Research

Me and my partner (George) have chosen to have two elements in our music video: the narrative and the performance as this is a popular technique which tends to make music videos a success. We looked at various videos to get an idea or what kind of genre we wanted the video to be like. We both agreed on the genre to be comedy as this appeals to both of us and I thought we could get a good audience response e.g. people laughing. This also relates to the target audience for our video to be, which is teenagers as this is something which personally we can both resemble to and achieve the best reviews. Josh Radin's video "brand new day" is a video I constantly looked at for research as it is funny and has the same target audience. Also, he isn't hugely famous which is something I feel we should take into account for when we choose our song as having the video compared could be an issue.

There is an establishing shot at the beginning of the video where a police woman interrupts the performance of the video. This is very controversial in a music video and something which I thought was clever as it grabs the audiences' attention straight away. There are plenty of establishing shots to reveal the setting as they play a big part in the performance of the video. The locations are in a populated, urban town/city which plays with the incidents that occur to him throughout the video.




Learn to Fly is the first single from Foo Fighters third album There is nothing left to lose back in 1999. The lyrics are about jumping into situations however difficult they are, but desperate to seek help along the way. Dave Grohl (the lead singer) sings longs such as, "i'm looking for the sky to save me". According to Wikipedia Foo Fighters musical genre is Alternative Rock and post-grunge.

The video is set on a plane with the three band members playing multiple roles as they board the plane. All of the characters being played have a comical objective with they use e.g. Grohl plays a teenage girl who wants to speak to the band as "she" is a huge fan. The majority of bands have their lead singer being portrayed as the "star" of the band which has been done in this video with Grohl playing more roles than the others (6), therefore, having more footage of himself. His roles are:

• Himself (0:51)
• Flamboyant flight attendant (0:07)
• The pilot (2:25)
• Teenage fan (1:00)
• Overweight lady (0:37)
• FBI Agent (4:19)

The opening shot uses rule of thirds to emphasise Jack Black looking in the direction where there is space on screen. Having a huge star in your opening shot is clever because the audience instantly have something which they understand and know through him being a huge celebrity. The pan going in down in the first shot contributes in revealing the location; an aircraft. The quick, pacey cuts relate with the fast, upbeat rhythm the song has. This is something I find interesting to have for my music video. 

I chose to research this song in more detail because of the comical genre I want my music video to possess. Multiple characters are popular with the public for humour (especially when a converting genders), as known trough pantomimes. Keeping the action flowing in every shot is something I would like to portray like this video as it keeps the audience engaged and relates to humour. E.g. Stereotypically, if someone was happy, they would likely be moving around a lot.   

I need something is on Newton Faulkner's first album hand built by robots back in 2007. The lyrics are about someone who has left him and he is overcoming what has happened with the chorus repeatedly saying "i don't mind anymore". Newton Faulkner is known for his acoustic, folk and alternative music which is personally what I think this genre is.

The video doesn't have a narrative, only the performance element where Faulkner is sat singing whilst playing an acoustic guitar. I think the video could have been simplified with just him in a dark room to express his negativity about being by himself. However, at 1:27, lamps are shown in the background through panning which symbolise light, hope etc as he is overcoming the past. This relates to the lyric "i don't mind anymore".

The opening shot is a close-up of Faulkner playing the guitar which instantly grabs the audiences' attention for wanting to know who the artist is. The next shot has performed rule of thirds which allows the audience to distinguish the artist clearly against the black background. Faulkner plays to the camera (0:10) and conveys vulnerability which adds to the mood of the lyrics.

I chose this video to research because I like the performance aspect and is something which I shall take on board for my music video. Using lot's of close-up's on the instrument itself which for Faulkner is iconic because he is also known by the public for being a brilliant guitarist. This video reveals and tells me that sometimes "less is more" can be better.




This video is up for research because of the positive feedback it has been given through many media technologies. Beyonce Knowles released this first single along side "if i were a boy" in her third album "I am... Sasha Fierce" in October 2008. The reason for it's whole hype of the song is due to the iconic video. This is a brilliant way of understanding that a music video is a brilliant way to promote a song. This video has had (and counting) 124,857,107 hits (with this being just one of many of the music video).