Music Video 3 Analysis - Who Dat boy - Tyler the Creator

First we see a long shot. Slowly, the camera moves forward as Tyler is working on something mechanical. With the mise-en-scene nearly in total darkness, an open door frame is lit up more and less as sparks fly as Tyler is sat at the desk. As the sparks shoot from whatever `Tyler is working on, a poster of Leonardo Dicaprio is hanging on the wall. As the song is titles 'Who dat boy' that is a question that is being constantly being asked by either the audience or the extras in the background. With eerie tones playing throughout, the main tune is heard from the start. As the song kicks in and Tyler begins to wrap, the object that he's working on blows up in his face. What I got from this is that, someone may work really hard and will put lots of time and effort into something really important to it but at the end of it, it doesn't work. The choice is whether to keep going or to just give up. Artists like Tyler must understand how difficult it must be to get on top and show everyone what they're willing to do so that they can live the life they want but sometimes difficult choices have to be made and if you make the wrong decision then it'll really damage the individual. In this case, it's Tyler's face. These causes the question of 'Who dat boy' to be asked as this may come from bystanders or himself as he may develop an identity crisis and have trouble knowing who he is.

A subtitles breakaway screen appear with the title of the song, followed by '5 seconds later'. This is a great idea to include to show the passage of time. It's not 100% needed but I still think it works well with the style of music. With lots of information being thrown at the listeners, for the audience they need minimal information on order to follow along. By being punchy and almost dulled down, and the matching colours of yellow and blue (which I noticed came up a lot) can be helpful but mainly it's just an add on. Without it, the audience wouldn't necessarily be lost, it just adds character to the production.

The next shot is a long lasting one, just like the one before. As it tracks Tyler walking to his neighbours house he raps about the accident. The camera starts on the same side of the street but as Tyler walks away the camera goes across the road and tracks him from there as a police car and a fire engine sped by to the house where the explosion went off on Tyler. I really like this as it's more fun and interesting how casual this sort of tracking is and how it allows for more things to be seen as it's a new angle all in the same cut. "He got dressed in a coffin", what I get from this is that he was going to fail from the start. This may be a result in his friends knowing that it was a bad idea and they didn't want to help so he ended up doing it by himself. As bystanders soon realise in the background what be going on the chorus begins. "Who dat boy? Who him is?" The bystanders must be also thinking this as they are confused and frozen as they don't know what is going on and they don't know what to do. They may also be shocked as Tyler is very casual in this situation. With the same camera cut, the camera ends up in front of Tyler facing him as he bangs on the door. The next shot is a zoom of the small fish-eye viewing window on the door. This is then followed by an interior shot of the other man rapping the next verse with the camera placed as the viewing window in the door. Resulting in a fish-eye lens. I think this goes really well and fits nicely with the music as it's a bit odd and obscures things that the audience can see.

The neighbour that Tyler sees helps and stitches his face. Within the next few shots, he also sows on another face. From my understanding, Tyler doesn't want to be himself anymore and decides to be someone else so that he can do whatever he wants but as someone else. He may be having an identity crisis but he's more likely doing what a lot of people do on the internet. Be someone they're not. This is a major issue that is difficult to solve as you wont be able to trust anyone you talk to incase the person you're talking to, isn't really them. Therefore, everyone on the internet should be more careful. As the police as shown on a security camera trying to get in to the house they rush and leave stumbling around trying to grasp what to do next. As Tyler leaves, the camera zooms on the partner and runs out of frame. The next shot is Tyler on the run in a car with a random kid in the passenger seat.

With the lyrics "My mom say she worried because I'm so ill I should stay in bed, but got too much bread to make, she said watch my weight... Get out of my way, way, boy that's McLaren. That's 0 to 60 in 2 point never, i'm gone". I think Tyler is really talking about important issues that effect him on a high emotional level. His mom is worried about him so he listens to what she says but at the end of the day, she's stopping him from what he wants to do and he doesn't want to let anyone in his way. He wants to leave in a high profile vehicle as it makes a statement all on its own but it can still attract unwanted attention. Therefore, it's hard to live a higher class lifestyle. The unwanted attention in the case of the video is the police. However, I do appreciate the quality of the footage and smooth it can be, I will be looking to achieve similar results for my own project. Finishing on a drone shot the cars blast off into the distance on some American hills similar to a game called GTA.V.

The last 44 seconds is a little piece unrelated to the rest of the song but it's simple two shot, one tighter and one wider, works really nicely. I'm not entirely sure if it works but I think it's fun to add on the end. I won't be taking any inspiration from this but his message is to call 911 as though he's giving his number to a crush. Which is a fun way to spread the message about important issues covered in the video.

Music Video 2 Analysis - Lunch - Stella Donnelley

Within the first few seconds of the song we see an oversaturated tree as the camera is tilted up towards the sky, showing the the blue as the background and the title card/text in yellow. These contrast well and I get a happy feeling from these bright but light colours as it's shot in summer. The music itself if first introduced with acoustic and clean electric chords with a simple strum pattern. As this is going on a few clips of the beginning of road trip is taking place. The school bus may reference to the prison-like feeling that the youth must feel and with the lyrics of "Cracking my neck in the consulate line". I think this is a great example of how school can be to many students and makes you feel so relieved that as an older person you have so much freedom. Soon after the audience for this video will realise this video is just a lot of B-roll footage complied into a commemorative video of a great holiday with a bunch of friends. With the handheld camera, perhaps a film camera, it gives a sense of realism. Due to this, it means that the budget for this video is much less compared to a lot of high level bands or groups such as Drake or Ariana Grande. For a lot fo the video the lyrics don't really make sense and link up to what's going on in the video. However, on the occasions that they do, in my opinion, it fits really well. For instance, "Up close I see how they stitched on the stars and stripes". While this is being sung, a clip of, presumably, Stella is wearing a red knitted sweatshirt with the American flag on it. For this example it is really obvious how at certain points a song just shows you what it means rather than leaving it as a metaphor and for the audience to decide what it means. With the shaky camerawork when zooming in and out the miseducating-en-scene is quite unique as it gives the sense of that they don't really care how it looks, they just want to get to footage and it ends up being rushed. Although, I feel as they did this on purpose to give them the idea of that they can do whatever they want and no matter how it turns out, they'll be happy with it as they did and that's enough. Almost as though, nothing is perfect so there's no reason to try and go out of their way to make it perfect.

Just after this a cello begins to play to add to the mix of the song as friends hug as they greet each other. This makes me think about how subtle it can be to share a hug with someone and makes people feel warm and happy if people are glad to see each other. Throughout the song, the lyrics are displayed as subtitles. This I find fairly unique but at 0:45 this where the lyrics changed to subtitles for what is being said in the clips. All of the clips used for the song do not have audio, the only sound is the song. But I really like this idea as it makes you think and almost catches you off guard as the audience would just assume that it'll be the same all the way through the song; rather than change and by doing this, personally, it made me pay more attention to a small but noticeable detail in terms of post production/filming to the video. I also appreciate the fun, double meanings that have been added from the lyrics matching up to objects in the video. For instance, "Would it kill you to listen???". As Stella sings this line, a sign for a gym is shown. Just a playful way to describe people opinions of the gym but of course without the video the listener would think about an argument she might have as she complains about whoever she's talking about to be not listening; which could a reason why she doesn't want to spend time with him or her. In this case, as it's said later in the song. They want to spend time with Stella but she only has time for lunch.

As the first chorus starts, and the lyrics of "And I get homesick before I go away" a clip of presumably her parents is shown being happy and together. She thinks about what she's leaving behind but is also looking forward to her adventure. I understand that these sort of occasions can be confusing and difficult and to decide what you should ant shouldn't leave behind. A backstory that I derive from these emotions is whether to leave a bad relationship you have invested a lot in or to leave a home where people love you but may be stopping you from the adventures you may want to go on with your friends.

At 1:30 some fairy heavy but quiet drum toms play along side a light chime with a fast decay. As there is a break in the lyrics these layers to the song fit well; however, the clips remain the same format so I can seem a bit repetitive but not enough to not want to watch the rest of the video. I personally hope to aim for something similar but be able to break iy up into sections that seem to be more strict in production and then plenty of B-roll clips which is heavily featured in this video. Combining narrative and location , Andrew Goodwin has taught me that it is more effective to combine a couple or more rather than just one as it can become boring as nothing overly exciting will happen.

Right at the end of the video the same clip is played at the end that is first shown at the start, just before the song begins. As the sun shine and flares this reminds me of when films add a similar effect when the protagonist may need to enter a trance. In this state nothing is real and this may be where the character may go to a 'happy place'. This could be Stella's happy place and this is what she likes to think about. Time with friends and family is the main focus but from the lyrics I have an educated understanding that her mind is still thinking of a part relationship and the fun memories with her friends is what she likes to think about to take her mind of the badly ending relationship. With the music fading, for her it's to go back to reality and return from a place of good times and memories. I hope to create something similar as it shoot my own video and be able to enjoy it as I have fun with my friends in which i'll be able to document my friends enjoying themselves as a chill and happy sounding song is played over.

Music Video planning - ideas from lyrics

Music Video Planning

These ideas have been created in correlation to the lyrics

‘So, you burnt your last cigarette down in Hollywood’ 

·     Close-up shot of lighting cigarette 

·     Tracking shot following someone walking and smoking cigarette 

·     Flickering shot between the close-up and tracking shot 

·     Close-up of cigarette packet showing last cigarette 

‘They say you took your last dying breath down in Hollywood’

·     Putting out cigarette whilst coughing, have a slow-motion effect maybe?

·     B-role footage with displays of friendship (could symbolise how past relationships have died after being in Hollywood)- Put a vintage old camera filter (ref. ‘Stella Donnelly-Lunch’)

‘They all won’t say what a lonely life it was’ (unsure of actual lyrics)

·     Mid-shot of person looking distressed. When shooting main character make sure they’re alone to reinforce the idea that they are lonely.

·     Overlay B-roll friendship footage on top of footage of character alone (ref. JAWS-Stay In- 1:07-1:09)

‘I don’t want you to fade, want you to fade away’ 

·     Birds eye shot whilst spinning round of character lying on floor looking into distance, looking lonely (ref. ‘Stella Donnelly-Old Man- 0:19-0:21)

·     B-roll Point of View shots from character, walking round locations with no people to again reinforce the idea that they are lonely. 

·     Fade in and out to different shots to go along with the lyrics 

‘So, you spent the last of your rent down in Hollywood’

·     Close-up shot of opening purse and having no money in it 

·     Mid-Shot of shaking wallet/purse, 2 pennies or so come out, have this slow-motion

·     My favourite line in the song. The choir in the background goes really well with the tone of the song and I’ll try and add something physically to the video to emphasise on this.

Evaluation for 1 Questionnaire

When first coming up with these questions I didn't know what kind of video I wanted to make. By the end of the writing process for the questions I decided on a song and had written down some ides of what I'd like to include in the piece. Therefore, the first few questions are more vague and not aimed at what I then chose to do. The first question shows that the genre that the people I asked the most are into Hip-Hop. If I hadn't decided that song/genre I would like to look at I would've gone with this decision as the point of asking the questions in the first place are to be a 'yes man' in order to make your audience happy. In this case, if I chose Hip-Hop then my audience would be larger as more people enjoy that genre of music.

For the second question these answers aren't that prominent as they're fairly spread out. I find this helpful as, to most, it isn't very important if I choose one over the other as a similar amount of an audience would still be interested. Meaning, I could focus on a stage performance and not included location at all and it would still be an effective video. For example 'All My Life - Foo Fighters'.

For the third question, everyone who answered gave similar yet different opinions rather than it being treated as a tally chart. But I asked this due to the fact that I wanted to know why they chose the style of video they did. As I chose Mainly B-role clips, edited into a montage, and a few clips that tie into the lyrics of the song I chose I would say that my music video's style is most like: location and experimental. Their answers gave me an insight why they like that style and what is most effective when I am in the planning stages of making the piece.

As the next questions results were mainly 'yes' I helped me decide on whether I should pick one song over an other. The song I chose (Hollywood - The Money War) started off with the lyrics "So you burnt your last cigarette down in Hollywood". From this, I thought that a really good idea would be let this line become a reality, therefore, I will include the respective shots that execute the act of smoking the last cigarette.

As the next question is split between 'yes' and 'sometimes' it is clear that it is a good idea to include the artist in the video. However in this case I won't be able to do this. Overall it's not practical but still helpful as I know that an audience would like to see the artist in the video. But like it says just below, the answers from this question state that it isn't vital for the artist to appear.
As an editing exercise a while ago was to edit on the beat or time the beat of a song to an action, I asked this question. Luckily, everyone agreed that it was a good idea to include. I will make sure this effect is in my final video.

Unfortunately, the next question isn't that helpful to me as I knew beforehand what shots I should include by raw knowledge on different types of shots but I wanted to know if there was a particular type of shot that I should not include. In this case, it doesn't seem apparent. Overall, this question isn't very helpful to me.

The majority of people I asked liked I song that I proposed to them I was interested in filming. This is more relevant as if it ended up being that not a lot of people liked the song I would change it to something that more enjoyed so I know it'll do well. When I asked them to fill out and answer my questions I thought it would be a good idea to play the song on repeat so that they're able to listen to it a few times to help them decide and so I know that they dod like it rather than them just saying they do.

The last question, I don't really find relevant as it doesn't really develop or affect how my video look when its finished. however I would like to include a message as the end of the song to give people, who are more naive, to understand that the world isn't all 'sunshine and rainbows'. Luckily, one person gave a great answer; that when thinking about the word Hollywood, they said "Fortune. However, it's dark side suggests addiction and loneliness". This is something I feel is very important when it comes to the media as how a lot of it can seem unreal and changed to fit how they think people should view it. Which is why that as the song fades the camera will pull back into a wider frame, showing off a film crew as they film this video. Proving how so many things are staged and fake, just to make it seem better than it actually is.

Recee and Plan for locations/reasons

A few options for my video to take place are:

Hartshill Hayes Country Park

Oldbury Road CV10 0TE

I thought of this as it's high levels of fields and trees would be an excellent place to shoot a music video. Surrounded by nature and have the diegetic sounds of trees blowing in the wind and overall sense of escapism would be a great place that would fit to my song I have chosen. 

A large play park near Whitestone 

The black line is the route I plan to take in order to take some scenic shots whilst on my way. It would also be beneficial to take this route as it could provide me with a narrative for my music video as I would be able to document the journey from point A to point B.

I am most likely to go with this option simply due to there is more scenery around and different locations. In this case more open fields as well as a quiet path away from the road but still rural enough to be not in the middle of nowhere. I also like this option as it is makes it easy for it to appear in the video as a journey. In this case, from A to B. A will start off down the bottom of the map and B will end at the open fields in the top left of the image.


Tudor Grange Park











This would be a great place to shoot most of my B-roll footage. Taking inspiration from 'Lunch - Stella Donnelley' just simply walking around with my friends in a nice location like this would work really well with my chosen song. Depending on the weather, it'll be either be really nice if it's sunny or not as good if it's raining or cloudy but hopefully I can fix this by adding a filter in post to help it appear a more retro or vintage feel. My desired filter would to be able to add more grain and flaky; just like if it was shot on film.

Risk Assessment: 

Luckily, for my locations that iv'e chosen, the risk doesn't seem to be that high. However, depending on the weather, the small amount of people I plan to appear in the video won't be too high maintenance unless it is raining or worse. In this case, a simple rain coat will suffice.
With the foresight of a camera dying, I will make sure my phone gimbal (Osmo Mobile 2) is fully charged. Other than this, I won't be needing another camera for strict filmimg but for my idea of there being a small film crew at the end to emphasis that it's fake and put together by the media to the song called 'Hollywood' would fit well.
For my second option I have planned a route. I will attempt to do the same for my other options so that in a wooded area, there is no tripping hazard.
As well as this, while filming, to avoid issues with consent from passers by, I will avoid shoot with a crowd in the background. If I end up shooting with people in the background to avoid any issues, I will make sure the focus of the camera is shallow and they be far enough away so that you won't be able to see their faces enough to see who it is.


Plan:

When first thinking about how I wanted my video to look I first thought of my top option to shoot at, Hartshill Hayes. With the song, I pictured it to be in the sun to give a youthful and free feeling which I thought would contrast nicely with the lyrics about being trapped in Hollywood.
However, thinking about it a little more, I feel as though the sunshine wouldn't matter as much now due to the idea that I should add more B-roll footage in place of that as I feel the same one location may get a bit repetitive. This idea fixes this problem. 

Results from my 1 questionnaire

Music Video Questionnaire 1 – Answers

I asked 12 people to answer these questions, so the figure (x/12) is to indicate how many people chose that option where it needs to be applied. Some chose more than one option, but I decided to go with the first answer they gave to get more accurate statistics.

What genre of music do you prefer? (rock, indie, punk, grime, hip-hop, other - please specify)

·     2/12 = RnB 

·     5/12 = Hip-Hop 

·     1/12 = Grime 

·     2/12 = Indie 

·     1/12 = Rock 

·     1/12 = Pop

What concept/style of a music video do you prefer? (narrative, stage performance, studio performance, location, conceptual/experimental ((combination?))

·     2/12 = Studio

·     3/12 = Narrative

·     3/12 = Stage

·     2/12 = Location

·     2/12 = Experimental

Why do you prefer this style of music video is your preference? 

Everyone said something different, therefore the bullet points below are their individual answers. 

·     Develops a feeling/understanding (studio)

·     Makes music feel original (experimental)

·     Different performances are considered entertaining (stage)

·     Better entertainment value (stage)

·     Creates an image when listening to the song (narrative)

·     It matches the mood of the song (location)

·     Looks good and active (experimental)

·     Looks live (stage)

·     Unique (studio)

·     Narrative adds more to the song / gives meaning (narrative)

·     Adds more visually eg: Jaden Smith- Icon (location)

·     Interesting when there is a story present (narrative)

Should what's being shown onscreen correlate to the lyrics? (yes or no)

·     9/12 = yes

·     2/12 = maybe

·     1/12 = no

Should the artist be shown onscreen during the music video (yes or no or sometimes, if sometimes then why?)

·     6/12= yes

·     6/12 = sometimes

·     0/12 = no

Peoples reasonings for sometimes were that they didn’t think it was vital for the artist to appear because on occasion it can add or take away from the visual.

Do you like it when the mise-en-scene of the editing is timed to actions or the beat of the song? (yes or no and why?)

·     11/12 = yes

·     0/12 = no

For this question, one of the twelve did not answer. 

What sort of shots would you like to see in a music video?

List of shot types suggested:

·     Close-up 

·     Tracking 

·     Over the shoulder

·     Call and Response between the audience and performers (eg: ‘Glad you Came’ Glee)

·     Mid shot 

·     Full Body Shot 

·     Establishing 

·     Birds eye 

Do you like this song? (Hollywood by The Money War)

·     8/12 = yes

·     4/12 = no

What does the word ‘Hollywood’ mean to you? 

Everyone said something different, therefore, the bullet points below are their individual answers. 

·     Glamorous fashion icons 

·     Hopes and dreams

·     A place full of aspiration

·     Money and power

·     Drama 

·     Fame, opportunity 

·     Fortune, however, its dark side suggests addiction and loneliness