Music Video Analysis

Panic! At The Disco - Ready To Go

• Artist - Panic! At The Disco
• Genre - Indie
• Record Label - DecayDance
• This music video was shot in a filming studio that is made to look as though its in one of the band members basement or garage which is stereotypical for an American Indie band. The use of props such as posters, empty beer cans and amateur lighting make it more believable that its shot in their basement rather than a studio. Their are a number of close ups of the two band members and their instruments. With the two band members making a lot of movement and their aim to make the video look very amateur a lot of the filming is done using a steady-cam so it can be filmed free hand. The cuts are every few seconds unless they want the viewer to be focusing on something. For example when a large note is projected the cuts slow down as it wants the viewer to notice this. This note will have been done in the editing stage, bringing a different dimension to the music video and simply filming the two in their basement would look boring. When they follow through the secret door they change into a different time era, from 1970's - 1980's. This is evident from the microphone they're using, the motorbike in the background and the way they're all dressed with their hair styled. The next location is on a roof where the boys are dressed as chimney sweepers with brushes. This again would have been filmed in a studio but the use of a green screen means they can edit it and make the night sky to make it look like its on a roof. The use of slow motion when the lead singer does his back flip is another technique they use so the viewer can notice more clearly the important parts. The next scene completely animated until the lead singer lands back onto a street that we can see from an establishing shot that is again in a studio. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California

• Artist - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Genre - Rock
• Record Label - EMI
• The opening scene of this music video is edited to be black and white and made to look as though it's set in an time between 1970 - 1980. They use very bright lighting to emphasise the white as the lead singer is wearing a white jacket. Their are then many different looks that the band use although they're all filmed in the same studio on a small stage. The looks they use are very extravagant with the use of make up and crazy hair styles. This is all to do with the representation of what the Red Hot Chili Peppers are like as a band. There are a lot of different shots used, these different shots have to keep up with the amount of cuts used of which they're very frequent. There are a lot of close ups used to show us what different look the band members are wearing when the scene changes, and to show off their crazy make up and hair styles. There are also a lot of long shots to show the band as a whole and the movements they manage to achieve as they jump around the stage as a rock band would. The movement of the camera also varies a lot. The use of steady-cam and a track are used a lot to keep up with their movement. A freeze frame is used which is done it editing and made black and white. The freeze frames are of the band members to show the viewers the band members when they're still rather than jumping around the stage. 

MGMT - Time To Pretend

• Artist - MGMT
• Genre - Rock
• Record Label - Columbia Records
• The opening scene is shot on a beach area with people dancing around a fire which is edited to be in slow motion. The next shot is a very interesting use of split screen where the drummer is split into more than just two drummers. It looks as though the same person is also singing whilst sitting down on the floor in a pitch black room achieved using a green screen. As more is shown it looks as though it is animated as it shows us different angles of the drums as we follow the camera. Animation also continues as the background is full of crazy colours in the next scene with a split screen of a cat and the peculiar people we saw at the beginning waling towards the camera. The use of green screen is used a lot in this music video as they aim to achieve many different locations. Their is also a lot of animation used with the bright colours in the background but the band members still visible and aren't animated. Such as owls animated flying across the screen with a bright coloured background.  

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

• Artist - Mumford & Sons
• Genre - Indie
• Record Label - Island Records
• The opening shot is of the band riding towards the camera on scooters. It is set in a warm country with very little rain which we can see from the land and the sea. The music begins when they are riding away on their scooters, it is put into slow motion although the lip singing is in normal time therefore they would have had to speed up the song for the lead singer to mime to. This is a very common way of using slow motion without having to do too much editing. The camera would have to be mounted onto a steady-cam and then put onto another type of vehicle as the camera is always on the move as the band drives towards them on their scooters. The steady-cam is crucial in a shot where vehicles or fast movements are used as they need to achieve a steady movement, where as if they simply held the camera in their hand it was be jittery and jumpy. Their are then still medium close up shots of people that aren't in the band but we saw at the start who were given the bands music instruments. The final shot is a low angle shot using the ambient lighting of the sun going down which creates a very good shot. It is of the band getting their instruments back off the people they gave them to at the start and who has been playing them through the video. 

Oasis - Live Forever

• Artist - Oasis
• Genre - Rock
• Record Label - Sony Music
• The beginning of the music video is a low angle establishing shot of what looks to be like London by the way the building is and the grey gloomy skies in the background. With Oasis being a British band London stereotypes would be a likely setting for a music video that can be seen all over the world. It then cuts into the studio but we are made to believe that we cut into the building we first saw on the establishing shot. Cuts are very frequent at this stage as their is a cut with every beat of the drum, their is also a spot light that is flashing in the background which also goes to the same beat as the drum. Their are many still shots of the lead singer so the audience gets a good representation of who and what the lead singer looks like. Their are frequent uses of the tracking shot, the camera is almost zooming in although they use a track rather than zoom, this could be because it's an old music video and they might not have had the technology to do focused zooms when the video was made. They also use a lot of spot lights on the lead singer with a dark background with a close up shot so we get a good clear image of them. The strobe lighting effect in the background is very effective whilst the spotlight is still focusing on the lead singer. They often use a colour filter with the close ups of the lead singer which would have been done in the editing. The representation of Oasis is as an old fashioned rock band, its very simple such as no dancers or extras, they're simply standing their singing. This doesn't mean they can't dance, it's just the way they want to represented. They very cleverly use a modified camera lens to make it look as though their are many of the lead singer in one shot.