Music Video Analysis

Music Video research

In order to completely grasp inspiration and knowledge from music videos, the analysis of one from the same genre that we are making our music video on will allow us to discover the typical codes and conventions.

Lorde is a female alternative artist who is genrally viewed as quite 'individual' compared to many other female singers in the charts right now.
Because there is no music video for our actual song choice, to analyse a similar song by Lorde is our only alternative option, Here is her song 'Green Light'.

 In the music video it initially shows herself as the artist in a close up shot, where she is lip syncing the words. Behind her is a blue background in shallow focus which amplifies and creates her to stand out; this makes it extremely effective.
This could be used in my video when its the artist lip syncing, to make it clear that its separate from the narrative; we would have her actually looking into the camera like this:

 As the music video continues, Lorde continues to lip sync despite the change of setting into another gloomy-colored room, here she is seen from a side profile. This change of angle represents the 'coolness' of the artist and shows her to have an attitude, a stereotypical feature of an artist within the alternative genre.

Next the camera cuts to the artist in some sort of rave or party where she appears to be 'lost in the music' and still alone lip-syncing the song. Although she isn't entirely part of a narrative, this becomes effective as it  allows her to show her style of music and what sort of places she would go. The music video is deliberately exaggerating the artists partying lifestyle as well as featuring her singing alone.

In this shot, the lighting is massively effective as, as you can see, she is shown in a low key lighting and behind her is a bright light. This adds to her generic style as it makes her appear to be mysterious and reiterates her belonging to the Alternative genre. 

As the tempo of the song picks up she is seen to slowly grow more passionate as the lyrics intensify and she sticks her head out of the car. This indicates the stereotypical recklessness of her as an artist and represents her to be care free, which is a frequent convention of music videos within this genre.

Lastly, she is seen walking down the street alone dancing and continuing to lip sync to the lyrics. Her dancing is very alternative and she is known from her live performances from her dancing. This is her personal representation which identifies her as an artist and separates
her from other similar artists.

Throughout the music video Lorde's style is consistently unique and alternative, whilst being reflective to her as an artist. She isn't covered in make up and appears natural, showing she is more about her music than her appearance. Her clothes are indie and simple, matching the stereotypes of alternative artists appearances. It makes her unique as other female artists at this age would usually be wearing revealing or skimpy clothes with heavy make up as opposed to simple attire like Lorde here.