Critiquing Existing Products: Dance Videos

Today I'm going to look at four music videos, some of which are of the dance genre, as well as others which feature inspirational techniques or locations...
Firstly I am going to look at Sunlight by Modestep.

I like this video as has a great USP as it uses older actors who get up to things which young people stereotypically get up to which is interesting and funny to see and has got people talking about - a great marketing device (another similar video is Danny Byrd's Tonight). 

There are many high angles used, as well as close ups of the action

The editing is very fast paced, matching the rhythm and pacing of the song, a common technique which I've looked at a lot. 
It starts off with an elderly woman opening her curtains and making some food, but after putting on a record and letting in her two male friends, the video cuts to the more traditional club/gig scene where Modestep are performing to its typical audience of 18-25 year olds - showing that the scene is less than typical.

In the club scenes they a shot very intimately with a lot of close ups of the decks, instruments and singer, as if you were there in that claustrophobic club, a great technique to use to make it feel more real and relatable to its target audience.
There is great use of slow motion throughout the video, which I think highlights the actions of the older characters as they progress through their day and also makes the change into real time towards the end more effective as the beat becomes much faster so it matches this. The video cuts between the typical club scenes to this narrative, which is effective in telling the narrative. The first shot of the 3 older actors doing something out of the ordinary is below.

They then go on to shop lift, drink heavily, play poker, smoke, take drugs, trash the house, walk along the beach, drink in public, smash bottles, do shots, get thrown out, pick up girls, go clubbing (it becomes clear that they end up in the same club as the one Modestep are performing in, tying up the video nicely), watch girls pole dancing, do more drugs, dance on a boat until dawn, having a party in their garden and having the police come round.

Overall, I think this is a funny (as this is not what you expect from the over 60's), well-shot and clever video that looks at the youth and elderly today and how they are portrayed, so has a message behind it. Also a reoccurring motif that is used is the artists logo, which is seen on the record playing and the helium balloons. 


Next, I'm going to look at another inspirational dance video - Flashback by Calvin Harris.

Flashback uses the lyrics and narrative of the song to create an interesting video. As he is trying to remember what happened to night before, so the video begins in the morning, with the artist alone on a boat surrounded by polaroid pictures. Edited to the music, we see flashes of the night before, specifically following one girl, as we move from streets to a club to a boat. It is edited quickly with lots of movement and we see the artist performing as well. I like the 'flashback' element and the use of the polaroids - a reoccurring motif. There is a lot of red lighting which is inspirational as I'm hoping to have my video toned blue.

Rizzle Kicks' video for Down With The Trumpets is is much more informal and features part of a beach location, so is interesting to look at as one of my locations is also the beach,

It is quite laid back and has a nice retro feel to it, especially with the tape player and huge stereo with unbuilt tv screen that they hold at the beginning. It brings a touch of nostalgia and a home-movie type feel that I'd quite like as well as building a connection with the artists. 

Seeing them both on the screen and holding it at the same time is a nice touch, that, combined with the music and lyrics gives the video a clever, cheeky and fun feel to it: then cutting to them outside fives it an edgy feel. As urban artists it is unusual to film the video on Brighton streets/beach and not on some shadowy streets or in a club. 
The bright lighting and British retro edge make it more fashionable, mainstream and accessible to everyone, whilst standing out from the rest of the urban market. The stereo/tv is a reoccurring motif that works well. 
The artists are very expressive with fluid facial expressions, movements and lots of dancing- contrasting with Calvin Harris who is very serious throughout Flashback. 
Jump cutting and repetition is used in front of the beach huts as some young guys dressed in urban clothing dance quite cheesily, indicating that this is obviously meant to be a little ironic and not to be taken seriously. Slow motion and clever editing make not having such a big budget, not be a problem. 

There is an interesting transition and the beginning of this video, which I have looked at briefly before...

The video overlaps the images of the artists face and shoes over night-time New York from above. I like this transition which I tried out a few days ago and will probably use in the verses in the beach and forest locations to add to the dream-like and home-movie style effect.