Student Video Analysis

'Gods and Monsters'

The genre of this song and this video is Alternative. The video consists of both narrative and performance, making the video both personal and entertaining for the audience. However, there isn't really a structure to this video, this makes the video unsettling, which fits with the genre, the otic used is ink falling into water, this makes the video more artistic. The students have chosen a woods to be their main location and the costume is quite innocent, which relates to the title of the song as children believe in monsters, therefore a level of innocence is assumed. Close ups and long shots are the main shots used, this fits with Goodwin's theory as the audience can see the artist clearly both times. I feel that the editing is quite good in this video due to the use of double exposure to create an unsettling shot however, it is not synched with the beat of the music. Lip syncing is also used to connect the song and the scenes further. I like this video as it is very creative however, if I were to do it again I would try to incorporate more shots and have the lip synching be more professional.

'Problem'

Problem is a song by Ariana Grande which is in the pop genre, this video shows this well due to the amount of dancing and effects used in the video also, this video is entirely performance, which is a convention of the pop genre. There is a structure in the sense that whenever the voice of Big Sean is heard, the shot is of a boy lip syncing his part and also, there is dancing in the choruses however, due to the shots always cutting to different locations there isn't actually a clear order in which the video is. The miss en scene in this video isn't the best as I feel that the outfits aren't 'glam' enough or suited well to the song, I think they look a bit tatty and not really thought about, the locations are okay as the do fit the genre however, I think that the video would look better if all shots were in a studio, similar to the songs official video. As you can see, there is a huge variety of shots in this video, this is good as it makes it more interesting for the audience; they have also used a large variety of effects on the shots however, I think that this can look very tacky and it isn't something that I would like to be placed in my video. Lip syncing is used throughout the video which makes the performance level very high standard, along with the dance scenes however, the actress looks as if she's shouting the song rather than singing it, making it unprofessional looking.

'First Date'

'First Date' by Blink 182 is in the Pop Punk/Alternative genre and I feel that this video portrays that well due to the reference to other bands and musical instruments within the video, these are elements found in actual pop punk videos. This videos is a mixture of narrative and performance focusing mainly on narrative, especially at the beginning of the video when the artist is acting in the library. There isn't a particular structure for this video however the motif the actor singing, playing the guitar and drums in the chorus is recreated in every chorus. The miss en scene is fairly basic due to the costumes, make up and locations to be ones that you can find in every day life however the use of a band tee is helpful in clarifying the genre of the song as this can be found in most pop punk videos. The only down side to the mise en scene is the props, this is because they have used an acoustic guitar when the guitar used was more like an electric one therefore, they should have done some research into the song before choosing props. The students have chosen to use a variety of shots within their video to make it interesting for their audience; shots such as close ups, mid shots and two person shots have been used to make the audience feel as if they know the actors involved. High angle shots are also used to show how to play the drum sequence of this song. The editing in this video is fairly good due to lots of cuts being used however, they could think about making the editing and the song synchronous just to make it a bit more physically pleasing for the audience. Another thing the students have chosen to do it have lip syncing as a large part of the video, this is good as the actor is clearly skilled in lip syncing however, he does get some words wrong so it is something to work on. As a whole, this video is quite good and entertaining for the audience, the only think I would seriously change is the props as they are wrong for the song.

'Put Your Records On'

The genre of this music video is R'N'B however, the video is not quite what i'd expect for this genre due to there being a great deal of narrative. This then leads me on to saying that this video is a combination of both Narrative and performance, focusing mainly on narrative; the performance part of this video is in every chorus of the song. The students have chosen to have the mise en scene as fairly relatable due to the clothes and make up being an everyday look that their target audience can achieve also, the location is a high street therefore making the video feel quite casual and understated. A variety of camera shots and movements have been used in this video, particularly panning up the artist and tracking to follow the 'couple' around, this makes the audience feel apart of the video as they are under the illusion that they are following the artist, close ups have also been used to conform with Goodwin's theory. The editing of this video is very good due to there being sharp cuts at a slow pace however, they have chosen not to edit to the pace of the music which makes the video a bit more unsettled but it still looks good so it is not a problem. The lip-syncing in this video is in the choruses and I feel that the actor has done this quite well but, you can see that she wants to laugh at some point in the video, making it seem a bit unprofessional.

Overall, I think that the is an extremely good video, there is a variety of camerawork, good lip synching, a good location and overall feel of the video; the only thing I would work on is the camera steadiness and maybe have the actor practise her confidence in lip-synching but overall, I really like this video.