These chosen case studies don't link to our chosen music genre of Hip Hop however I decided to choose them, because they are all originally performance based videos and all include my personal and relevant ideas which I may like to include in the final product.
Little Mix: Touch-performance based- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBAfejjUQoA
The song 'Touch' by Little mix is known to be a club anthem, and rather uplifting, filled with dance vibes and extremely hyped beats. Many would agree that the chorus alone can be successful in taking over your body. Even though we are not planning to do a similar routine, some ideas that are quite inspiring are the use of background actors who bring the video to life and is the kind of atmosphere we are planning to go for. Since we have chosen to do a Hip Hop based genre song, we thought about what aspects they glorify, from money, to jewellery, cars and other materialistic items, which could all be used to portray the theme. Similar to Little mix's 'Touch' we could use bright, colourful and designer clothing which focuses on colours representing different items; from green being associated with money and wealth, to purple being connected to royalty.
Mise en Scene- During the video many different coloured striped rooms(location) can be seen, resulting in the video almost appearing as a maze but ultimately just a studio, secondly the use of high key lighting which is conventional in the pop genre helps to identify the artists and their costumes, furthermore the equal distribution of actors/artists/dancers(unison/synchronized),the fact that they are all in unison, the protagonists especially infers that in fact they are a group. In addition to their costumes, they all appear to be rather provocative as in some shots, they can be seen wearing unusual type clothing, they also all had the same colour scheme and similar outfits, again inferring that they link together and are a group. Even though this video focuses on a brightly coloured maze to portray the lyrics, other locations which could be included, suggest outdoor locations in vast open spaces, preferably a mid day during summer as mid day would have perfect lighting and the summer season is associated with parties and good vibes compared to other seasons.
Editing- A variety of editing methods were used to piece the video together and all for different reasons. Firstly, the use of jump cuts allows the viewer(s) to see the scenes go back and forth, also, short intervals also known as breaks ensures the viewer(s) maintain interest in the video and they may become curious as to what might happen next, as videos tend to repeat themselves after a period of time. Cuts can become rather fast-paced and I noticed that this generally started to happen a couple lines before the chorus as the behaviour of the artists would be more energetic and result in more movement, technically speaking the fast pace cuts blend in with the artists to show rhythm, in addition there was a lot of cutting on the beat again showing rhythm. Last but not least, there was the use of slow motion, which really allowed the viewer to get a good look at basically everything on the screen, from mise en scene to editing.
Camera- zoom in/out on the singers, Hand held, close up, birds eye view of all of them, pan/tracks to follow where the singing is happening, tilts.
Upon reading the lyrics to this song, I decided that the music video could be more than simply performance based but also narrative, since one of the lyrics in the first verse states " just the touch of your love is enough, to knock me off of my feet all week", the word enough indicates that this cant possibly be the first time that the two have touched, this specific lyric inspired me to come up with the idea of the actor having small flash backs, depicted through a variety of slow-paced cuts, and possibly betting lighting, indicating how great their first touch actually was.
My idea of a music video for this song would be a mixture of both performance and narrative, and not only one or the other, due to this there will be a couple of scenes including lip syncing, however it would mainly focus on the visuals.
Justin Bieber: Sorry( Purpose- The Movement)- performance based- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE
Firstly, the video was shot in a studio location with high key lighting, again a convention of the pop genre. Secondly, all artists and background dancers were all wearing different clothing, however one similarity that they shared was the fact that the clothing was oddly coloured and extremely bright, suggesting that there was some sort of theme. Unlike little mixes 'Touch' video there wasn't a large variety of editing techniques used, it was simply hard cuts and cross cuts to ensure that the viewer was able to view all of the dancers and cuts on the beat, which tended to be fast paced cuts to suit the pop genre. Lastly, focusing on the camera techniques and methods, there were wide/establishing shots, involving all ten or so background dancers, which allows the audience to see the fact that they are all in unison/sync. Secondly, in the use of close ups, allowing the audience to see their make up but also facial expressions which were extremely positive and energetic. Lastly, there was a few scenes which included full focus and shallow focus which are pretty similar, however shallow focus ensures that the audience is focused on one dancer or two, probably used in a mid-long shot, where as a full focused shot doesn't focus on anyone in particular.
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| Establishing/mid shot of the music video, depicts a happy atmosphere. |
My idea of creating this music video would quite the opposite of this video, for example, this song includes high key lighting in a studio location and a variety of fast-paced cuts. however since the name of the song is 'Sorry' and one key lyric in the chorus includes "is it too late now to say sorry' conveys the idea that the actor had did something wrong, due to this I would choose a dark and dim location, if not film using a black and white filter to indicate regret and depression. I would include an extreme amount of slow-paced cuts to indicate sadness and emotional pain displayed by the actor. Furthermore I would add a lot of lip syncing to the video which would be shown through the protagonist and no other actors/artists to show how lonely they're without their muse. More specifically the location could be the protagonists house to suggest that they're feeling so down that they've actually just stayed at home and done nothing for a long period. To help portray this some props that could be used in different shots, include a phone with the actor texting the muse and receiving no replies, however in sync with the lyrics " cause I'm missing more than just your body", not only the phone, but also the weather could start to gradually change and become slightly lighter to indicate how good he thinks of the muse, and how special she is to him. Secondly a picture/wallpaper of the two, implying that the actor is thinking about them, thirdly an empty fridge, implying that they have been binge eating due to their situation. Lastly their costume would include dirty clothing to suggest that they haven't thought about themselves or the appearance. Lastly pathetic fallacy could be used to reinforce the protagonists emotions, such as rain or thunder storms.
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| This images shows my concept of the song, and the atmosphere that the video should emit, and how it relates to the lyrics Overall, my concept of this music video wouldn't be performance based but rather narrative to emphasise the protagonists emotions towards his situation. |
Rihanna: Wild Thoughts- performance based- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyaI4-5849w
Again, this video is performance based, however upon thoroughly reading the lyrics, they influenced me to think of a more creative way to create my own concept of the video. Personally I think that rather than performance based not only could it be narrative but also visual. One specific lyric includes " I wanna be your baby, baby, baby", from the word "wanna" I thought that at this specific time she's not his women, however she desperately wants to be, In other words she could potentially be dreaming or imagining about that situation. In this current time she doesn't sound unhappy but actually quite excited but in reality she could be bored with her relationship status. This idea of her imagination could be depicted through a zoom in technique, or an iris into her head to act as a transition into her imagination where everything would have a better atmosphere. This could be depicted through better lighting, showing that she is a lot happier in her new relationship, costumes, these costumes could be brightly colour and appear joyful compared to a shot before the audience enter the actors mind, props, such as flowers and any other romantic items and lastly an actor, to portray the muse. One potential location could be a field/park at night with a clear sky and minimal clouds where the two are laying there staring at one another whilst there are a bunch of stars and shooting stars are flying over them, but instead of conventional stars they could be diamonds and wedding rings to reinforce the lyrics " diamonds aint nothing when I'm shining with ya, diamonds aint nothing when I'm rocking with ya", in others words suggest that she's happy to be with the muse and isn't too bothered about getting married, hence why she and him are not star gazing instead.
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| This is how I would envision the entire music video, excluding the other two artists and replacing the with an actor, acting as the muse. This and other ideas would be the foundation of the video with other shots including silhouettes of objects such as trees, streetlights, cars etc. to infer that nothing else is important. |
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| Close up of the protagonist, similar to my concept. |
The video was situated in multiple locations from abandoned housing/accommodations to small markets with small populations. The was a large use of dark light throughout the video which was mostly likely due to the time of day, however low-key lighting may have been an alternative in some scenes such as Rihanna's solo in the bedroom scene. The disowns the conventional high key lighting of a pop song. There were minimal background dancers besides the protagonists and a couple actors in the market scene. Furthermore, all of the protagonists, from Rihanna to DJ Khalid to Bryson Tiller, were wearing completely different clothing items, to probably show that they are unique. There were many interval cuts mainly at the beginning of the video, to act as a slow build up until the protagonists were revealed. Again, there was a lot of cutting on the beat especially as this video was 50% performance based to indicate rhythm. Jump cuts were used to depict different scenes, from the bedroom scene to the small market scene. Lastly, slow motion was used, particularly in the bedroom scene where Rihanna's hair was blowing in time with the song, due to a fan located on a desk. Both track and zoom out were used in the market scene to show Rihanna and DJ Khalid dancing through the street. In addition to the market scene, the hand held camera technique was used once or twice to depict background dancers, in which some were also in slow motion. Finally pan and zoom in were used again in the bedroom scene when Rihanna was dancing on the bed to depict her outfit, which hand changed from the market scene but was still a dress and also the vibes that she was portraying.
