Analysis of Music Videos

I have chosen 3 contemporary music videos to analyse, in order to help with the creation of my own music video. By analysing the codes, conventions, use of camera, editing,
genre, style, and narrative I hope to gain a better understanding of the development of a pop music video.


1. Viva Forever - Spice Girls

The song Viva Forever, released in 1997, aims to capture the feelings and emotions of losing a loved one. The song is written to almost reminisce about said lost loved one. The music video, posted to YouTube in 2009, has gained over 42 million views. It is a narrative video, with some performance aspects in the form of puppet-versions of the Spice Girls.

The video's narrative is that of two boys, who stumble upon a series of seemingly magical artefacts, in the form of gigantic toys (e.g. massive Rubik's cube). One boy is scared of the artefacts, the other seems to be fascinated by them. He is taken away by some fairies, leaving the other boy to seal him to his fate; chucking the Rubik's cube that he was sealed inside into a giant vending machine.

The primary target audience for the video would be children, as the video borrows a lot of conventions of the children's fantasy genre, e.g. fairies, a magical forest, a story-book opening. In fact, the video was often shown on the British kid's TV channel Tiny Pop in the early 2000s.

The video features a lot of mid-shots and long-shots, mostly of the two boys running through the woods. There are also close-ups on the various items and fairies, too. In terms of editing, there is a frequent use of slow motion, probably to entice a dream-like feeling. As well as this, there has been a vignette placed over the footage in post, to aid in the story-book effect. The video begins and ends with a book opening and closing. There's a common use of eye-line matches and shot-reverse-shots.

The props are costume are bright and child-like, with the gigantic toys being ludic and bombastic. The practical effects by Academy Award winner Steve Box (of Aardman Animations) are superb and the stop motion is flawless and magical. 

The narrative is a clear representation of the themes of the song, one boy is taken away and the other must carry on life without him.


2. The Kill (Bury Me) - 30 Seconds to Mars

With 115 million views on YouTube, the music video to 30 Seconds to Mars' The Kill takes direct inspiration from the Stanley Kubrick film The Shinning, incorporating performance elements throughout.

The narrative follows the band as they stay at a deserted hotel, mentioning that they have the "place to themselves". The aim to rehearse and right some music, but soon discover that the hotel holds supernatural secrets.

The visuals of the music videos comes directly from the famous iconography of The Shinning, e.g. the long hallways, typewriter, throwing the tennis ball against the wall and much more. Most of the direction is in reference to this, with wide long shots of the hallways and rooms. However, there a brief interludes where performance elements are featured. This mostly consists of a tight, almost fish-eye close-up on Jared Leto's face as he sings directly into camera.

An interesting feature of the video is its somewhat frequent habit of pausing the music to continue developing the narrative. 


3. Meet Me Half Way - Black Eyed Peas

This video is the most abstract of the three. It features 3 micro-narratives, though I'm not really sure what they are supposed to be. Directed by Ben Mor, who had directed other videos for the Peas, Will.I.Am described this video as being different, quote; "more artistic video. It's very arty.".

The video features each member in varying locations. Will.I.Am appears to be in some form of desert (on an elephant), Fergie in some kind of jungle, Taboo is in space and Apl.de.ap is also in another form of desert. They eventually all turn into shooting stars and appear on a planet that is a mix of all their previous locations; they are meeting halfway, I suppose.

The camera work changes depending on the focus. For example, when it is focusing on Will.I.Am and his elephant, there are a lot of long shots and birds-eye shots, but with Fergie there is a lot of dollying inwards and outwards, more often towards her body. This is a classic case of the male gaze, no doubt. 

There is a dream-like feeling to the video. The use of otherworldly visual-effects and set pieces helps to sell this.

All the members are performing to some degree, with some engaging in more actions that the others. The different locations are inter-cut and seemingly edited into some form of linear cause of events.

The abstract stylisation does have some form of connection to a narrative, with the group beginning the video apart and eventually all coming together.