The video I am analysing is Adele, Someone Like You. The writer of the song is Adele and Dan Wilson. The song was released January 2011. The genre of the song is pop, soul and blues.
This image shows Adele with emotion and depression shown on her face.
This video shows the emotion of Adele, it shows the story about her past boyfriend and the audience can identify this from the emotion in her voice and her body language. The main plot of the video is to sing about a past boyfriend and the emotion and depression, which she was going through. Throughout the video Adele is shown in mid and close up shots as this enables the audience to be involved in the song and feel the emotion which she is going through. Throughout the song the low key piano and the minimal action shows she is upset and in discomfort. There is one singer singing throughout the whole song and the camera time is consistently on her, there is also no backing music used except a piano which makes her powerful voice stand out.
Before of these images show the dark, black clothing which Adele is wearing throughout the music video.
Adele is wearing very minimalist clothing which are black in colour, the clothing which she is wearing are very elegant and feminine. This creates the representation that she really cares, as the clothing is black this is stereotypically linked to sad events such as funerals and through the music video this is clearly shown. Secondly, the location where the video is filmed at is at her own home this creates the representation that she feels comfortable in her own environment. Throughout the music video we see little of the environment but can see it is set in her own home as she has her own comforts. During the music video we see few props, although we do not see many props selected items are shown. The items which are shown could represent something towards Adele, the items which are shown seem very precious towards her and could reflect something her past boyfriend has brought her and could be the only items she has to remind her. For example, a canvas picture of a dog is shown. Lastly, ambient lighting is used throughout this music video, natural lighting is used and this is done through large windows. Light, airy colours such as white and cream are used to emphasis what the music video is about and this emphasises Adele which makes her stand out in the video. Light, airy colours emphasis this as it shows that she has washed him out of her life and has made a fresh start away from him.
This image shows a side angle shot of Adele, most of Adele's music video are shot in this angle.
There is limited variety of camera shots used in this video, the majority of the video is shot in a mid to close up shot. By the music video being shot in these two shots it gets personal and intense on the singer and from these shots the audience can see the emotion she has in her face and body language. Secondly, little use of camera angles are used and there is little variation of the camera angles in this video. The majority of the video is shot from a side angle show the side of her face, in this video Adele never looks into the camera directly, this is stereotypically how emotions are shown but through the video Adele shows emotion different ways for example by her body language. As the video is shot in one angle (canted angle) the audience are able to see her personally and are able to connect with her and in some cases relate to her. According to Pete Fraser in Teaching Music Video (BFI, 2004), ‘as with any moving image text, how the camera is used and how images are sequenced will have a significant image upon the meaning’, this is true of the Adele video as through moving image and how the camera is used represents the emotion and distress she is feeling.
The music which Adele sings has little background sound if not any, in the case of this music video it has a piano playing in the background which makes her voice stand out. In Adele’s songs, she doesn’t need a soundtrack as her voice is very powerful, and allows the emotion to standout. The only sound which is used is dialogue, the dialogue in this song is very powerful and emotional and this represents what Adele is singing.
In this music video simple editing is used widely, and the majority of the editing is straight cuts. The editing which has been used relates to the song as it is very simple and is not to complicated which relates to the song which is being sung. According to Pete Fraser in Teaching Music Video (BFI, 2004)…‘there are videos which use slow pace and gentler transitions to establish mood. This is particularly apparent for the work of many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal’, this is true of the Adele video as gentle cuts are used and this help established what the song is about.
The video which I am analysing is Beyonce, 'If I Was a Boy'. The write of the song is BC Jean and Taby Gad. The song is released 12th October 2008. The genre is Pop and R & B.
This music video shows a contrast between men and women, and in some ways the female and male have swapped roles. In addition, this song shows the way in which men treat women in life and how unfair it is to be treated like that.
This screenshot shows Beyonce wearing masculine clothing.
Throughout some of this video Beyonce is wearing very masculine clothing, which reflects the song which is being sung by her for example, ‘If I was a boy’ she is singing from the perspective of a male and what she would do differently and this is a representation of the song of a whole. The clothing, which Beyonce is wearing, is stereotypically related to a male. Secondly, throughout this music video there are a variety of different locations, for example at the shooting range when she is helping the male shooting and praising him, this is what males stereotypically do with the female gender and we do not associate females with this role and this is what Beyonce is trying to get across that females can do the roles of the male gender. This stereotype is in reality what people think in today’s life. Lastly, artificial lighting is used in this music video. Dark artificial lighting is used which could represent the life of males. Dark, masculine colours are used in this music video.
This image is a mid shot, which a lot of this music video is shot in.
For example, the first shot of Beyonce is shot in a mid shot whereas the next few shots are in close up. This shows a variety of shots which are use, the most frequent shot is a mid shot as it shows someone and the audience can see a small part of the background so they can establish where it is set. Secondly, there is a wide range of camera shots which are used throughout this music video. For example, when Beyonce is in the police car there is an over the shoulder shot which enables the audience to see where they are travelling to and also the audience can see from the point of view of Beyonce. Another example of camera shots in this music video is the two shot of Beyonce and the man on the shooting range, from this shot the audience can see the compassion between the two people and at this point Beyonce is singing ‘when you lose the one you wanted cos he’s taking you for granted and everything you had got distorted’ from this shot the audience is able to see the compassion and how she is making her boyfriend jealous. According to Richard Dyer, ‘the stars image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audiences’, this relates to this music video as the song she is singing relates to a multiple amount of meanings and they can be interpreted in anyway. For example, people could class the relationship that Beyonce has with the male as having a relationship, whereas others may see it as friendship this depends on the way certain people interpret the relationship between them both.
In the background there is a instrumental beat which complements the singing by Beyonce. The beat is quite fast and upbeat. In addition, near the end there is a small amount of dialogue spoken between her and her boyfriend, through this dialogue Beyonce makes her boyfriend jealous and the roles are once again turned round, stereotypically the woman is normally the jealous one in the relationship.
Slow-motion is used in this music video at the beginning, when Beyonce is walking down the step of her house it is done in slow motion, this gives Beyonce more camera time and establishes that the music video is about her as it gives the audience longer to look at her. According to Pete Fraser in Teaching Music Video (BFI, 2004)…‘there are videos which use slow pace and gentler transitions to establish mood. This is particularly apparent for the work of many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal’, this relates to Beyonce, If I Way a Boy as the shots used to establish the mood of the people in the video.
To evaluate and conclude my overall performance during the Preliminary task, I believe that as a group we worked very hard and worked very well as a team to produce the Britney Spears music video. Although we had little time to do so and a poor location I think I and the whole group worked well to produce that work which we did.
The music video which we produced didn’t look very professional and in some of the shots the lightening was very poor, but this will help me when completing my final A2 music video as I have learnt what to do and what not to do whilst filming to ensure the highest quality. The short comings of the Britney Spears video are the poor lightening in some parts and some of the lip synching this was due to nerves. Overall, with the equipment, lightening and time which we had to produce this music video I think that we did well and worked as best as we could.
By completing this Preliminary Task I have learnt a lot of skills which I will be able to use in my A2 coursework. I have learnt some additional skills using the editing software (Adobe Premier Pro), how to use the camera to achieve the best quality filming, also I have learnt how much work and hard work will be involved to create a professional music video.
One of the problems which our group encountered was the nerves of some members of our group, I was shy about being Britney in the video but we all overcame this and had parts which would suit us best.
Whilst completing the Preliminary task I missed one lesson where the group was filming, as I knew I was going to miss the lesson the group and I ensured that I would not be in any of shots they were filming that day. During the planning stage, I helped deciding on the mise-en-scene, which we would need. Emmie and I did a brainstorm, came up with a variety of ideas, and selected the best one. During the filming stage, I filmed the clock, the bell shot and one of the locker shots of Zoran. Below are the sections, which I filmed:
The section which I lipsynched was one of the locker shots, below is a video of the section which I lipsynched.
For the editing section we were all split into groups of two, I worked with Thomas Cassidy. The section, which we edited, is 0-20 seconds, so it was fair we each did 10 seconds each. I did the first 10 seconds of the music video. Below is the section, which I edited.
For the editing part we was all split into groups of two, and we had 20 seconds of filming to edit between us. I worked with Thomas Cassidy and we each did 10 seconds of editing each. As we only had to edit a small section of film this didn't take very long, me and Thomas had to edit the section 0-20 seconds. I had YouTube on my computer screen and Thomas had Adobe Premier Pro on his screen, this helped us both as we could keep referring back to the actual Britney music video. Overall, I felt I learnt valuable skills whilst doing this Preliminary Task which I will be able to transfer into my actual A2 music video. The whole group worked well as a team and we met the deadlines.
Before filming we had already storyboarded so we were prepared for the time we had to film. All of us knew what we was filming, directing and lip synching. As we was trying to recreate a similar version of the Britney Spears music video we was making sure that it was similar by watching it over and over again. To make it realistic we used similar angles (low and high), shots (wide, mid and close up), mise-en-scene and lighting. For filming we used artificial lighting so that it matched the actual version of Britney Spears. We tried to get the dance routine similar to Britney but this was hard to get exactly right. Whilst filming we had to refer back to the actual music video as we had forgot how to do some of the dance and people was unsure what they had to sing. During the filming process the storyboard helped all of us a lot as we was able to refer back to it and we could see which role everyone was doing. Doing the Preliminary Task has helped me significantly as I got the idea the amount of work which is going to be involved and what will help me when doing my A2 music video.
Before we could film Britney Spears music video we had to plan what we was going to film, who would be in the shot, who was directing and who was filming. We storyboarded this process as it would save us time and the filming day would run more smoothly and everyone would know what they are doing on the day. Pictures of the storyboarding are shown below. During the planning process four individual people in the class split up to do a small section of the storyboard so we was able to complete it quickly. Whilst the four people were doing this the rest of the class went to find suitable locations, sort out the mise-en-scene and lighting. During this time I went to find locations with Thomas Cassidy and reported back to the class. I think that the whole group worked well together and we were all able to meet the deadline for planning. The planning process was very important as the time we had to film wouldn't have ran smoothly without the storyboard as we wouldn't know what we had to film. The skills learnt during the planning process will be very important for my final A2 music video and will allow me to complete the task effectively.
For our A2 Media Preliminary Task we were told to recreate a Britney Spears, Hit Me Baby One More Time video. We had to recreate 1 minute 20 seconds of the music video. All of our media class was able to work together to film the music video and once filmed we split up into twos to edit a small section of the video. During the Preliminary Task the class had to work well with each other and we all developed team working skills which will be useful when I film my own music video. Secondly, in the Preliminary Task we all had the opportunity to film, lip-synch and direct which I will have to do in my own music video. Also, in the Preliminary Task we all had to work to deadlines to ensure the music video was filmed and edited on time, I think that we all worked well with one another and the skills which I learnt will be beneficial for my A2 music video.
