(DANCE) Analysis of 6 music videos

Music videos are used for three main reasons:

• Tell a story
• Market the artist
• To entertain

The Prodigy- Warrior's Dance official video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-EOp8UPrZc

The music video starts with a close up onto broom in dark surroundings and doesn't seem anything out of the ordinary. There is a close up on the broom brushing the cigarette packets into the gutter, they are of no importance.

The video features animation of cigarette packets which involves various prodigy logos that represent the three members of the band. The close up and zoom in onto packets grabs the audiences’ attention by drawing them into the scene. The animation used is unexpected, we don't expect these items to move. These cigarette packets dancing to the music seems out of the ordinary and immediately grabs the audiences’ attention. It almost has the transformers effect.

The setting is dark, this creates a sense of mystery for the audience, there will have already been an enigma presented by the animation of these cigarette packets. There’s the sense of this happening at night when no humans are around. Everyone who knows The Prodigy know them for their unique style and this video reinforces their band image.

The cigarette packets start a ‘mini rave’ in the pub causing a fire on the table, the audience see’s this by the close-up shots of the other cigarette packets beginning to move. The audience sees the party scene, the reference to the band members being on the cigarette packets. The close up of the character smashing the glass suggests rebellion. Although there is this party and dance scene the ‘mise en scene’ seems out of normality for example the close up onto the paper characters eyes, this is not a normal party scene, this is happening unknown. These three characters are in control of the ‘rave’ as the band would be in a live situation, the panning mid shot shows this.

The intercuts between the ‘rave’ and outside world shows that everything must suddenly go back to normality, this must come to an end followed by the zoom in through the window of the fire starting.

They then exit, leaving the rest of the cigarette packets still dancing and still burning.
The close up onto the humans foot suddenly brings the video back to normality followed by the panning shot over the damage that has been caused. A man enters the pub to ‘open up’ the next morning, his facial expression allows the audience to see that he is puzzled to find all the burnt cardboard remains.

At first it seems quite difficult to identify the narrative, realistically there isn’t much to the story. Although the actions of the characters completely contrast to the lyrics we are still able to see a clear narrative.


Lady Gaga- Just Dance official video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIwHTBusJfM&feature=related

The video starts with an introduction, a mid shot of a woman pressing play on a recorder. The close up onto a car's headlights starts off the video, the car is very modern and high tech, the close up shot onto the feet builds up to the artist showing that this woman has authority and status to be driving something like this. The straight cuts builds up pace setting up the audience for a fast, lively, pacy song.

The artist enters the house with dancers; this seems to be an ended house party. The shot of heels immediately tells the audience that this is a woman artist, the shot of the three from behind shows that she is backed up by others reinforcing the stereotype of women with friends to support her.

One of the dancers puts the music on, blaring through the house, the crowd at the party who were sleeping are suddenly awoken by the music. They all start to dance and the party scenes are inter cut with scenes of Lady Gaga in different poses, the glasses are almost a form of disguise, as if she is hiding something about herself.The glove that she wears also adds to this.It is important to consider that the artist wears a blue, lightening shaped bolt sticker beneath her right eye like that on the single cover which is a tribute to her music idol David Bowie.

A direct mode of address is used, the artist engages the audience by this thoroughly involves them drawing them in. Jump cuts are used between the artist and other scenes, this creates a fast pace which links with the pace of the music.

The ‘mise en scene’ involves a party scene once again, the audience sees a disco ball and a party. The dance moves used by the artist are confident and moves that people can copy and that the audience are likely to imitate. The artist is also central to the frame and at the forefront, this shows that she is in total control and the most important. The outfit that she is wearing would particularly appeal to males, it's minimalist and she is extremely unique, we know this from the costume. Alongside the glasses she covers half of her face adding to the hidden identity accompanied by her eccentric makeup.

When Lady Gaga is framed, she is central to the frame, she holds authority and the direct mode of address keeps her in constant control. Her outfits are constantly minimalistic, often provocative, most likely appealing to males. On the other hand, her clothing seems to appeal to no rules, she is unique which is a quality that a lot of women would admire.

The word 'dance' is emphasised as it is written in lipstick, this links to the genre of music. There is also the stereotypical ‘fit’ male, he is also wearing glasses, staying in a form of disguise yet he doesn’t hold the attention for very long at all. The pan up shot keeps the audiences attention on the audience. There’s then the close ups on the very suggestive scenes suggesting the influence of alcohol on the people at this party, especially the scene of the artist herself in the pool initiating male interest in the artist.

Dizzee Rascal- Bonkers official video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPYJ7LPFtR4

The beginning of the video starts of with a close up of a car which then builds up to the artist, the audience can then see a countdown like an alarm clock and close up of a bed. The panning shot draws the audience into the scene, the actions of the artist such as waking up fit in with the lyrics.

We then see a high angle shot onto artist, this is unusual as this would usually connote that he is of a lower status and of less power. The direct mode of address allows him to take control. The blue and white colour combination gives the artist a ‘cool’ image.

Also in one cut the artist has his cap on and in the other he is no longer wearing it. The outfit he is wearing is also strange, with the eyes on it, this links to the eyes on the single cover.

The universe in the background and sudden zoom out suggests an ‘out of this world’ artist, he is literally the title ‘bonkers’ yet he is on top of the world, the high angle connotes this and the direct mode of address shows the audience how he is feeling.

The wipe cuts with the different colours accompanied by the sudden emphasis on the word ‘meeee’ gives the effect that something has gone wrong with the video, as something has gone wrong with the character to make him ‘bonkers’. The contrasting colours connotes this almost split personality.

Suddenly, there is a straight cut into a party scene, there’s a panning mid shot over the crowd followed by another high angle surrounded by loads of the crowd, these people are having a good time to the music. Again he is wearing glasses, this is a form of disguise and way of hiding identity. He has control over the crowd and the high angle shot of him on top of the world again almost gives him control over this too, he has ultimate control.

Very fast, pacy editing fits in with the style of the music. The city image and panning shot of the car gives a city life night style with this genre of music.

La Roux- In for the Kill official video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELRD8ZMYmrA

The close up on the Toyota MR2 headlights immediatley grabs the audience's attention,the car is high tech and represents status. This would especially impress males stereotypically.

The close up shot allows the audience to see her putting on sunglasses, removing them at the chorus end, this is a form of disguise and seems to be common with the music videos that i've analysed so far.

She continues driving the car until she comes to a version of herself standing in the middle of the road. A woman driving a car and being in control challenges the sterotypical view of a woman, this is important to notice, she has the ultimate control.

The red and black colours add to the suspense, creating enigmas for the audience, they are only able to see what is in the light, this is an effective way of keeping them in suspense having ultimate control over what they are viewing.

The zoom in shot down the road gives the impression that the audience themselves are having a first hand experience and sharing it with the aritst, it involves them and they feek as though they are actually there.

The close up shot onto her face gives a direct mode of address with the audience, they feel as though they are actually there.

As the song is very repetitive, the scenes are also very repetitive with many similar edits, shots and camera movements.

The intercuts between the artist in the dark car and the artist in the road surrounded by bright lights creates tension for the audience, they want to know what is happening, editing is slow pace here as the song is also beginning to slow down. The mid shot of the artist with glowing white eyes adds to the mystery of this.

Basshunter- Now Your Gone official video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkbWSthhWjE

We can apply Todorov’s narrative theory to this music video, it features an equilibrium which is the break up, the disruption which is receiving the message, the recognition and attempt to repair which is going to the club/party. The new equilibrium is the couple coming together.

The immediate high angle of the woman shows her to be at a low and very vulnerable. There is a close up of a mobile phone screen; the audience can read too which immediately involves them. They read it before it was even sent, before the man even received it.

The low angle of the man after receiving the text message creates a sense of sadness and isolation. The low angle makes him look alone, the audience can relate to the sadness that he is feeling.

The intercuts link the two characters and the audience gets a feel for their relationship. Close up onto faces conveys the characters feelings and we can see their sense of isolation. The close up on the woman’s face after receiving an instant message off a friend suddenly lights her face up, she seems slightly happier showing that women are supported by their friends.

Cuts between scenes of the man and the woman, the audience knows more about the character and can start piecing bits together, they know that the two will end up in the same club before they see each other. The parallel shot of the woman’s friends coming to meet her and the male’s friends meeting him shows that they both need their friends.

The editing becomes a lot quicker, connoting a passing of time while each the male and the female are getting ready as the narrative progresses. Each character getting ready is important as it reinforces stereotypes, the women enjoying getting ready for a night out with the girls showing that it is important for women to get ready with each other before going for a ‘big night out’.

The music begins to become quieter however we can hear the heavy bass beat, this beat being similar to that you can hear outside clubs. The woman’s silhouette is a common feature of dance music, this is the symbol we tend to identify with this genre.

The dark lighting indicates that they have entered the club, the audience again sees the party scene. Very quick pans across the top of the crowd, excitement, good time
This chaos and movement makes it much easier for the audience to notice the mood and tension surrounding the character. The long shots of them in the crowd shows how they are stood still compared to everyone else, it draws attention to the two.

The attention repeatedly swaps between the slow movements of the characters coming together (the new equilibrium) and everyone else dancing, showing how everyone else has no awareness of this couple. They are also oblivious to anyone else but themselves.

Kid Cudi vs Crookers- Day 'n' Nite official video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVb_t_ao9gw

This was specifically made for the Crookers remix of the song, we must keep this in mind. Cudi is portrayed as a typical employee at a British corner shop, the two mid shot shows that the female dominates the frame. The costume allows us to identify with the roles in a shop, the woman has much more sophisticated clothing on than the male showing that she has a lot of authority over the male. This challenges the stereotype of a female. The fact that Alesha Dixon features in this video is important, she is also often featured in dance music.

The female also has strong and aggressive body language connoting her authority, the direct mode of address is intimidating for the audience, they can see she is angry and the close up of her faces makes the shot all the more dominating and tense for the audience.

The long shot of the male shows that he is alone, he is soon distracted by the several girls dancing around him and caressing him. The close up on his facial expression allows us to see that he is bored, he is entertaining himself by challenging the rules.

The panning shot follows the customer building up to an introduction, however by the close up of his facial expression we can see that this customer entering the shop is a surprise. The jump cut adds to this feeling of surprise helping the audience feel the same. He was preoccupied and not taking it seriously behind the counter suggesting that he doesn’t take his job seriously.

The counter is a barrier between him and the female, the long shot shows that she can behave how she wants yet he is restricted by his job.

When the police officer arrives we can see from her costume that she is of great importance, for a few moments he seems to take it seriously and starts to behave yet soon she is another distraction for him. The mid shot of him allows the audience to see his surprised facial expression. The costume is extremely provocative and would appeal especially to the male audience. He has had to find his own entertainment in what is a boring environment for him.