Analysis of three music videos in your genre

The 1975 - Girls

In this video there is an obvious indie feel to it. The mise-en-scene instantly expresses this in the first shot, all members of the band are dressed in black with Vans or Dr Marten’s with their instruments held low and surrounded by amplifiers. There is also a large picture-like frame around the drummer with is something you don’t see very often as it is not mainstream but more ‘Indie’. Later on in the video, there is a scene where the band are still in their black clothes but are sitting on sunbeds with bright colours around and tanned girls in bikinis, this binary opposition is a mockery of contemporary pop music videos, mocking the mainstream is also a very indie thing to do. When the scene switches back to the performance the band members have been swapped for female doubles, this is an example of spectacle, another very indie trait for a music video. Finally, there are many close up shots of the lead singer, this shows us his emotion and as indie songs are usually about things to do with love and relationships, this is very relevant.

The Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?

The Arctic Monkeys are a more popular indie band and are very famous in the United Kingdom and also quite famous in other parts of the world. In this video, I think the point is supposed to show that the band members are real people who are down to earth which is why they have made a more amateur video with the lead singer singing along to the song which is supposedly playing on the radio (we know this because of the narrative before the song). Doing this and showing fans that they are normal down to earth people is a very humble and self-aware thing to do which wouldn’t be seen from high key artists such as Kanye West or Katy Perry. However, the director does add a twist at the end of the video where the band is playing the song with a set-up in the middle of the road and a smoke machine, this is very cool and sort of spectacle-like, as they need to add a boost of indie feeling to the video. The fact that the director chose to make the video all one take is another way the video will stand out from the crowd which is what being indie is all about, being different.

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy

This is a very strange video. It shows an average looking man with average clothes dancing in a very strange manner and lip syncing to a voice that clearly not his own. He also stays in the same place for the duration of the video.  I think the director did this to show that indie music videos are different to the likes of Katy Perry which are more about image, the director tries to make this video as edgy as possible by showing a very strange thing happening in a very dull situation, everyday employee in an office building. The video may also be trying to subliminally promote the reputation of the band as it could be implying that this guy is just dancing to and singing along with his favourite song.

Jonas Akerlund - Music Video Director by David Sampson

Jonas Akerlund was born in Sweden in 1965. He started his career in 1983 with a Sweden metal band called Bathory. In 1988 he directed his first ever music video which was Bewitched by Candlemass. At the 1998 MTV music video awards he has won a record of 7 awards including video of the year. He has worked with various artists like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Madonna, Maroon 5 and Coldplay. In the years he has directed music video he has had some controversy with one music video which was the prodigy- Smack my bitch u. This was controversial because it has drug use, violence and nudity. He likes to make most music videos sexy depending who the artist because for example you had videos of lady Gaga and Beyoncé- Telephone and also who that chick by David Guetta and Rihanna. But with groups he does performances for example you have maroon 5 with daylight. He use these styles to get people buying the songs and it is one of the conventional ways now which music videos directors use.

 From the screenshot you can see this is long medium shot on Lady Gaga. The director decided to use this type of shot so he can get the audience to focus on her body. As Lady Gaga is the main person in the framing so that why Lady Gaga is wearing a sexy costume. Wearing a costume like that make the viewers focus on her in the shot than anything else. Which is what the director want to try and do. The background of the shot is bright and golden which suggest wealth. But what the director want from this shot is that he wants the audience to focus on the main actor not what in the background.

From this screenshot this is a long medium shot of Rihanna and the dancers. The director decided to use this type of shot because he wanted to get Rihanna in the foreground of the shot with the backing dancers dancing in the background. With Rihanna in the foreground of the shot suggest that she is the main artist in the video. The whole mise-en-scene of this shot is that the costumes they are wearing are dark and the background is all spooky and dark. The director wanted to do this because he wanted Rihanna to be the main person in the shot wearing something to show off her body. I don't really know why the director want a dark background as the song is called who that chick you would have thought it would be bright colours not dark.



 The video of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé- Telephone. As there are two well known artists with representation of them doing very sexy videos. You would expect this video to be hot and you would expect the costumes they are wearing to show off their looks. You would expect high key lighting in the video as it an upbeat video. Jonas don't need to change his styles as he knows a thing or few about making hot videos with similar artists before so it was easy for him to create this video.   

Study of iconic music directors

David Fincher

Born in Denver in 1962, David Fincher started his career in commercials and music videos. He worked at Propaganda Films, directing memorable spots for Nike (“Instant Karma”) and big-name artists, including the award-winning “Love is Strong” for the Rolling Stones and several for his pal Madonna. His first break in features came as a hired gun to direct the third installment in the hugely popular ALIEN franchise, but studio meddling made the experience a frustrating one for perfectionist Fincher.

He recovered with 1995’s SE7EN, which established him as a director to watch. When the specter of studio interference reared its head again, star Brad Pitt used his influence to insist on Fincher’s cut. The result was a huge box-office success and the beginning of a successful actor/director collaboration that would continue with FIGHT CLUB (1999), which became absorbed into the American lexicon (“The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club”), and The Curious case of Benjamin Button (2008), which brought Fincher his first taste of Academy accolades, garnering 13 Oscar nominations including Best Director and Best Picture.

Starting with ZODIAC (2007), the underlying themes of Fincher’s films have begun to mimic the director’s notorious precise perfectionism and self-admitted obsessiveness: the dogged attempts, laid out in explicit detail, to unmask the killer in ZODIAC; the meticulous business of engineering success in The Social network (2010); the razor-sharp dissection of buried secrets in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011).

I am going to look at 9 Inch Nails - "only" as a specific example of David Finchers work. The reason I have gone with this one is because it is one of his most recent pieces of work (2005). 

I particularly enjoy this video due to the supreme use of editing and cinematography, along with the originality displaying by Fincher.

The song begins with a confident statement, "I'm becoming less defined...kind of drifting into the abstract" That entire stanza reveals that the artist feels as if he once was focused, or had his mind set on "reality" and such, but that more and more he finds himself slipping away into the unknown, or the mysterious.
I feel that the editing perfectly represents the feeling of abstractness as soon as the first words are spoken. 

There is a perfect relationship between the video and the lyrics. We can see the artist singing the words, except its not actually him, but a projection of him through a different medium. It gives the idea he cannot return to the normal world, and is therefore stuck "drifting into the abstract".            The editing looks fantastic visually, but at the same time has such strong relevance to the bands perception of the song.

 The underlying idea of this song is the isolation of artist from society, and his falling grip of reality, I feel the mise-en-scene strongly depicts this. Technology today is strongly criticized for the anti-social behavior that is causes, therefore the laptop and wires help to emphasize the artists isolation. Not only are they prominent objects that are causing the artists anti-social behavior, but he is in fact stuck inside them. The coffee is untouched which suggests the artist is simply unable to drink from it as he is stuck in a material world. Fincher carefully picks his props to make sure they have absolute relevance and strengthen the theme of the song. 

Fincher also puts a lot of care into the lighting of the video. It is generally low-key which helps intensify the gritty mood/atmosphere of the songs theme. The colours are  prominently tones of gray to rid of anything that could depict happiness.  

Its difficult to mention on aspects such as a costume and make-up, because are no costumes or make-up. The performance is effectively the edited singers face. The singers face is generally void of much colour to fit into the songs depressing, underlying theme. 

Iconic Music Video Directors

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze is, among many other things, a famous music video director. He was born in the USA, October 22nd 1969, in Rockville, Maryland. He is well known for his music video collaborations with artists like Fatboy Slim, Weezer, Beastie Boys and Bjork. He is placed at No. 4 in Green Labels "10 Best Music Video Directors of All Time'.

Spike has a unique style to is filming, perhaps because of his dual role as a big-budget movie director, they always have a cinematic feel.

Jonze has made 56 Music Videos to date and won four MTV Video Music awards just for the Beastie Boys - "Sabotage".

Here's a few example of the music videos he has made.

Analysis of Media Language and Director's creativity

This is my analysis on how director's have been creative with their music videos, using a range of media language, such as cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing.

Iconic music directors

Jake Nava

Jake Nava is an English music video and film director, born in North London. Nava placed fifth in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10 Music Video Directors" list for 2011, with videos for Adele's "Someone Like You" and Kanye West's "Monster". Nava is widely known for his collaborations with Beyoncé, including the videos for "Crazy in Love" and "Single Ladies." Single Ladies was listed by
The Times at third position in "The 25 Most Influential Music Videos of All Time", It is charted as the 3rd most downloaded video and won "Video of the Year" at the MTV Video Music Award, MTV Europe Music Awards, and BET Awards.

He has created 47 music videos and he has worked with stars such as Adele, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Shakira, Robbie Williams, Britney Spears and many more. From the list of artists that he has work with it shows that he generally sticks with one genre and that is POP.

Here are some examples of his music videos;

Shakira's she wolf video is typical of the POP genre as she dancing and it is sexualised as she isnt wearing much. The video is only set in few locations and only has a couple of props, one being a cage that she is stuck in as she sings about letting out the she-wolf. The video is very dance orientated as every scene that she is in she is dancing. When she is dancing with others in the room they are not really in focus as she is the only one that is. 

As Adele's song is a sad song the whole video is in black and white. The video doesn't tell a story as it just follows her walking around while singing. It is very simplistic but helps portray her sense of feeling.