Homework Task - Analysis of 3 Music Videos

Wheatus -Teenage dirt bag

This band is similar to Momentum in the style of music they produce, the video very stereotypically American. Its set at an American high school, the video is very energetic and contains has both a strong narrative and also a strong band performance which ties in together at the end. I think this is a really good technique used to link the band with the narrative, for our video I think we would used this technique as its very effective and clearer for the target audience. For the band performance, in this video the band is set up in the gym at the beginning of the video, this looks very effective and is much more interesting than just having the band perform on a normal stage. The costumes are linked very strongly to the narrative in this video, the band members are dressed as teenagers, but they’re dressed in a mismatch of clashing clothes to represent ‘teenage dirt bags’ this look is successful and also appeals directly to their target market, which is most likely teenage outcasts. The narrative of this video also features in the teenage film ‘Loser.’ The bands performance moves with the characters which I think is very effective, especially at the part of the video where the band are playing in the school corridor, I like the idea of the band being in different locations during the video. There is a very effective camera angle on the bands performance which is from directly above the band, zooming out.

Maroon 5 - Misery

I really like this video, I think it’s really striking. Although this video has a very serious theme of domestic violence, its light hearted, playful and enjoyable to watch. A re-make of this video has been constructed because of how controversial this video is, this is due to it featuring knives, guns and violence.

The lighting throughout the video is very bright, I think this looks really good and I think its successful in this video because its such a serious and dark theme, that if the lighting was dark it would change the feel to the video. The special effects used in this video are very impressive, the car crash and the effect of the glass window shattering particularly stood out to me. Theres also a part of the video where the female pushes his head under water then a quick edit is used to flick back to him singing underwater. This is my favourite part of the video and really stands out to me. The camera angles used are very varied which keeps the audience interested and a different range of fast paced to slow edits are used.

Nelly feat Kelly Rowland – Dilemma

This video is styled to look like a short film, this is pointed out to the audience through signifiers such as ‘welcome to Nellyville’ which is present at the start of the video, while the camera pans a typical American neighbourhood. While the camera is panning soft music plays, similar to that in the introduction of films. The characters are introduced to us as the camera zooms in on both Nelly and Kelly separately as does their names. As the music brakes into a short rap, showing young men greeting each other. The rap is a contrast from the soft introduction music. But the rap brakes into the start of the song, which is much softer. This video is a love story about two people who can’t be together because of other relationships.

The mise en scene is a typical American neighbourhood, the costumes are very ‘flashy’ for example oversized clothes, chains, earrings and a plaster on his face. The video is very typical of a love story as both characters cant stand seeing each other with someone else, there is an embrace in the street and also singing from the bedroom window is typical of a love story. At the end of the video ‘The End’ concludes the video, this very classic Hollywood ending matches the ‘Welcome’ at the start of the video, meaning the video starts and ends with the same style. I really like this and may use it for my video