Similarities in Music Videos

To help me plan my music video I looked at a number of music videos by the artists Bastille, Frank Turner, Kanye West, Kaiser Chiefs, 1975, Macklemore, Arctic Monkeys and Beyonce. I was looking for similarities in the videos that could help me in creating my video. For example, the types of shots most frequently used, the type of video i.e narrative based and any intertextual references. 

I found that in most of the videos at least 3 of the following shots were frequently used:

Cut Away (this was used to cut between the artists and images or two time scales (the present and past) that added to the narrative) 

Establishing Shot/ Long Shot

Pan

Tracking Shot

Close up (most frequently used to show the artists face or an object of relevance e.g Shoes in the song 'Wings' by Macklemore) 

It was also noticeable that the majority of the videos had people looking out of windows  or sitting in a cinema which signifies the notion of looking which is very important in a music video and is intended to keep the viewer watching. 

In most of the videos there was, at least once, images of the artist The exception to this was when the video was purely animation/ CGI ( Arctic Monkeys 'Do I Wanna Know?'). Images of concerts were also used in some videos (Macklemore 'Victory Lap') and in the videos where the artists were shown, the instruments were also seen. However this was not true for rap artists like Macklemore and Kanye West 

Other noticeable things included the use of old footage to show a progression of time i.e old sports clips or clips of when the artist was younger.  Many of the videos were narrative based and included images of being on transport such as bikes, cars, boats etc which suggested going on a literal or metaphorical journey. There were also many open spaces and Dark lighting was often used possibly to takeaway your focus from the back ground and put it all on the artists. I didn't find many intertextual references but 'Wings' by Macklemore is basically one giant intertextual reference that is put together with great skill. It doesn't throw the reference in your face but it really gets you thinking about the company 'Nike' and the way people develop themselves around a brand and the effect this can have on society. The word in this song are very closely linked to the images we are shown and at one point we are shown 'Nike Town' and through out the video we are shown different types of Nike shoes. 

This research was very helpful because I know now that it is important to include as many of the variations of shots as I can. I have seen the effects of a well shown intertextual reference and I also have had the chance to see how they have shown the progression of time and how frequently the idea of travelling is used. I hope to use these things when I create my video to make it the best I can.