Evaluation of my music video
I was given a task which was to create a music video for a song that does not already have a music video for it. Before creating my music video I carried out a lot of research to do with music video genre’s target audiences, and the costing of music videos. I learned that music videos come in different styles which are; Performance (singing/dancing), narrative (telling the audience a story) and concept (selling the audience an ideology). This is when I came to a decision that my music video was going to be both narrative and performance based. Some music videos use all three styles. The example of this which I learned was Christina Aguilera – Beautiful. It was performance based as she was singing. The different clips of people being worried about their image, this is the narrative, and the message she was trying to send to people is that everyone is beautiful. As I carried out my research more I learned that each genre has different conventions. For example the generic conventions of a rock music video are; dark colours and dark lighting, and the majority all contain a music instrument such as drums or a guitar. All music videos are completely different; a key word for this is Diversity. Diversity means that people come from different cultures, backgrounds genders or have different ideas.
After this I looked at the costs of music videos. I researched Michael Jackson’s music video – Scream. This song was made with his sister Janet Jackson. This music video came to 8 billion dollars, which is the most expensive music video ever. To have a better understanding of why the music video was so much money I researched what the money was used for, I found out that it was used for the computer generated spaceship, the guitars they smashed during the video, and typical normal routine music videos such as make-up artist, lighting etc. After carrying out all my research I then started coming up with my own ideas using the background knowledge I had learnt from my research. The first thing I done was chose my song which was Chris Brown – I Wanna Be. After choosing my artist and the song I then done more research on my artist, my artists target audience, and previous music videos my artist has done to give me an idea of what my target audience would expect and want. Whilst researching this I found out that Chris Brown does a lot of performance based music videos with a narrative which is what gave me the idea to do a performance based song which a storyline within the video. I then had to get the lyrics and analyse them by splitting the words up and commenting on what I would want to happen in the music video for this part of the song.
Once I had an idea of what I wanted to happen in my music video I planned my editing styles. I chose my editing styles wisely using the background knowledge of my artist’s previous videos and genre. As the genre is R&B/Rap, the editing styles are usually fast editing if the song is up-beat. However as my song is quite a slow song I chose to do slow editing which is conventional towards the audience because It can get in touch with their feelings more. An editing technique that I decided to use is zoom, this is because it shows both the characters body language then zooms into a close up showing the characters facial expression giving the audience a clear understanding of how the artist is feeling which allows the audience to connect with the artist and be able to relate back to what is happening. As the song is quite slow as well a jump cut will be to quick and sharp for the eyes however zoom keeps you calm and relaxed and you will only be focusing on the main character. When I researched my artists previous music videos I paid attention to the outfits that my artist would wear in the music videos to give me an idea of what my main character should wear and what would be conventional for the target audience. Locations are very conventional in every music video; it sets the mood of the song and what is happening in the music video.
The use of iconography in my music video is very conventional as the song is a slow romantic song, the use of a white rose shows the romance within the song. When planning my music video, cinematography is a big thing to look at as it is conventional to have many different camera shots as it gives the audience a better and clear understanding of what is going on. Before filming my music video I had to create a storyboard so I could have a clear understanding of what I was doing so I knew exactly what to film on the day. After that I had to fill out many forms such as Location release, risk assessment and a filming schedule. After getting all my characters, all my props and finding my location I was ready to start filming, once I had all my footage I edited all the clips together which created my music video. Once my music video was done I compared it to real music videos to see if I matched the correct standards which are expected of a R&B music genre, and of Chris Browns previous music videos. The reason for this was to see if I made my music video professional enough and conventional enough and for it to relate back to the target audience. The lighting and camera shots were conventional to the R&B genre as it spent no long than 10 seconds on each shot and I used bright lighting throughout the music video. Sometimes the lighting was dimmed to help show the artists feelings and mood. Sometimes it made the scene more romantic and sometimes it made the scene more emotional to show that the character was feeling down.
My music video had a lot of close ups as the main focus in the music video should be my artist. So close ups made sure that the attention was not taken away from my artist and it also showed the emotion within the music video. My song contained a story within the video for the song, which made it narrative based as well as performance which is conventional towards my artist and the R&B genre. To make the story more realistic and understanding I used props such as a rose and a mobile phone. My music video was made very similar to Chris Brown’s music videos which is conventional for my target audience as they enjoyed the other music videos so much that they will enjoy this one too as it has things such as performance and narrative. The music video helped show the nice side that Chris Brown has and how sweet he can be which helps get the audience’s attention even more.
Coming to a conclusion If I could change anything about my music video I would get more locations to show a lot more happening which helps make the video get more in touch with your feelings as you are seeing a lot more happen which also extends the story. I would do more camera shots and editing styles too. Overall I am happy with my music video.
