For my music video I have decided to use the dance genre. A lot of dance music videos are varied from concept to narrative to performance based, which allows me to base my video on any of those three. Some of the best artists who fall into the dance genre category I would say are Rihanna, Lady gaga, Ne-yo, Beyonce, David Guetta and Pet shop boys. Also at a teenager most mainstream music is dance/pop so doing dance will appeal to the majority of people the same age as me and if people like dance music then it will be more likely that they will want to watch a video for dance music rather than another genre. Although performance based videos are one of the main characteristics of dance genre music videos I have decided to go against this stereotype when filming my music video as I think it is important to show the audience something different and unexpected, Swedish House Mafia have definitely inspired me to do this as their music video for greyhound is concept and narrative based only.
David Guettas' video 'Without You' featuring usher, is 60%performance based and 40% concept based. There is a good mix of high key and low key lighting throughout the video which is a good mix expecially as the video is based on the dance gerne, and the different lightings and mise en scenes keep the video more interesting to watch. The first shot shows the globe of the world, and then zooms in to show South America, then writing appears in the bottom left hand corner which says 'Brazil 6.07am' which tells the audience where in the world part of this video is based. There is then an establishing shot of an empty beach in Brazil. There is then a straight cut to someone waving the Brazillian flag and a tracking shot of David Guetta walking through a crowd of people whilst high fiving them. There are mid shots of people waving their hands in the air which relates to the dance genre as there is a big crowd of people and they are enjoying the music. There is then another shot of the globe but this time is shows South Africa and because its 9.07pm there is low key lighting, but again there is a tracking shot of David Guetta walking through the crowd high fiving people. There is then a straight cut to a mid shot of Usher standing on the same beach which appeared at the beginning in Brazil, he is wearing dark coloured clothing, such as black jeans and a tshirt, with a dark denim jacket, which usually you would see on young people. He is also wearing big gold chains to show off his wealth and to add to his cool, rich style he is wearing large sunglasses which have gold edges. The next two places the video is set in is Thailand and the United States, in which the mise en scene is a beach similar to Brazil.
Just before the second verse there is a close up of David Guetta turning one of the objects on his Dj set, which connotes turning on a beat which follows in the second verse. David Guetta is wearing a checkered shirt and a denim jacket, which is similar to ushers outfit choice, both relate to the dance genre as its clothing that young people wear. Also he is wearing red headphones which are from a brand called 'beats' which are good quality but quite expensive headphones which are targeted towards 15-20 year olds. As the dance genre is modern and classed as a cool genre, by David Guetta wearing beats, he is advertising this to his target demographic. As well as this he is wearing sunglasses to convey his fame and he is also wearing jewelry on his wrist, connoting his wealth.
There are then mid shots of the crowd dancing and clapping along to the song, as this is the majority of the video it relates in well to the dance genre. There is a long shot of David Guetta on stage with one hand in the air, and the camera is placed just at the top of the crowd so we can see the crowds heads and arms as they put their hands up to show they are enjoying the concert.
Just before the chorus starts, on the held note of 'without' there is a mid shot of David Guetta with his arms spread out signalling the crowd with his hands to keep jumping along with the music, he then puts his arms on his side and when 'you' comes in he throws his hands in the air and starts jumping. Next there is a straight cut to the beach mise en scene in the United States, where people are dancing in swimwear. It then shows a mid shot of speakers on the beach and the sand moving up and down to connote an earthquake, after this there is a shot of a crack appearing through the ground in a carpark. After this there is slow motion editing on the people dancing. There is a close up to their feet, which portrays how much force is hitting the ground that they have caused the earthquake. The next mise en sceen shown is a skate park, you can tell as there is graffiti on the floor which relates to the dance genre well and there are ramps, for people to skate up.
Half way through the video when the third verse comes in the globe of the world is shown again, and has been edited as South America appears to be moving, there is then a straight cut to the man holding up the Brazillian flag which may connote that the country moving is Brazil, as it then joins on to Asia and there is a straight cut to the concert in Thailand. By editing the video in this way it creates a concept which is clear to follow, and it also makes the video interesting but still relates to the dance genre by having four different concerts which eventually join up to one. So I think the concept trying to be shown in this video is that music brings everybody together and the lyrics meaning is that without music David Guetta and Usher would not be where they are today.
In Calvin Harris' video for 'Lets Go' featuring Ne-yo it is set in various places around the world including Rio, Los Angeles and Tokoyo. The establishing shot shows houses in Rio, Brazil and we can tell because there is white bold writing in the center of the screen which says Rio, we then see the back of a man who says in Brazilian 'lets go'. There is a straight cut to the next establishing shot which is a house with a man sitting on the stairs in Los Angeles, which then cuts to the inside of the house showing a long shot of a woman lying on a sofa and a man in the foreground saying 'lets hit the gym'. The final establishing shot is of Tokoyo city, there is then a straight cut to a mise en scene of a bedroom where a man is telling a girl to wake up 'Aiko, lets go, wake up'. During the music video it follows the lives of these three main people in different cities. So within the first 20 seconds of the music video without having even started the music, there is a link to the song title 'lets go' but so far the audience cannot tell whether it is a music video for the dance genre because it has not yet come under the codes and conventions of the dance genre. The video is 50% concept and 50% narrative based. It isn't a stereotypical dance video as there is no performance. The fast paced upbeat song synchronises well with the visuals as two of the stories we follow are based in cities which are very lively and exciting and the third is set in a gym with a man doing boxing and press-ups so the quick movements and exercises fit in well with dance music. There is also a girl who is dancing which goes with the codes and conventions of the dance genre. There are also scenes of groups of people dancing in Brazil, in which there is a long shot to capture everyone dancing. Throughout the whole video the two artists Calvin Harris and Neyo are not shown at all this is quite common in dance music videos as usually the artist creates the music but doesn't necessarily know how to dance or as a lot of dance music videos are performance based the artist doesn't always fit in well with the video.
The research I have done on dance artists has widened my knowledge about the genre and codes and conventions dance consists of. With this research I will be able to create a dance music video which sticks to the codes and conventions of the dance genre. It has given my knowledge of with camera angles and editing skills to use to help develop a good dance music video. Analysing both videos have also given me an insight to what type of clothing we should have our characters wear and it is important for them to convey different meanings depending on which colour clothing and what type of clothing they wear, for example Usher is dressed in dark clothing and has gold chains and sunglasses connoting wealth and fame.
David Guetta - Without You (Featuring Usher)
There are then mid shots of the crowd dancing and clapping along to the song, as this is the majority of the video it relates in well to the dance genre. There is a long shot of David Guetta on stage with one hand in the air, and the camera is placed just at the top of the crowd so we can see the crowds heads and arms as they put their hands up to show they are enjoying the concert.
Just before the chorus starts, on the held note of 'without' there is a mid shot of David Guetta with his arms spread out signalling the crowd with his hands to keep jumping along with the music, he then puts his arms on his side and when 'you' comes in he throws his hands in the air and starts jumping. Next there is a straight cut to the beach mise en scene in the United States, where people are dancing in swimwear. It then shows a mid shot of speakers on the beach and the sand moving up and down to connote an earthquake, after this there is a shot of a crack appearing through the ground in a carpark. After this there is slow motion editing on the people dancing. There is a close up to their feet, which portrays how much force is hitting the ground that they have caused the earthquake. The next mise en sceen shown is a skate park, you can tell as there is graffiti on the floor which relates to the dance genre well and there are ramps, for people to skate up. Half way through the video when the third verse comes in the globe of the world is shown again, and has been edited as South America appears to be moving, there is then a straight cut to the man holding up the Brazillian flag which may connote that the country moving is Brazil, as it then joins on to Asia and there is a straight cut to the concert in Thailand. By editing the video in this way it creates a concept which is clear to follow, and it also makes the video interesting but still relates to the dance genre by having four different concerts which eventually join up to one. So I think the concept trying to be shown in this video is that music brings everybody together and the lyrics meaning is that without music David Guetta and Usher would not be where they are today.
Calvin Harris - 'Let's Go' (Featuring Ne-yo)
In Calvin Harris' video for 'Lets Go' featuring Ne-yo it is set in various places around the world including Rio, Los Angeles and Tokoyo. The establishing shot shows houses in Rio, Brazil and we can tell because there is white bold writing in the center of the screen which says Rio, we then see the back of a man who says in Brazilian 'lets go'. There is a straight cut to the next establishing shot which is a house with a man sitting on the stairs in Los Angeles, which then cuts to the inside of the house showing a long shot of a woman lying on a sofa and a man in the foreground saying 'lets hit the gym'. The final establishing shot is of Tokoyo city, there is then a straight cut to a mise en scene of a bedroom where a man is telling a girl to wake up 'Aiko, lets go, wake up'. During the music video it follows the lives of these three main people in different cities. So within the first 20 seconds of the music video without having even started the music, there is a link to the song title 'lets go' but so far the audience cannot tell whether it is a music video for the dance genre because it has not yet come under the codes and conventions of the dance genre. The video is 50% concept and 50% narrative based. It isn't a stereotypical dance video as there is no performance. The fast paced upbeat song synchronises well with the visuals as two of the stories we follow are based in cities which are very lively and exciting and the third is set in a gym with a man doing boxing and press-ups so the quick movements and exercises fit in well with dance music. There is also a girl who is dancing which goes with the codes and conventions of the dance genre. There are also scenes of groups of people dancing in Brazil, in which there is a long shot to capture everyone dancing. Throughout the whole video the two artists Calvin Harris and Neyo are not shown at all this is quite common in dance music videos as usually the artist creates the music but doesn't necessarily know how to dance or as a lot of dance music videos are performance based the artist doesn't always fit in well with the video.
The research I have done on dance artists has widened my knowledge about the genre and codes and conventions dance consists of. With this research I will be able to create a dance music video which sticks to the codes and conventions of the dance genre. It has given my knowledge of with camera angles and editing skills to use to help develop a good dance music video. Analysing both videos have also given me an insight to what type of clothing we should have our characters wear and it is important for them to convey different meanings depending on which colour clothing and what type of clothing they wear, for example Usher is dressed in dark clothing and has gold chains and sunglasses connoting wealth and fame.
Your analysis of dance music demonstrates some understanding of the music genre. You have identified a number of different artist, but you also need to refer to the mise-en-scene and editing styles in more detail.
ReplyDeleteFinally aim to include still images and video links to support the points that you are making.
This post now demonstrates a sound analysis of your chosen music genre. You have analysed the music videos well and you have considered some of the micro elements. The summary that you have included also helps to show your understanding of how you will use this research within your music video planning.
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