Analysis of Music Video - Loick Essien - Me Without You

At the beginning it establishes the location , it starts off with a long shot of a city, which i smost likely to be in America because then there is a  mid shot of a worn down and abandoned building ( which can mean that his song could have a relation to being abandoned and different shots of roads that are unfamiliar to locations in England.  There is then a mid shot of a girl, the camera is tilting from her neck to her face and you can already sense her emtions, she is unhappy which could mean that she is the girl that he is in love with, she looks like she doesnt want to loose the guy either by the looks of her face. The next scene is the Loick Essien in the middle of the road, mid shot oh himself with the background out of focus and the cars are moving, although the time of day is probably in the afternoon, the weather isn't sunny so you can feel that he atmosphere is intense.

There is then a shot reverse shot of the couple, you can tell that they ahve having problems with their relationship, by his body language. He turns his head away from her, makes the audience think that she may have done something wrong or she is going to do something that he wont like. However, when she opens the taxi door, everything becomes in slow motion and througout the music video, most of it is in slow motion, so this illustrates that his life is not right without her. When the song goes: "Try'na be the me without you" everything goes in slow motion and nothing functions properly this can relate to how he feels without her. 

He then goes down an escalator, which is going down and the camera is at a long shot high angle, this symbolises that he is at his lowest point and having that high angle can mean that he is weak and lost. There are other characters in his music video such as a teenaged girl who is most likely heart broken herself as this can be seen by her body language, her hand is on her heart and she is making a fist which could mean that her heart is tight or broken and her arms are also crossed so this can mean that she is closed off from the world she has no one. The people in the backgroundd are in slow motion and walking away from her, as if the world isn't against her and her man but just by herself. The slow motion is used in the music video when someone is heartbroken or missing someone, everyone is in slow motion but them, this can mean that everyone around them is getting on with their lives but their lives are going in slow motion because they have nothing to look forward to. This is also shown when a old man is at a bus stop holding a picture, again, everything is in slow motion but he is normal, he then kisses his picture and smile he may not be feeling unhappy but he is probably reminising about his woman. 

Both of the other characters are on the right side of the frame and Loick Essien is in the centre of the fram so you can tell that he is the main person, this needs to be established as there are more than Loick and his girl.

Analysis of Previous Student Work

I think that this music video is really good, when producing our music video it helped looking at students previous work and made us realise that if they were this good, it meant we could be just as good or even better   as we have the same equipment as they do. The music video has similar characteristic as a music video in the 90's, the over exposed effects made it look interesting and the words on the radiator, really sync in with the song. There are different scenes of her trying to plays games that are meant fro two players, by her self which goes with the song because she is waiting for her man. Looking through the window can symbolise that she is looking for him, waiting. There are quick frames of her one after the other sitting on the sofa in different positions, emphasising how bored she is. She is always wearing colourful clothes which illustrates her outlook in life, maybe be positive because there aren't any dim lights its always bright and colourful.

Analysis of Music Video - Bruno Mars - Grenade

The music video fades in and there is raining in the background and rain relates to unhappiness and sadness, he then picks up a picture of him and his ex/ girlfriend, missing or reflecting on their relationship, how they were in the past, it then suddenly smashes which tell the audience that they are over and symbolises their relationship status, but it also can mean that she broke them or she broke his heart, as the song is all about the girl breaking his heart after all that he has done for her. 


The use of dim lighting makes the atmosphere intense and depressing which relates to his emotions. The next scene is of him struggling with a rope and extreme closeups of his face which is overflowed with emotions and seriousness, we then see him pulling a piano along the road and the song sings: "I'd catch a grenade for ya" which means that he is doing this for her and that he would do anything for her to be with her but she doesn't appreciate it. 


While he is walking there is a homeless guy in the tunnel and the homeless looks confused while he is walking passed him which makes it ironic because the homeless guy is wondering what he is doing with a piano, this also goes for later when he goes past a man talking to himself near the bins and suddenly gets excited because he see's Bruno Mars pulling a piano and figures he is just as crazy as he is. He also comes across a gang with a dog, and starts of with a close up on the dogs face barking at the camera with shows intimidation and then the gang leader begins to walk up to him as a point of view shot at eye level which means Bruno is not intimidated and by what he has to over comes. He ignores all dangers and obstacles to get to her, struggling and doing anything for her. 


He is holding a picture of the girl he loves and is instantly smacked out of his hand by a gang member, which can be a signifier to him that he should let her go and that their relationship is over and she isn't worth it, but he picks the picture of and carries on walking. 
When he witnesses the girl cheating on him with another man at the window he looks down and goes away from the house. However, pushing the piano seems to get tougher for him probably because he is becoming weak from what he has seen, all the struggles that he went through just to see that. He pushes the piano but struggles more than ever up the bridge and the next scene is him watching rail way tracks. He next shot is over him on the tracks playing his piano and there is a close up of the traffic lights turning from green to red which can symbolise the end and that it is over maybe for him or for their relationship. There is then a long shot of him on the tracks while the train is heading towards him and it suddenly cuts just before the train is about to hit him.

Analysis of Music Video - Drake - Marvins Room

The music video starts off with a woman coming in to the frame, which emphasises that she is the woman that the singer, Drake is thinking about and just got out of a relationship with. The lighting of the music video is dim throughout even the lights, the rooms are dark and blurry, the saturation and the contrast are heightened to create an effect. This can show how he feels as he is drinking shots and bottles of alcohol, it gives the audience a perspective in what the singer is thinking about and how he is feeling, how he views his surroundings. You can tell that he is depressed, upset as normally these are the generic conventions for someone who is upset, as they would normally turn to alcohol. The camera blurs in and out and blends with other scenes and shots to show his mind state and what he is thinking isn't very clear, he laughs and smiles to himself shows that he is lonely, thinking about the good times, and just generally the effects of alcohol.


He whispers into a woman's ear, mostly likely something insulting, like objectifying her, as she looks disgusted when he tells her, this could mean that he is desperate and confused, because he has lost someone he loved to another person so he is trying to get women for 'rebounds'.  There are also extreme close ups of different parts this woman that he is missing, probably meaning that he is thinking about her in a sexual manner and missing her as well. In the party there are tilting shots of women's bodies, which relates to the male gaze, something that men would like to see in a music video and what would women these days normally wear to a party. 


While there is a mid shot of him, he is in the center which means he is the star of the music video and there are flashes a woman on a sofa in a long shot, which can mean that he is thinking about her  and as she is on the phone, she is thinking about him too.
In the music video there are high angled shots of alcohol and people smoking drinking and having a good time. Having a high angled shot of the alcohol and the drugs symbolise that they are bad and not good for anyone, at the same time the camera blurs so it goes put the audience in the point of view of being drunk or high on drugs. The camera fades in and out fast into darkness, which shows how his mind set is in a dark place, that the party isn't good for him, how ever he is trying to get his mind off the woman that he loves so he is there but it doesn't work. There is a tracking shot rotating around him and in the background there are all these women, that are just there but he doesn't want any of them. 


The camera is never steady and is always moving, in goes in time with the song but it also shows how drunk he is, when he makes his way to the toilet he bumps into everyone and everything is crowding him as if he is influenced under others, maybe even under fame, as maybe his friends are getting in the way of him. While he is in the toilet, he looks into the mirror this shows that he is reflecting on his life, most likely ashamed of what he has done as he puts his hands on his neck and rubs his face, which is a sign of unhappiness and remorse. When the girl that he loves asks if he is drunk on the phone, the whole song starts go really slow and the music video goes in slow motion emphasies on the fact that he is extremely drunk .

Website Analysis - Bruno Mars

The website created in combination with Bruno Mars's album release of 'Doo Wops and Hooligans' is really one to look at, If a fan was to go on the website, they would definitely know a lot about him and his new album. At the home page it starts off with a slide show on the side of images, and there is also a specific page professionally taken and personal pictures, there are also videos from him and his fans, and an event/ tour date page for when and where he is going on tour,s o that fans can know when to buy there ticket which they can also purchase on the website. There is also a biography of Bruno Mars , and also gives the latest new on him. The website really embodies the star image of Bruno Mars, with that kind of vintage look it brings out from his pictures to the colour they use on the website. There are also links to twitter and Facebook, because these days it is common for someone to have a social networking site, this is where they can go on his fan page and 'like' his page or 'tweet' him on Twitter. On the side of every page there is a feedback tab where users can say what they think about the site or Bruno Mars.

Artist Information and The Reason Why We Choose him

JR Aquino is a unsigned Filipino singer and song writer who was born in Anchorage, Alaska. In 2005 he also signed up for American Idol 4, where he made it to the final cut down; he was in the top 44. From then on he concentrated on his music posting covers and his original music on YouTube, which as been a hit with 444318 subscribers. He has also been on tour for the past year visiting the UK, Australia and all over the USA. He also released a debut album on iTunes called 'Exposure' in 2010. We choose J R Aquino because he is an unsigned artist, he has a unique image and voice which makes him different from everyone else, having this creates a unique star image for himself. We choose his song because although making a music video for "What We Started" may be a challenging task; as it is a slow song, we wanted to challenge ourselves into making a suitable music video for the song as it didn't have its own music video in the first place.

Diary Entry 9 - Uploading Footage = EPIC FAIL

Me and Sophiya had a problem uploading the footage today as Final Cut was not working so we have to wait till next lesson for technical help, the footage was not getting captured on to the program.

Diary Entry 8 - Day 5 Filming

Today is FRIDAY THE 13th! BUT, we still filmed the Fighting scene and Charlotte coming back, doing this a second time made us realise our mistakes in the past and helped us make today's filming better. The fighting scene was so much better and we thought through how to film Charlotte coming back so it went well. We also re-shot the breakfast scene and this time we actually used a tripod and zoomed in because it was too far. All in all the re-shoot was great and we got the footage we were aiming for.

Diary Entry 7 - WE NEED TO RE-SHOOT!

Today we looked at the footage that we filmed yesterday, most of the scenes were fine but in the Breakfast scene we didn't use a tripod as they wasn't any space, so the shot looks wobbly, in the fighting scene the camera moved too much, this was done one purpose as we wanted to create the atmosphere of chaos but this was just too much so we have to re shoot that scene again. We also had a problem with the scene when Charlotte comes back to Olly, this was not done properly and was really rushed so we also need to redo that again. We are planning to re-shoot on Friday the 13th.... 

Diary Entry 6 - Day 4 Filming

Today we filmed one of the biggest parts of the music video which creates a little bit of narrative, we arrived at Susie's house at 2:45 pm and filmed the:

• Dinner scene
• Game scene
• Fight scene
• Breakfast scene
• Picture scene
• Guitar scene
• Charlotte coming back scene

Overall, the filming went really well, although there wasn't a lot of space we managed, however we didn't have time to do the Dinner scene so we left it out (it was okay because we had more than enough footage), when it came to the fighting scene, it took too much time to get the actors to fight, as it was difficult to get into character  so quickly.We also weren't so sure about the scene where Charlotte comes back because we didn't plan it very well, but when we upload the footage on Monday we will be able to look at what looked good and bad. All the other scenes went fine but we will see when we upload it onto Final Cut Express.

Diary Entry 5 - Day 3 Filming

Today me and Sophiya filmed the balloon scene at Epsom Downs, right next to the race course, I think that the filming went extremely well. The weather was great to film in, it wasn't too windy and it was not raining so the balloons weren't effected when filming. This was the first time the two actors that are suppose to be a couple in our music video met and they got along really well so it was easy to get going with the filming. We found a hill where it was perfect for the couple to go up on, however, the hill was muddy and bumpy so it was quite a challenge using the dolly on the ground as we were trying to follow the couple up the hill, we managed it in the end and we got great footage out of it. We bought two red balloons and one black balloon for ONE (yes, ONE) take, so we were quiet nervous that we would have gotten the scene where the couple lets go of the balloon wrong. But we got it right in one take ,which was great as we were incredibly happy about the outcome.