Coldplay - The Scientist

This video is an example of a narrative based music video, as the content of the video follows the lyrics of the song in the form of a story.

Camera: The opening close up of Chris Martin's face followed by a zoom out connotes the unravelling of the story, as well as allowing the audience to view his clothing and the location. A range of close ups, mid-shots and long shots are used throughout the video, however the majority of the shots are mid-shots. The lack of differing angles and shots creates a sense of stillness and upset, which is further connoted by the slow video and music.

Mise-en-scene: The mise-en-scene of the video is quite important, negativity is suggested through the location of the video, as the grubby area iconically connotes loneliness and a that the narrative will follow a hard-hitting situation. The change in location near the end of the music video indicates the change in time, as the video is backwards it connotes the change from happiness to sadness. The theme of death is indicated in the lyrics, which is clarified by the end of the music video where the video rewinds to a car accident; the use of the narrative based video allows the lyrics and the song itself to become more sentimental to the viewers, as they sympathise with the image, yet this is supported by the song.

Editing: A lot of fades are seen throughout the video, connoting the tranquil and sentimental tone which is portrayed. The most noticeable editing technique would be that the video is backwards, and the beginning is actually the end; this is a fairly original and unusual technique for a music video, highlighting the need to be different in the music world.

Semiotic Analysis

A structuralist approach to the music video would suggest that the theme of death and pain is present throughout, and this is created  through the slow paced editing and use of fading, as well as the facial expressions and mise-en-scene of the artist.

A reception based approach would vary depending on the audience. However, aspects such as the audiences background could largely effect their perception of the video. For example, if a viewer knew someone that had died in a fatal car accident, they may react differently to someone who hadn't, as the video would be a reminder of a past experience.

Foo Fighters - Best of You

This music video is an example of a performance based video; whilst it contains aspects of narration in certain shots, the majority of the video is the band performing.

Camera: Throughout the video many close ups of the band members , especially the main singer are used connoting his importance in the band. Also, the use of close ups connotes that the song is quite personal as the camera is constantly in the band members faces. The shots of the band are interrupted by a small amount of other props and locations which are symbolic to the lyrics of the song; whilst the video is mainly performance based, the use of symbolic images and clips adds meaning to the video. Long shots of the band allow the audience to see the whole of the band, whilst close ups and mid-shots of the members feet and body's allow their body language to be detected, connoting a sense of anger and intensity.

Mise-en-scene: The close ups of the bands faces are often positioned to the side throughout the video, connoting a sense of confrontation and anger. As well as this, the clothing isn't very visible throughout due to the vast amount of close ups, this connotes the importance of the seeing the bands facial expressions. The lighting also varies throughout, the beginning of the video begins fairly light, however gets darker as it progresses; this could connote the ending of the narrative-like style.

Editing: The pace of the editing begins fairly slow, as the first shot of the main band members face lasts 0.44 seconds. However, as the song reaches a climax the editing is sped up, connoting a sense of chaos and mayhem. Jump cuts of the band are used frequently throughout, to allow the audience to view the band members facial expressions from various different angles. Other than jump cuts, the only other editing technique used are simple cuts, as shots of the band cut to shots of symbolic images.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Don't Stop

'Can't Stop' is a conceptual based music video, which doesn't follow a narrative, however has some aspects of performance.

Camera: The video opens with a tracking shot through a yellow tunnel for approximately 0.22mins, this instantly denotes the conceptualised based video. The short shot of a close up of the lead singers face further connotes their originality, which is reinforced through the mise-en-scene. The range of mid-shots and long shots of various items in the location are used to further connote the idea that the film doesn't follow a narrative of any form, and is ultimately random. The shots of one of the band members in a bin connotes the abnormality of the video, which is further connoted through the range of distances and by positioning the same three shots next to each other. The variation of shot distance throughout the music video allows the unusual and unique style of the video to be identified throughout. However, whilst the shot distances vary, the angle often stays central connoting a simplistic, yet conceptual style.

Mise-en-scene: Throughout, colour appears to be a dominant aspect in the video; the band is often shot in a white building, however bright coloured objects are positioned in the setting, connoting the outrageous and flamboyant personalities of the band members. The randomness of the objects further connotes this style, as the band members are seen with objects such as tents and plastic bottles. By shooting the male band member without a top on, it connotes his dominance in the band which is further connoted as the majority of shots are filmed of him.

Editing: The pace of editing is fairly fast throughout the video, connoting the lack of structure. Throughout the video the only transition technique used is cutting, this allows the audience to see the various locations within only a few seconds of the video, further connoting the random and abnormal style of video. The band members facial expressions also connote the unusual theme which is portrayed throughout, as they expressions connote energy and a sense of over excitement.

Types of Music Video

Performance Based Music Videos
These videos tend to mainly show the band/artist performing the song, often at a concert. Some artists choose to make the video more interesting by changing the setting of the performance, or adding in shots which aren't all performance based.

An example of a performance based music video is Foo Fighters - Best of You which I have analysed in another post.

Narrative Based Music Videos
The videos generally follow a storyline throughout, and they are often in relation to the lyrics of the song, however sometimes the videos follow a completely different narrative to what the lyrics explore. The videos usually use actors/actresses, and are extremely story-like. Many narrative based videos contain aspects of performance as well.

An example of a narrative based music video is Coldplay - The Scientist which I have analysed on another post.

Concept Based Music Videos
These videos often follow no storyline whatsoever, except they usually follow a theme. The technique is quite unusual; they usually use a particular editing or filming technique. Concept based music videos also contain aspects of performance aspects.

An example of a concept based music video is Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Don't Stop which I have analysed on another post.

Most videos however, aren’t so clear cut as to have one set type. Usually videos will incorporate a mixture of these elements such as a performance by the artist alongside some narrative footage.

http://www.mattkeil.com/2010/09/three-types-of-music-video 

From looking at various other media students A2 coursework, it became clear that narrative based videos were the most popular choice, because of this I think that I would personally want to focus on one of the other types of music video to do something different that may not have been done before.

Analysis

Having found these questions in a media textbook (A2 Media Studies for OCR 2nd Edition) I'm going to use them as a guideline when analysing music videos, to allow myself to gain a clearer understanding of the ways in which music videos are produced and why. As the AS coursework consisted of analysing film trailers, the ways in which the music videos are analysed is slightly different, as they don't follow all of the same codes and conventions as trailers. 

Brief 1

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, no longer than five minutes duration, together with:
a cover for its release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD package)

a magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD package)

When we were introduced to the briefs, I was initially drawn to the music video, however after reading brief 3 -an advertising package I was then debating between the two. Brief 10, the short film did not engage my attention, purely because I felt that it was too similar to our AS piece and I wanted to broaden my knowledge and skills by addressing a brief that was more challenging, and one that was different to our other coursework. Whilst the music promotion package seemed challenging, I felt that it would be the brief I would enjoy most as I often watch music videos for entertainment, thus creating my own video and digipack would allow me to gain knowledge and experience in an aspect of media which I'm interested in.