Research from the past music videos created by my artist- Coursework

This What You Came For:

The music video of the song ‘This Is What You Came For’ by the Scottish DJ Calvin Harris and that features Rihanna was released officially onto YouTube on 16^th June 2016. Two months after the video was released, it received 500 million views. This doubled three months later to one billion views and by May 2018, yet again the figures doubled to over two billion views. The music video was directed by Emil Nava and Martin Coppen, who was the director of photography.

The music video’s narrative captures a giant white box, which is placed in a myriad of locations, for instance, near a mountain and the forest. Both of these locations express the notion of desertion, which may convey the assumption that a person can be in any location to enable them to want to dance to a beat, but it may also emphasise individuality and self- expression in isolation. The focus then shifts towards Rhianna who is dressed in a jumpsuit, surrounded by white walls within the giant box. 

When Rhianna starts to sing the song, the walls start to change colour, this mimics the lighting within a nightclub. The addition of graphics and effects of lasers projected onto the inside walls, begins to descend from all angles across the screen. The technology used throughout the music video for the projections submerges all angles of the backing video, which would allow for it to be displayed without suddenly changing the direction of the image and allowing it to play back in a 3D environment.  This firstly emerges by the wall starting to give off the impression of a door gradually widening, which alludes to the impression that Rihanna is being consumed into a crowd of people dancing. This could highlight the interpretation that dance/ electronic music draws a vast quantity of audiences for the consumption of the music. The walls produce images of a forest, a desert, a running horse, the motif of their song’s front cover appears on several occasions in and on the outside of the giant box and the gradual changes of the sun. The incorporation of the gradual development of the sun may demonstrate that regardless of the time of day, dance music never ceases to be played and is always there to be consumed.

Calvin Harris makes a cameo appearance in the music video, through driving a Lamborghini Aventador. This sports car is associated with wealth, which portrays to the audience that dance music is highly popular and makes you successful. At the end of the video Rihanna is shown inside the box, and the box is presented as being left on the darkened soundstage. Furthermore, this enhances the perception that when the music stops, this is when darkness         closes, suggesting that the lights go out when, the beat ceases.  

I have decided to choose this music video, owing to the highly skilled technology and the effective mise-en-scene. The use of low-key lighting and high- key lighting emphasises Rihanna as the star of the product; she is the unique selling point.

We’ll Be Coming Back:

I have chosen to use ‘We’ll Be Coming Back’ by Calvin Harris featuring Example. This song was the fourth single from his third studio album 18, and was premiered on 6^th July and later released on 27^th July 2012. The music video was directed by Saman Kesh and was filmed in June 2012 within Hollywood’s Hills that overlook Los Angeles. The location Hollywood is associated as the place where dreams happen and the connotations of it being filmed in America portrays the concept of the American Dream, where people can obtain wealth by working hard. In the video it depicts Harris and Example as robbers, who bury the goods that they have stolen. However, as they are thieves and are stealing in order become rich they are subverting the cultural myth of the American dream by cheating. The video goes on and Harris and Example return later to try to retrieve the goods, but they find that a police officer has got to the stash first and has left behind her police badge in a ditch as she no longer needs it, now she has this new found wealth. This links back to the American Dream ironically, as the police officer worked hard to find their buried goods and has been rewarded, but she has not conformed to the expectations of a police officer and has got rich through exploiting someone else’s illegal activities.

The reason for why I have chosen this music video:

1.       The shot is using a status symbol of wealth that is reflected on his sunglasses. A close up shot is usually used to express a characters inner thoughts, however the audience are able to see that he is watching what life can give you and that is a Porsche.

2.       This point of view shot of a long road portrays the aspect of endless possibilities and a   journey that is unfettered.

3.      The screen is divided into two to portray that Harris and Example are both on the same course with the same intentions.

4.       This shot type is very effective as it incorporates Example and Harris in the shot as well as their determination to reach the shown mark on the map. The map is shown as proxemically central in the frame, which shows that it is the main focus of their intention to retrieve the money, and consequently become wealthy. The shot communicates to the audience where the characters are going and what they are thinking without the usage of words. 
Cool:

     The music video ‘Cool’ is a song by the Swedish electronic musician Alesso, and 
the featuring vocals were by the American singer Roy English who a part of the former
rock band Eye Alaska as the frontman.
The music video was produced by Emil Nava, where it was filmed at Venice High

School. This is the same school as the one where grease and the music video to ‘Baby
One More Time’ was filmed. The music video contains Alesso starring as the protagonist
who is a nerd and who has an infatuation with his teacher. Alesso throughout is shown
watching films on how to dance properly. This allows for him at the school dance to
dance in the middle of the floor with the teacher. 

     This shot is zooming out from Alesso as the main focal point to presenting an establishing shot of the school location. 

      This is a long- shot , which highlights the school setting, as well as him being isolated. This may be inferred that when a person is dancing it feels like nobody else is there. Also this point is strengthened through the suggestion on the banner 
     of homecoming and the 
     word ‘dance’ is shown highlighting the dance genre of the music video and the main theme of the video. 

    The technique of the transition shot is very effective, in shifting from the locker room, to the library. It could be evoking that his dancing and feeling of being free and trying to learn to get better is continual as well as the locations he is dancing in is very atypical. For instance, a library is associated as being a quiet and calming environment, this is polar opposite to the track being played on this video. It may be further strengthening the  perception that Alesso is a 
       nerd, and that especially as it is set in a library he can learn to dance, dancing is available for everyone. 


This over the shoulder shot makes it feel as though the 
music video is real as he is  watching something on the screen. 
It heightens the sense of reality.