Music Videos | Research

There are many different types of music videos. Some can be meaningful, some can be telling a story, and some can just be entertaining. To help us decide what kind of music video we wanted to do we researched into some music videos that show the different types. With us having an idea of what kind of music video we wanted to do, it could help us with what song we could do the music video too.

Meaningful

Selena Gomez - The Heart Wants What It Wants

This video is meaningful through the different techniques and edits that have been used in the music video. The song itself is meaningful as it's about her difficult relationship with her boyfriend, and how the relationship is hurting her, but she doesn't want to end it because she still loves him. The whole video is filtered in black and white to match the sadness shown in the song, and also to show the viewer that the video and the song is quite sad. This makes the viewer feel sympathy for Selena as she shows her emotions in the song, and she shows a narrative of her relationship. When viewers are watching the video they will feel sorry for Selena and show their sympathy towards her.

At the beginning of the video, before the music starts, there is a voice recording that was supposedly hidden under her dressing table after a concert. Selena supposedly looked at her self in the dressing room mirror and talked to herself about her relationship. In the voice recording she says she knows him and she knows what he would do to hurt her, she also goes on to say that she didn't realise that if she felt confident about herself it could be "completely shattered" by several things that are "so stupid". She also then says that the person she is talking about makes her feel "crazy" and makes her feel like its "her fault". The voice recording is then ended with the last line of "I was in pain". %This voice recording makes the viewers feel more sympathy towards Selena, and the viewers would either understand or acknowledge that she is in pain, and she needs help, which creates the sympathy.

The shots, in the music video, that show the narrative of the song are put in slow motion. This is done, not only to show the difference between the narrative scenes and the lip syncing scenes, but also to add to the effect of the negative feel of the video and song. The slow motion adds tension and seriousness to the video which suggests to the viewer that this a real thing in Selena's life. It also makes the video more interesting for the viewer. The video is full of slow cuts to exaggerate the sympathetic feeling from the viewers that they would feel for Selena. Slow cuts are also a way to tell a story and highlight the negativity in the narrative. In the video there are parts where Selena look as if she is naturally crying which makes the viewer feel sad and feelings towards the video. The crying impacts the viewer by making them feel emotional which is what Selena wanted from the video.

 

The crying of Selena is mainly done when she is lip syncing the song which is shown in a close-up shot which is also filtered in black and white. The lip syncing is shown in a close-up shot to impact the viewer and exaggerate the sympathy that they feel towards Selena. Also it is used to clearly show the viewer that she is upset and emotional about her relationship, which again makes the viewer feel sympathetic. If we wanted to do a slow, emotional song for our music video, the close-up shot of the emotions would be useful as it would impact the viewer majorly and also it would clearly show the narrative of the video. Bright lighting is used against the black and white filter to exaggerate the emotion being portrayed and also to make the filter stand out. This was done to highlight the emotion and show that the video is meant to be sad and emotional.

In most of the shots, the narrative is presented in the midground of most of the shots. This means that instead of Selena and the actors/actresses being in the front of the shot, they are in the middle. This is done to suggest that Selena doesn't want to make it a big thing in front of other people, which is why it is in the middle of the shot. Also it seems to add more emphasis to the narrative as it shows more focus on the narrative of the music video. As well as bright lighting, there are also flickering lights in the narrative, to add some tension to the video and also to exaggerate the different emotions that are being shown in the video. Also to create some interest in the video and make it stick in the viewers head, so they can remember the video.

At the start of the bridge the lighting becomes dark from behind Selena Gomez in the narrative. This is to show her innocence in the situation and also to show that her boyfriend in the narrative is the guilty one. Also in the bridge there are clips that look like home footage due to the filter that has been placed on the clip, which makes it look quite pixelated. One of the props used in the narrative is a light in the shape of a heart which is hung from the wall at the party scene. This contrasts to the music video and the song due to the song being negative, whereas the heart light is positive. Overall, the music video has a lot techniques that show the negativity in the song and the narrative, and it's an interesting music video to watch and it will keep the viewers entertained.