Music Video Analyses

I had a hard time deciding the actual genre of my chosen song, as it is a mix of acoustics, vocals, and electronic effects and sounds, though it was defined by my artist as glitchop and electronic. Therefore I decided that it was a mix of the indie and general electronic genres.

Lisa Mitchell's 'Neopolitan Dreams', as well as her style in general, is very similar to CloZee's Eyes in Eyes; it is very simple in it's structure, bears 'Green World' (otherworldy place, such as a dream or strange location opposed to the normal location based from the narratives internal logic) elements, and a dreamy, relaxed, casual tone/theme.

The video, in this case, is one continuous shot, completely focal on the artists, the frame having a blurred effect around the edge throughout, though very subtle. This effect already places us in a place to view this as somewhat strange or dreamy, and sets the tone for what is to shortly come. The video starts off with an opening shot of the sky, rotating slightly and then looking towards the artist in a slow pan, only changing it's head on view of her to highlight objects she reaches for or dismisses, such as the bird and shoe, to which is slowly moves back. The camera captures her journey using close-ups, though is primarily shot using a mid-shot.

The props are all very basic and somewhat 'unprofessional', from the butterflies on obvious strings (at 0:29) to the man's wig (at 2:11). These props convey a very playful, fun, non-serious and childlike theme. They are also brightly coloured and evidently out of place in the woodland setting, again enforcing that dreamy state, though her dress is a soft brown colour which is easy to look at amongst the natural woodland colour palette. The props, though oddly coloured, are also soft and easy to look at, an idea that is also present with the song itself; the sounds at the beginning and throughout (presumably xylophone) being quite high pitched and soft, along with her voice. "I can dream the rest away", mixed with the photograph at the end and her tale of some kind of pain illustrates the prominent theme of a narrative music video, though elements of a performance video is apparent as she picks up the guitar and lipsynchs. Furthermore, the props used, as well as the location, illustrate the idea that professionalism and perfection don't particularly matter, and the general scene and atmosphere is very welcoming, again revealing the ideas of dreaminess and comfort.

The lighting does not change, and is shown to be natural light by the shot at the beginning, though something about the lighting is unnatural, so another visual effect besides the blurred edges must have been placed onto the video during the editing phase. The camera flash at the beginning may have been generated using software, or at least augmented for a clean, non-glaring appearance, but there are no other apparent effects besides the ones mentioned, though a video of this genre and theme does not particularly need advanced or obvious editing, as one of it's key themes is in fact simplicity, though there is a blur effect towards the end of the video as the camera focuses on the photograph and the shot slowly fades out to black.

This video is an anti-performance piece (Gow, 1992), relying on a narrative theme, as well as themes of a conceptual piece. The reason I have chosen to analyse this music video is due to the style, not the music itself; I want to do a first person perspective video, as seen here in a more action orientated example. The lighting is basically the same the whole way through, obviously being brighter outdoors, and changing on the boat due to a location change. This consistency, as well as seemingly untampered light helps to maintain the intended natural filming theme of a First-person video, as well as the shakiness of the camera as he runs. It is also interesting to note that the song didn't start instantly, and that there was an initial introduction to the narrative to unfold and give some context to the story. I may replicate this idea with my video, possibly using the first 30 seconds or so for some context or tone-setting, as my song is quite long as it is, meaning that it takes more footage to complete the song, so some basic, calm shots to start with, or general shooting with credits, titles or names will take some of the song time for good use.

The location is very ordinary and has a lot of verisimilitude, everyone acting in a formal manner, digetic phone calls and rings, talking, and people wearing uniform. This sets the scene almost instantly, and we recognise it's normality due to the micro elements conveyed. The use of the sunset when he falls into the water also demonstrates the location, as it was daytime at the office and sunset here, subtly showing us where and why things are occurring.

Because of all of the running around, the cuts used (continuity) are subtle and unobvious, and there is no narrative pause or gap as he carries on the same action throughout these cuts, so we know what happens between them and that it is just a small skip in time, I may use this in my video.