Student Video Feedback

Interviewing our target audience on existing student music videos, we learnt various important factors we will need to consider when planning and creating our own video. Our interviewees frequently mentioned the necessity of good quality shots and smooth editing. These are both factors that had a major influence of their interest during the video and made it look professional. Another important factor I noticed was the narrative. In the videos a clear storyline was essential to engage their interest and during unclear aspects, the video's effect on the audience was lost.

Fight Song - Lyrics

Like a small boat on the ocean
Sending big waves into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion

And all those things I didn't say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time

This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me

Losing friends and I'm chasing sleep
Everybody's worried about me
In too deep
Say I'm in too deep
And it's been two years
I miss my home
But there's a fire burning in my bones
And I still believe
Yeah I still believe

And all those things I didn't say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time

This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
A lot of fight left in me

Like a small boat on the ocean
Sending big waves into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion

This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Now I've still got a lot of fight left in me

Fight Song - Original Music Video

Rachel Platten Research

Doing some research on our chosen artist allowed me to gain some information about Rachel Platten's background as well as how the song came about and how it was supported by record companies.

Song Permission

We created an e-mail draft of what we would send to Columbian Records in order to request their permission to use 'Fight Song' for our music video.

Thinking of a Song

We listened to a range of songs before coming to our final decision. We narrowed down our choices for four songs; Sirens by Cher Lloyd, Hide Away by Daya, Paradise by Coldplay and Fight Song by Rachel Platten. In order to help us make the correct decision for our song choice we wrote down the pros and cons for each song when making a music video. Through this processes we found the most appropriate song choice for our project would be 'Fight Song'. Despite having clear narrative linked to it, we found that this song will give us the superiour filming opportunities and will allow use to create an unique, innovative music video.

Music Video Analysis - One

Music Video Analysis - Two

Sia - The Greatest


This music video follows Sia's traditional style; using dancer Maddie Ziegler to represent herself and express her lyrics through dance. There is a connection in the video to Sia's song, through choreography, facial expressions and occasional lip syncing. This partly connotes with Andrew Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the music video and the lyrics as the narrative represents the meaning of the lyrics. The main character plays a heroic character, taking control of and saving the other characters before they form a unison and perform together.
Another subtle yet appealing aspect of the video is it's ability to relate to a mass audience. As this dance does not have a distinct narrative, it can be interpreted in a number of ways making it more relatable and engaging to more viewers. All of the dull colours, excluding the bright make-up, represents the dark yet hopeful sentiment behind the song and connotes the meaning of the story featured in both the video and the song.
In general, Sia's music videos tend to be abstract and unique in comparison to other mainstream videos.  For instance, Sia isn't featured in it, therefore lacking a performance aspect, leaving it a solely narrative based. In the narrative very few cuts are made to give the video an impressive illusion of one continuous cut. This opposes Vernallis idea of editing being one of the most important aspects of a music video, distinguishing it from a film sequence. However the dancers complex movement keep the video interesting and the audience more intrigued. The syntactic element of this video is demonstrated through mise en scene, such as facial expressions and body positioning as well as the choreography.

Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed


The music video for everything has changed, is another narrative based video. Unlike the previous videos, the narrative is precisely acted out in coordination to the song's lyrics. This follows two schoolchildren who became best friends from not fitting in with their class. This is a light-hearted video, made to look heart-warming from the school setting with  high key lighting and romantic settings. The young lookalikes of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran act out the story of the music video, which make sit more loveable and engaging for viewers as they are seeing characters which they recognise.The cutaways of the primary school setting and props add to the innocent aspect of the video.
During the verses, there tended to be more use of longer cuts as well as medium shots as they were establishing the story and coordinating with the pace of the song. During the chorus' there was more use of fast cutting and close-up shots to show the character's facial expression and body language in order to demonstrate their  emotions. At the ending of the song, as the middle 8 is playing, the video increases in it's swift cuts to various locations before all of the children leave school and run to their parents who are played by Taylor and Ed. By only revealing the performers of the song at the end of the music video it maintains the audiences interest throughout the video until the whole narrative is revealed.
Goodwin's idea of a strong relationship between the music video and the song's lyrics was well executed in this production. In order to develop the connection between these aspects, the director uses scenes with props and interactions which are mention in the lyrics. This also maintains interest and keeps the audience engaged.
Uses and Gratification Model is also used to connect with viewers. Users may use escapism while watching the video or identification, if it reminds them of their own childhood. This allows them to imagine themselves in a happy and loving scenario and escape the real world for a few minutes.

Nina Nesbitt - The Hardest Part


Nina Nesbitt's music video for her single 'The Hardest Part' is an emotional, performance based video. The minimalistic music video connotes the slow paced acoustic song, and represents the sad element within the lyrics, as Andrew Goodwin's theory suggests. 
The editing throughout the music video keeps it engaging to the audience. It is rhythmically cut in order to bring the video to life, and occasional cutaways are used of the location or of extreme close-ups in order to maintain the viewer's interest. This proves Vernallis' theory as the frequent cuts were one of the most essential aspects of creating this music video and audiences would be not engaged through continuous cuts or without variation of different shot lengths and camera angles.
The song has little production on it, as it only consists of the acoustic guitar and Nina's vocals. Therefore having a perfectly lip synced video makes it seem very realistic that she is actually singing during the video. This makes it more impressive and interesting to viewers, as well as allowing the audience to identify with the video to a greater extent. The black and white effect throughout the video connotes the emotional aspect of the video which  is also emphasised through facial expressions and body language.
Hair and make-up is also appropriate to the setting and is not too extreme, allowing other teenage girls to relate to her. Using the Uses and Gratification Model, they are able to identify with her, and the heartbreak she is singing about. This allows the audience to use the media in order to help themselves or to simply watch it for escapism and entertainment.

Imagine Dragons - Demons


The music video for Demons by Imagine Dragons combines performance and narrative in a distinct and innovative way. The video begins the the performance, which is the band performing at a concert, with the use of the sound of an audience cheering in the background to make it sound realistic to viewers. Realism is also increased through costume, hair and make-up as this is similar to what you would see at a concert in real life.
The handheld camera movement makes the audience feel more engaged, as the quick shaky shots allows the audience to feel as if they are among the crowd, which make them connect and engage with the song and the music video to a fuller extent.
Throughout the video the camera cuts away to an extreme close-up of the eye of a fan. This then cuts to a traumatic scene, showing their story and how they correlate their lives with the song.This not only allows the viewers to relate to the lyrics and performance but also their stories as they are difficult issues others struggle with, such as eating disorders, abuse, death and war. 
The performance aspect of the video is shot under low key lighting. This is because it represents the meaning of the lyrics and immediately shows viewers the genre of it.
To increase the tension and action of the music video , frequent editing is used. This supports Carol Vernallis' theory of the importance of swift editing. Cutting shots rhythmically made the video more interesting and intriguing, as did the vast range of different shot types. Long shots set the scene of the video and established the location, as there were so many different ones, and the close-ups of audience members and the band shows viewers their emotions which allows us to connect with the video. 

Cher Lloyd - Sirens


This music video was filmed in way to grip and move viewers. As it is an emotional song, the music video conveyed these emotions of anxiety and sadness by visualizing the meaning behind the lyrics.
The performance aspect connects with the audience through various aspects of mise en scene. An example of this is the low key lighting in an empty room with only a strip of bright lighting. This distinct feature gains the audiences attention, before engaging them through camera eye-contact. As Cher looks directly into the lens, which grips the audience as you can see all of her emotions, and the eye contact makes the audience feel involved in the scene. The fast paced editing of swift cuts of a scene makes the video more dramatic and interesting. As there is such a variation of shots including long shots to show a full scene and close-ups to show characters emotion, it make sthe video more exiting for viewers to watch.
The syntactic elements of anxiety, sadness and fear are presented through both the performance and narrative of the video from the characters facial expressions and body language throughout the video.
Another way viewers connect with emotions are through hearing parts of dialogue between characters as well as hand-held camera shots. Understanding the treacherous scene and the shaking camera movement makes viewers feel like they are another character in the scene, This engages the audience and allows them to identify with the narrative.
The costumes, hair and make-up are reasonably simplistic. This also helps the audience relate to the video as it appears realistic, and they can have a stronger identification with a character, as they can use the video for escapism, identification, education or diversion as suggested by Blumer and Kate's Uses and Gratification theory. This proposes that the audience use the media but are not used by it.

Music Video Analysis - Three

Music Video Analysis - Four