1ST VIDEO ANALYSIS

According to Matt Keil there are 3 types of music videos:

1. Performance based video - these types of music videos feature the artist or band that is performing through most of the song. For this type of video you would need to get a suitable location to film. 
2. Narrative based video - This contains mostly footage which attempts to tell the story through moving image, it usually contains actors and the story is usually linked to the lyrics. This type of video is usually found in songs that is featured in a movie, like the song Rule The World by Take That which featured in Stardust which I will talk about later.
3. Concept based video - This is based around a single concept or idea. It usually shows a particular editing or filming technique. They are very unusual as a music video as the commercial world requires a bit more accessibility.

I am now going to analyse 3 music videos, Paramore - The only exception, Flyleaf - Fully alive and Evanescence - Going Under. The reasons for choosing these 3 songs is because they are all female lead singers and are from the same genre as the artist we are doing, Avril Lavigne, the are classed as Rock, pop and Punk.

Paramore - The only exception




"The Only Exception" is a song by the American rock band Paramore. It was released by Fueled by Ramen in February 2010 as the third single from the band's 2009 studio album Brand New Eyes. The song was written by Paramore band members Hayley Williams and Josh Farro.
This song is the most successful single from Brand New Eyes, and the most successful Paramore single so far, having topped the United Kingdom Rock Chart.
The information above is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Only_Exception 

The video above is largely narrative based as it contains mostly footage that attempts to tell a story through the moving image. This usually involves actors but in this particular video Hayley Williams acts herself as the story is linked to the lyrical content of the song. In this video there are some elements of performance based video as you can see at 1.07 and 2.17 with her lying on the floor singing on cards and her singing whilst the band are playing behind her at a gig. I choose this song to analyse because it is the same genre but it is also the same kind of song as Avril Lavigne My Happy Ending as it is quite sad.


In this video the artist is always the centre of attention, this is so we get to know her and so we are on her side and therefore we become attached to the singer, artist, song and video. This video features many conventions of the genre of pop-rock/pop-punk with the band all in black and acting the way they do also how the poeple are dancing to the song, which is usually called moshing and is mainly associated with punks. The high key lighting when she is lying on the cards fits with the pop genre and the low key lighting when the band are playing fits more with the rock/punk genre. Because of the lighting that they have used, and seeing its impact upon the video, it has inspired us to look at that particular element closely to see if we can create the same effect on our audience.


With regards to mise-en-scene the costume is very casual at the beginning but then at the restaurant/speed dating she wears a black dress and jewelry which shows that she is trying to impress somebody. Also at 2.28 she wears a black coat at the wedding when everyone else is in white so she stands out and is the focus of our attention. In our music video we are trying to make sure that Kate, who is playing Avril Lavigne, stands out and is the audiences main focus.
The video starts bright and colourful, and then gets quite dull as the song progresses, I believe that our video is going to be quite dull as the song is about the death of the relationship. 


Like I have said before the main actor is Hayley Williams as is made to stand out from the other actors and the band. Regarding make-up, the lipstick which was used at 1.50 implies Laura Mulvey's Gaze Theory, this is the male gaze which serves to sexually objectify women, men see women in a different way to how women see them, and therefore see them as sex objects so we basically watch media through a 'male camera'. The props used are the photograph of her mum and dad (I'm assuming) and the cards that she lays on. We have done something similar with the main character in our music video lying on the floor surrounded by leaves. And finally the setting, it starts and ends with the sofa shot, I like how it finishes the way it started and how she retraced her steps.



There are lots of close ups within this video which help to focus on the artist, I particularly like the tracking shot at the beginning as it helps introduce the characters to the audience, this helps to promote Paramore, this does this well as it fits a clear genre and attracts the target audience. The cuts at the beginning before Hayley starts singing go with the beat of the music, at 0.11 when it goes from a wide shot to a mid shot, then at 0.17 when it pans across what she wrote on the piece of paper and then at 0.19 when it track the man, her boyfriend, laid on the couch.

A narrative based music video is usually a song that is featured in a movie, for example Take That - Rule the world features scenes of Stardust where the track is used.




This video promotes the artist (Take That) as well as the movie (Stardust)
In this music video there is performance from Take That and clips from Stardust, it mainly consists of clips from the movie and therefore is classed as a Narrative based Video as it attempts to tell the story that they are trying to get across within the Movie which is linked to the lyrical content of the song. I like this video as it is simplistic but very effective as having narrative as well as performance shots helps establish the artist and explain to the audience what's going on.