AR: Three Track Ideas

The Weeknd-Wicked Games

 

·        The artists name then the name of the song appears at the beginning of the video in time with the beat.

·        The Artist is lip syncing to the song, this illustrative technique makes it a performance video and makes the star present to the audience.

·        The whole video is in black and white which is often used in this genre of music. It gives it a seductive, extraordinary feel but has an emotive effect as it is sombre and gritty.

·        The only characters that appear in the video are the artist themselves and a female dancer is shown at the beginning and end. Her shadow also plays a main part of the video interacting with the artist, distorting his face by blocking the light.

·        The video feels very conceptual as there is no narrative but symbolism is used through props such as the car and the dancer.

·        There appears to be three locations, the first two are then repeated at the end of the video, so there is an ABCBA structure. However continuity editing is used to link the locations so effectively that it’s not totally clear there has been a significant change. The continuity is created by placing the artist in the middle of frame at the same distance from the camera between each cut. The car headlights are also used for continuity between two of the shots.

·        Another generic characteristic of this type of music video is that the artist sings to the audience staring straight into the camera only to look away occasionally down at their feet. This emphasises the ‘soul’ aspect of the genre and helps construct the illusion that the artist is real and is singing personally, directly to the viewer.

·        Stills, pans and zooms are used at slow, steady speeds like the pace of the song. 

Childish Gambino-Sweatpants ft.Problem

 

·        The location of the diner is very ordinary however the strange loop in the narrative makes the artists simultaneously extraordinary like Dyers paradox or a star image.

·        There are lots of people in the diner and some are shown to nod in time with music which is an amplified relationship between the visuals and sound.

·        Camera follows and moves with the artist-notion of looking. Except for final shot it pans the whole diner with multiple versions of the artist spread around.

·         ‘Doing me better then you doing you’-this lyric has subtle connotations to the idea shown in the narrative that the artist is playing the people who are surrounding him, essentially the ‘you’ mentioned. It relates to his metanarrative of his acting career (people wouldn’t take his music career seriously at first because he was already a successful actor).

·        A 360 degrees pan is used on the artist a few times in the video as they are looking down at their phone. It makes us aware of their surroundings as they are not. This camera technique is used often in the genre as it makes the artist appear important.

·        ‘Gambino’-A generic feature of Hip Hop music is for the artist to mention their name in the song usually at the beginning. It is in 3^rd person and like how Gambino is playing every person in the scene by the end of the video, it is as if he mocks this Hip Hop stereotype.

·        The artist lip syncs throughout however at one point when he first sits at the booth he stops for a few seconds and then carries on, later on in the video he does this again. It is uncomfortable for the viewer as he toys with the idea that he is present and absent, conforming to Dyers second paradox.

·        He bangs his fists on table, the sound from this as well as other noises from the diner are played out over the song and the music pauses. This shows the visuals controlling the music which is very illustrative.

 

Kendrick Lamar-Swimming Pools

 

·        The artists name then the name of the song appears at the beginning of the video before any music plays.

·        There is a montage sequence when the lyrics begin cutting between two lines of action; one of the bottle smashing the other of the female dancer.

·        A sombre wash is used in the scenes in the broken, abandoned looking, aged house. Theses shots suggest something dark and destructive about the artist.

·        ‘Dark room’-a dark room appears suggesting it has particular significance to the concept that the music video is creating and gives an amplified relationship between the lyrics and visuals.

·        The artist is shown falling and floating, at the beginning and throughout the video. This action has connotations to how someone moves in a swimming pool, referring to the song title.

·        The red hue in the party scenes is symbolic of danger and intensity giving the audience an idea of the hardcore lifestyle of the star.

·        Youth, drinking, rebellion

·        The artist performs his song with lip-synching and dancing often seen in Hip Hop music videos.

·        The many outfits, gold chains, parties and car that are featured in the video symbolise the wealth of the artist and like many Hip Hop artists it shows them gloating their extraordinary lifestyle however often because of their matanarrative of success against the odds.

·        Editing techniques used include the glitch in the party shots that occasionally, very briefly flip the image. This is very discomforting and psychedelic like the effects of alcohol which refers to the song lyric ‘drink’ repeated throughout.