Textual Analysis of Music Videos

Tinie Tempah - Frisky

(directed by Tim Brown)

• I counted how many shots there are in 1 minute of the video, starting from the beginning and there are about 60. This means there is gruffly a cut every 1 second. This makes the video seem quite fast past, although the beginning of the song isn't particularly that fast at all.
• The genre of this music is hip-hop/dance and the music video uses the same voyeurism as other videos in this genre. There are female dancer on display around where the video is set. The dancers aren't always dancing around Tinie Tempah, but are around the location to fill up the video and to add sex appeal.
• Lighting is a very high priority feature of this video, because the video is set in a castle type place, the natural lighting will be dark. The unnatural light can be seen quite easily because it makes the video more surreal. Also the dancers use torches when they are dancing in the dark.
• Most of the time when Tinie Tempah is singing he uses direct address, but there are also times when he is looking a different direction or the camera is set up at a different angle on purpose.
• The dancers don't look into the camera that much at all, only happens occasionally, this is to show that they are being watched. When they do, they seem to be giving a dirty look at the audience, this fits into the the genre of the music and the costume that they are dressed in.
• At the beginning there is a simple synth sound for the start of the music, this fits well in with the flashing bright lights changing colour. Then when the main music starts just before the first verse, the location and lighting gets darker and this goes with the minor sounding music. In the chorus, the colours of the video go quite deep and there are lots of sepia tones, greys are dark blues.
• There aren't really many close ups of Tinie Tempah and more close ups of the dancers around. There is a constant appearance of the beginning where he is standing with the background that changes colour. He is positioned in the middle, but it isn't really a close up as such, more of a medium camera shot.
• From watching this music video quite a few times I can't see a narrative plot to this music video, but there is definitely performance when they are rapping throughout the video. I would say that because I can't see a story unfolding the video is concept.

The Blackout - It's High Tide Baby

(directed by Daniel Gomes Production Company)

• I counted how many shots there are in 1 minute of the video, starting from the beginning and there are about 55. I have researched this in two completely different genres and looked at other music videos and there seems to be 55-65 shots in 1 minute of most music videos. Obviously, if I chose a slower song, there may be less shots but the ones that I have looked at contain a similar amount.
• The genre of this music is rock/alternative and the beginning of the video doesn't seem to start with a story just performance, but then the chorus comes in and a story seems to emerge. A female enters and this is when typical voyeurism could start.
• The band are performing so there isn't necessarily much direct address. This singers do look into the camera at certain points of the video. When the story aspect comes in to the video, there isn't much direct address apart from when the women are standing on their own. They are looking into the camera, but it also looks like they are looking beyond the camera to the band who are playing behind. The musicians in the band don't seem to look into the camera at all, if they did, I don't think it would fit in to the video. The musicians also don't seem to be part of the story of the video.
• This video is mainly performance, so the beginning of the video relates to the music very well because it is just the band 'playing their track'. The lyrics relate to the part where the women come in and make a story.
• At the beginning there is a close up of the guitar player's guitar and some of the cymbals on the drum kit. When the singing starts there are a lot of close ups on their faces both with indirect and direct address. There is a close up of the first woman who comes into the video, she is using indirect address and looking beyond the camera. The second woman comes in and there is a close up on her and she is using direct address, but then she looks away and the remaining close ups are of her looking away.
• This music video is mainly a performance based video and throughout it shows the band playing. Then just before the first chorus the beginning of a narrative story starts. They really needed this because if it was just performance based the audience would just get bored and switch it off.