This is all the research I did for the music video.
mxmtoon - prom dress
Maia. (2019) prom dress. On the masquerade. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUeLzBO0go
Prom dress is a song written, directed and sung by Maia or better known as mxmtoon on YouTube. The song is a recreation of Maia's experience of prom during her high school days and is perform by Maia lip syncing to the song.
Media Language
The music video is a fragmented timeline of events that happen in four key places: The school hallway, the auditorium/ stage, the picture booth, and the bathroom. Through out the entire music video Maia is either alone in these locations or the main focus while other subjects are blurred out. This small detail shows the audience that Maia is a loner and doesn't like attention. Even when she is elected prom queen at the end she's still alone on stage. The music video follows Maia the days leading up to prom, from the normal school day, to prom pictures, to the actual event. During the ending of the song when Maia isn't shown singing, the frame rates of Maia walking back tot auditorium and the other students dancing is changed to make the movements look more heavy and weighted thus making it look more dramatic, like it's taking a lot of energy for Maia to go back to a situation she didn't want to be in in the first place.
Audience
The music video is in the perspective of Maia, who seems to be more of an introvert. Many people who listen to this song are also introverted and socially anxious. Introverts tend to see big social events like prom to be challenging or not fun. In the song it says that many people always talk about how their prom experiences were amazing and fun but there are a few individuals who didn't have the same experience. This representation of most teenagers show that high school isn't all fun and parties for everyone, some have a hard time living the expected high school life many media texts show. While most shows or music videos that show high school kids in prom with massive amounts of partying this music video shows the experience from a different point of view. Of a introvert trying to have a good time in a scenario that is supposed to fun for everyone, despite liking being alone better.
Target Audience
It is very obvious from the lyrics and the age of Maia herself that this music video targets people around the ages of 16-18 when students go to prom like events. The fact that the music video also takes place in a high school building supports this. According to uses and gratifications, people may watch and listen to this music video for social relationships. Since the main factor of this song being so popular being relatability, an audience is able to talk and discuss their own experiences of not enjoying prom through this music video. The music video can also be a sort of diversion as people can listen to the song while going through the scenario the lyrics are presenting.
Industry
The song is posted on YouTube where Maia first started posting in 2017. When prom dress went viral Maia was still a teenager. The internet helped her gained rapid success after the song went viral that she was even able to on tour. Since the song is so relatable to many people the presences of the comment section of the music video allows her audience to share their own experiences regarding the song. Creating a very engaging and interactive environment that draws people in more. The video can also be easily shared across the internet which broadens the potential audience.
Kodaline - Brother
Boland, J. May, V. Sanders, C. Maguire, J. Prendergast, M. Davies, A.
Garrigan, S. (2017) Brother. [Preformed by Kodaline] Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6TXPNybrmk
Brother is a song written and preformed by the Irish Indie band Kodaline
in 2017 along with it's music video. Unlike most music videos featuring
the artist lip syncing to the song, Brother is more of a short story told
by the song.
Media Language
The music video itself is very different from most
Indie music videos as instead of featuring the singer lip syncing while
scenes play out from their life or story, the music video plays as a short
film. Kodaline often does this for the music videos as it makes the video
more immerseful. The camera follows the young boy around to focus the
story on his grief of losing his older brother. During the
beginning and the end of the music video when the boy is in "the real
world" the colors are more cold and dull to reflect his grief. When the
ghost/illusion of the older brother comes to comfort the young boy
the colors and lighting of the room changes to warm orange tones to give
the viewers same happy feeling the young boy is feeling. These simple
elements help the music video to be more wholesome and
heartwarming.
Audience
The music video is mostly of the boy and how he deals with the initial grief, the denial of his brother's passing, and the acceptance of his death. The representation shown in the video is how young kids often try to escape sad realities before eventually coming back down to earth to face their sad situation. Often in media grief in kids aren't exploded enough so the music video explores how children will deal with grief in a more imaginative way. How the adults act around the boy in the beginning it seems to show that they don't particularly understand or notice he's not feeling okay about his sibling's passing, portraying the adults as not understanding in the view of a grieving kid.
Target Audience
The target audience for the music video can be argued that it is meant for everyone. Because the grief of losing a loved one is a universal experience and not just limited to children. Anyone is able to resonate with the young boy whether or not they have lost someone at a young age or even at all, because everyone in the world knows that grief is a painful experience. According to uses and gratification the audience would consume this music video as personal identity because people want to see themselves in a media text or someone to look up to. The story of the music video is of a young boy accepting the very hard death of a loved one, which can be a source of inspiration to an audience going through the very same.
Industry
Thanks to new media music videos such as these from smaller bands and artists are able to create and distribute their work. Although Kodaline is very popular, their fame isn't as big as bigger stars and bands. So by uploading their music video to YouTube it becomes more accessible to people since it's a free platform. It also enables the long tail affect because even though it wasn't popular back when it first released people are still able to rediscover the song since it has a digital foot print. The ability to share and interact with the video also helps with distribution, reaching a bigger audience, and making the music video more engaging. In the comments section of the video there are thousands of comments sharing their own stories relating to the themes of the song.
Billie Eilish -
Bellyache
Eilish, B. O'Connell, F. (2017) Bellyache. [Preformed by Eilish, B]
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBRi6aZJGj4
Bellyache takes place on a road in the middle of nowhere in the blistering
heat. The saturation of the video is bumped up to emulate the head of the
desert long with the strong sunlight over head. The shots mostly comprise of
wide shots and medium close ups. The wide shots are used to show Billie's
slurred and loose movements. The medium closes up are very awkward in some
shots which is done on purpose to show the confusion and seemingly
intoxicated state of Billie through out the video. The frame rates during
the lyrics "where's my mind" are slowed and look heavy which encapsulates an
un-right the state of of mind. Overall the combination of the colors, the
frame rates and camera position make me feel like Billie's having a heat
stroke while dragging this wagon of money she stole.
Go-A - SHUM
Pavlenko, K. (2021) SHUM. [Preformed by Go-A] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7-dxzp6Jvs
This song based off of Ukrainian folk tales. Slavic women would go to the forest and sing to call for spirits hence why the music video is set in the forest. The song is very upbeat and fast pace so the camera angles and shots constantly change with every beat. The camera starts off slow as the beginning of the song starts slower. But by the middle of the song the beat goes on quicker as so does the editing. This fast change in scenes and a variety of camera angles and shots are used to give the feeling of chaos and high energy to anyone watching it. It was a little hard to watch due to the rapid change in scenery every few seconds.
NIKI - High School In Jakarta
Zefanya, N. (2022) High School In Jakarta. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4CF4km1rUQ
High school in Jakarta is a very calm music video as the song itself is
very calm and cheery. The aspect ratio is 4x3 possibly to
imitate the aspect ratio of most TVs in 2013 in Indonesia, this
was most likely used for nostalgia for those who grew up watching box
TVs. The camera is mostly at an eye level to Niki, with most shots
either being a medium or a full shot which are used in friendly and calm
scenes because it's a comfortable distance for a conversation. The
camera often pans to Niki as if we're drawn to her, as this song is a
retelling of Niki's life in high school. Overall the music video is a
retelling of a very relatable story so friendly and inviting camera angles
and shots are used to draw the audience's attention to sit down listen to
Niki's story.
K/DA -
POP/STARS
Riot Music Team. Ashley, J. (2018) POP/STARS. [Performed by Beer, M.
Burns, J. (G)I-DLE] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOxkGD8qRB4
POP/STARS along with the group K/DA were created by RIOT games to promote
their game through music. The music video is 3D animated with famous K-Pop
singers like SOYEON to voice the League of Legends characters. Riot
has made many music videos recently but this one in particular broke the
internet due to it's K-Pop style music and production. The animation
itself is very unique. The scenes are shot in a very K-Pop music video
style. K-pop music videos often have very unique area settings, camera
angles as well as dance sequences. The dance sequences is what is very
unique to K-Pop since the choreography is very special to each song.
Between dance sequences the characters are either shown singing in their
own respective environments or doing various actions. The overall
atmosphere the audience gains from this music video is energetic and
lively without it being chaotic and hard to watch.
True Damage - GIANTS
Riot Music Team. Ashley, J. Lee, J.
Ibrahim, U. (2019) GIANTS. [Performed by Becky G, Palmer, K. SOYEON of (G)I-DLE. Lee, J. Ibrahim, U].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVZpHFXcFJw
Just like K/DA, True Damage was created by RIOT to expand their audience
reach. Since RIOT loves to vary is styles this music video is animated in
2D. These music videos are often a cross convergence with other artists
like Becky G, Keke Palmer, SOYEON, DUCKWRTH, and Thutmose. This music
video is styled similar to more western Hip Hop music videos. Camera
angles often change with many many different environments, There are
hardly any dance scenes. Instead they have lose expressive movement as the
characters sing. The camera constantly changes scenes even in just one
verse. The goal is to make the music video as high energy as the song. The
song has a lot of rap so the composition, camera, and editing all follow
the fast pace beat that rap brings. Unlike K/DA it's hard to focus on one
scene before moving on to the next.
Weird Genius -
Lathi
Gustiwana, E. Fajira, S. (2020) Lathi. [Performed by Oendari, A.]
Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uy7G2JXVSA
Lathi's music genre is electronic music. They balanced EDM and modern
English with traditional culture from Javanese instruments. During the
more calm parts of the music video the camera is more steady but when the
EDM remixed gamelan starts to play the camera starts to shake as the scene
starts to get more chaotic. As the chorus progresses the shots constantly
change in rapid succession to the EDM music. Creating the high energy
atmosphere presented in the music. The budget for this music video seems to be lower than most because even though the quality is very good the music video is overall very simplistic. I like that even though it is very simplistic the editing, special effects, dance choreography, and lighting still make it interesting.
Weird Genius -
DPS
Weird Genius. (2017) DPS. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUcQle3S2Yo
DPS is is a very different style from LATHI because instead of staging a
video the music video is done in a vlog style where they record clips of
different places with people doing their own activities. Like Lathi, the budget of this music video seems to be lower than most as it' consist of vlog style clips compiled together. Nothing is staged
and it feels more natural and reminiscent of a home video. The aspect
ratio is 1.85:1 to make it more cinematic. The high frame rate is used to
they can slow down sections of movement and make it look more smooth and
elegant. The blue tint of the video makes everything look cool and old
timey. The video consists of many jump cuts that are edited to the beat.
This collage style of editing together clips really do make it look like a
blog. The music video is supposed to be both inviting and comforting, but
also cinematic.
Reynolds, D. Sermon, W. McKee, B. Platzman, D. Fredriksson, R. Larsson,
M. Tranter, J. Route, D. (2021) Enemy. [Preformed by Imagine Dragons
and JID]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5tSoaJ93ac
Enemy is the main song of the Arcane series on Netflix created by RIOT
productions. The music video is animated in the show's style. At first it
seems that it uses many clips from the show itself but the music video is
specially animated for it. All the transitions from scene to scene
is matched up to the louder beats of the song. Subtle changes and edits are
made to amplify the energy of the song whenever a beat drops. The animation
get very stylized during the rap portion of the song. The whole sequence is
animated in bright colors and styled similar to many hip hop music videos.
During the last chorus of the song the entire sequence is Jinx lip syncing
to the song. The highlighter scribbles across the screen during the rap and
last chorus is to more visually show the meaning of the song and the show,
which is Jinx seemingly being everyone's enemy due to her
insanity. The music video also serves as advertisement because it came out before the show aired on Netflix.
Mumford & Sons - Hopeless Wanderer
Dwane, T. ]Lovett, B. Marshall, M. Mumford, M. (2012) Hopeless Wanderer. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rId6PKlDXeU
The music video first starts out in a nice field during golden hour. The blur before focus of the shots make it feel warm and comforting. In the beginning there is more focus on the instruments rather than the people singing, but when the intro of the song the singers are shown in a rather comedic struggling to hall their big instruments to the field while singing the song. I like that the music video isn't afraid to be weird and funny. The closer the song gets to the end the weirder the locations and mannerisms get which makes it interesting to watch. When the chorus finally hits and the song gets more energetic and so does the camera shots. It more focuses on the singers' emotions rather than their instruments like the beginning. The contents of the music video don't seem to make sense or even correspond to the song. Which seems to be common in a lot of music videos as the goal of a music video is to hold your attention long enough until the song ends.
The Vaccines - Tiger Blood
Hayward-Young J. (2011) Tiger Blood. [Performed by The Vaccines]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMQi0aTm8Ho
Tiger Blood is a music video that entirely comprises of go pro, 5D, 8mm and 16mm from many different gigs and shows from Paris, Manchester, London, Scotland and Wales. The quality of the video is more grainy than usual, either because the actual camera they shot the clips with were not of good video capturing quality or it was purposefully made to look like a recording from an old camcorder. The compilation style of the music video emanates the feeling of nostalgia. Like you're watching an bunch of old clips from years ago. The vlog style clips solidify the casual nostalgic feel of the whole text. I like that it isn't too serious or comedic, it's just personal vlog trimmings from the many shows The Vaccines had over the years and it compiled in this scrapbook like home video.
Critical Role - Your Turn to Roll
Riegel, S. (2019) Your Turn To Roll. [Performed by Bailey, L. Johnson, A. Riegel, S. Willingham, T]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhFETREAvhc
This text is both the official music video for the song Your Turn To Roll but it's also the animated intro for Critical Role's show The Mighty Nein. The video is animated to mimic the style of the intros for many high fantasy animated cartoons and animes. The budget for this animated video is very different from Riot's where they have an entire team. Critical Role hired two freelance animators, Kamille Areopagita and Kevin Areopagita, to animate this intro. The animation quality is more choppy and stiff in comparison to GIANT's music video. But the music video still holds up well with it's interesting composition and choreography for the fight scenes. Overall I feel like the music video serves well as both a MV and an animated intro to a Dungeons and Dragons show, it still has a homemade feel to it while still being decently high in quality.
OK Go
OK Go is an American rock band who is known for their very interesting music videos all taken in one long take without edits. They first started out with a very low budget and very simple music video for Here It Goes Again where they shot the whole music video in one take with a simple yet funny treadmill choreography. The music video went Viral which enabled them to create more ambitious music videos like The Writing's On The Wall and This Too Shall Pass.
In the music video for This Too Shall Pass you can see the many tries and attempts they did for the music video judging by the many many broken TV in the back of the set and the band members being covered in paint. OK Go's music videos are very unique and completely subvert the usual expectations of what a music video should look like. Their style is very quirky and completely different from any other band I've seen.
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