Love on Top - Beyonce ; Analysis

The music video and song itself is very in time with each other, she dances to the beat and sings along with the words. This makes it feel as though she is performing to the person watching the video - especially because she makes a lot of eye contact with the camera. This would keep the audience watching because they feel more involved with her performance and would therefore want to see it through to the end - to see what finale she'll give them.

Her costume changes happen in time to the music, where she goes up a key she 'ups' her outfit - getting more glamorous as she goes. She starts with a black leotard and military hat, this makes her look as though she is just rehearsing and that this isn't the big performance. Then as she goes up in keys her outfits become more sharp - such as the white suit, then up to the cane and then the big finale where she rips off her trousers to reveal her body. This can make her seem sexualised, especially as the camera focuses mainly on her the further into the video it goes - but it isn't over the top and doesn't make you think twice about her motives for the video; it's simply to have a good time through dancing and singing.

 

Although Beyonce's outfits are low cut in this video, revealing some of her cleavage, she doesn't attract a lot of attention to it - it's not emphasised. Her legs are given a lot of camera time rather than her chest or bum, but again it isn't taken over the top. The outfits and the editing are in time with each other and the music, to keep everything flowing and efficient and not to make it look out of place or massively noticeable. 

Analysis of a music video - Love on Top by Beyonce

Beyonce Knowles recorded the song 'Love on Top' for her album '4' and it was produced by Shea Taylor. The music video is performance based, with Beyonce dancing and singing infront of microphones with five male back up dancers along side her. She keeps the audience interested by changing outfits, showing her dancing expertise and the various different shots that she uses throughout.
The song is of pop genre, and this is felt with the up beat and happy video to match the song - you can tell because pop genre is supposedly 'feel good' and a slow video doesn't make the audience feel happy.
Although there isn't a narrative alongside Beyonce's performance, her changing outfits and back up dancers keep the video flowing and interesting.
New Edition's 'If It Isn't Love' video was one of the main inspirations for this music video, with the chorepgraphy and song lyrics reflecting that of the video and the song.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7vObnFUJc - the link to the video 'Love on Top'

Song Choices

23rd June:
Today I've been thinking about what kind of songs that I'd like to use. I haven't yet decided what type of video I would like to use but I think that if I keep my songs varied slightly then I have a flexible selection to choose from.
Originally I thought of using a song that has powerful singers, so that a performance element can be used in the video. Songs such as Anastacia - One Day In Your Life crossed my mind; this way I could put a narrative strand along side it following the story that the lyrics give me.
Then I thought "What if I decide that I don't want to do a narrative based video? What song would I use then?" and so I thought that maybe I should go with a song that has a beat behind it but progresses throughout the song - one that stayed in my mind was Clean Bandit - Dust Clears. This song is easy to sing along to, has a distinguishable beat and even has a melody that flows and can have dance choreography easily attatched to it.
I then thought about how I had only really thought about relatively up beat songs - what if I wanted to do a slower video? I thought about how Lana Del Rey video's looked - like a polaroid picture, with not always brilliant camera quality; giving off a kind of vintage and old look to her videos. 'Summertime Sadness' for example has a host of different shots that I would be able to replicate bearing in mind I have no budget for my music video.
Eventually I came down to these three songs, and another. Disclosure released a song on their album 'Settle' which really stuck with me when I heard it on Radio 1 this morning - it's called 'Confess To Me' and features a female singer called Jessie Ware. This song has a beat that I really like and can see many different ways in which I can interpret this music and create a video and PX for. The song has a beat that can be danced to and has quite abstract lyrics which I realised were missing from my other choices - what if I don't want my video to make sense, per se?
Links to all these songs are below:
Anastacia - One Day In Your Life                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RIlAPC6U3w
Clean Bandit - Dust Clears                                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdfL2nY-Xs8
Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVjsGKrE6E8
Disclosure ft Jessie Ware - Confess to Me        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MfLZM7kvy0

Different Types of Music Video

In our lesson we have been looking at various different types of music videos. These videos include different genres of music and different styles of video.
For example, we looked at PERFORMANCE BASED videos. These specialize in featuring the artist performing for most/all of the video and usually consist of close up and intimate shots of the artist, making them the centre - e.g Lady GaGa - Edge of Glory.
Another type of video we researched into was NARRATIVE BASED videos; these consist of performance elements from the artist but also have a narrative strand that can either go with the lyrics or have nothing to do with them at all - e.g Gwen Stefani - Cool.
And lastly, we looked into CONCEPT BASED videos. These may not feature the artist at all, and are usually rather unique; they are usually based on an idea or concept - such as Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice.

We watched many other videos in class and I went further by looking into some of my own, such as Hero by Enrique Iglesias and Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran.

For performance based videos (looking at Lady GaGa - Edge of Glory specifically) have to change shots and angles frequently to make sure that the audience doesn't become uninterested. The crazy outfit and makeup that she has in the videos are emphasised through different shots - where a mid shot and long shot shows the audience the extent of her costume, and the close ups of her show the creativity of her make up and her wig. This will keep the audience interested as well her performance elements because there is always something new and different to be watching. She also promotes her other talents through the performance element e.g dancing. Her routine will give the audience other things to watch and take note of and will therefore keep them interested in the video.

Narrative based videos consist of the artist performing as well as a strand of narrative that runs along side it - Gwen Stefani's 'Cool' is an example of this. 'Cool' has her in her bedroom singing (sitting, lying down) and the camera always moves when it is on her performance. Unlike 'Edge of Glory' Stefani doesn't perform, she just sings. This reflects the feel of the song, and the narrative does as well. The lyrics and the narrative are closely related. The narrative will have to vary in shots and movements to make sure that the story can be followed and hold interest to the audience. The narrative must also have some sort of closure or sign of an ending so that the audience are satisfied with the end of the story - just as a good book must have just as good an end.

Concept based videos are more abstract than the other types of music video. For example, 'Weapon of Choice' by Fatboy Slim doesn't really have a narrative and doesn't feature the artist at all - although the performance element is throughout. The dancing and the flying elements of this music video are what hold the interests of the audience, and because the mimer is Christopher Walkin whom many people know because of his success as an actor. Concept videos can be about nothing at all and still be successful, such as 'Latch' by Disclosure.