Advanced Portfolio 2

OneRepublic - Counting Stars

Produced/ made by - Mosley Music/Interscope Records
Release date (on Youtube) - 31st May 2013
Artist - OneRepublic

Synopsis 

3 different things going on at once, OneRepublic are singing and playing their instruments in a basement, and they are playing so loud the ceiling leaks dust and breaks apart. Another one is where a man seems to be talking to a group of people, and looks as if it is some sort of rehab group where he almost gives them powers and heals them. The last thing is a crocodile roaming around the building, crawling and looking around. All 3 scenes switch back and forth throughout the whole video. 

The video is performative and conceptual. Most of the video consists of the group singing and dancing, and in terms of sound, we hear the song they are playing. We see the instruments and the artist singing, and we can hear this happening, but there is also some conceptual features. The scene with the group of people that was listening to the man, play no relevant role to the music itself, and don't really have anything to do with the video. 

Themes and motifs include some sort of underground setting, indoors, very damp and cold looking. There does not seem to be a lot of brightness throughout the video, and the darkest place (the basement, where even the lights fall off the ceiling) was the last thing seen in the video, as that group of people dancing, ( in the brightest area in the video) fall through the room into the basement. 

In this group, the lead singer is seen as the alpha male, doing all the singing/lip synching and is seen as the star of the music video. Ryan Tedder (lead singer) is seen dancing throughout the whole music video, and the rest of the group is in the back, showing dominance with the lead singer, and that he is the focus of the song/video.

There are two different situations in the video for this song. The room which the group is in, shows a basement area, with lights that flicker on and off in the background, but does not have a deep effect in the video, such as making the scene go black/dark every time the light flickers. As the video progresses, and in both 'storylines' the dancing pace increases, the ceiling starts shaking, raining dust all over the group. The video climaxes to a point where someone falls through the floor, into the basement as the dancing/song intensifies. The editing pace accelerates as the video and song climaxes, and a shot reverse shot editing technique is mainly used to quickly show how the video is intensifying between the two storylines. In terms of camera shots, most of the video consists of medium shots, and is using a dolly as the camera is always moving. When the shot contains the entire group plus the surroundings, a wide shot is used as it gets more of the surroundings and cast in the picture. In one scene where a man appears to be healing a woman, the shot has a slow motion effect, to emphasise the effect it is having on her, and the same happens with all the other people who seem to be healed. 

I would say the target audience for this song is 18-25, the type of people who listen to the radio in the car, as this song was played on the radio for several weeks and was in the top charts.

Things we could take from this video to inspire in our own is the editing techniques, increased the editing pace as the song gets faster, and maybe some slow motion when emphasising key points in the video.







Ice Kid- A.T.M

Produced by: JB(JustBusiness)
Directed by: Danny Streetz
Released (Youtube): 12 July 2016
Artist: Ice Kid

The song is about the artist 'Ice Kid', who talks about how he is the 'best' and how he has so much money he needs his own ATM in his house. The video shows him in front of some expensive cars and switches from the cars, to him with a group of people, to himself still rapping from a low angle. The video in this song could be used to show his status in life, correlating to the song itself about him being the best and the richest.

This video is performative. The video does not have a story behind it, but rather just shows him with what looks to be alcohol and him being the leader of the 'group' of people he is with. The group in the background don't play a huge role, but mainly to make themselves look tough around the leader, and for him to show he has people watching his back.

The video was shot both late at night and early morning, when it is dark outside. This could emphasise on the fact that he is a 'roadman', someone who is always out on the road, especially late at night. Another theme of the video is money, with Ice Kid wearing his Crooks and Castles jumper, and the expensive car in the background. This plays well in the song as he is talking about how much money he has.

Advanced Portfolio 1

Chip - Light Work

Produced by: D Dark
Release Date (On Youtube): 11 September 2015
Artist: Chipmunk

This video is a 'diss track' to another grime artist Bugzy Malone. A diss track is a form of fighting but with music rather than fists, and this song is a reply to another diss track that Bugzy Malone had done for Chip. The video itself is set in a sort of photo studio, except the entire video is done in one shot/one take. This artist is known to make songs with the video shot in one take, such as his song 'Run Out Riddim' which is also aimed at Bugzy Malone, but set in the streets of North London at night.

This video is performative, as it shows the artist as the main man/ the top dog. For the entire video we are engrossed in Chip strolling and rapping around the room, and every now and then he is throwing middle fingers to the camera and gun signs to flow with the song.

The whole video has a bright atmosphere, there is one light in the middle of the room, near and around the chair the artists performs with. The theme shows to have a clean look, very simple but contrasting very well with his dark clothing. It is as if the light background emphasises his importance in the video, and him wearing black clothes showing that he also has a dark side that is being brought out in this video.

The star himself as we said before is the main focus of the video. He is represented as a intelligent grime artist, and is also represented as one of the best artists, throwing cusses and punchlines to his enemy. His role is to show that he is not afraid of going against other artists, and that he doesn't need anyone to help him - hence why he does the video alone. The other people in the room are only seen at the end, but do not even speak.

In terms of camera, it is clear that either a dolly was used, or handheld as the camera is always moving, but with one shot. Even though the whole video was done in one take, there were still a range of camera angles used. There was a low angle at the start as they were entering the studio, and throughout the video the camera goes to close ups, medium shots and switching between low and high shots. The 2 main props throughout the whole video was the chair he was sitting on and the light next to him, these go hand in hand to the simple lay out of the room for the video.

The target audience for this would be 16-20. This is because this is the age range of people that listen to grime music, and who are more likely to follow up in wars between two artists in this industry. I also say this age range because Chip has performed at shows, singing his songs including this one, where most of the people who went were aged 16-20.

Things I could take from this video to help with mine, is look at how simple it is in terms of mise-en-scene. Instead of having as many props and settings i can find, it may be better to keep it simple, and not have the video too crowded or make it in a way so that people get distracted from the star/main focus point.