Music Video Production
The earliest of music videos and promos were filmed in 1950's, however before then, around 1920's, music with animation was discovered, known as 'visual music.' A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of song or music. Music videos, nowadays, are predominantly made and used as a marketing tool intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Initially, songs or pieces of music were written without a sequel of images or art, however moving on from Bessie Smiths era, not only has society discovered colour, but also videos and moving art. This helps a lot in the entertainment industry, as the audience is occupied not only with the songs, but a video too. An advantage of this is that it will not bore the user and also it can be played on repeat continuously, because it is not a live performance.
The thought of making music videos was by a lady called Bessie Smith in her 1923 single. She made her first video, in 1923, called: "Baby, won't you please come home," in Columbia, New York. Bessie was an American Blues singer, who worked with other Jazz artists. Her music was very different too today's era of jazz, however she has been very famous for her music videos. The above named single, is an example of a narrative based music video. Music videos can be categorised into three groups; narrative, performance and concept based videos. Some music videos which I will be writing about are sung by artists such as Bessie Smith, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna’s Frozen.
Narrative music videos portray a message, which is emphasised throughout the video, whereas performance music videos are composed from live sessions of a performance. Nevertheless, concepts videos simply focus on a particular subject matter, such as love, war, street crime and more so. Another example of the earliest music videos, besides Bessie Smith, was Louis Jordan.
History of Music Videos : Bessie Smith
A sequel of footage or collected images, to tell a story, combines to create a narrative based music video. The images displayed on screen, help to build the better picture, with the lyrics. An example of a narrative music video is Bessie Smiths first music video in 1923, called: "Baby, won’t you please come home". In addition to this, you could say that Bessie's music video very well complies with her lyrics, as it portrays the woman asking for her love to come back home. Emotions are clearly shown through the photo and body language of the women as it flows with the lyrics. This woman is in demand of her husband, love or child, as she refers to landlords, payment and how the mama is all alone, through the lyrics.
The music video is composed of black and white images, which reflects an old love story. In the video the first image that is shown is the image of Bessie Smith, on the front page of her album, with a cheerful look. Either this represents, her happiness on the release of her album/single or of her in her childhood years. After this, all the pictures are black and white. Black and white pictures are quite good to use because, it allows the audience to look into the songs meaning, rather than concentrate on the video. However, if it doesn’t have colour it also becomes quiet boring and appeals to a smaller audience.
Nevertheless, this music video has a contrast of images, both happy and sad. Few of the happy images include the man, who Bessie Smith is talking about in her song. They reflect the happy times they both had, while dancing at musical nights and as that is the story of her music, she refers back to him, to give a proper picture. The woman is in desperate plea for her husband and all she wants is for him to come back and support her. We are left to think that she if feeling helpless, which then makes the audience feel sympathetic for her.
Narrative Based Video: Chasing Pavements (Adele)
Adeles', Chasing Pavements is a narrative based music video, which was inspired by an incident Adele had with her ex-boyfriend. When she realised he had cheated on her, she went to the bar he was at and punched him the face. After getting thrown out from the bar and walking down the streets, she asked herself "what is it that she is chasing," and empty pavement. In other words it would mean that she was in a unworthy relationship, where there were no emotional attachments with one another. Following this incident, Adele wrote this song, which on YouTube has had 21, 346, 420 viewers.
This music video entered the Irish singles chart at number 26, through download sales alone and jumped up to position seven. However in the United Kingdom, the single was at number two in the singles chart, that too on downloads alone. Chasing Pavements was also the 27th best selling single of 2008, in the United Kingdom, with over 280,000 sales. One of the main reasons for why this music video was such a big success was because it was a narration of real life story; which others can relate to. It made this music video realistic.
During the beginning of this music video, we as the audience sense a slow start, as the camera is quite close to the ground and moves upwards, steadily, tracing the leaves which lead us as the viewers to two people, who are lying on the ground. One is a female and the other a male. Our first instincts when we see the people are that they are dead, hence which is why they are lying on solid ground with no movements. At this point we already start to think about what may have caused this and hence we slowly find out as the song proceeds. From this, I can conclude that this is a non-linear music video, as it first tells us the consequence and then traces back to the actual situation that had taken place.
Moving on from the few seconds of the opening, we see a range of medium shots taken from a variety of angles. Medium shots are used in this video to show us a part of the car which the characters are travelling in, as well as the people in front of the car. One of the two people, was the singer (Adele), who was in the passenger seat. Shortly, after this shot we see a long shot, which establishes the location of the setting and we see a car in the distant and it looks like smoke is coming from it. This implies that something unpleasant has happened; either a engine heat up or a crash and entering the same scene we see a black figure of a person walking towards the car and suddenly that scene is cut. As an audience we start to make assumptions and we start building a picture of what could of happened. Once again, we return to the female singer, to see her facial expressions. There is a close up shot to show this and being a rather upset person, within this music video, we are also able to hear her deep voice. Her deep voice is pitched to sound like a group of choir.
Next, we see people entering the scene at the pavement, where the characters are lying, in very slow motion. However as the other characters walk towards the deceased people, there actions start to become faster. Bringing the characters in slowly emphasises the sadness and pain in the happening of this incident and also makes us, as the audience think that they have some good relationships with the people. Throughout this music video we see alot of autumn/spring colours used, like brown and shades of yellow. We are able to extract this from the music video, as leaves fall off trees and trees are bare during the autumn to spring time, hence also making it feel more realistic.
Once again, a slightly different type of shot is used within this music video, to display a different angle to it. Bird's eye view has been used quite often, within this music video, which angles above the scene of the pavement. Only from this angle, is it better to visualise the scarf flying off the lady and towards the man, at which point we also see movement. Animation and effects have been used to show that the wind is moving the scarf away as the bodies begin to waken. Every time the bodies come to life, we see a little bit more of the picture.
Going back to the storyline of this music video, we start to see the story of two lovers reuniting, as they move towards each other. This according to society, is one of the few signs of love. The two characters hold hands in hands, which makes us start understanding the story better. However, when movement is carried out on the ground and which is easily see able, we come across a low angled camera shot; eye-level with the characters, as they roll across the pavements. As the story unfolds, we see the twist. The woman hands the man with a white paper, on which he sees and gets furious. We are able to say this as he uses force when pushing the woman away, after reading it. At this moment, we feel sympathetic towards the women, as she has been treated unwell.
In this music video, there are alot of stop and starts. This is because after the above scene has happened, the women goes back and freezes again; lying still on the pavements, as the police and paramedics gather evidence from their search. When the music slows down the movements also do too, whereas when the music and beat becomes fast, the actions turn fast too. Towards the end of the music video the screen goes black as the camera goes up, following the tree until it is eventually black. At this point we assume that this is the end of the video, however another birds eye view shows the paramedics taking them away on stretchers in negative directions. This implies the impression that they were not meant to be.
Performance Based Video: On The Floor (Jennifer Lopez)
Concept based video are videos evolved around a single concept or idea, it is not narrative and sometimes the video does not comply with the lyrics itself. The performance based music video that I will be analysing is: On the Floor, By Jennifer Lopez. Every music video can be used for multi purposes. Promos and music videos are used for promotion, entertainment, marketing and sales. However, the main purpose of this music video is to make money and create fame. This is an example of a very successful music video that has all the codes and conventions, which makes a ground-breaking performance based video. It has a very enticing and appealing introduction to the video. It illustrates a Los Angeles underground club culture, where Jennifer Lopez presents herself as a “queen of the nightclub,” among other individuals. This video pays homage to her career beginnings as a dancer.
Construction and choreography through this video is so sleek and lively, it makes the video looks so realistic, which probably is the reason for why it has about 597, 074, 248 viewers, on YouTube alone. Amongst other YouTube videos, Jennifer’s single has been rated one of the most viewed songs on YouTube, heavily favouring the fact that it was a massive success. A possible reason for why this was such a big success, was because it was broadcasted on stations like BBC One and was uploading on to the web, which is a main resource tool for the younger generation. It saves the public money, as they can watch it without any costs, play and replay constantly, like the video and also if they have an existing account with YouTube, they can also post their comments. Social networking sites have become so famous and are another reason for the widespread of this music video. If it weren’t for individuals sharing this video, through their Facebook statuses or following up on Twitter, perhaps this video wouldn’t have been as large success that it is now.
Each aspect of the video has been finely edited to tune in with the lyrics and timings are perfect. Wherever, the music, tempo and rhythm slows the pace of the performance also slows down too; there are 130 beats per minute in the tempo, which is amazing. The purpose of this music video is to entertain the viewers in order for the artist to be successful, and this music video accomplishes this purpose very well. The fast tempo and the amount of beats build interaction with the audience. For example, if the music was quiet slow, but the video was at a party, the two sides would clash, because slow doesn’t flow smoothly, with a groovy atmosphere. It would rather put the party-goers to sleeps rather than make them join in.
The other most amazing feature of this single is that it has a blend of the new musical era, which sets the party mood. Colours such as black and gold, have been used to give a fine appearance, and also because the two colours are very pleasing, when used in conjunction to one another. Due to the fact that this is a party song, it attracts a wider audience, as it fits most people’s preferences and also different camera shots and angles have been used to cause mixed emotions, and the shots have been finely tuned to make parts of the video appear slower so that it is not all up-beat.
Concept Based Video: Madonna
As this video is based on a sensitive issue, it makes Madonna deeply emotional within the song, as she portrays an image of a woman who’s stating how stone hearted people are that do not open their heart, to love someone, but rather chase money, success and fame. She does this by comparing those selfish people to dogs and herself as a crow or a type of bird, which only wants to ever fly freely. A dog, chases its prey, to earn for his survival, and is not worried about others feelings and how its consequences could affect the prey, hence relating it to a stone-hearted being.
Within this music video, there are many assumptions to be made from it. For example, the lyrics comply with the animations, when she herself changes from human to creature. She changes from a being to a crow, to a being again and at a point she even turns to a black dog, which is running. The whole purpose of this video is to relate to a lovers position, which this video outlines in depth very well. Crow being a free bird, implies that love is a free emotion or feeling and to let it remain like that. During some parts of the song, there are strong powerful words used which interpret to the audience, that they shouldn’t hide their feelings, because it will only ever cause problems in the future. The medium/long shot shows the dog’s movement and how it comes across to people as vicious, heartless and dangerous. This is a negative label which the artist applies to people who have not learnt how to love.
On the contrary, despite this song having quiet a depressing and sad meaning, it has actually reached to second position on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on dance charts on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Charts and number two in the UK Singles Chart, which shows that this music video has made a worldwide success. Good reviews have been made from music critics too, and it has been viewed 3, 180, 204 times on YouTube alone. Looking at these statistics, you can tell that this music video has been very popular and hence shows that it has been very popular among its audience and has attained an excellent response. Following on from this, I will try to explain the reasons for why this music video has had some outstanding results.
Initially, at the start of the concept based music video, the camera is facing towards the ground and follows a path. From looking into the first few seconds into the video makes the audience assume that the camera is following someone’s footsteps, however you soon realise that this is not the case. As seconds proceed, the camera is located on dried cracked sand, showing an establishing shot of something which looks like a crow. However, as the camera pans upwards you get a better view; medium shot, showing a human being, in this case Madonna. She has a stern look on her face, which implies that the song is not going to be lively. Also the colours used set the atmosphere as well as the establishing shot. Grey and black are used quiet heavily throughout this music video to imply a dull, depressing and down impression and the establishing long shot sets the scene. The colours used initially represent a sad scene and therefore as the producer and directors of this song have decided to use it; it makes it easier for the audience to relate to the settings.
Furthermore, the music video flows with the lyrics and creativity has been used when producing animations of professional standards. For example, at the start Madonna is in a dress, however a crow swirls across the floor and turns to a cloak for her. There is also an aspect of this music video where Madonna drops back and her body breaks into many parts, those parts then split to make many crows/eagles, which fly around the sky. As she talks about a crow, a crow enters and exits the scenes at them particular timings. At these various times of the music video, the camera is put at various angles, taking different lengths of shots, such as medium shots when they want to show slow swift movements to show facial expressions, in order to create a better impact on the audience. Also, choreography of this music video has been considered deeply, as each movement is swift and there are gentle hand gestures, because the beat and the lyrics are slow-moving, hence it has to follow the flow of the tempo and beat of the music. Animation has also been included to show multiple amounts of Madonna’s on the screen, which implies that she is in desperate need of love, is heartbroken and helpless.
Also, another thing revealed from the piece of music video is that as we get deeper into the song, the clouds start coming in and the black outfit which she is wearing becomes more utilised. This is because, the words become depressing and the colour black is associated with dull and darkness and during the upsetting parts of the music video, the atmosphere is emphasised more. Madonna, slow drifts so that she is flying in the air, in the direction of the movement of the clouds and then steadily lands back on the ground. At this peak, of the video, she is singing about how crows want to fly in the air and hence associating herself as one. When Madonna, falls back to the ground; it is a sign of her being helpless in love. Other indications, throughout this music video, which reveal this is the tattoo on her hand and a part of the necklace she is wearing. To the audience, this makes them think assume that the necklace and tattoo are somehow related to the person she is in love with. Both the tattoo and the necklace are shown, through a close up shot, which allows us to see what she is showing us, a bit clear. It is yet unclear of what the tattoo represents, however the necklace looks like a piece of jewellery, which she has memories attached too.
Successful Music Video
However, there have also been many other successful music videos. Further on from here, I will be writing about a specific music video which has been successful and has had large quantities of CD sales. Some examples of successful music videos, for 2010 are: Whip My Hair (Willow Smith), Love The Way You Lie (Rihanna) and Just The Way you Are, by Bruno Mars. Amongst the mentioned few, i will be analysing Rihannas' song, as it was one of the top ten music videos of 2010, referenced by MuchMusic.com.
On YouTube alone, Eminem featuring Rihanna's video, called Love the Way Lie, had 498, 027, 824 viewers and was also in the top ten music videos of 2010. This music video was produced by Alex da Kid and holds the following record labels: Aftermath entertainment, Shady and Interscope and the budget production for it has been estimated to be around $10, 000. these are the manufacture, production, distribution promotion and so forth. Rihanna's single, sold more than five million copies in the United States, just over 9.3 million copies internationally and became the best selling song of 2010, in the United Kingdom. It was also nominated for five Grammy Awards. Love the Way You Lie, single, was number one on 25 weekly charts worldwide, including the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks. these figures them self show, the massive success of this one music video. Due to the great respond they received from this video, the produced; Alex da Kid, produced the second part to this song.
This lyrics of this song reflect the singers real life situation and therefore it is categorised as a narrative based music video. It is a narrative based music video, because the story imitates the lives of the artists, and also the lyrics and video are in synchronisation. whatever is told to us by words, is also portrayed within the video, which describes why this is a narrative based music video.Rihanna, was in an abusive, romantic relationship with another famous artist and this music video conveys the message of two people in a love-hate relationship, who do not want to separate. Within this music video, we are able to see a lot of action and domestic violence, between the couple, which mirrors the reality of Rihannas' past experience. An average time of a YouTube video is 4 minutes and 12 seconds, whereas this music video is 4 minutes and 23 seconds long, which is within the average boundary, and music videos alone make up about 31% of any other entertainment purpose production.
In the very first few seconds of the video, a close up of Rihanna's face is shown, which allows the users to see her facial expressions. It builds a contract with the viewer as the woman sitting cross-legged is holding fire in her hands. A medium shot is used so that we can see alot of what is going on, and the environment she is sitting it; this throws the audience back. This part of the video, makes the audience think, 'wow, how did they do that;' creating alot of confused questions in the audiences mind. it also implies the woman, as being brave, bold and fearless, even though we can see through her facial expressions, that she is not going through a good time, in life. Moving on from this, we see Rihanna appear on screen again with red hair, natural make up and fire in the background creates a fiery feel, and a negative atmosphere. This creates a huge impact on the audience, which draws their attention away from everything else. Despite, two great singers being promoted, the efforts to this masterpiece have also been shown in the high levels of positive reviews and response. One of the reasons for this is that as the words become powerful in the song, the beat and tempo of the music also turns up.
Unlike other music videos, this music is like watching a movie with music. Everything begins still and then when the woman finds a number on the back of her partners hand, of a woman called Cindy, she becomes outrageous and things behind to heat up and cause disequilibrium and problems. At this point, the video and lyrics become intense. This is what the audience wants to see; they want to see action, problems arising between relationships and violence, as it entertains them as well as making them feel sympathetic. Action is the cause of attention for most viewers. Also the story behind this narrative music video, can be quite common. It may apply to a lot of people across the globe and therefore they can listen to this song, from a sensitive viewpoint. There are a lot of close ups used to show the facial expressions, such as anger, sadness, helpless and loss of control. Close ups allow the bond between the audience and the video, to be stronger so that this piece of art touches their heart.
The music video itself contains a lot of action, violence and powerful adult scenes. These are the aspects which make a youth or an adult audience want to watch this music video, again and again. Also, as there are really powerful scenes within the video, the audience will also remember it for a longer period of time. This is because it is wild, creating a permanent image within their brain, rather than the same old traditional scenes of a video. Production of this movie has been done so precisely, so that every aspect of this music video feels realistic. They have done this through the use of sets and open side walls, which allow us to see the movement of the actors, from room to room, from a distance. An establishing long shot, has been used to help with this image. When the pitching of the song becomes high, the actions speeds up to balance it out, whereas when the pitch becomes lower, actions become slower, simpler and innocent looking, which emphasis the behaviours of the characters. Towards the end of the video both people are reunited; back int he same beg which is a sign of equilibrium, reparation and resolution.
Record Labels
Each music video is assigned to a record label. A record label is a brand and trademark associated with the marketing of music videos and music recordings. a record company manages the manufacturing, production and distribution of a music video(s). However, some record labels are much more famous and successful than others. Aftermath Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Group, are three of the most successful record companies, going.
Aftermath Entertainment
Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by Dr. Dre and is distributed through the Universal Music Group's Interscope Records. Dr. Dre made this label famous through his motivational thinking. He believed that music was about "quality over quantity" and therefore gave a small number of high profile releases, alongside the people he worked with. Despite many downfalls, Dr. Dre was determined for a successful group, which started from Eminems debut album called, 'The Slim Shady LP', in 1998. Eminems album became a super hit and that is when Dr. Dre business started running. Famous, Eminem, also gave another super hit album, called 'Get Rick of Die Tryin.' Due to these massive successes, more singers signed on with Aftermath Entertainment, rather than drop out from it, and hence it has become world famous for its hip hop music today. Since 1996, there have been, in total, of 12 albums released under Aftermath, which shows the reward for such determination and perseverance. Black Eye Peas, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Eminem and Dr. Dre, all work under and for the Aftermath Entertainment.
Dr. Dre could have had an awful career, but because of Eminem debut, has he had a great comeback. His music videos and record labels are so famous now because of his chosen genre; hip hop. A lot of sounds, nowadays, are for the younger generation of adults, and therefore hip hop is a theme which almost everyone can relate to. It is a common theme, for which people are able to watch. If there are songs with explicit scenes, the label company itself alter the music video so that it has a cleaner version so that young people can have access to it too. This record label, solely focuses on the hip hop genre, which makes it so successful because it appeals to a huge audience.
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment is the second biggest major record label in music sales. They accounted for 21.5% of the market in 2005, and have since expanded internationally. This entertainment label produces different genres, for all ages and genders, however it has not been able to reach a higher position than it currently is, even though it is for all genders and ages. Artists of familiar faces to this record label are Alicia Keys, Shakira, Britney Spears and more so.
The music this entertainment group are record labels for, provides the needs of every individuals, hence they are successful. They do individual genres, which relate to different types of audience and therefore they have such a large market expansion. Making music of all kinds, allows people with different taste to pursue it, and hence make more money than videos, from record companies, that have a single genre.
Children benefit from music and music videos as it can be a source of discipline for them. If they develop an interest for music and artists, they will learn to show respect, dedication and obedience to the work of their elders. Whereas for teenagers, music videos can create a source of belonging for them, allowing them to relate to something. It may also take their mind of other things, such as stress and perhaps an artist would become an idol for them, in the future. These are a few ways in how different genres of music appeal to different types of audience. Children and teenagers would prefer hip hop, Pop, or R n B music videos, whereas adults and families may prefer classical, jazz and more slower songs.
Music videos can assist people from their emotional stress and everyday problems and put them into a relaxing mood, as well as being able to put them to sleep. This can be done by slow classical songs, which this record company are able to produce. Not only this, but music videos allow people have a sense of belonging as it reflects real life situations. But families would perfer music with a calming, non explicit formats, so that they can enjoy it as a whole and come together, for a bit of fun. Music videos of this kind livens up the atmosphere. Different genres meet the expectation of different groups of individuals, and as with this record company they produce various genres, therefore making them successful.
EMI Group
The EMI group is the third biggest major record label in music sales, which account for 13.4% of the market. They have promoted artists such as , Beatles, Coldplay, Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams. Other successful new acts broken in 2010, by this group was by Tinie Tempah, who sings a variety of music genres, from hip hop to electric.
David Fincher
David Fincher, is an extremely famous music video director and television producer. He has produced movies The Game, Se7ven, Fight Club, Panic Room and many more. Not only has he directed such great movies but he has also director music videos, starring Micheal Jackson and Madonna. I will be comparing and contrasting two music videos, directed by him, called Who Is It, featuring Micheal Jackson and Bad Girl, featuring Madonna.
Micheal Jackson: Who Is It
This music video, by David Fincher, featuring Micheal Jackson falls into two categories of music videos. It can be considered as a narrative based music video and a concept based music video. This is because in the video we see that it is about love, cheats and misunderstanding each other. The reasons for why these fall into both categories are because it can be associated as Micheal Jackson's personal matter as well as relating to the wider context and other people. Other people are also more likely to have been through or go through similar problems and therefore they can relate to this music video. On the other hand, the music video consists of the word "I" very often, which refers to Micheal Jackson. This means to say that he is talking about his personal experience, hence it then becomes a narrative based music video.
Who Is It, music video starts of quite slow and then gets faster as we follow through into the song. At the beginning when the songs is slow, there are slow moving images of beautiful old buildings, in the sunset and shows how quickly the darkness covers the buildings; implying a negative feel for the song already. Establishing shots are used to show the audience, the settings of this music video. It allows us to get a better understanding of the atmosphere and the environment in which the video has been shot in. Following from this, the darkness builds up and at some points we see flashes of golden lighting. During this period, there are a clash of colours used; golden lighting on one hand, with a pitch black atmosphere on the other hand. Long shots have also been used to set the scene of this location too, before any character makes an appearance. The first appearance of this music video, is of a woman wearing white clothes; the colour white implies signs of purity. On the other hand, Micheal Jackson is wearing a dull dark colour; black. These colours imply a dark, painful and unfortunate feel, we begin to feel empathetic, seeing the two individual characters. Already, minutes within the music video, we are able to make out that the song will be emotionally sensitive.
Further on from this, emotions are revealed, using close up and extreme close up, to show how furious Micheal Jackson is. He has been waiting too long for her and has about lost his patience and throws the nameplate, which has Alex engraved on it. At this point suspense build and the music video has very well drew the audiences attention. Powerful words are used to describe his emotions as heartbroken, used and cheated on. a rhetorical question has also been asked by him, asking " who it is" that has taken his girlfriend away from him. According to him, he gave her everything she could possibly want, and she left him. Up until this point, we see the woman as a deceitful, heartless and a useless. We are able to make this decision, from the close ups we see of how shes living as a toy at different places, even after everything Micheal Jackson has provided for her. The women keeps moving on, like a predator after it prey.
As the music video proceeds, we see the true story unfold and realise that his judgements about his girlfriend are not true. When Micheal Jackson is about to leave town, in the dark night, his girlfriend returns to him. Despite this not being a track about a pleasant experience, it has still caught the audiences attention. This track has been a commercial success worldwide, appearing in the top thirty positions of the national music charts. This music video has also reached number fourteen on the United States' billboard Hot 100 chart, while reaching at number six on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs, and the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. But in the United Kingdom, this song has reached number twelve on July 25th, 1992. Also, Who Is It, has been in the top one hundred positions for seven consecutive weeks, from July to September 1992.
Madonna: Bad Girl
This music video is about a high-powered Manhattan female executive who is an alcoholic and has a desire for one-night stands with many different men. Throughout the music video, we see that she behaves this way in order to try to deal with her depression and sadness over a relationship with someone she loves deeply and in reverse it becomes the ladder to her death. During her days, she gets distracted by cigarettes, cocktails, and random hook-ups which are conveyed in a message, within the song.
The introduction of the music video, starts of by revealing a dead body, within the first few seconds of the opening. It does this to create a contract with the viewer and then, in a non-linear sequence it follows back the story, so that we get a better picture of the problem, that caused this stage. Different angles and camera shots have been used so quickly and efficiently within the opening; from extreme close ups on a watch, ticking, to the low angle shot, showing the setting of the house and office. The clock ticking implies that there is nothing the people can do to change the situation, as it is going super quick. Bad Girl is an example of a narrative and concept based music video. It is telling a day,of a life's story, which can also relate to other real life situations, which also allows it to fall into the concept based category.
This music video, is very like Micheal Jackson's music video, which I looked at earlier. Both videos use a lot of black which implies a feel of depression, sadness and an unlively feel. The camera work is carried out from different angles and there are also different types of shots been use. For example, there are close up shots to show the expression on the characters faces, as well as shots easing out, to create emphasis. There is also a close up of facial expressions of Madonna smoking; revealing her stressed out character, which makes the audience sense her pain. Oppositely, we also start to think, what a filthy woman she is, as she kisses a strangers lips. The words sung in the music video, synchronise the movements on screen, which makes it seem more realistic and hence this we feel sympathetic towards them. there are blurred aspects of this music video, when Madonna walks towards the crucifixes on her jewellery rack. As the audience, we are eased into watching her pick up the crucifix, from the many that are there, by which some people may feel disappointed. This is because on one hand, Madonna is playing a bad girl and on the other hand she is also trying to maintain her religious beliefs; the two do not fit well together.
The introduction of the music video, starts of by revealing a dead body, within the first few seconds of the opening. It does this to create a contract with the viewer and then, in a non-linear sequence it follows back the story, so that we get a better picture of the problem, that caused this stage. Different angles and camera shots have been used so quickly and efficiently within the opening; from extreme close ups on a watch, ticking, to the low angle shot, showing the setting of the house and office. The clock ticking implies that there is nothing the people can do to change the situation, as it is going super quick. Bad Girl is an example of a narrative and concept based music video. It is telling a day,of a life's story, which can also relate to other real life situations, which also allows it to fall into the concept based category.
This music video, is very like Micheal Jackson's music video, which I looked at earlier. Both videos use a lot of black which implies a feel of depression, sadness and an unlively feel. The camera work is carried out from different angles and there are also different types of shots been use. For example, there are close up shots to show the expression on the characters faces, as well as shots easing out, to create emphasis. There is also a close up of facial expressions of Madonna smoking; revealing her stressed out character, which makes the audience sense her pain. Oppositely, we also start to think, what a filthy woman she is, as she kisses a strangers lips. The words sung in the music video, synchronise the movements on screen, which makes it seem more realistic and hence this we feel sympathetic towards them. there are blurred aspects of this music video, when Madonna walks towards the crucifixes on her jewellery rack. As the audience, we are eased into watching her pick up the crucifix, from the many that are there, by which some people may feel disappointed. This is because on one hand, Madonna is playing a bad girl and on the other hand she is also trying to maintain her religious beliefs; the two do not fit well together.
Back in the days, this music video was another great success, of David Finchers production, which was a success on the charts, reaching number 36 on the United States, Billboard Hot 100 and number ten on the United Kingdoms Singles Chart. However following this success, it did fall of the charts a while later. This video portrays a mind of an woman who had messed up her life in the stubbornness of not ending a relationship, which was too hard for her to handle. On YouTube alone, this song had 197, 056 views.
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