Directors

There are many music video directors. 
These a few of the most famous and best in the world. With a video of their work. 

Spike Jonze

This is a video of Jay-Z's Otis 

Canada

This is a video of Battles's Ice Cream 

Tom Scharpling

This is a video of White Flag's Romance 

Jake Nava

This is a video of Adele's Someone Like You

Maria Matsoukas

This is a video of Rihanna's We found love. 

All of these directors are known for there work in all sorts of genres of music. There are many types of music videos and the directors job is to capture the video in the best way to represent the song. Sometimes this means creating something that is directly relating to the lyrics or something that has a story with in it. Directors work with the artists to help create the best video for the artists. They also work with costume, lighting and editing departments to make sure that everything is put together and comes out in the way the artist wants it. 

Costume and Make Up

Costume and make up are a key thing in music videos. It is also something that is forever changing. In the 80's we would think that you would see a lot of bright colours and radical costumes but it seems that when you look at todays videos you are more likely to see that. 

10 years ago: 

This is the type of costumes that artists used to wear in their music videos. As you can see there are a lot of more glitter, big hair, pattens, and different range of materials that we see now. 

This is they type of hair and makeup styles that were around 10 years ago. As you can see the hair styles have changed quite a bit. The photo on the left shows a typical type of hair style that later went on to set a trend in fashion. On the right we have a more normal hair and makeup style. The makeup that they wore was very natural with hints of colour. For example the eye shadow. 

Now

As you can see in this picture. Now you tend to see a lot less clothing in videos than we used to. A lot more bright colours. Body image is a big thing in videos now, so looking good naked is seen to be a very desired thing and if you do have that then it seems you have to show it off. Videos are full of colour and bold designs, the bottom right picture shows this. 
The bottom left picture shows how now you see a lot of celebs showing off their wealth. 

This is the type of hair and makeup that we see in videos now. As you can see there is a big craze for wigs. And lots of colour. This is something thats makes the video stand out and makes the artist individual. 

Nicky Romero Toulouse

This music video is different to all the others that we have researched as it is a dance video. The type of music used is house music. No lyrics so the story line could be anything. I like how they have created this video and there are a lot of things that i would like to try in my own music video. 

This is the opening to the music video. I really like this because it shows the audience straight away who the artist is. The bold colour and font also reflect the type of music that this is. 

We then get introduced to our first and main character. This costume that they have of the mask is key in this video. As it shows that when ever you wear this mask you become a dancer. It is filmed in the streets so the mask fits into they scene that it is based around. 

The use of close ups are very important in this video as it shows the detail. Normally you would be able to see the characters expressions or looks, in this you can't because of the mask this gives a more creepy feel to the video and as you haven't seen the character dance yet the audience are left to wonder what could happen. 

Now you start to see this character dancing. It is a contrast to what the stereotypical character would do as he looks like he would be someone to mug you or attack you. 

Now you can see both characters are wearing the mask. It is obvious to see that the mask now has a meaning. When you watch the video you can see that anyone who is to wear a mask starts to dance, without it the other 'normal' people are confused to why they are dancing. This wide angle shot allows the audience to see both characters dancing in the street. It helps them understand what might be about to happen. 

Through out the video the mask is passed on to more and more people in till we end up with the gang on dancers. This is something that could easily be shot by myself. And i like the idea of having dancing in a music video. Because it is filmed in the streets it wouldn't cost anything and could easily be filmed at different times of the day to create different meanings. 

The end of this video shows that the hole act we have just seen is in someones dream. We end up in the same scene that we started with the same character. This close up of his face allows the audience to see the shock, worry and confusion about what he has just seen. 

We then see a shot of the other man walking away confused. This shot then appears. It shows the audience that what they have just seen was not a dream. It leaves the audience with a sense of wonder and confusion. This is something that i like as it means that you could create more videos like this to keep the audience coming back and watching more. 

Here is the LINK to watch the music video. You can get a feel for what the music is like and how it fits in with video. 

Skrillex Bangarang

This is another music video that we liked the look of. This is more of a drum and bass music, and doesn't really have that many lyrics. Again this is another narrative video and has a story to it. Unlike La La La this one doesn't really have music relevance to the lyrics. Skrillex are know for this type of video so it has become a typical thing so this type of music to do. 

This is the opening shot to the music video. It is a medium shot, you can see the dog but not the surrounding area. It makes the audience wonder what is going to happen in this video as you can't tell from the beginning.

We are then introduced to our first character. They use a close up of his face to show his features and also his reaction to what is going on. This man is shown to be the 'bad guy' in the video. His costume is meant to show a trypical ice cream man. He comes across as a scary, intimidating looking man. Not something that we usally assciate with an ice cream man. 

As we go though the video we see a gang of boys that we have been introduced to getting ready for something. We see them start to play around with explosives and electrical things. In this shot we see that the ice cream man is being electrcuted by a young boy. This tells that audience that clearly this character is meant to be show as the bad guy and that he has done something to upset the boys. They use a close up in this shot again so that you can see exactly what is happening to his hand.

This is a good shot of one the other boys attacking and closing the door on the ice cream mans hand. This shot is particully good as you can see everything that is happening. The boy is the main focus as he is taking up most of the shot but you can see his clear intention. It is almost as if  you are seeing this happen from the boys point of view. 

This shot is kind of a contrast to the last one. In the last one you see the volience and the hurt the boy is causing. In this shot you see his face, you can clearly tell that he looks worried and concerned about what he has done. They have used a medium camera shot in this scene. This is so that you can see the boys reaction and also the fact that he is running away from something. 

The use of shadows in this shot is very good. You can see the young boy on the right, the shadow on the wall is a lot bigger than what the boy is, this is meant to show how the boy is growing up. It links a lot to the following scenes. I like the use of the shadow because it creates and interesting effect and shows how you can create easy effects that could have a lot of different meanings. 

This is the shot that follows the shadow. It shows the young boy in the scene before all grown up. It is meant to show how the crimes and bad things he did in his childhood have carried on into his youth. I like the use of the cross cut to a close up becuase it allows the audience to understand this change very easily. It is also a very good way of showing a long period of time in a short video. 

If you click here you will be able to watch the hole video and enjoy the song. 

La La La

These are a few videos that we have chosen to analyse.
This is  music video called La La La. We like this type of video as it is a narrative video. It has a story to it. 

 This is the main character that is in the video. As you can see he has put his fingers to his ears, this links to the lyrics that are being sang. This is a motif and is repeated though out the video. 

Though out the video we come across characters that the boy meets. This helps the audience understand the story more. Although the characters don't directly relate to the lyrics. When you watch the video it does make sense. 

There are also elements taken from other genres of music videos. For example this shot looks like it would be from a dance video. All of the conventions are of a typical dance video. I like this because it is braking the stereotype of what the video should look like. 

This is a shot that fits into the song and into what the audience are expecting. The song is about someone trying to get away from all the shouting and moaning and this shot show what they are trying to get away from. It is shortly followed by another shot of the little boy with his fingers in his ears, the motif. The lighting in this shot is also very good. All of her face is light up so that you can see every part of it in such detail. It helps the audience see how much she is shouting at the boy. All of her costume fits into the typical dance music video, so fits in very well. But as this is a pop music video it is contrasted in a good way. 

This is another one of the characters that we see. He is costumed in a more fantasy sort of way than the other characters. His costume is a key part as it clearly shows that all the people that the boy is with are from his imagination and help him block everything out. It also shows you where the music video is set. You can see that it is somewhere hot and i would say in a more poorer county as the building behind don't look as well made. 

They use a rang of camera shots to create effects in this music video. I really like this one because it shows the journey that this boy is going on. It is a contrast from the city he has just come from. The long shot makes it seem like a long journey because i looks like a long way to walk. Again you can see where it is set clearly. 

Click Here to watch the music video from the start and listen to the song its self. 

Genres Of Music

The is a huge variety of different genres of music relating from genres such as Pop (Rihanna), Hip Hop (Lil Wayne), Rock (Linkin Park) and Classical. All of these Genres show a specific stereotypical image in their music videos for example the strereotypical image of a hip hop video would be people dancing, wearing and showing bright colours, and quite upbeat music, Wheras a rock video would show Very Loud Music and showing a dark atmosphere by the use of custumes and set etc.

Lighting

The lighting in a pop music video can be used to emphasise a certain mood. For example in Pixie Lotts's 'Cry Me Out' There is low key lighting being used which emphasises the black and white shots and shows the emotion of the song. Whereas in contrast to this in more up-beat videos flashing lights are used or even coloured lights which are used in videos such as LMFAO's 'Sexy And I Know It' The Ligthing In videos help emphasise the artist and ensures they are the centre of attention in the video.

My Genre of Music Video

There are many types of music video to go with the genre of music. For example there is pop, hip-hop, rap and heavy metal. All of these types of music come with a stereotypical image. For example when you think of hip-hop music the video that would automatically come to mind would include dancing, bright colours, typically black males and women used to represent a sexual image.

I am working with someone to create my own music video, we have researched different types of music that we would like to create a music video to.

We have decided that we want to create a pop video. There are key conventions of a pop video such as, dancing, action shots of dancing, groups of people, and the music is generally music that people get up and dance to. Some examples of pop music would be Michael Jackson: Black or White, Irene Cara: Fame, Bill Medley: I Had the Time of My Life and more modern music such as Kelly Clarkson: Dark Side, or JLS: Beat Again.