is a strange video, which includes a transvestite, which you wouldn't see in a mainstream music video, as it is partially socially unacceptable and doesn't fir in with the stereotypical idea of beauty and way of life that mainstream videos and media portray. The lyrics of the song and the video do not correlate, which again shows it is of the alternative genre. The video doesn't have a storyline as such, but more of an ideal, which is that although you may be unfamiliar with something or unsure, you should just forget your inhibitions and enjoy it anyway, otherwise you will just be left out watching it. This is shown through close-ups of the people with disinterested facial expressions focused at the transvestite singing. However, later on the majority of people decide to go up and dance and enjoy themselves, this is shown through medium shots and medium long shots. At the end you see a medium close up of a girl looking bored by herself, whilst everyone is enjoying themselves. This video shows how the genre of alternative music enables you to be as creative as you like as there are not many convention boundaries within this genre.

Analysis of Lady Gaga- "Alejandro"

This is the music video for the song 'Alejandro', by the pop/dance genre artists Lady Gaga. This music video reflects this genre as it includes dancing. However, in general this music video goes against most music video conventions. For example there are no female dancers apart from the artist herself, and the males are all mostly naked. This is unusual because in most music videos it is women that are used a sexual objects, and dancing half naked. Also the female is shown to have some sort of dominance over the males, this is shown through close ups of the artists face, and medium shots of the dancers. Also the music video itself is quite dark and gothic with the mise-en-scene consisting of religious symbols and the low key lighting, this is unusual for a pop/dance music video as they are usually brightly coloured and jolly. Whereas this music video resembles one from a rock/indie genre, with its dark theme and that it challenges conventions.

The Making Of;

This is a behind the scenes video of the official music video "Pearl's Dream"by Bat For Lashes which is directed by Nima Nourizadeh.

Our Song Choice

We decided upon this song because we think it's really atmospheric and interesting. So it enables us to be really creative and imaginative in thinking for ideas for the video. At first we were going to do "Islands", by the XX. We changed our mind because we thought that the lyrics had to much of a story-line, unlike Pearl's Dream which is more abstract.

The XX "Islands"

Moodboard

Taio Cruz- "Dynamite"

This is a typical example of the type of music video you would see watching channels such as Viva, MTV etc. This video mainly involves half naked woman dancing around in a sexual manner, lusting over the singer Taio Cruz. Nowadays many music videos are along these lines, which after a while gets quite boring to watch. Therefore for our video we want to be experimental and different, to excite the audience, and make it something like they haven't seen before.

Meeting One

In this meeting we discussed what music videos we had seen recently and what we liked about them. We talked about he song choice and discussed it's genre to see what ideas we had that would fit with the genre. We then decided on doing a abstract video, and discussed what different ideas that we may include in our video.

Introduction

This is my blog for my A2 Media Coursework, in which I am going to make a music video for the song Pearl's Dream by Bat for Lashes.