Analysis of Music Videos

This music video is a performance video by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. The genre of the music video is funk, disco and boogie. Throughout the video, Bruno Mars is in a brightly coloured suit jacket. He is always surrounded by his backing dancers who are not as brightly dressed as him except for one who is wearing a mustard yellow suit jacket. All of the men are wearing sunglasses and a hat, except for one. All of the men, except for one are wearing black trousers. They are all wearing thin gold chains which isn't giving off the stereotypical 'hood' or 'thug' impression because the chains are very thin.

The fact that Bruno Mars' pink jacket is very bright and stands out against the rest could be significant in the fact that he is the main character and everyone should pay the most attention to him. He is always in the middle of the screen which could be because he is what should be most dominant in the screen.

The camera is often on a long shot of the whole group to show how Bruno Mars is always surrounded with his 'friends'. When there is a mid-shot which is low on the ground, all of the men crowd around and bend down to get into the shot, however Bruno Mars is higher up than everyone else which may represent the fact that he is more superior to everyone else and that they will crowd around him, and he will not be in the crowd.

Bruno Mars is then singing at girls who walk past and are wearing slightly provocative clothing, which is sexualising women and representing him as a 'cool man'.

The camera then flicks between two cameras focusing on Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson as they are reenacting the same scene and it's making them briefly seem like the same person even though you can see their differences.

When it first gets to the chorus, the camera swirls around the whole screen until Bruno Mars and his dancers look as if they're standing and dancing on the side of the screen. After a long shot, there is a low angle shot on Bruno Mars, which is once again showing how he is superior to everyone and everything. This could show that he wants everyone to 'just watch' him which is what he is singing as the shot type is a low angle shot.

There is then a long shot which shows Mark Ronson sitting on a car looking like a 'cool' man, and Bruno Mars is dancing in front of the car. This is giving off a star image for Bruno Mars that he is always dancing and the centre of attention and happy, as well as constantly surrounded by his friends.

Throughout the whole music video, the lighting is bright and seems very sunny. This could be a pathetic fallacy showing that these people are always happy and upbeat (which would match the music). The brightness could be representing their bright personalities.

This music video is a narrative video (with some performance as Taylor Swift sings to the camera to show emotion).

This genre of music is pop music.

genre
star image
represent people

Conventions of Music Videos

There are many different types of conventions which are used in music videos to portray different emotions, meanings, and point of view (POV).

Technical 

The technical technique is showing the meaning of a video through the equipment. The equipment would be things such as the camera and the way the camera angle presents certain objects and people within the shots. The technical technique also shows meaning through diegetic and non-diegetic sounds and the style of editing. All of the editing and the sound will form a certain genre.

Through the camera angles and camera shots, there are more symbolic meanings which would portray emotions. For example, a camera might do a close up on the artist and show their facial expressions or their gestures and body language towards other people. Long shots would show mise en scene which would once again show the emotions of a person (through pathetic fallacy or the colours and room/space surrounding the artist).

Why are there Conventions?

Having conventions which specific genres should abide by means that the audience will become familiar with what is within a certain genre and have certain expectation as it sets structure which the audience will understand more than no conventions which means that any music video can do any sort of video. This could be argued as a good thing, however some types of videos may be inappropriate for certain target audiences. 

Style of Music Video:

Performance - 

Performance videos consist of the artists performing to the camera as if they were on a stage, just doing the dances which they would do for a concert and singing while looking into the camera or facing towards the camera. Performance videos are not as common as narrative or mixed videos because these music videos are not as popular due to the way that the audience find it harder to engage or interact with the video. Unless the video has got very interesting costumes and the lighting is interesting, the video is unlikely to do well.

Narrative - 

This type of video is one which follows a storyline. This would usually mean that there is a beginning, middle and an end, however sometimes the story isn't told in chronological order to be different and get the viewers attention because they are confused and want to have a more definite understanding of the storyline.

Mixture - 

A mixture music video is a mixture of narrative and performance. This is often more interesting than being either performance or narrative based. Through having performance and narrative, the video will tell a story which the audience will understand (the storyline wouldn't be complicated however it would capture the audience's attention), as well as just performing to the camera which the audience would enjoy also, making the video more successful and interesting than other types of music videos. 

Cameo - 

A cameo video is when the artist (or band) would feature in the narrative performance, however does not actually perform themselves. This could be them acting a scene out for the music video, however not even miming the song, therefore not performing at all, simply just appearing in the video.

Camera Shots -

In music videos, camera shots and angles are very important. This is because camera angles and shots are what makes the music video interesting and different. If the music video was a longshot throughout the whole video, then the video would get boring as the video would only be showing the people either acting out a scene from afar or a dance. Dancing (or a performance video) is interesting, however it must be kept interesting by showing the performance from a different perspective or angle.

Analysis of Lyrics

Performance and Narrative

What is a Performance Video?

A performance music video is a video in which the singer or the band is looking into the camera and literally performing the song. They are singing and dancing as well as making eye contact with the camera (giving the impression that they are looking at the audience) and making the video more personal to the viewer.

A performance video is the artist dressed up as their act and performing as if they were in front of a crowd and they are representing how they would be if they were live, rather than having a story which would link with the lyrics. This sort of music video would be a narrative video.

An example of a performance video could be Beyonce's 'Love on Top' which is her singing and dancing into the camera with her backing dancers.

What is a Narrative Video?

A narrative video is when the artist has a video which has some connection to the song and it is telling the story that the song is trying to tell through the video. This can either be the artist themselves or it could be someone else acting out the story or dancing to show the emotions of the song.

An example of a narrative video which has the artist in it would be many Taylor Swift songs - 'You Belong with me', 'Love Story' and many others, or Beyonce's 'If I Were a Boy'. These music videos are narrative music videos which have the performers in the video acting out the story behind the song.