Friday 25 May 2012

Personal Music Video Analysis - Positive

So... Sir said I should ask people I know about their tastes in music videos as a way of finding out about potential audiences. I'm a person, and I know me, so that's why I'm starting with me.

For the sake of just getting some ideas down this post is basically going to cover some music videos I particularly like and go into why I like them. Yes, unlike the common belief, I am actually capable of liking things - as opposed to being a figure of hate, sent here for the purpose of depressing everyone.

Subheadings are things I like to see in videos; some will contradict others but it'll make sense when I explain them. I think. Also should mention that videos will be links not embeds - little is more annoying than laggy pages.

More formal audience research will follow later down the line, but this should do for throwing random ideas together.

Strong Imagery

Basically, I think the imagery presented needs to be something that after watching, you'll begin to instantly associate with the song, and potentially the band. Best example I can think of off of the top of my head...




Whilst by today's standards the video's direction is pretty simple, there's no denying that the Queen II album cover-esque moments of this with the band members lip-syncing to Freddie's harmonies have become pretty iconic - to the point where it has spawned several parodies and is overall well recognised. This is exactly want the band/institution will want as well; the more recognisable something becomes, the more money it spawns.

Typography


I don't imagine this is a particularly popular kind of video overall, but I really like a good typography video. By "good typography video" I mean actually good, and not "well, I typed up the lyrics in Movie Maker"...




I like this because it moves at a reasonable pace, is well in sync and generally looks pretty clean. There's just something about seeing on-screen lyrics which move in time with the song that makes the video seem involving for some reason I can't quite identify.

Being Outrageous


I like videos that not only cross the line but set up camp on the other side. Like this:


Thank You Satan - Jason Paige (warning - whilst I am immune to offence, I am aware others are not. If you are easily offended, you might want to give this one a miss)


I think this works well as it's clear that it's going for the shock factor in the way that it opens using bright imagery one would usually associate with the Bible only to completely subvert this by turning into a dark ode to Satan in a way that praises everything Christians consider evil, whilst keeping to the religious music theme (such as the shots with him playing piano alone). Again, this could offend so many people, but the fact that it pushes every limit known to man makes me like it.

Simplicity


Sometimes simplistic performance videos just naturally work really well; I find this the case with artists I'm already familiar with. First thought that comes to mind is the new Hardline video -




Firstly, Johnny Gioeli is a legend. Secondly, aside from the conceptual parts of this (which I honestly just don't get) I think the simplicity of just having the band perform this in a big open area works really well, and matches the mature tone of the music. The sepia overlay used in a lot of the shots enhances this further.

Loose Narrative


Contradicting what I've just said, I do like it when videos have some kind of narrative - providing it's only minor.

I'm going to lose every ounce of credibility as a musical elitist by posting this but here goes...




This establishes an atmosphere, introduces some "characters" and does... not much else. There's a kind-of story going on, but it doesn't extend far enough that if you switch tabs for a bit you'll lose track of what's happening. That works well. I also like the humour going on throughout this; it's not in your face, but it's enough to give the video a bit of character. On that note, however -

Humour


I like videos that make me laugh, and I have to say that the Axis of Awesome are good at this.




This is fairly narrative-heavy, but it works well and gives a basic concept. It's also so out-there ridiculous it's funny. I've also got to say I love the professional sound system setup at the beginning.




The biggest appeal of this video is the humorous references to other artists, some of which are over the top weird or plain disturbing. You've also got the love the bad jokes ("Map. Map.").

So Bad, It's Hilarious


Not one someone would intentionally aim for, but one of my favourite pastimes is laughing at the failure of others. This is no exception with terribly bad music videos, such as -




It's just so hilariously ridiculous, as though someone during the brainstorming session had just went "I know, we should cram in as many flashing lights, fire graphics, explosions and badly green-screened backgrounds as is possible!". The result is this. Watch and enjoy.

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Things I hate to see in music videos will follow soon.

-HM.

11 comments:

  1. Nice start. You know what's coming though don't you?

    Yep, embeddable content, interactivity, whizziness.

    Start as you mean to go on.

    Appreciate the notion on lag = annoying but the board are after content driven, visually appealing blogs. Apologies; afraid it just one you'll need to go with if you can bring yourself to. It'll give me more things to tick in your use of ICT - you can even keep the fact that you think the lag is annoying - just more evidence of you thinking critically about the construction of your blog.

    Any ways you can compromise? Reducing the video sizes (would that even help)? Or maybe a screenshot of the video saved as a link so there's still a strong visual element without having to compromise of your hatred of lag? Or a more innovative, less ham-fisted solution that anyone under the age of 25 is well aware of...

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    1. Video sizes won't work because it still has to carry the object embed. Which is rather annoying. I can do screenshot links, however! Will go and screen capture the videos in a bit :). Going to be honest, I want to make this blog at least reasonably aesthetically pleasing, as opposed to the mess of off-centre embeds and inconsistent image sizes which was the previous one.

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    2. Added the previously mentioned shiny things. Apologies it took so long - earlier on today both of my dogs decided it'd be a clever idea to make a runner out of the house and me, my brothers and my dad spent a good 1-2 hours blindly running around the area looking for them. Got them now, but dear Arceus am I shattered.

      Also, taking these screenshots has been particularly tedious as most of them needed to have advertisement pop-up arrows and "VEVO" overlays Photoshopped out. This has been particularly tedious...

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    3. No need to apologise, you got feedback, you acted on it, I'm many months away from having to mark the blogs. You got that done pretty quickly actually! Though what'll happen is I'll be starting a log of posts for each blog over the Summer so there's a clear assessment base ready to...well...make the marking easier on me to be honest.

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  2. A good text video for you, akin to WAY.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEBZkWkkdZA

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    1. Background seems waaaay to static and the font seems out of character. Doesn't really do anything for me to be honest...

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  3. You'll be needing your camera back too won't you! Aaaaaargh! Half term too. Or are you okay for a camera? Sorry! Completely my fault. In my desk, will email the site staff and see if there's a way I can get in there (considering last time I tried I set eh alarm off...)

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    1. Didn't see the comments here! Fail. I have a camera here, but to be honest I'm unlikely to be able to film until we're back anyway (will need to borrow one of the music rooms as I don't have a drum kit here). Also need to find people who are willing to be in the video; this could be difficult considering how few people can tolerate me. But eh.

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    2. Tsh! Nonsense HM. Let me know how many people you need to make up the 6 if it is a case of getting enough people together at the same time and I'll start bullying colleagues...I mean...claiming it fits into their performance management...I mean finding cool people willing to fill in any gaps.

      Have you checked with music for room availability (when and if) or shall I? They've agreed in principle, so shouldn't be a problem.

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    3. Haven't as of yet, will you need to arrange a particular time or just get a list of times when it's free? I honestly haven't got anyone in on this yet, so that needs sorting.

      I should get arranging things which will be needed e.g. slowed down track and something to play it off, banners for the guys to run in with (have plenty of tractor-feed paper here which could do the job) etc.. Not sure how to go about the guys who run in in the body suit.

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