In order to make sure our video is as good as we can possibly make it we looked at three other music videos created by A-level students. Studying what worked well with theirs and what didn't work so well will help us when we come to creating our own. Ruling out things that won't work well or considering using a technique we thought worked well in another video.
This music video is called Bone and Claw by Aspel Orchid. The artist is relatively unknown and so people watching will not have a certain expectation like they would for a popular and well known artist such as Eminem or Lady Gaga. The narrative was at first unclear. The birthday candle's had little relevance to what happened next and seemed forced upon the audience, and I had little idea of why this person was getting up so quickly, or why they suddenly started running, but it was easier to follow when the second character of the mother came in and started to chase the younger character. There was an especially good link between lyrics and narrative where both characters were standing side by side and each faded out in time with the lyrics when 'young' and 'old' were mentioned. I do not think mise-en-scene was considered enough when the younger female was in her bedroom. The character was scruffily dressed and rebellions judging by the narrative but her room was brightly coloured with girly colours on her bed like pink and purple. The consideration for her costume was better, and utterly contrasted against the decor in her room with dark colours and ripped jeans in a boyish style. I thought camera angles could have been considered more, often the tops of heads were cut off, or the object wasn't in the centre of the frame and became difficult to see. However, there was a few parts where the camera was quite steady and tracked the female running well without chopping off heads. A steady camera would have had a better effect as well in my opinion, the jolting didn't make the narrative run as smoothly as it could have.
I found the same sort of issues with this video in regards to framing. The camera is often rocky and jerking with people's heads often cut out of the frame. However, this video feels like much more has been carefully considered, such as Mise and colouring of their setting. The setting itself was very well considered, with a theme of water throughout the entire piece, linking the lyrics to the narrative. The narrative itself was also very easy to follow, the use of the switch between black and white and colour the perfect device to make sure the audience know the chronological happenings of the story line. We know that the colour is in the past, and that it was a better time because the two people are together. When it switches to black and white, we know it is in the present because they are never together in the same frame. The lip syncing of the song wasn't perfect, but it was well attempted and would have worked very well if they had been more practiced at it. There was also a title, the name of the song 'Rivers' and then a river running through the letters. I thought that this looked very professional and gave the video a good opening.
This student video had a very professional look to it, and I felt it was completed very well. The shots are steady, the framing is good and they use slow motion as a device to further capture their audience. The black and white fits with the type of music and the lack of lyrics, giving it a mystical out of body experience feel. There is a link between what goes on on screen and the beat of the music, for example when he falls into the water he falls on the beat and it flows smoothly. Clothing and mise have been considered carefully too, with his attire smart casual, and then losing his shirt the further into this dream-like situation he gets. They use focus with the camera brilliantly, with the focus being entirely on the man in the video and having the background slightly blurred. The video sticks to a certain look, remains consistent and has a very good professional look.
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