music video synopsis / ideas

we have been planning our music video and our main idea has been to use the song by Chase and Status featuring Dellilah called 'Time' we have had a few ideas for the video. The video will be narrative based on a couple (boyfriend and girlfriend) that have been going out for a while and she is getting fed up of being left waiting for her boyfriend who seemingly dosent have the time for her, this will be shown by her waiting at home for her boyfriend to return but when he begins to lie saying somethings come up when hes at a party the girlfriend begins to become more and more aggitated until she decides this is it and walks out. The video will portray "Time" throughout to show time passing by as the boyfriend makes his way home early the next morning around 3, the video will show alternative images of the two (boyfriend and girlfriend) on their journeys as they seperate to show the different sides of the story, the video will finish with the girlfriend leaving him for what he is continuely doing.

example - kickstarts (Bar 9 remix) music video analysis

 Example – kickstarts (Bar 9 remix)

Music video analysis

This video is my third of 3 music video analysis’s , I have chosen the genre of Dubstep for this video as  in my previous essays I have included drum and bass and electronica, the three genres I will be looking to base my video on are between drum and bass, Dubstep or electronica thus the reason for the genre choices.  I have also chosen this video specifically because I am planning on using a narrative based music video. The music video Kickstarts (Bar 9 remix) conveys many characteristics of a Dubstep music video but is also unique within the story line of the narrative based video. The characteristics of a Dubstep video would convey with frequent cuts, short clips in context with the editing , extreme camera angles , The people shot within the video would have a particular dress sense of a youth related theme which is seen in this video. The editing , camera and mise en scene of the video is very stereotypical of a Dubstep video but to conflict that the narrative storyline to the video is counter stereotypical, For example a usual Dubstep video would be either performance based showing the artists live in a club or festivals, or narrative based but with a story line more related to clubbing, partying, drink and drug related, the general lifestyle for young adults who live this way. The video Kickstarts (Bar 9 remix) however shows a couple (boy friend and girlfriend) who are fighting for each other’s love against a gang of some sort for whatever reason but this is not explained.

The music video follows Goodwins theory very closely as almost constantly throughout the video the visuals have a strong relationship to the lyrics, in the opening seconds the lyrics say  you want me to come over” and it shows the boy friend outside his girlfriend’s house, almost immediately after the use of shot reverse shot is used as the boyfriend looks into her eyes and the lyrics are “look into your eyes imagine life without ya”, This continues throughout the music video and is an effective technique to allow a viewer to enjoy the song to a more full extent, it gives the viewer the imagery to the song which makes it more memorable and interesting.

Goodwins theory has been continually used throughout as the music and visuals have a very strong relationship in this video.  The opening to the song is very slow and downbeat, there are not a lot of changes in the beat and this is conveyed within the visuals, it shows the boyfriend walking slowly with very infrequent cuts to emphasise the low point in the song. The whole song uses the beat to control the speed of editing, for example at 3 minutes 54 seconds into the song there is a transfer from a downbeat section where the use of long clips and infrequent cuts are used but as the beat drops at 3 minutes 54 seconds there is suddenly the use of very frequent cuts, short clips and the camera has a clear change from a steady shot to a handheld shot where it is very hectic and all over the place showing the intensity of the situation.

The camera techniques used in the video are very interesting as it ranges from shots that are clearly taken on some sort of stand or tripod to shots which are taken by someone running with very shaky shots, this is interesting as it is very hard to get right when you take shots in this way, it can often look very tacky and poorly filmed but in this video they have got the right mix of fixed shots to handheld and it has come out very effective as it shows the intensity of the situations the characters are in and allows us as a viewer to empathy and relate to the situation as we watch almost making the viewer put themselves in their shoes.

The editing of this particular video is extremely dependent on the music itself, the visuals seem to change simultaneously with the beat throughout the song, this gives the visuals a particular feeling of rhythm throughout the video, it is a very well used technique that relates the music to the visuals in a way that the viewer can become more interested in the song and visuals as a package. The opening two shots are edited very well to fit the visuals to the music, not only does the first clip fade out as the second clip fades in, which is used well to show time passing by in this part of the video, the shot is facing the sun and this puts the man out of focus which brings him into the video slowly with the music as he fades into focus in the second shot. The use of this fading the new shot over the old one is used for the first 23 seconds until the screen fades to black and the use of the door opening is kind of like a wipe, these first 30 seconds use specific editing that give the viewer a feel of negative feelings, the music is slow along with the editing, the use of the fades over each shot give the feeling of time passing by and gives the viewer a ‘down feeling’ to this opening of the song.

Mise en scene is effective in this music video, it is important in all videos to create the right feel and vibe that the viewer would expect. The clothing is stereotypical of the age the people dress like young adults relating to their age, the most important clothing to create a character build up is of the gang within this video, the gang are initially wearing tights over their heads in the first scene to hide identity, they wear all black clothing, they are seen to be wearing jewellery, these are all associated stereotypical outfits a gang member would wear and it has been followed well in this video.

Overall the video is very effective, the video is narrative based it is easy to see the storyline, the visuals work very well with the music and it is an interesting video that would promote the artist in a positive way.