Music Video Research

Now that I've researched the history of the Promo, I've been looking at the varied existing products that inspire me, as I start to brainstorm ideas for my own video.
As the song I have chosen is sung by a solo female, I decided to look at other solo female artists in the industry. Examples of successful solo female artists that are inspiring are Katy B, Adele, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Katy Perry, Amy Winehouse, Laura Marling, Florence and the Machine and Ellie Goulding.

Here are some examples of their videos and how they're portrayed...

Katy B is one of the few British female artists in the dubstep/garage/house genre, which is similar genres to my song. The video is shot quite darkly and the themes of the song are also empowering so this is particularly good to study. It is fast cut, and there are montage elements to set the scenes of the club and the atmosphere. It also cuts to her singing away from the club, in a studio and a car as well as on stage. There is lots of use of colour and many close-ups and use of light which I like. As this was the artists debut single to hit the mainstream it very much focuses on the artist, whereas I'd like to focus more on the atmosphere and themes of the song.

As I would like the video to be artistic and have symbolic elements I like the idea of montages. Here are a two examples from different music genres...

Montages are important in setting the scene and overall vibe of the song. As both songs, especially the Chris Brown one, are quite fast it is right for them to be fast-cut also. So I am keen to try it out. This may be hard to prepare and story board as a lot of it may be spontaneous but there are certain shots that will be symbolic, relating back to the theory which I will prepare and plan for.


I also looked at videos with narratives. This is one of the most common types of music videos, as it engages the audience. Below are two different examples...

Firstly, Bounce is a video with a 'journey'. This video is slightly unusual as the narrative content doesn't directly refer to the lyrical content. However as it is a dance song this can be typical in that genre. The whole video is incredibly fast cut reflecting the nature of the song. This indicates that the editing will need to match the beat and pace of the song which is something that will need to be looked at in further depth.

This White Lies video is an example of high production values and the narrative does represent the lyrics. It attracts the audience as it is a little out of the ordinary and is very well shot with an unusual narrative. I like the twist at the end as it makes viewers think deeper about the song and what it symbolises. Obviously I don't have access to the amount of money and equipment needed for a video such as this, but I hope to bring across my own creative take on the narrative of the song.


My song has strong empowering themes and the feel of the song is very atmospheric, so I am lastly looking at videos that are full of atmosphere as well as being a little more independent and more creatively shot.