Falling: Analysis

Artist: Krept and Konan

Date: 19th January 2016

Producer: Levi Lennox

Summary: Unlike my other two case studies, this one is sung by two men otherwise known as Krept & Konan. The grime duo took a different turn and went far away from their usual genre of music with this song, this song is soft and slow which may seem odd coming from them, however they pull it off well. This song is about two women who had trust issues with men before and now, both of them are starting to fall for Krept & Konan, but these two men aren't really ready to settle down. They rap/sing about their relationship status with these girls and how they feel about them, although they have issues themselves. Overall, this song is quite powerful since it can relate to and describe a lot of people's relationship status around the world. This song is a mix of my other case studies in sense of genre; it's a mix of Grime and R&B.

Type of Video: This video is narrative based, due to the fact that it talks about their confused relationship status throughout the song. The sand timer plays a small role in this video since it talks about time and the lyrics hint their commitment issues which can highlight the point that they don't think the relationships will last long. The sand timer can also be a sign of the women slowly falling for the men over time before they are completely smitten. Krept & Konan talk about falling in love and how they are missing their girls and there are a variety of clips which show how they are with their girls which correlate to the lyrics. The video is narrative based because the lyrics have a story-line which needs to be shown visually, otherwise if they used a conceptual or performance based video it wouldn't make sense since the song isn't upbeat therefore, there doesn't need to be a dance routine. A narrative based video is common when it comes to songs about love and relationships.

Representation of Stars: In this song, Krept & Konan represent themselves as two men who are scared to fall completely for these girls since they have commitment issues, as I've said before, however they are seen to be strong. The women in this music video are seen to be love-struck as there are many clips of them with Krept & Konan doing somewhat cute things together like taking videos and pictures together whilst taking the other person's phone when it comes to lyrics like "who's calling you, who's texting you?". They represent themselves to be the typical 21st century couple. 

Technological Aspects: The video starts off with slow motion of a girl falling which relates to the title of the song, from then it eases into a panning of the sand timer which fades into a close up of Konan and more movement is being used as the video continues. Depth of field is used in some areas of the music video in order to highlight key parts. Montage is used when it comes to Konan and his girl having their cute moments of taking pictures and this is one of the significant parts of the video. Throughout the video, there is a variety of close ups, long shots and panning and this helps to see the artists' facial expression and body language as you see their emotion. The editing was well put together and they tend to used fades and normal cuts to add to the feel of the music since it's soft and slow so the tempo of the cuts matches it. When there are lines such as "don't wanna be without you" - it cuts to the girl who he is speaking about and this is well correlated. For mise-en-scene, the sand timer is a key element of the video since it starts off with the camera panning around the timer and in parts of the video the timer is involved too. When the line "we're somewhere in the middle" is said,the editing used does quick cuts as it syncs in with his hand movements. The video starts off with a girl falling and ends with the same girl still falling and I think that this is good since it relates to the narrative they are displaying through the video and it's like a book which starts out the same, but ends the same which is powerful in a way.

Lip Syncing: Like all professional music videos, this video also includes lip syncing. The whole video doesn't show the artists lip syncing the whole way through, what I mean by this is that the artists would be lip syncing then it would cut to a different shot of them with their girl or the other parts of the location they are in. 

Target Audience: The intended audience for this song may be for girls going through situations like this since girls are more likely to be listening to sad/depressing songs when they are 'in their feelings' whereas boys are more likely to listen to rap. However since Krept & Konan is mostly listened by men, the song could also be aimed at them since it is two guys rapping from their point of view and their audience members would be able to relate to the lyrics. It can show that boys can also listen and make these type of songs too, not just women.

Ideas: The ideas I would like to incorporate into my music video would be to have something symbolic in my music video. For example, in this video, the sand timer is one of the key elements in their video, for my video, I would like to have smoke bombs to be a key element of my groups' video as this would make it different and unique.

Krept & Konan - Falling

Pretty Hurts: Analysis

Artist: Beyoncé

Date: 24th April 2014

Producer: Ammo Knowles

Summary: In this long music video, the video reflects the life of models or people who participate in beauty pageants. The title for the song, "Pretty Hurts", shows that being pretty comes with a price and in order to 'be pretty' you have to follow the rules that society has set; i.e being curvy, tall and long hair. In the video, it shows what people have to do in order to be 'pretty' and 'perfect' - for example; regurgitating to stay slim or getting plastic surgery to have perfect features. In the end,  Beyoncé destroys all her pageant awards, ruins her make up and looks directly into the camera with extremely short hair and a semi-make up free face. This video has a purpose to show females how hard it is to 'be pretty' and the process you go through in order to be society's idea of 'pretty'.

Type of Video: The video is a mix between conceptual and a narrative due to the fact that it has a story-line - how females are idolized into having the 'perfect' body and looks, through the eyes of society. The video has a concept, which attracts the consumers, since it is based on the idea of being pretty and keeps the viewers entertained and engrossed throughout. There is a lot of pressure on women to be beautiful and this video shows that statement excellently and this links with the narrative. At the end of the music video, there is a short clip of a young Beyoncé and it appears that she was once in a beauty pageant herself. I think that Beyoncé can relate to the song since she is a role model to a lot of women and has to stay looking good.

Representation of Stars: Beyoncé portrays herself as a model who isn't really on the skinny side, but more curvy. Throughout the music video, she shows herself in different scenarios, for example, making herself throw up, having plastic surgery and being weighed. She is a woman who is trying to be the idea of 'pretty' but in the end she wipes off all her make up. Her lyrics stand out and hold powerful meanings; it changes from "what's in your head doesn't matter" to "It's the soul that needs the surgery" and you can see how Beyoncé's way of thinking changes throughout. The lyrics and the video has a positive correlation and the song represents her as an imperfect woman, since Beyoncé is constantly idolized, who also has flaws like the rest of us.

Technological Aspects: This video consists of long shots, mid-shots, extreme long shots, panning, handheld, close ups and pan ups. There is a lot of emotion going into this song and the video is quite long - seven minutes - and what makes it powerful is all the shots that have been put together in order to make this video successful. I believe that the editing and the mise-en-scene makes this video stand out due to the fact that the costumes, make up and props used, all relate to the concept of the video and without the editing the video would be all over the place and each shot doesn't last for too long or too short. It matches the tempo of the song. Close ups are used successful in this video, for example, when there are close ups of Beyoncé's face you can see her emotions clearly through facial expressions and since this song is powerful with a lot of meaning in the lyrics, emotions need to be displayed clearly and I think that was done well through the camera shots and editing such as slow motion.

Lip Syncing: The beginning of the video, where she comes out on stand and goes to the mic, shows her singing normally. This shows her talent as there is lack of auto-tune. You can tell that she isn't lip syncing since you can hear the echo from the mic and her facial expressions as she sings. However, as the music from the actual track starts, the song is edited in a way that the song overlaps the original background sound from the original clips which I think is a key part of music videos. Hearing the background sound from the original clip can make the song sound messy and can interrupt the sound. You can't see Beyoncé singing physically but there a couple scenes where she's in front of the mic and she is lip-syncing and it fits in well with the video. Beyoncé is mostly taking part and doing things in order to relate to her lyrics.

Target Audience: This song is aimed at females of all ages, especially the age of puberty, who look up to her and their role model and want to 'be her' but she shows that it's not easy and there are consequences behind getting the 'perfect' body. The song can also be aimed at current pageant contestants and encourage them to get out of that scenario since they are constantly being judged. It's all about female empowerment and how society has made beauty standards for them. Also, the song can be aimed at men - male gaze - since the female body is sexualized, but it can also show them what females have to go through and they shouldn't judge them, which most men do.

Ideas: I like the concept and how the video relates to the lyrics through use of a narrative. The video looks realistic and doesn't look cheap through the use of props which is good. Even though the song I have chosen isn't going to have a story-line, I would still like to incorporate some of Beyoncé's concepts since it is clear to the audience what the song is about and I believe that a video that relates well to the lyrics is a successful video and that is what I want for my production.

Beyoncé - Pretty Hurts

#UNLESHED (Panda Freestyle): Analysis

Artist: Lady Leshurr
Date: 22nd April 2016
Producer: Unknown

Summary:  The genre for this video is grime/rap inspired and is put together by Kaylum. The artist, Lady Leshurr, in this video is talking about her haters and is expressing her anger through the form of rap. She moves around the city at night wearing a black cape and this symbolize danger, however there are different scenes put together.
Lady Leshurr is one of many grime artists who is UK based and a female which makes her stand out.

Type of Video: I think that the music video is conceptual and narrative based, because the artist talks about the negative things that I have been said about her, by numerous amount of people, through lyrics. This makes it narrative based because it shows how an artist may take the negative comments about her music career and not many artists do that. Lady Leshurr takes all the negative comments made about her and lashes out and gives her reply to all of it. However, this video is also conceptual, in a symbolic manner, due to the fact that the video is fast paced and uses a lot of quick cuts, also there is a variety of scenes put together in different areas, where the majority is in low-key lighting, or in a studio, where there is high-key lighting, which highlights different parts of the lyrics and this makes the meanings behind the lyrics more powerful.

Representation of Stars: Lady Leshurr portrays herself to be a strong independent woman who doesn't need to listen to all the criticisms. The clothes she wears highlights that she's a tom-boy but also how most girls dress, apart from the black cape. Grime is mostly associated with men but she allows herself to not conform to stereotypes. From the lyrics, you can see that she is a humble person but would not back down if spoken negatively and from the lyrics you can see her bad side but in one part of the video it shows why she's violating the people and that she is doing music for herself and her fans, not to be criticized.

Technological Aspects: Grime/Rap music is best known for having fast cut music videos that can be seen as aggressive. Kaylum, the person behind the camera, has used a variety of cuts, most of them are fast-paced cuts that has been edited so that it is in time with the beat, for example, in the beginning of the music video, the cuts matches the tempo of the clapping-like sound and this adds to the flow. There is a lot of panning due to the fact that there is a lot of movements the video and sometimes the movement of the camera matches the movement of Lady Leshurr's hand gestures. There are close ups, mid shots, long shots and establishing shots throughout the video; each shot doesn't last for too long and this is good since the song is fast-paced and matches the grime scene. The technological aspects of the video, especially the editing, is one of the things that I like about this video and syncs well with the song. There are zooms ins and fade to blacks as special effects and this adds to her eerie background since she is wearing all black with a cape.

Lip Syncing: Lip syncing is the main element of the song and her performance, this is because she moves a lot throughout the video and there are parts where lip syncing is needed. Since the song requires a lot of movement and the lyrics are fast paced, it would appear that she is rapping by mouth but since the song is clearly played on top, it just means she's really good at lip syncing and knows her lyrics well. Lip syncing is needed in this video for the reason that most of the footage is taking place outside therefore things like wind, cars and city noises would interfere with the track which would make the video look cheap. As most of Lady Leshurr's videos consist a lot of moving around on the streets, there;s a lot of problems that could take place like someone walking in her shot or certain noise which interferes with it and since she is moving around a lot she could get out of breath so lip syncing would be best suited for her video style.

Target Audience: The target audience for her song is for people who enjoy rap and maybe in particular for teenage girls/adults from the age of 15-30. Personally, I like the lyrics and that may be why people may purchase or listen to the song.

Ideas: From this video, I would like to learn Kaylum's camera skills but also I want to incorporate fast-paced cuts into my video, use a variety of shots to keep it interesting and link with the genre I decide to choose, use panning and edit the video so that it matches the beat of the song. I like how she's walking around on the streets whilst the camera is following her in front as she walks towards it since she breaks the fourth wall and stares directly at the camera which shows confidence. Since the song that my group has chosen is about haters and people who may bring you down; it would require a main singer/actor who is confident in what they are doing and able to show attitude just like Lady Leshurr does in her videos.

Lady Leshurr - #UNLESHED