Practice video

John Mayer "Why Georgia" song

Prezi on track and artist

Prezi on track and artist

This is a presentation and a pitch that myself and a teammate made involving the track that we will be using for the music video and what artist we will be promoting.

Presentation on digipaks and their conventions

This is a presentation that myself and two other classmates conducted together and it was on the topic of digipaks in different genres and their conventions.

"The A Team" Ed Sheeran music video analysis

Act: Ed Sheeran

Track: The A Team

Year: 2011

Genre: Pop Folk Acoustic

Director: Ruskin Kyle

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ

Main audience: The main audience for this video would be somewhere around the age of 15 onwards I think because the video is very dark and sad and so the audience would be people who would be able to understand the meaning of the song and see why the video turned out the way it did.

Relationship between visuals and lyrics: This music video particularly concentrates on the narrative side of things in terms of structure as the song is effectively the story of a young girl living on the streets of London with barely any money who attempts to sell magazines for a living. Through her failure at this attempt, she starts to sell her body for money though she obviously doesn’t want to. In order to try and escape from all the misery that she is experiencing, the girl starts to buy class A drugs and ends up becoming a drug addict. The director has decided to make this video very literal as it is showing the audience exactly what the song is saying thus making it an extremely narrative based video. Another very important aspect of this video is the colouring as it is entirely in black and white. This is obviously reflecting the mood and emotion of the song because I think that in the girl’s eyes, the world is entirely in black and white due to her lifestyle and health. I believe that narrative in a music video is extremely appropriate and is in other ways a necessity for folk music because the genre completely revolves around the storytelling of events and people.

Shots: Most of the shots in the video are close ups on the girls face which I find are very important when it comes to an emotional song and story as it lets the audience know exactly how the protagonist may feel due to the look on her face and the clothing she wears.

Male Gaze: There is a clear inclusion in the male gaze in this video, however it is portrayed very differently to the usual method which would be something pleasing for men to see. In this case, the male gaze is sad and unpleasant however it is a necessity for the video.

 

"Heart's on Fire" Passenger music video analysis

Act: Passenger

Track: Heart’s on fire

Genre: Pop Folk Acoustic

Year: 2014

Relationship between visuals and lyrics: The title of the song in my eyes instantly suggests that this is a song about passion for something, whether it be for a person or an object. The video starts off with Passenger walking around aimlessly in a forest. This ties in well with the lyrics to the song as he sings “well I don’t know how and I don’t know why” and it could mean that he is walking around trying to find an answer.

Mise en scene: The setting is entirely in a forest, which could show his love for natural beauty (his heart is on fire). Much like the other videos, the costume is usual clothing.

Performance: This video is also clearly performance based much like his other video to “Let her go”. We see him playing the song on guitar halfway through the video perhaps to show the audience what the main instrument used is, and to give the song a more lively feeling.

"Small Bump" Ed Sheeran music video analysis

Act: Ed Sheeran

Track: Small bump

Genre: Pop Folk Acoustic

Audience: 15+

 

Relationship between visuals and lyrics:  The song is about a miscarriage that happened 4 months into the pregnancy. It seems to me that the verses are praying that the baby will survive and the video shows Sheeran sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, perhaps waiting for his wife or girlfriend come out of one of the rooms with good or bad news. You can see with the body language that he is very nervous in the video which again could mean that he is worried about a miscarriage possibly occurring or that his wife/girlfriend is in intensive care. The director has made this video quite straightforward due to the fact that the whole thing is filmed in one shot so this makes the video tell the audience exactly what the song is about.

FX: The main special effect that I can spot in this music video is the people moving around the hospital and then suddenly fading out of the picture. This occurs nearly throughout the entire video. I think that it’s representing the idea of time being a serious issue in this case. The fact that Sheeran is the only one not fading out suggests that he is waiting for an extremely long time and this can make the video come across as more emotional.

Mise en scene: The setting of the video in terms of location is quite standard if you compare it to what the song is about. There isn’t any magical or supernatural element to it which obviously makes the video more authentic and realistic. The costume is much the same as it is what you would expect to have in a video like this one.

Shots: There isn’t a huge variety of shots in this video because the entire video is in one shot where the camera pans and zooms at different times. I think that the director has purposely made it look like this because it makes everything feel lengthy, and that time is dragging on. 

Vodcast on genre and characteristics for a music video

"Tea and Toast" Lucy Spraggan music video analysis

Act: Lucy Spraggan

Track: Tea and Toast

Genre: Pop Folk Acoustic

Year: 2012

 





Relationship between visuals and lyrics: This song is entirely a ballad telling a story about a young couple (mainly the man) and their journey in life together. The video is showing the artist sitting at a breakfast table with a load of pictures and memories and as the song progresses, it seems that each picture matches the content of the lyrics being sung at that time in the video. I think that this was used as an alternative to actually having actors act out the story for us like a short movie because that’s what the audience would expect from a song like this one. Therefore I think it was used in order to maybe surprise the audience, but also to make the song actually feel like a story so that anybody listening to it can envision the situation in their own way. This allows for the audience to use their imagination and therefore interpret the song how they want to.

Performance: During some of the video, we see the artist playing an acoustic guitar and singing the song and I think that this brings out the whole idea of the folk genre, which in my eyes is telling stories about people and relationships through song. It gives the video a very authentic and personal feeling.

Mise en scene: The setting in this video is quite normal as it is simply a regular middle class house. I think this was used because the song isn’t anything magical or supernatural, so the director didn’t want to make the video and the setting seem anything unusual. The costume is again like in many other videos of this genre just regular everyday clothing. The main props are the photos, which represent the story being told.

"Listen to the man" George Ezra music video analysis

Act: George Ezra

Track: Listen to the man

Genre: Pop Folk Funk Acoustic

Year: 2014

Narrative: This music video mainly focuses on the light-hearted/comedic side of things I think because perhaps Ezra wants to bring out his more laid back personality to his fans and audience. It is therefore quite difficult to see that there is a story being told especially through the visuals of the video.

Performance: The entire video revolves around performance of some sort as there is an involvement of lip synching throughout the first half and then later on we see the Artist take out a guitar and start playing along. This gives the video a more lively feeling and I think that it’s one of the essential ingredients for a video of this genre.

Mise en scene: Unlike the other music videos I have studied, the mise en scene in this one is somewhat different to what is usually used. First off, the costume utilised is quite high in colour as if the video is a little bit over the top. I think the director did this in order to enhance the comedic quality to the video. The setting of the video is in one location, which is perhaps because the director wants to keep everything simple, and to the point. I think that this is because he didn’t want to overcomplicate the video.

"Who says" John Mayer music video analysis

Act: John Mayer
Track: Who says
Genre: Pop Folk Acoustic
Year: 2009

Relationship between visuals and lyrics: From what I can make out of the lyrics to this song, it seems to me that John Mayer is singing about the idea of freedom to do whatever he wants and the idea of not planning ahead and just doing everything when it comes. The video seems to portray this very well as it starts off with him walking randomly and aimlessly in the streets of a city without any music. However as soon as the music starts to play, we see him in many different locations doing

different things like being at a party with a load of friends getting drunk and simply having fun. You can tell that this ties in with the lyrics “Who says I can’t get stoned” very well due to it looking like he has no worries in the world and he simply wants to live every moment of his life as if it’s his last. Furthermore, the idea of being stoned sometimes can make the world look a little blurry and random and I think that the director has purposely made the video have all these random cuts so that the video can easily relate to one of the main lyrics of the song.

Narrative: Due to how random certain aspects of the video are, it is rather difficult to see if there is a story being told so the much like the lyrics, the video isn’t showing any particular piece of narrative.

Mise en scene: The costume used in this video is very simple every day clothing as I don’t think that the director nor Mayer wanted to make the video come across as magical or supernatural like the music videos of people such as Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. I think that the director intended to have the usual everyday clothing because he in a way wanted the audience to relate themselves to the video and to the artist himself. There only seems to be one main prop that is utilised in this video props used in this video and that is the acoustic guitar that the artist is playing in his flat at the beginning of the video. I think that this is a very important prop due to the fact that it suggests to the audience that this a very folk like sort of song. It also shows the artist’s talent with a guitar and it tells the audience this is also perhaps quite a personal song to him.

Shots The shots used are usually quite close up shots so that the audience is able to see the artist and to perhaps relate to him. Moreover, there are also many shots that are at an angle, which could suggest some form of instability, and again, this clever use of shot variety can relate to the lyrics of the song.

"One" Ed Sheeran music video analysis

Act: Ed Sheeran

Track: One

Genre: Pop Folk acoustic

Year: 2014

Performance: The entire music video focuses hugely on the performance side of things. The video features Ed Sheeran performing the song alone on stage, which could relate to the title of the song “One” as he is only one person on stage with no band or backup performers whatsoever. I think that this is very appropriate for the song because the recording features only his voice and a guitar, and that’s what we are being given as we watch the video. It makes everything more emotional and in some ways personal.

Mise en scene: the setting of the video is in a venue on a stage, however there doesn’t seem to be an audience watching him, which could make it feel like a sort of dream or that it may look like the artist is in his own little world. The costume is again like in other videos of this genre just casual clothing. Furthermore, the colouring is in black and white and I think that the director used this to hint to the audience that the song has only one subject and doesn’t have multiple meanings.