Music Video Analysis - Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth - See You Again

Movement, Narrative, Inter-textuality and Artist/Band

This video contains many conventions that are synonymous with the pop/hip-hop genre. The long camera shots are a representation of the pop genres role in the music video. The piano accompanying the long shots allow them to be justified and fit into the codes and conventions of the pop genre.

The expensive cars and the flashy lights are perfectly in-line with the hip-hop conventions that regularly appear in music videos such as this. This convention is then reinforced through the drum beat starting to fade into the background to show that it is a hip-hop feel the artists are trying to convey.

The tone of the video changes throughout as the difference of fast paced and slow paced sections of the music video are different but remain in the codes and conventions that they belong in. This is most notable when it switches from piano playing to fast cars and scenes from Fast and Furious 7. This is then shown when the tempo of the initial song is match by the videos shot duration and the frequency of transitions throughout.

The idea of close-ups and celebrity cameos are extremely frequent in this music video as it was originally made for the specific purpose of advertising Fast and Furious 7. This is then shown through the scenes from the movie with familiar faces appearing in close-ups such as Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. They have also used a vast majority of famous super-car brands to advertise the themes of the movie and appeal to the product placement side of advertising in music videos.

The hip-hop convention of flashy cars plays a incredibly large role in the creation of this music video. The famous brands of super-cars such as Ferrari and Chevrolet feature frequently throughout the hip-hop sections of this music video. The actors of fast and furious are also included in this theme of frequently being shown in the music video. This is done to increase face and brand recognition and in turn promote and advertise the movie and car brands whilst using the recurring method of product placement to advertise.

The clear reference in this video would be the relation to the car brands and the film, Fast and Furious 7. The recurring faces of the cast and the recurring themes of super-cars and classic American landscapes go hand in hand in presenting the film and advertising the cars throughout the music video.

Dream Pop mood board

Moonsea Lyrics

Moonsea Lyrics

I called it the moon scene,
It is a cruel dream,
At the end of my day your gravity reaches
Such a long way.

Here in the moon scene,
It is a cruel dream,
Don't share the past, if you won't share your heart,
All that we share is the view of these stars...

There are diamonds on the floor you can't take back,
There's an eyelash on the board, does she wear black?
All the violence that I swore you could have back,
There's red varnish on the door, I don't wear that...

I called it the moon scene,
It is a cruel dream,
From up so high, I can hardly decide,
If you're waving hello, or waving goodbye,
Here in the moon scene,
It is a cruel dream,
Don't share the past, if you won't share your heart,
All that we share is the view of these stars...

There are diamonds on the floor you can't take back,
There's an eyelash on the board, does she wear black?
All the violence that I swore you could have back,
There's red varnish on the door, I don't wear that...

And I'll be in the back of your mind,
And I'll be at the front of the line,
And I'll be in the back of your mind,
And I'll be at the front of the line,
Waiting for you...

There are diamonds on the floor you can't take back,
There's an eyelash on the board, does she wear black?
All the violence that I swore you could have back,
There's red varnish on the door, I don't wear that...

Research into potential project artist: Phildel

Phildel Hoi Yee Ng is a British-Chinese national living in Chiltern, London.

She is currently signed with Decca Records which is a subsidiary of the Access Industries owned Warner Music Group (which despite the name has completely separated from the conglomerate Time Warner Inc.). This may pose an issue as being a signed artist, there may be more legal barriers in place to prevent us from using the music and said style.

However, we have emailed Phildel's website through the contact section and hope to establish a correspondence which would allow us to receive input from the artist herself and send her the finished product. 

Like many WMG label holders, she does not have a Vevo YouTube channel which many artists have through connections to the the MTV Network. 

Despite having her first hit/well known single being released in 2007 as part of the 
international iPad 3 marketing campaign, she is still considered a break-out artist.

Proposal

             

Update: We have subsequently changed our minds on the song that we wish to base our project on

Rock Mood Board

Genre: Dance

Dance music is often accompanied by footage of the dance itself that goes with the music and they are often very colorful compared to Indie or Rock music videos.

The most seen video in Human history was Psy's Gangnam Style, a K-Pop dance song. Despite being in another language, the dance and music itself became so internationally renowned gaining 2.3billion views on YouTube.




Dance music has become more popular in the modern age with more and more artists appearing from the genre with the typical title: DJ. The most well known of which is Fat Boy Slim who is now in his late 50s with a new album to be released compiling a collection of music from the genre. 

Music directors

Music video directors are not as well known as film or television directors yet still have the same typical authority over a media project despite it being normally no longer than 3 minutes. 

A lot of artists direct their own music videos to have total creative control such as Lady Gaga and Kanye West. Examples of their works can be seen below: 




The most notable music video directors often have a large impact in popular music and their distribution. Following is a list of the most well known directors:

• Spike Jonze
• David Fincher
• Micheal Bay - who also directs large blockbuster films such as the Transformer series
• Jake Nava
• Richard Ayoade - who is also a well known comic actor and writer
• 
  

Music Labels

Many media institutions such as Time Warner have music label outlets. For example, conglomerate Sony have Sony Music as well as other predominant subsidiaries. 

There are other companies that are solely dedicated to music and representing their artists yet the more well known artists are signed to the larger companies, e.g. Tom Jones is signed with Universal Music.



Warner Music own a large number of individual record labels. To this end, not only has the subsidiary have its own conglomerate empire, artists and bands can be a part of more unique, smaller brands to portray individuality. They own a number of labels that includes: Alantic Records (which holds a large number of labels), Parlophone and Warner Records. 

Signed Artists/Bands:

• Green Day
• My Chemical Romance
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• White Stripes
• Muse
• Metallica
• Linkin Park

Sony Music is another subsidiary of  a large conglomerate. It has its own official label as well as ascertaining a number of smaller companies. Their labels include: Epic Records, RCA Records, RED and Columbia Records.

Signed artists:

• Micheal Jackson
• Conchita Wurst
• Britney Spears 
• Mark Ronson
• The Script
• Celine Dion

Music Video Analysis - Lonley Island ft. Michael Bolton - Jack Sparrow

The video contains many codes and conventions that are synonymous with the pop/hip-hop genre. Fast cuts are constantly thrown in the video to keep the video at pace with the music. This is done extremely well when switching to different movie references and the club scenes as a whole. The flashy lights in the club appeal to the side of the song that could be identified with the hip-hop genre and the initial setting, in a bar, is also in the same conventions as the hip-hop genre. In the colour of the song there are many bright colours and unique visuals that appeal to the pop genre side of the song as a whole.

The relationship to the lyrics in this video is pretty obvious. When they mention the various film references such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Scarface, the same film is recreated in a shot on screen. This is used for comedic effect to the video and does this successfully which achieves the videos primary purpose. In the versus, there is a large theme on imagery to depict what is being said in the song. Such as when they mention themes such as alcohol and the bar of a club, the person rapping or singing the part will be in that exact setting. Another example of this would be when they are approaching the club and someone looks at them in time with the song saying so.

The tone definitely reflects the video due to the fast pacing of the music as a whole throughout the video. This is most notable in the club scenes where the shot duration of any one scene is no longer than 2-3 seconds. This allows the tempo of the music to be in time with the pacing of the video which allows the audience to identify this video with a hip-hop song as the codes and conventions are used in this.

The idea of close-ups and celebrity cameos seem to be a code and convention of the Lonely Island music videos. This is then always reinforced through a music video parodying something or making it more of a comedy sketch than a serious video. The light-hearted nature of the video is always reinforced through comedic effect and the artists have created many characters and motifs that appear in other music videos such as "Shy Ronnie", which is revealed to be Rihanna's partner in crime when they make a video together.

The idea of "Scantily Clad Women" is frequent in the club, Hip-hop, scenes in the music video. This is done to reflect the atmosphere the artists wish to go for and the initial codes and conventions of a pop video and a hip-hop video. The idea of looking is also reinforced through the idea of reflections off sunglasses and the spotlight being on them when they go on the club. Them pushing in line and no one caring is also a specific example of how the camera always revolves around them in the shots.

The references to other media is very clear in this video. Pirates of the Caribbean, Scarface, Erin Brocovich and Forest Gump. These are sung about in the song and the lyrics have done this in a way that it can remain comedic; the references to these films in the music video are also done to promote the idea of comedic effect and show that they are real fans of these films.