Music Video Research

I looked at a number of Paramore music videos, because although they only have one female members of their band (the lead singer), she is the band member that is slightly kooky, edgy and is the lead of the band, which is something we plan to do in our music video. After watching a number of their music videos, it became clear that the focus in every video in on the lead singer, whether it be in performance layers of their music video, or narrative layers. 

I looked at Paramore's video 'Monster' to do some research in music videos and Paramore as a good influence towards are music video due to the main, edgy lead singer. The video uses multiple layers, including performance and concept.

Performance: During the performance shots, the focus is around Hayley Williams, the lead singer, and a lot of the shots of her are close ups of her singing with passion and emotion. There are also many montage shots of the band's instruments and the montage shots vary alot, from high angle shots and low angle shots to a tilted frame, all keeping the viewers interested.

Concept: The concept shots start of with Hayley Williams lying in water, singing, which is also a key element of our music video. The focus is around her in the concept parts of the song, but her band members are also in later shots lying in the water next to her, and play small roles further on in the video. There are shots of an abandoned building on it's own and deserted rooms which introduce the setting to the concept layers in the story, that the band members gradually join. At the end of the video, as the band are running through the abandoned building, they end up in the room where they have been performing throughout the song, adding a twist to the end of the video.

The editing between the concept and performance elements of the music video is not smooth. All the shots have been put in as a montage to create the bands image as the edgy band that it is and keep viewers engaged and interested. As you move towards the end of the music video, the montage becomes even choppier and quicker, connoting that the song is building up and reaching it's peak and the main chorus. Although the video is split into performance and concept, there are 3 parts to the song; the shots in the abandoned building, the shots of the band lying in water, and the performance elements of the song.