Lily Allen-Smile
Genre:
The music video foregrounds Lily Allen performing the song. The performance also combines with the narrative, often merging together in the same scene. The genre of music is typical British pop with ily singing in her cockney accent. A reggae beat is also included in the background. The genre is also reflected through the gritty, working class, urban mise en scene and generally unspectactular cinematography.
Narrative:
The narrative focuses on Lily getting revenge on her boyfriend for cheating on her. It also illustrates and amplifies the meanings of the song such as "with a little help from my friends" hows her 'chavvy' friends help take revenge by robing him and trashing his flat.
In the beginning of he video we see Lily all sad and miserable, taking comfort from eating lots of chocolate. In the middle of the video she takes revenge on her boyfriend in different ways. At the end of the video she is alone like at the start but she is now happy and smiling showing she is over her relationship through taking revenge.
Characters relate to the conventional archetypes that usually occur in films or videos etc. the boyfriend is portrayed as the villain, Lily as the hero/princess and the friends as the helpers.
Binary oppositions include:
male/females
sweet/nasty
kindness/cruelty
violence/pleasure
together/alone
sitting/walking
smiling/not smiling
looking at the camera/not looking at the camera
There are different meanings in the narrative such as girls can be sweet and nasty and should you put up with a cheating boyfriend?
Mise en scene
The locations in the music ideo are in the flat the street a cafe and a club.
Lily wears quite girly clothes but she comes acros quite tough. Her dress and pink eyeshadow against her trainers could show this.
Lilys facial expressions also change from smiling to frowning quite a few times.
The contrast between the boyfriends fa and Lilys is quite strong. Hers being bright and colourful and his being drab and plain. This may reflect their personalities.
The other characters in the music video are dressed quite 'chavvy' with tracksuits, hoodies, caps and hooped earrings on them.
The final scene, were Lily is walking down the middle of the road shows her confidence and how strong she is compared to her being stuck in the flat at the beginning of the video.
Camera:
In the video a different range of shots are used to add more meaning to the video. Close ups of Lilys face shows a connection between the audience and the star. the midshots of the artist show her own personal style- a dress and trainers and lots of jewellery. Longer shots are used in the bedroom to emphasise that shes stuck in her room as do the frequent tracking shots which also show her lonelyness. The hand held shots of the violent parts creates realism. The shot of Lily walking down the middles of the road shows she is now powerful and quite reckless now that shes outside. In the video there is no overly dramatic shots which makes the video seem more down to Earth.
Editing:
The music video is generally fast paced editing, with no shot being longer than two beats. When Lily is on her bed at the beginning it openly flashbacks to her lying on the bed with her boyfriend, making it seem that shes thinking of happier times. there is some continuity editing in the narrative scenes but ellipsis is used a lot to condense the narrative making it shorter. A shot reverse shot is also used to show conflict between Lily and her boyfriend. In the violent scenes cross cutting is used to show the opposition between the friends and the boyfriend.
Representation:
In the video Lilly Allen is represented as feminine but tough. She has a sweet and innocent voice which contrasts with the harshness of the lyrics and her facial expressions, costume and make-up all contribute to her representation.
Gender is represented quite strongly in the video making the males seem dishonest and that they cheat on their girlfriends. The females are seen as victims of the men but they don't come across as weak as we see Lily taking revenge on her ex, showing they can also be devious and cruel.
The way that social class and age is represented in the video shows that the working class are generally unsophisticated and driven by basic urges such as revenge and violence in order to get even.
Audience:
The target audience is mainly British young females. The song is addressed to 'you' (boyfriend)
but in the video she sings to the audience not to him so its like she is sharing a secret and her thoughts with us, the audience.
Occasionaly she will give eye contact with the camera and let sly smiles slip, which builds up intamicy with the audience, and we share her pleasure from taking revenge on the cheating boyfriend. The video may influence female fans to take out revenge on their boyfriends if they have cheatedon them, because Lily is much happier at the end of the video after taking revenge out on her ex, so the audience may feel better too if they do the same.
Chemical Brothers-The Golden Path
Genre:
The Chemical Brothers have created their own style/genre of video by making it quite mixed and unusual. At the end of the video it is like dance music, when everyone is dancing around in the field but then their is drum and bass in other parts.
The video shows no performance from the artists but has a narrative instead.
Narrative:
The video starts of with the man going to work and he puts it across, through the lyrics, as 'finding himself in some kind of Hell'. Through different parts he escapes to some Hippy populated field, were he meets a girl. The song refers to the lyrics every now and again and gives some slight connection. However it gives a different meaning to the words such as referring to work as Hell and the exploding coffee pot to the flowing volcano. Also it makes the photocopier appear as the devil in the video by making it turn on and get out of control on its own. The Golden Path could also represent the unescapable road to work.
The video has quite a clear narrative, even though it seems quite a little strange. At the start of the video he goes to work, crossing the road without looking showing how used to it he is and showing the repitition of work. The full lift shows his cramped lifestyle and he looks unhappy.
In the middle of the video he is transported to a better world that contrasts strongly with the workplace becaus the field is so lively, colourful and happy whilst the workplace is dull and boring. At the end of the video he finally escapes the workplace for his happy place.
The video has a linear narrative structure, providing a sense of progression. It is linear throughout the music video.
In the video the boss of the workplace is seen as the villain because he is tough and gives 'stingy' wages, making the people work for little money. The worker is put across to be the 'princess' in the video because he needs saving from his boring badly paid job. The Hippies and the girl especially are seen as the hero, becaus ethey save the man and they live in a free world doing what they want.
The binary oppositions in the video are:
stress/calm
colour/black and white
work/play
control/freedom
good/bad
happy/sad
Mise en scene:
The suit that the man is wearing is rather scruffy showing that he doesnt get paid enough. The yellow dress on the girl has flowers on it which is quite stereotypicall for a hippy. The mans underwear is white which symbolises freedom especially because he is wearing it when he escapes from work.
The lighting in the office is very dull which contrasts with the outside colourful lights which seem a lot happier and more cheery.
The two main characters, the man and the hippy girl, both seem in their twenties which shows freedom could be represented with the younger generation rather than the old bald boss. the mans hair is tidy for work and messy when he is playing around showing that there is no cares in this hippy, free place.
Props used in the workplace are:
photocopier
computers
pay check
magazines
coffee pots
and papers/pens
this shows the audience that they are in the workplace.
The props used in the hippy field are:
smiley face badge
yellow campervan
flower necklaces
record player
bubbles
which creates a playful atmosphere.
The music video is set in the dull office and outside somewhere in a colourful field.
Audience:
The target audience are youths in their twenties. It appeals to the audience because it dramatises the fantasies of younger people who may be in boring jobs.
It could have an influence on the audience to quit their job and go have fun instead.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Higher Ground
Genre:
The music video shows the band performing the song in front of bluescreen with images in te ackground which shows the video to be quite dated because it is quite rough and obvious that the artists have used it. The music video has no narrative or characters but is performance. This is quite typical of rock musicians. The music is rock/funk genre and the video shows the band playing their instruments very dramatically.
Narrative:
The song is about the 'world' going round and people having wars etc. and the images in the background (on the bluescreen) show this. the images also make a montage along with the general narrative of the video but it is not non-linear.
Binary oppositions in the video are:
black and white/colour
past/present
band/world
individuals/crowds
Mise en scene:
The colourful costumes promote the bands image and contrasts with the b&w background to make them stand out. The image of the band is quite unusual and unique especially with the teddy pants. The topless look makes the band seem macho because we can see their muscles.
The instruments such as the electric guitars match the image of the band with them being bright funky colours also suiting the genre. A bluescreen was used to put black and white images behind the band in the video such as the old footage.
There is a part were there is a group of people dancing in a circle relating to the lyrics of the world turning round, this happens again with the band members in the kal eidoscope image.
Camera:
There is a low angle of the singers to show that we look up to them and that they're powerful. A dutch angle is used on the lead singer signifies abnormaility portrayed by the flowers in the background against the rock music.
Cinematography:
There is lots of tracking shots going towards and around the performers showing they are the main focus. There is also low and canted angles to show their power. Other shots used are high angles of the group and overhead shots looking down on the band/kaleidoscope image.
Editing:
In the video there is plenty of fast paced editing reflecting the heavy and fast tempo. The montaged editing in the background shows that they may have been on a low budget. The lypsynching creates continuity, even though it is out of time.
Audience:
The target audience is mainly the younger generation during the 80s. The bright colours and energetic feeling to the video also apeals to the youths.
The audience most likely enjoyed watching OTT performances by their charismatic singers because it was the style in the 80s. It may have influenced the audience in the way of how to act and what to wear.
Digipak is a patented style of compact disk or DVD packaging. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.
Nutini is an acoustic artist like ours and in the video the male is the main focus like in our video.