Music video analysis

Natasha bedingfield - These words

I think this music video is a good example for the pop genre that i am looking at. The mise en scene with the bright, contrasting colours gives it a very light-hearted and sunny feel which I believe goes well with the type of song. The whole idea of the video is quite simple in the way that there is only one other character in it apart from the main singer and the large majority of the shots include her. The way this has been done is good and although there isn't a particular storyline that you need to follow for most of the video, it is still interesting to watch. I think it is still interesting without a big storyline because of the use of effects and props that have been used. I particularly like the use of the cucumber on the plate at the beginning symbolizing the style of the music at that point. The effects used in the video fit really well and they are quite simple to do, the use of stop motion has been used in the background of a few of the shots, for example with the books in the background. This is something that i would like to think about incorporating into my video, as I think having small bits of stop motion are equally as effective as having the whole thing done. The other effects that have been used in this music video are very achieveable especially with the use of After Effects. When the chairs are moving on there on and when there are mutiple versions of her in the same shot add a bit more to the scene and i think they work really well with the music and the rhythm of the song. The whole video is simple in both terms of production and editing which makes it a realistic thing to take inspiration from.

The mise en scene is perfect for the type of video i would like to create; fun, upbeat and happy. The only downside to this is that filming will probably take place over the winter months, and i don't have the available funding to go abroad and shoot which was probably the case for this video. The lighting is extremely high key which co-insides well with the pop genre and theme of the song/video and gives the right feel to the music video. The colour of the video is really well used and although the locations for the shots are not particularly spectacular (e.g. simply on a bench or down an alley way) they still work really well and the editing of having the same person in different places works well and is often used in pop videos. I also like the use of colouring to display different personalities, as in most of the shots here are bright and cheerful, clearly showing the happy side of the love story, yet there are also more grungy parts, for example in the alley way and also when there is just a simple black background behind her which gives the video more depth and breaks it up a bit.

The only disappointment i have with this video is that it does not include particularly interesting and challenging camera angles. Most of the shots are face on with her talking straight to the camera and this is something that i would change when making my own video as i wish to experiment with interesting and new camera angles and styles.

Another video that i also feel uses effects and camera shots really well is Black Eyed Peas 'Let's Get it Started'. All of the BEP videos have a very original and creative style to them which i think is really good, in this particular one i especially like the use of the sliding and rotating camera angles around a point.