Researching Music Video's

I will write about and research four music videos so I can compare them and gain some ideas for my future music video. I have decided that all my music videos will be by Arctic Monkeys because, they are my favourite band and I have watched the following music video's many times so I feel comfortable talking about them. Despite the video's being by the same artist, they are all very different.

1. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

In this music video, all the band members are in a bar having drink. A very drunk and possibly drugged up Alex Turner sends multiple texts to a girl called, "Stephanie" without a reply. He then leaves to pub and heads towards her house, but on his way he hallucinates and see's Stephanie everywhere he goes. He eventually knocks on the door (of the wrong house) and continues to text but she still doesn't reply.

This music video is a narrative as it tells the story of Alex Turner. In this music video, they follow some typical music video conventions, because the artists are in the video, and specifically follows the lead singer. In addition, the music video relates to the title of the song. This is because, the band (mainly Alex Turner) are drunk and drugged up, referring back to the word in the title "High" which is a term used if someone has taken a drug. Also, Alex tries to text a girl in the video referring to the words in the title, "Why'd you only call me". If you put the two together it makes the title, "Why'd you only call me when you're high?". If the girl Alex tries to call in the video answered her phone to him, she may even ask, "Why'd you only call me when you're high?".  In this video, they're lots of effects to make it look like the audience are seeing what Alex is hallucinating. One example is when Alex has to phone on the palm of his hand and it made to look like part of the phone is stuck under a layer of skin. The camera movements are very simple as they just follow Alex's journey around the pub and streets, and the cuts are slow paced, to follow the song.

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the song, as it is slow paced editing. In addition, you can see all four band members so that will appeal particularly to Arctic Monkeys fans. I also think that people will enjoy the narrative as everyone over the age of 18 has probably had a similar experience. If I had to be critical of this video, I think that you may have to watch the video more than once to fully understand the entire video. But overall I think that this video is a well made video that and tells the story of the lyrics really well.

2. Brianstorm

This music video is meant to be a filmed performance of Arctic Monkeys performing in sparse sepia set. Not only this, they're are fast paced cuts to different angles of the bands performance, clips of female dancers, stock footage from old medicine educational video's, and brief flashes of objects that are in the lyrics, such as, "Brian", "Jacuzzi" and "Lightning" in place of thunder.

This music video is a performance based video with lots of choreographed dance routines. Because it is a performance based video, it follows the basic music video conventions. It does this because it shows the artist, Arctic Monkeys, in the video, and in addition to this by adding images into the video that are in the video such as, "Brian", "Jacuzzi" and "Lightning" in place of thunder. This video is edited to the beat of the song. This means the video is very fasted paced to keep up with the quick beat of the song. This means they're are lots of cuts and required a lot of post-production work to edit it all together. There is lots of colour blending and amplifying so make it stand out to the audience. The camera shots are very still with little, to no camera movement. The camera angles change a lot, they use everything from an extreme long shot, to a close up.

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the song, as it is fast paced editing. In addition, you can see all four band members so that will particularly appeal to Arctic Monkeys fans. I also think that this video will appeal to people because the video showcases what the band can do. If I had to be critical of this video, I think that adding in stock footage is all well and good but I don't think that in this case, it doesn't make sense to add in footage of medicine footage. But overall I think that this is a very good video as it shows off the band and it is well edited to fit the beat.

3. Cornerstone

This music video shows the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner, singing/lip syncing the song alone in a white room during the whole video. There is no camera movement and when you watch it, it feels that you and Alex are on your own and Alex is giving you a private concert.

This video is a performance based video that is well played by Alex Turner as he shows a mini narrative with his actions. It is well choreographed even though Alex doesn't have to do a full dance routine, but just simple gestures. Alex Turner is in this music video but the rest of the band members aren't. This is a good thing because it makes to video more personal but it might be a bad thing because so fans might want to see all the band members in the video. In the video Alex Turner talks about his rejection by women he meets and when he says the lyrics "No, you can't call me her name" he writes out the word, "No" in the air. This video is all done in one shot so there isn't any editing required. The camera angle doesn't change, but instead, Alex moves closer and further away to keep the interest of the interest. If I had to be critical of this video then I'd say that it is a bit plain and some people may find it boring.

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the strip-backed vocals as it is very personal. In addition, the lead singer is in the video which will appeal to Arctic Monkeys fans as they will instantly recognise him. I think that it also appeals to the audience because, it shows a more laid back style to what people had see before, and inspires Alex to go through with his solo side project. If I had to be critical of this video then I'd say that it is a bit plain and some people may find it boring. But overall this is a good music video as it shows off a side to the band that Arctic Monkeys fans hadn't seen before.

4. Do I Wanna Know? 

This music video is animated by Blinkink and begins with a simple black background and simple visuals of white wave sounds that move in synchronisation. Firstly, moving along to the sound of the guitar, and then to the voice of Alex Turner. Coloured waves come in later in the music video, which illustrates other voices. The simple sound waves then turn into more detailed animations that morph into a variety of objects such as, a woman, a car and racing images. The video ends with the familiar white line morphing into the "AM" initials. This video creates an unusual experience that is rarely seen in a music video. 

This music video is clearly animated and is based around women and racing. It could even be described as random because of how the animator seems to get every image to link to another and interact together, as if they were in their own world. None of the band members are in this music video but are at times, represented by their own sound wave, for example; Alex Turner is the white wave, Matt Helders (drummer and backup vocalist) is the blue wave, Nick O'Malley (bass guitar and backup vocalist) is the yellow wave, and Jamie Cook (guitarist) is the red wave. This helps the audience recognise their roles within the song. This video has a lot of lyrical interpretation for example, the lyrics say, "I wanna know what time it shuts, simmer down and pucker up", the animation goes to a woman closing her legs to her lips pouting. The idea of this video is to use sound waves to help the video progress, the video moves with the beat and tempo of the song. 

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the song as it follows the beat very well. In addition, even though the band aren't in the video, the video gives them there own sound wave so it feels like they are in the video. If I had to be critical of this music video, then I'd say that it can look a bit complex at times and may seem difficult to understand. But overall I really like this music video because its something different to what they had done before and theres not many music videos out there like it. 

Conclusion

Despite all these video's being by the same artist, they are all completely different. Brianstorm is based on a performance with the band, plus dance choreography and shots of old medicine video's. None of the other video's have this. Do I wanna know, is all animation which makes it completely unique from any other Arctic Monkeys video. Cornerstone breaks plenty of conventions because only Alex Turner is in the video, plus it is all filmed in one shot and there is no camera movement. But my favourite video is Why'd you only call me when you're high, this is because it has lots of effects and really tells the story of the song very well.