Paramore - Ignorance Music Video Analysis

Paramore - Ignorance

The video for Paramore's single Ignorance was released on the fueled by ramen youtube page on August 13th 2009 directed by Laura Honey.

Lighting
The lighting that is provided for this video is from a single light bulb that is featured as a main feature in the centre of the video that the lead singer uses as a prop in the video. Overall majority of the lighting is quite dark possibly relating to how the lead singer feels as she is seen shining the light on her band members which could indicate that they are the light to her life or that they have done her wrong in the past so she is pointing the blame towards them by shining the light onto them as well as herself. Around the 1:06 mark a strobe light is used whilst the band is in a studio performing, there are a lot of quick cuts when the strobe light is being used so this could also be related to that.

Editing
Most of this video has been quickly edited to fit the pace of the song, this is mainly done whilst there is only instrumental playing, when the lead singer begins to sing the cuts have been slowed down so that the viewers can focus on her singing. At about 0:36 the singer grabs the light bulb and pulls it back violently causing it to cut to the next location which is in a studio, after this it then cuts back to being in the small room with the rest of her band. At 1:34 the camera zooms in on the lead singer then cuts to another shot of the lead singer this time in a different location and in a different costume, this could be an idea that I could use for my video. A part at 2:12 their is a series of quick cuts between scenes, this is done to fit the beat of the track that is playing in the background.

Mise en Scene

Hayley Williams' hair and make up when she is inside the small room includes light face make up with it getting heavier around the eyes. She has a pale red lipstick on, her hair is straight and natural with half of her hair covering parts of her face. When she is seen in the studio her hair and make up stay relatively the same however she changes the outfit that she is wearing. At about 1:40 her eye make up gets a lot heavier, this could signify character changing in the narrative for example the heavier her eye make up is it could show that she is going crazy to relate to the track.
She also has three costume changes in the video to relate to the three different locations in the video. The first outfit she is seen wearing includes a sleeveless leather jacket with black jeans and red and white shoes, her outfit in the opening relates to the environment that she is in. In the next scene she is seen wearing a two tone black and white shirt with black jeans and similar red shoes from the first setting. In the third scene Haley is seen wearing a one piece suit that has black zips on them, this could relate to her decent to madness as her outfit is similar to that of a straight jacket, another part of this scene that shows she has gone mad is the crazy hairstyle she is seen to be wearing and heavier eye make up than the previous two scenes. The rest of the band is wearing grey/dark shirts with other dark clothing in the two scenes that they are featured in.

Camerawork
This video features a lot of long takes where they either focus on the full band or Hayley herself. When there are long takes the camera usually begins to tilt around in different areas, the tilting and rapid camera movements begin to speed up when Hayley is in the third location, this could also be a hint that she has lost her mind hence the setting that she is in. The camerawork also includes a lot of zooming in, for example at 1:34 the camera does a quick zoom towards Hayley and then cuts to a new scene, this works well for this video and the narrative because it is showing a progression in the story.The camera also focuses a lot on the light bulb that Hayley uses in the video as noted previously this is an important part of the narrative of the video.

Lorde - Royals Music Video Analysis

Lorde - Royals

The video for Royals was Lorde's first international music video release, the date of the release was 18th of June 2013 and directed by Joel Kefali. The video that I am going to be analysing is the US version of the video as the original/Australasia version of the video is not suitable to analyse.

Editing
The editing for some parts of the video, mainly around the 0:37 mark are done so that the scenes cut to the beat of the music. When the clicking sound occurs on the track the video cuts to the next scene in the narrative part of the video. The editing for this video seems to be slow, for example when Lorde herself is featured in the video there will be long takes, in one instance at 2:18 Lorde is in the shot for about 25 seconds before the next cut, Pete Fraser noted in his theory about Music Videos that star image is important so having Lorde on the screen for 25 seconds will establish that she is the main star of the video. The use of slow cuts also adds to the dynamic of the video because not only is the track a slow song but relating to the lyrics it tries hard to emphasise the meaning of the song. The video also includes a jump cuts at 1:59 when the two actors are boxing in the living room, this could be done to establish the shot and the personality of the character for example showing that the character is tough because he is punching the other person. Slow motion is used on some shots, for example on the shot where one of the actors are in the pool the shot is slowed down possibly indicating a passing of time. Editing has also been used to establish the relationship between one of the actors that feature in the video and Lorde herself, even though it isn't clear what the relationship is between these people it is shown at 2:10 when the actor has a blank stare then after a cut to a scenery shot it then shows Lorde at 2:13 with a slight smile then another establishing shot where they are seen to be doing similar action however this has been quickly edited compared to the rest of the video.

Mise en Scene
Mise en Scene is important for this video, mainly for Lorde as this shows that she is the main star of the video. Lorde's make up is very pale but uses the eye make up as her statement piece to her look, the winged eyeliner works well because of the light make up she already has on her face. Her hair has been curled with half of it pushed to the other side of her head, this adds to the plain look of the video as there is nothing special going on with her hair style in the video.

Her costume is just a plain white t-shirt, a bracelet and a necklace, not a lot of her costume is shown in the video as the shots are either mid-range or close ups so you never see the lower half of her costume, her costume is plain as is the rest of the video, this could have been done so that it fits the style of the video. The costume for the actors in the video are mainly plain t-shirts in colours such as grey, ill fitting shorts and a chain type necklace. Some of the actors are not wearing shirts, this could add to the idea in the song that they are poor and cannot afford nice clothing to wear or that they do not care what they are wearing.

Lighting
The majority of the lighting in the video is bright mainly done to illuminate Lorde's face in the video, there is no shadows in the video and is seen to be a rather clear lighting choice. There are some shots in the video where dark lighting is used, for example in some area where the actors are being used they use the natural light for example at 1:43 when the two actors are in the bathroom the lighting has been used from the small window in the background, for when the actors are on screen using minimal lighting could indicate that they don't have the resources to use electricity such as artificial lighting which would fit in with the narrative of the video.

Camerawork
In this video long takes are used frequently, since this is the US version of the video Lorde has a lot more longer takes than in the original New Zealand/International version of the video. Long takes have been used in the video to secure the star image of Lorde and to show that she is the main star of the video. When Lorde is featured in the video a lot of her shots are close ups, this is focusing on her voice and her singing. Mid-range shots are also used for when Lorde is on the screen, since her costume in the video isn't as important mid-range shots are rarely used as there is no need for them to be used. For the actors on screen more mid-range and long shots are used, this could be because they are not the focus of the video or to work to the narrative so that you can see all of them. In the beginning and the end of the song a tracking shot is done, the shot lasts for about 10 seconds, the shot shows the camera progressing down the street, this could be because it is linked to the video for example it is a poor area of the town which links to the actors in the video or it is there just for the opening and ending of the video.

Music Videos Analysis

Lorde - Team

The first video I have analysed is for Team by Lorde released on Vevo 3rd December 2013, I am currenhtly planning on doing a song by Lorde for my final project. The beginning of the video features shots of an ocean and a woman on a boat floating towards an abandoned shipyard. The main narrative of the video is showing the joining of teams for some sort of underground sport. Lorde herself is featured in a dark, low lighting room which emulates a jungle type atmosphere. The camera angle that is frequently used is behind the shoulder shots and long shots where you can see the entire room and all of Lorde in the shots that she is featured in. Lorde is also in light makeup and is wearing her signature dark lipstick. Her outfit looks like she is a group leader as the actors around her are also wearing similar outfits to her. The narrative of the video shows two boys on teams competing in an underground sport at the abandoned shipyard, this could be because what they are doing is illegal. Towards the end of the video after the two boys have gone against each other one falls off his motorbike, bleeding he is carried off inside the building into the room that Lorde is in, this could signify joining the "Team" and the sport he just did is a ritual to be accepted.

State Champs - Hard to Please

The video for 'Hard to Please' by State Champs was released October 7th 2013 on the Pure Noise Records official youtube page. The opening of the  video shows the band playing in an empty dark Ice Hockey area, this is where the main performance takes place. The camera angles show a lot of close ups of the band members playing their instruments as well as panning shots when focusing on the lead singer, they also use long shots to show the entire band while they are performing. The narrative of the story shows the band trying to get attention of three girls at a hockey game they are playing, throughout the video it shows them trying to impress the girls for example showing off while playing hockey by scoring and dedicating their celebration to the girls, this continues with failures as the actresses are shown to be uninterested in their attempts. Until the end of the video the two hockey teams are shown fighting on the ice after the two teams are frustrated with each other after their failed attempts at winning the girls, they are fighting for the remained of the video until the closing seconds of the song where in the narrative the girls they were trying to impress is with the guy who cleans the ice. The video then finishes with a final long shot of the band finishing the song and a pan down to the floor with a fade to black.

Music Video Shot Count Analysis

Track: Lonely Girl                                                 

Artist: Tonight Alive                                     

Director: Bill Stepanoski                  

Release Date: 15th August 2013

Length of video: 3:16

Number of shots in entire video: 120

Average length of shot: 2 seconds

Number of shots in 30 second segment: 21

Within the 30 second segment there are: 21 shots

Number of CU: 10

Number of ECU: 3

Number of LS: 1

Number of MS: 3

Number of panning shots: 0

Number of tilts: 0

Other shots: 4

Analysis: Songs for the punk rock genre include a lot of quick cuts featuring longer shots of the lead singer and well as a few long shots to fit in the whole band while playing to put them in the focus of the video. I will use this research in planning as currently I am thinking about doing a punk rock genre track, this video will help because it shows a good amount of the band as well as parts of the narrative, it also helps as I can base the amount of shots I will use in my video from this, this video had 120 shots overall in the video so if I plan on doing a punk rock video I should take note of show many shots were used in the video.

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Close up.	1 second.	Close up shot of actress sat in on a bed. Low lighting, colourless shot.	Straight cut.
2	Mid shot.	2 seconds.	Mid shot of actress lying on a bed.	Straight cut.
3	Mid shot.	2 seconds.	Close mid shot of actress lying on a bed with the book she has written in being the focus of the shot.	Straight cut.
4	Mid shot.	1 second.	Lead singer focus of the shot, centred in the middle of the shot with guitarists out of focus behind her.	Straight cut.
5	Close up.	3 seconds.	Close up of lead singer, she is looking directly into the camera.	Straight cut.
6	Close up.	2 seconds.	Actress sitting up on the bed with headphones on.	Straight cut.
7	Extreme close up.	2 seconds.	Extreme close up of actress turning up the volume on a record player.	Straight cut.
8	Close up.	2 seconds	Actress sat on the bed listening to music.	Straight cut
9	Close up.	1 second.	Close up of drummer.	Straight cut.
10	Close up.	1 second.	Close up of lead singer	Straight cut
11	Long shot.	2 seconds.	Long shot of entire band.	Straight cut.
12	Close up.	2 seconds.	Close up of lead singer	Straight cut.
13	Low angle shot.	3 seconds	Shot of actress going into the room with other actress on the bed.	Straight cut.
14	Low over the shoulder.	2 seconds	actresses engaging in inaudible dialogue.	Straight cut.
15	Close up.	3 seconds	Close up of lead singer.	Straight cut.
16	Extreme close up.	2 seconds	Extreme close up of the guitarists hands.	Straight cut.
17	Close up.	2 seconds.	Close up of the guitarist.	Straight cut.
18	Low something	3 seconds.	Actress sat on bed with inaudible dialogue.	Straight cut.
19	Close up.	2 seconds.	Actress stood in room.	Straight cut.
20	Close up.	2 seconds.	Close up of lead singer.	Straight cut.
21	Over the shoulder.	2 seconds.	Close up of picture frame.	Straight cut.