This music video analysis discusses three music videos:
1) Avicii - "The Nights" uses various camera angles and costuming to tell the narrative story of a man's life and encourage living life to the fullest.
2) Sia - "Chandelier" uses simple costuming and editing cut to the beat to portray a child's troubled home life.
3) Katy Perry - "Firework" uses different camera angles and lighting to show people overcoming insecurities and gaining confidence by self-expression.
2. Avicii- The Nights
This music video is a narrative and is
following the experiences of a mans life.
3. Camera Shots
There are a variety of different camera angles used in this music video to portray the
goal of living a fun and enjoyable lifestyle. This is to provide many different angles
and views of how this boy, Rory lived a life to remember. Angles such as a wide shot
is used to show the environment that he is in and showing him jumping in mid air.
This shows how high the cliff, he is jumping off and the proportion of it compared to
him. This is representing Rory taking a risk in his life and giving everything a go. He
is being a daring and willing person and living life to the fullest. It is telling the
audience to live a life full of no regrets and enjoy yourself while your still young.
From watching this the viewers are in shock and awe and persuades them to do
something special and amazing with their lives and not take everyday for granted.
Another important angle used in the music video is a high angle POV shot. This is
shown from Rory’s point of view looking down at the water far below him. The
purpose of this shot is to show the heights that he has reached and how far he has
gone with his life. It tells us as viewers the incredible views he has seen in his life
and how he is at the top but yet about to conquer something else amazing.
Because Avicii’s target audience is teens and young adults the purpose of this
video is to show them to not live an ordinary life and make the most of the one you
have while we are young because “when you get older, you live for younger days.”
4.
5. Costuming
The costuming used in this music video is worn by Rory as the focus is on his life.
The clothing that he wears is everyday casual wear. For example in one clip it is
showing Rory wearing a singlet, shorts and sunnies. This is because he is biking
around on the road and the clothing is appropriate for the sport. The clothing he
wears is usually plain and black and white. This is to take the focus away from him
but so the focus is set on where he is and what he is doing. Another costume that
Rory wears and is important is when he is on top of the car. In this scene he is
wearing all black clothing: hat, t-shirt, jeans and shoes. The intention of Rory
wearing all black in this scene is to show that he is being risky and a dare devil by
standing on top of a vehicle. The colour black represents mystery, fear, power and
elegance. Rory is fulfilling all of these emotions while on top of the car. Black is also
very commonly associated with death and in this scene he is essentially flirting with
death by standing on top of the moving car. Many of the clips from this music video
are filmed in summer where Rory is seen just wearing his colourful togs. This is
used to show the happiness of summer and because he is spending so much time
in his swimwear he is is free willing and has no worries in life. The purpose of casual
wear is to show that he is just an everyday person living life how he wants to. Rory is
not born into a famous or special family he is making the most of his life which
persuades everyday people to be inspired by his life and make the most of theirs.
6.
7. Editing
The clips of this music video are all short and fast and are in time with the music.
During the slower parts of the song there are longer clips and are in slow motion
and when the beat increases and gets faster the clips change quickly. Because it is
cut to the beat it keeps the audience captivated in what is going to happen next
and creates an interesting and fun music video to watch. When the video first starts
the music is fast and up beat and the clips have been sped up and change very
quickly. Throughout the video there is variety of different speeds and lengths of how
long each clips is shown. This is to provide variety and keep the audiences
attention so the video is unpredictable to watch.
9. The editing in this video makes it effective and appealing to the eye. The
editing is effective as it is cut to the beat. If the song speeds up so does the
performance. By doing this, the viewers can be grasped in when it
suddenly cuts to a different scene or a different style of dance. This then
also helps the audience to connect with the video. It has been edited in
quite a realistic way compared to the dance. This is a contrasting effect as
the dance is so unnatural the style and pace of the editing is made to look
normal. The editing in this video has really made it come together and look
effective.
Editing
10. Costuming
The costuming and make up in this video has been kept simple. The main
actress is wearing a skin coloured leotard so she appears nude. This
costuming is to tie in with the effect of being mistreated. She is naked
because she hasn’t been looked after. She has become wild and insane
and angry because she hates how her life is. Her face is plain and she
wears a blonde, straight cut bobbed wig. This contrasts with the effect of
being unkempt and uncared for. Her hair is perfectly straight and cut. The
costuming has been kept simple and plain which has allowed the viewers
to create more ideas of their own. Rather than filling the scene with props
and costuming her to the max, they have kept it plain and simple. This has
also allowed more of a story to be created behind the video. Even though
the costume is plain it plays a big part in the video. This video is a classic
example of less is more.
11. Symbolic Technique
Symbolic techniques are what bring this video together. The most symbolic
technique would be the pulling of her eye on her face. This is effective as it
is something that is repeated which visually allows the audience to link
back to certain parts in the video. The colour in his video is all very pale
and bland. All of the furniture is run down and looks old. It is unclean and
uncared for. This symbolizes her life so the set and colours allow the
viewers to link the colours and set with the child and the way that her
character is portrayed. This video is portrayed through performance. In
this case the performance is a dance. The style of dance is contemporary
which evokes emotion. The dance moves are very elongated but then very
fast and sharp. All of these symbolic techniques makes the video deeper
than it first appears to be.
12. Katy Perry- Firework
This Music video is a narrative showing different
people and their insecurities and gaining
confidence by expressing themselves.
13. Camera Angles
There are many different camera angles used in this music video. There is a wide
range of angles used to provide variety and to create the feel of the video. For
example a close up angle is used showing a girls face. In this scene the girl is
feeling down and empty with little self confidence. The close up angle is used to
show the sad emotions on the girls face. From the close up we can see that the girl is
so uncertain and not proud of who she is from the facial expressions shown. This
helps us as an audience understand how this girl is feeling and how she desperately
wants to be happy with herself. Another camera angle used in this music video is a
high angle shot. This angle shows Katy Perry standing on the edge of the balcony
and having fireworks from inside of her exploding. A high angle is used as it also
includes the city down below her and represents Katy expressing herself and being
proud of who she is infront of the whole town. These angles are used to inspire the
audience to be happy with who they are and that everyone is unique.
14. Lighting
The lighting used throughout this scene is all dark and harsh. This is to
represent the sadness that all of th different people are feeling inside. The
darkness contrasts with the bright colours of the fireworks as they are all
bright and colourful. The purpose of this is to make a statement about the
firework inside of their dull and dark lived lives coming out. The lighting is
uneasy on the eyes to help the audience get the understanding of how
these people in their everyday lives. At the end of the video all od the
lighting is bright and colourful as everyone is now expressing themselves
and happy with who they are. There are many different colours used to
show the differences of each persons personalty.
15. The costume and make up used in this video is very effective. The costumes
used are bright coloured and ‘pop’. This is used to create and set the tone of the
video. The video is firework so these costumes are used to represent a firework.
It is also a song about bursting out of your bubble and letting your real colours
shine, therefore everything is bright and coloured. The lighting contrast to this is
dark outside sometimes. This represents the darkness of their personalities and
the how the costumes represent how bright, colourful and fun they really are.
The make up is well done and reflects the brightness of the costumes to make
them look more effective.
Costuming
