Music Video Analysis- "Close Up"

Close Up's is one idea recognised in Goodwin's Theory to help promote sales in the single through the use of provocative angles particularly with female artists.

An music video that backs up this idea is "Single Ladies" by Beyonce.

The video was directed by Jake Nava, who has featured in many other Beyonce videos. The location of the video is said to be in New York City and features a black and white theme throughout. The video contains dancing from Beyonce and two other dancers.

Beyonce's outfit is very revealing and sexual and so reiterates the provocative angles that are a feature of this idea. Also she is always shown throughout the video demonstrating the 'close up' of the artist that can be used to brand them and their music.

Mise-en-Scene

The outfits used in this video demonstrate the way that close up's of women artist can promote the single and therefore their fame. Beyonce is wearing some kind of open costume that shows off many of her bodily features such as legs. This attracts the male audience who are drawn to this and the female audience who will look up to her, almost jealous of the way she looks. The lighting in the video stays continuous throughout with the darkness of the video being represented with the black and white filter. A few scenes in the video contain a white background that contrasts against the darkness of the outfits but the colour palette is still kept subdued throughout. No props are used in the video which is quite surprising as this can usually make a video quite boring. However the choreographed dancing keeps the audience entertained and makes up for the lack of props. This also helps the audience focus on the actresses dancing and more importantly the one in the middle- Beyonce.

Camera Techniques
One of the many camera techniques featured in this video is the high angle pan shot. This is used to show a more revealing angle of the dancers and almost appears as if they are chasing after the camera as it moves. Long shots are also a prominent angle used throughout the video as this reinforces the idea of representing the artist image and look can be fully displayed to the audience. Although the video uses this angle frequently, they use a quick zoom shot that focuses just on Beyonce and not the other two women demonstrating who the audience should be concentrating on as its her song.  

Performance
The performance of the artist is one of the key aspects of the entire video. Beyonce, accompanied by two other dancers, are dancing throughout to a well choreographed sequence. The way this video is constructed allows Beyonce to demonstrate her dancing ability and so entices the audience in, particularly the male audience who are attracted to her looks. The dancing makes the song exciting and quite fast paced.

Target Audience
The target audience for this music video varies. Lovers of Beyonce's music will most likely enjoy the song as well as the video itself and possibly fans of pop music will also appreciate it. The male audience may also be a fan due to the physical attraction to the artist and the outfit that she is wearing.

Music Video Analysis- "Contradict"

Contradiction in a music video is essentially when the actions are the opposite to the lyrics or name of song. Many videos contain this feature.

A video to represent this theory is 'Cool' by Alesso.

The video was produced by Emil Nava in 2015 in Venice High School. The location is famous for the setting of Grease and the music video 'Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears. The genre of this video is a narrative with a high school context to it.

The title of the song 'Cool' contradicts the actions in the video. This is because the actor (Alesso) is depicted to be a slightly weird and uncool character amongst the other people in the school. This is shown through a variety of techniques.

Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-Scene is a crucial part of the video that helps us understand how contradiction works in the video. For example, Alesso's outfit is representative of stereotypical school 'freak' who is not liked by many people. The round glasses and vest jumper makes him appear dated and unusual to the normal views on fashion. Also a scene shows him immersed in a book. This implies that he is quite a cultured and intelligent character who is possibly seen as a geek who doesn't fit modern society. This can all be contradicted to title of the song- 'Cool' as he is quite clearly portrayed as the opposite to this. 

Camera Techniques

A series of camera techniques are used to contradict the meaning of the song. For example many long shots are used of him by himself. This reiterates the fact the he is uncool and so lonely and isolated from other people. The wide angle shot shows the audience that he is quite an individual character as he tends to be dancing by himself around various locations in the school. However the most probable reason of this is his loneliness and the fact that he doesn't have many friends. Finally many tracking shots are used to follow him when he is dancing. 

Performance

Alesso's performance includes many actions that display his character to be weird and odd amongst his peers. One example of this is when he walks down the main corridor in school looking at other people in his year who are in relationships and groups such as the 'jocks', who are obviously popular in school. The glances to each side shows that he dreams of being amongst those groups instead of where he is now, envious of their positions in the school hierarchy. When he begins to dance, this represents that he has had enough of being looked down upon by others and wants to show himself for who he really is through the use of dance. As the video progresses, he is trying to almost revise on how to be 'cool' through the use of books and this eventually pays off at what appears to be a school disco as his change of outfit makes him more popular.

Target Audience

The target audience will be for people who enjoy Alesso's music and electronic music fans as this is the genre of the song.