FOCUS MUSIC GENRES #1

ALTERNATIVE / POP ROCK

 

I found this music video created by a previous A2 student for a song by The Fray- Absolute. I found that this style of music video was very typical of the soft alternative rock/ pop rock genre. the video created here i find is very professional and can easily be made to such a high standard as it is mainly performance based

CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS

Examples of pop / alternative rock songs:

The Script- Six Degrees Of Separation

You Me At Six- Underdog

I have found in most of these videos they are mainly performance based with a few clips inserted in between these clips of narrative based shots.

CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES
The Script: 
Opening frame: close up shot of Danny singing and playing the guitar- helps the audience identify the artist very easy and quickly. Gives him a very simplistic appeal and approachable, help the audience to relate to him and builds a closer relation with the audience.
Slow Pan/dolly: there is a series of shots which are taken from the same setting and scene but have been filmed at different angles, initial low angle builds to mid shot. This gives the band a more approachable appeal again, they initially shown as an intimidating powerful band to highlight their success, however the use of developing to the mid shot could suggest and show how they have not let this fame go to their head and still feel "level" with the audience
You Me At Six
Each of the shots taken uses some from of camera movement particularly the band performing shots, this is down to the high beat and tempo of the song . These movements consist mainly of pans and dolly shots, with select zoom shots, like in The Script's video the panning and dolly shots help the create a smoother flow throughout the song.

EDITING
The Script: 
Initially very long takes, however increasingly shorter and lots of jump cuts as the song increases in tempo: the editing is focused around the speed and beat of the song. The producer has used split screen effect to match the music themes and lyrics. the song is based around these "six degrees"/ steps when these elements are mentioned in the song the screen splits one more time and an additional clip is shown, each to freeze when the next begins. So in the end the screen has these six elements on show. These clips show two characters, Danny and a female character- these highlights the relationship theme, the tears shown by the woman also put emphasis on the hurt and emotion expressed around the break up int he song.
You Me At Six:
First shot is longer than the majority of the shot, however still only 4 seconds long, the majority of the shots only last for half a second, this highlights the high tempo to the song and makes the video more entertaining, more shots means that viewers are not going to be able to take in all of the video the first time so even after multiple views it is not boring.

LIGHTING

The Script: 
The performances shots use a lot of stage and backing stage lights, ones used in concerts and actual performances. also many of the shots are very low lighting, the artists themselves are still visible but the setting is very plain and limited light.

You Me At Six:

Much like The Script the lighting is very dark on setting and objects while still keeping the artist visible. the lighting is very consistent, even on the narratives shots of the female character the lighting is still very dark, however both songs are focused around relationship pain and or break ups, therefore the themes of these songs are predominantly dark and negative as well.
So essentially the theme of the song influences everything with a performance/narrative based music video, which makes sense- it would seem odd to show a character wildly happy and having fun while the same person in the lyrics is depressed. Although is done intentionally can attract attention for these reason as it is so unique and unexpected.