Past Student Analysis
This music video was created by a student from our school last year. The main reason I have chosen to do an analysis on it, is because the main male character in this one, also happens to be the same person who is the main character in my video - So it is good to see how he acted, and possibly what he will be expecting from it this time round.
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| Effective use of text |
The first thing I noticed, which I quite like, was the use of text above the image at the very beginning. I'm not sure whether that is an essential or not (I doubt it is) but I thought it made it very professional looking; and made it appear as a real music video. The layout of the text looks quite good, and everything appears to be done quite well. The choice of colour is suitable and the use of italics is quite effective in making it look realistic.
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| Good use of split screen |
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Small continuity error
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| Starting the overkill! |
This video saw a lot of the 'specials' being used, most noticeably, split screening. I thought the first few times, it was really good, and linked well to the story; but after a few, it began annoying me! I understand that the story was linked to the two characters 'Intertwining', but I thought that could have been made as apparent, if a couple less were used. It is a sign to me that even if its in the narrative, over using it can still really cause an 'overkill' effect. Despite this, technically they all have worked quite well, and I can imagine the use of them is respected by the examiner. (just personally, I think there is too many!) They also used split screen in the other manner, where the camera is kept in the same place, and the image is multiplied etc. I thought this was used very well, and looked really good - except one small mistake in continuity I noticed, where the grass had been cut quite noticeably, however, it could be argued that the grass was just sectioned?!
There were sections in the video where the transitions worked with the beat, which I really liked. One particular one I liked was the one where the girl spins around, but is done in stills, and the turn happens along with the beat. This is done perfectly, and is to the millisecond is on the beat! It also occurs several times throughout the film. This is really effective, because in the particular song chosen, the beats are quite powerful, and the actions in the film really emphasise the beat in the song. I did get a screenshot of this, but you can't really tell what's happening, so I didn't bother.
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| A little bit of fun! |
The lip syncing is also perfectly done by Max (the actor I'm using) and he doesn't seem off at any point. This is good, because really, if the lip syncing is off, the whole video can be ruined, and it will look awful! This is important to remember, because I don't want that happening!
The use of the 'extras' to pop on to the screen adds a little fun to the video. (to go along with the fun nature of the song) Despite this add on being used more for the 'fun side', I think the people who done it, have actually done a good job with the lip syncing; from what I can tell, it's spot on! I quite like the use of the extras as well!
I do like the link to the lyrics that this group have used in their video. They have followed Goodwins theory quite well on this one. The lyrics state that 'Like vines we intertwine' and in the video, we can see that a vast majority of the time, the male and female characters are practically doing the same thing, as they walk towards eachother. This is shown through split screen, which is why there is so (too) much of it.
Most of Goodwins theories have actually been abided by in this video, actually. Rather than talking through them all, I will place screen grabs with a caption specifying the theory it is linked with ...
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| Goodwins theories in use in this music video |
As you can see, there is no use of voyerism and no use of intertextual references; however, I feel that it could have been spoiled if it would have tried to include these things
Overall, I think this is a good music video. It hasn't tried to do anything too fancy, which I like; because if you try too hard, and it doesn't pull off, it can look rubbish! I thought the acting was good from everyone, and overall, the editing is really good. I look to incorporate some of the positives I have seen from this, including the clever uses of goodwins theories, and also the use of splitsceen (the 2nd one I mentioned) as I think its really effective.
