Analyses of music videos

Imagine Dragons - Radioactive 

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvTqknDobU

The Genre of this song is indie rock, electronic rock and alternative rock.

The artists are seen  in a dungeon, which potentially shows them as 'prisoners' or portrays them as 'weak'. However through out the video the main artists is seen repeatedly smashing a drum showing his anger and strength. The main driver of the video is female actress Alexandra Daddario who is well known from the film series Percy Jackson which may help to promote the video. Her character is very similar to the character she plays in the film series as she is shown as very fearless and strong. This is a counter type as women are generally seen as being inferior and weak.

This music video has a very strong link with its visuals and the lyrics the lead sing is always hitting the drum in time with the music. The artists  also breathe in and out when the song stops and starts. For the majority of the video the band members are lip syncing, helping the video link together with the lyrics.

Radioactive keeps true to a stereotypical indie music video as it has very dull, dark moody colours, however it does contain bright colours which take shape of the soft toys, which are the main focus of the video.



OneRepublic - Counting Stars

Link to the video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_nvWreIhg

Camerawork

One of the very first shots is a close-up of the main artist's back which tracks him as he slowly walks away from the camera. The slow pace of this scene creates tension because the audience is unable to see the front of the artists and what he's walking towards. Due to the low angles shot the artist looks superior to the audience and shows he has authority. The video then quickly cuts to two establishing shots, which show this dirty and mysterious building which they are in to set the scene.

Editing

This music video is filled with jump cuts between people in the religious group and the artists. These close-ups allow us to see all of the different characters in the video as well as their facial expressions. The religious is shown to be very excited or slightly possessed.

Mise en scene

Many of the characters are wearing dark clothing, which adds the mysterious feel of the video. At one point characters are dancing in one of the rooms of the buildings. This is quite common in pop genre videos.

Rihanna - Rude Boy 

This is a concept based video and performance based video. This is because it is slightly unusual and doesn't really have a story line and consists of the artists performing various dance sequences. This song would be put in the dancehall genre category.

Camera Work 

For the majority of the video the camera remains still, however there are a few close ups of Rhiannas
body parts, which could be linked to objectification. This is where the camera is focusing on certain body parts to arouse male viewers.

Editing




The video mainly consists of fast paced editing, which keeps the video flowing at a face pace to go with the lyrics of the song. This video also contains alot of green screen editing to implement special effects, where various words and images appear making the video more concept based. Many of these words once again objectify the main artist such as "Want, Want, Want" and "Boom, Boom, Boom".

Mise en Scene

Rhianna is dressed in very minimal clothing  which shows a lot of skin, this is quite common in her videos as it attracts male viewers. This shows her as a powerful and strong character, this is also supported with the constant references of her riding a lion. The lighting and colours of the video are very bight, which suggests youth and helps to capture the audiences attention.

Representation




The main artist is objectified sexually through out the video to capture generally male attention. The use of bright colours and mainly yellow red and black link it to Caribbean culture. This is also shown through the types of clothes she wears throughout the video.

Narratives and Themes

The narrative consists of little deep meaning, and is the theme is mainly sex. This can be seen by the constant references with words in the background, as well as the actions of the characters within the video.