Analysis Music Video

For the analysis of a traditional pop video I will be looking at the artist Ke$ha and her video for the song 'Take It Off'.

At the start of the video while the backing beat plays we open to a long shot of the setting this establishes where we are. The mise en scene in the scene shows that they are in a deserted setting which is a recurring theme in 'party-style' pop videos. Also the lighting through the sun in the shot provides interesting shadows and sets up that the video is in the setting of late afternoon. From this as the beat kicks in we go to close ups of certain sections of the setting. One of these that looks particularly good is the close up of the motel sign. This is something that is done with this shot as it shows the grungy party girl feel the record company want to give the artist. The motel sign is old, dirty and rusty, this is what provides the grungy feel. This helps establish who the record company are making this artist into. This is another common theme of  a pop video. Record companies like to establish a pop artist as a certain stereotype to an audience so that they can find their target audience.

The video continues to have a mid shot of our artist getting off of a motorcycle just before the singing kicks in.  In the background of this shot there the side of a curb that we can see was once painted white. The white paint on the side of the curb is coming off and fading. The artist is wearing all black with silver jewelry and an orange helmet. She is on a black motorcycle and is seen getting off. Then there is a jump cut to a close up of her walking just feet away from wear seconds before, this is done a lot in pop videos. For the first few seconds the artist is just walking and singing to camera as the camera tracks her. The camera switches between close ups and two shots of other people as well as our artist walking and jumping over cars.

When the music speeds up the women in the video start to dance and the men start to run up the flights of stairs in the motel. As you can see at the side the artist is always central and in focus, keeping the people behind her blurry keeps the focus on the artist at all times. The artist is singing into camera and doing actions towards the camera engaging the audience the whole time. The people round her continue running and dancing round to create a lively 'party' atmosphere. This is most probably to help record sales as it would make the song more of a 'feel good' song.
       There are various flashes to the artist in a different environment through-out. She has mountains behind her and is in sand. This is to draw attention to the artist as in those shots there is nothing to detract from her. The video continues to an explosion of colour with different colour powder flying everywhere. This is possibly to add to the feel of a 'feel good' song.

For my second analysis I am looking at the video for 'Foundations' by Kate Nash. This is a good video to look at for us as it is in a bedroom and this is an idea we have been playing around with from the start of our research and planning.

    At the start of this video and through-out their are shots of objects that go to the beat. The opening has three shots of different objects that go to the three opening beats. The objects are in pairs of two such as, two toothbrushes, two watches on a table and two pairs of shoes, this goes with the theme of the video and how it's about a relationship. The last shot of the two sets of shoes is broken up by a bowling ball being thrown at it, this shows the main theme of the video in it being a 'break-up' song.

Also these shoes are worn later in the video by the artist and the one stand out colour suggest one person is more important than the other. The other images are of two toothbrushes together, and a side table with two watches, a tape and a telephone. Yet again one watch stands out as the other is just out of frame with just bits of it showing. This suggests independence and a solitary state for the artist through-out the song. After this part of the song our artist is seen playing a board game with the male in the video with her. This is a very childish look and relates to the simple style of the artist. The artist uses simple lyrics and her soft voice to present very adult ideas in a childish way. This is possibly to give less shock value to the lyrics used. Also during the game of chess the two are playing there are cuts to the artist alone singing to the camera

This allows the audience to feel that the artist is addressing them directly. This is used in lots of music videos as the aim of a video is to get more people to buy the song and get the music out to a broader audience. Singing to camera allows the viewer to feel as though the artist is addressing their problems and they are directly involved. A few times the artist looks down towards the floor or away from camera, this is to avoid the video being too intense because the song, although a 'break-up' song is still rather light hearted. The  light colours used for costume through the video also relate to this light hearted look and feel.

Also during the video certain lyrics such as 'you say I must eat so many lemons' and 'why don't you just have another beer then' provoke actions in the video. In 'you say I must eat so many lemons' the artist is eating lemons (right) and during 'why don't you just have another beer then' the artist is by an open fridge of beer. Also in the video the artist turns very romantic images such as a couple cuddled up on the sofa laying on each other into a very bitter and nasty image. The use of bright colour, heavy mise en scene, different sets and different types of shot make the video a good video for the individual artist. Shots include high angle, low angle, close up, extreme close up and two shot. Most of these shots are close ups.