Example/Influential Videos

In my opinion, I believe that one of the best ways to make our music video look as professional as possible, is to look at examples from highly successful artists. By doing this as well as absorbing creative ideas, I will be able to pick up camera, editing, sound and mise en scene tips.

The Game - Dreams

One of the main reasons that this video was influential in our creative ideas was because of the studio clip, where the artist is seen recording his track. As well as this, the studio scenes help the video to flow, and I think it could help up to break up some long clips e.g. if we have the artist walking along a path then a clip in a studio will help to keep the viewer interested (as the change in scenery will catch the eye). As well as this any gaps on the outside production could be filled in with a clip of the studio and it helps to create the feeling that the artist is on the road to success (as professional artists use recording studios).

Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

This video is one of many from a very successful artist, Eminem. Eminem has many music videos and is one of the biggest Rap stars in the USA and the UK. This video features Rihanna and one of the shots that caught my eye was the repetitive and extreme close up of her face (when the chorus is played). I feel that this shot really emphasises the chorus, which is likely to catch the user's eye and keep them interested in the video. As the music video we have chosen has a female singing the chorus, we could incorporate something similar e.g. an extreme close up of the lips, which would support the words being sung and I think that if a viewer sees lips saying something then they will focus their attention on working out what is being said.

Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

Jay-Z has also been a hugely successful star in the Rap and R&B music industry. In the video shown above there are many shots of New York city (one of the largest and most affluent cities in the world). There are many shots showing the rich parts of the city, which in my mind creates the feeling of success, which is why our digi-pack shows an image of a rich city - one of the places that a lot of aspiring artist hope to be living in, in the future. Also another point that I noted was the whole video is black and white which creates simplicity. I don't think that we will use the black and white theme in our video as we have chosen to use lots of bright colours to emphasize certain items e.g. the red lips in the chorus.

Throughout the video there are several different shots that keep reoccurring;

• Ariel shots - These shots look down at different locations and I think that this is good as it creates a of point of view e.g. you are seeing what the artist is seeing (looking down on other people)


• Establishing shots - These shots set the scene and clearly show the affluent areas


• High angle shots - Theses shots look down at the artists showing that more success can still be achieved


• Low angle shots - These shots look up at the artists, and this could be form the audience's point of view


• Panning and tracking shots - I think that these shots keep the focus on the character or location as the camera is moving, so the viewer will keep the item in their sight e.g. when the camera is tracking around the piano your attention is drawn to it.

In our media video I think that it will be really important to include all of the shots listed above and many more. These shots will give a professional feel and the variety will help to keep customers interested. As our music video will be strongly be based on the theme of narrative shots such as the high and low angles will be very useful. They have clear connotations of success, for example if a camera is looking up at someone then the audience will see the person form below, they will be looking up to them, possibly a feeling inferiority could be created. I think we may use a shot like this at the end of the video, as it will show the increased success of the artist, and a high angle shot could be used at the start to show the the artist is still very much 'at the bottom of the ladder'.