Music Video Analysis
Toto -Africa
Drake -Forever
Starship -We built this city
Toto –Africa
Camera angles
Pan
shots –
These are used throughout the video to show and set the scene for the video
which is meant to take place on top of a book called Africa. These Pan shots
are mostly a mix of pan and zoom as the camera moves into the face of each
group member when they are singing. This is effective as it help show the
emotion on each members face while they sing.
Close ups –
close ups are used to show the emotion and the passion each person has while
they sing the camera zooms on each members face after a few lines , to show
each character as they play their own instrument. This is effective as we get
to see each character from the group multiple times within the whole video. The
camera also focuses on the women at the table who is going through lots of
information and is very important to the video as she watches the main singer
of the group as he goes through all the books looking for where the bit of
paper is from.
She is shown as a background character but very important to the
video as it tells a story through music which was the director's idea when creating this video.
 |
| Close up Shot |
Establishing shots - the video itself has main establishing shots
as the video is shot in main different areas that are all mixed into one to
look like a library sort of room. At the
start of the video we see a globe being spun and the camera moves to a pan shot
in a library as we see lots of books on stands giving the impression but not
setting the scene. Then as the video goes on we see the globe make another show
as it stops spinning it ends with Africa. This helps us understand why the song
is called Africa, this is done many times throughout the video with masks being
shown and books and other items that you can link back to the song. These shots
help us have an understanding and way so we know what the music video is about.
Also we see the group on top of the book called Africa.
Editing Fast Cutting – this is used throughout the video and is used to show emotion and the change within in each scene to again show the facial expressions of each character and what is going on as the story of the video is focused on. though the editing is fast cut it does look quite slow in some scenes holding some scenes to be shorter than the group may of wanted , but the way it has been edited is great as the shots of them on top of the book is a really key shot to the whole video.
 |
| Mise en Scene |
Mise en Scene - Setting - the setting for this music video plays one of the most important roles in establishing the whole reason for video and why it is set in this way. There are a number of different shots that we see throughout; however there are a few that we see more than others. One takes place on top of a book, the book the Character is looking for in the music video. This is key as I help sets the scene and also it’s a cool shot with the 1980’s CGI. Another shot that we see a lot, is the main singer of the, group in a library sort of setting who is out looking for the book Africa.
Lighting – throughout this video the effect that lighting
has on the scene tends to change depending on the shot and tempo of the song. At
the start the lighting is quite low as the songs tempo is still building but I
find these early shots very dark and the lighting increases as the song
continues until the end of the song where there is plenty of light within each
shot allowing for more to be seen, also lens glare is also seen in this video.
Forever – Drake, Kanye
West, Lil Wayne and Eminem.
Camera angles
Close up shots
- At the start of the video as the music builds up
the camera moves between all the characters that are in the song and all play a
role in the song each have a verse and the camera pans between their faces in
the order that they sing. With all that is going on at the start of this song
this change in fade in and out of each character not only shows us who else
takes part in the production of this video but who shows each one in a
different location that is suited to them. There are lots of lights and special
effects taking place at the start and throughout the video this includes lights
flashing and sirens, and flames that go off in time with the music. This is
effective as this all tends to lead to a target audience of young men and teens
most likely due to the fact all the characters that perform in this video are
Rap artist that all have a big following over the world so it’s clear this
music video has a target audience. Sticking with close up shots we see the
story behind the video it follows the story of American basketball player
Lebron James. Within the opening we see him a number of times in fact he is the
first person we see adding to the effect that he will be important to the story
of this video. He is shown as the video protagonist as he appears a number of
times and picture of his past/story appear all throughout the video showing his
progression as a child to the person he is today.
 |
| Close Up Shot |
Medium low shot - Continuing with the video the next shot that
caught my eye was a medium low shot looking up towards Kanye West. The shot
take place after some fast cut editing, after Drake has finished his verse. The
shot has Kanye placed in the middle of the screen not on the horizon or on any
pint for the rule of thirds effect. This would show his importance as being less
than other and because within the shot your eyes are drawn away from him and
more to what is going on around him. The shot includes lots of special effects
from flashing beams of light, to massive flames of fire taking placed around
him. This shot is effective as it is a looking up shot with would mostly show
him as being this all important character to him just being the centre piece of
this shot. But having a low shot looking up at someone usually states the fact
that they are of great importance. However this is not the case and there are 3
other characters within the video and all are equal are they, as all there
verses last around the same time.
 |
| Medium low Shot |
Editing - Editing throughout the video is balanced well
between the video and the picture that are put in every now and then. The video
is very fast paced with lots going on all the time. From each character to
another and all the special effect taking place within the video. Fast cut
editing is used heavily in this video as
the shot transissons from one to another we see the fast cut editing taking place
to keep up with the music and all that is going the editing also plays a part
of how effective it is on the music. As the editing is very fast due to the
general pace of the song and its switch between each character within the
video.
 |
| Editing |
Mise en Scene - Setting the setting for this video plays heavily
on the genre of the video all four characters are found in four different
locations that focus on their personality and clothing of the time of the
video. The setting helps establish the video but as there are, lots of
different locations within the video each setting is established at the start
of each verse before the music kicks in. the setting for the video could be
seen as a stereotype of a rap song as the video take place in dark places with
little real light and people and more darker areas that use special effect
light to create a great shot within the video.
One shot to pick out for setting would be this one with Eminem, who is
crowded by a group of youths dressed in another stereotype of rap music
culture. They are seen wearing hoodies tracksuits and chains. This is a common
stereotype of young youths today and the video plays on this as if it wants to
show us this common stereotype. Above is
shot that caught my eye for a great way of setting the scene for this clip and
for the rest of the video. The video relies on its , setting and clothing to
help emphasise the meaning and reason for this video however the characters
with in the video , do more of that themselves, as they all have great
following within the music world and each have their own back story , which
have huge following.
 |
| Mise en Scene |
............................
Starship- We built this city
Camera Shots -
The video takes place mostly on a green screen that displays images
behind that have reference to the video .one shot that I can see within the
video is of the group heading towards a statue that later stands up. This shot
shows great importance to the statue as the camera is taking a POV shot of the
statue guy looking down on the group ads they move toward him as they sing. It
shows how much more important this guy is compared to the group as the camera
looks down on them as if they are tiny people coming towards him looking for
guidance I like this shot as it brings the bazaar into the video , on how could
a statue stand up and start singing. However the shot still shows us that the
guy in the middle is the most important person in that group as he is placed in
the centre and your eyes are attracted
to him, showing us that he is the lead singer of the group and important
to the video. Also we can see the others all looking at him showing him as the leader of the group.
 |
| Camera Shot 1 |
Next shot - That caught my eye was as establishing
shot that take place towards the start of the video. The shot take place as the
music starts up again at the start and we see all the members of the group
start to appear. Each member is faded in through the green screen and appears
in order of appearance. so the guy is
white appears first telling me that he himself plays a big part in this video
and is most likely the main singer of the group, the after he fades out and is
followed by the rest of the group the shot is a establishing shot as it shows
each group member and there role in the group. This is effective as helps us
see who the group is and how many member of the group there are. They play In
front of a pretty bad green screen but for the time it wasn’t that bad, but
when I look at it today it looks quiet bad. Notice how the screen changes with
the tempo of the music, the colour and picture/video on the green screen
changes as the music tempo pickups and the song starts.
 |
| Camera Shot 2 |
Editing – this video relies heavily on its Green screen
background to help give the video standing and not just some people standing
around a green screen. The video is mostly fast cut editing with some slow cut
editing, that tie’s in towards the end of the video. One clip that grasp my eye
is, the scene were a face of another member of the group is edited into the
clip. This breaks what I thought was possible with technology at this time, but
at the time it looked amazing .Now it
looks out dated and cheap, with music videos now trying to out play each other,
with more going on in the video then there needs to be. But not bad for a video
from the 1980’s.
Mise en
scene – for this video setting was not a problem, as the whole video was
shot in front of a green screen, producers were able to programme a picture of
the location they wanted behind the group. Apart from some scenes where
location, setting uses props such as when the group gather around President
Lincoln other than that most of the location, shots are done in front of a
green screen. The setting of this video changes throughout, from the hills at
the start to the downtown scene that follows later in the video. Still with
mise en scene we have clothing. Now clothing
all depends on ideas from the producer and wardrobe. The clothing for this video has the group
dress primary colours, such as red, orange, blue, yellow and white. These
clothes have an 80’s feel and look to them giving the impression that the video
is sticking, with the time period that the video was made in.
......................
Conclusion for my video
So
looking over the three music video, that I have reviewed we can see three
different types of music from the rap of drake and Eminem, to the wonderful
song by Toto Africa. And the reason why was, because I wanted a lot of variety
within the analysis. This leads to the song of my choice, which is livin’in a
box. Our song is a classic song that is
from boy band Livin’in a box the song that has a good beat to it plays good,
with no remix and the song can be lip sung easy as the lyrics are not too
complicated as the verse are short with some words/ Lines being used again. But
it’s a catchy song that follows the narrative of the band and our video follows
the story of Steven who decides to break free from his normal way of living and
wants to travel to a place of harmony for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment