Music Video Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

Inspirations are essential towards the planning of a music video as you can become aware towards what elements are used within a particular music video. As I am researching more music videos, I can then become more aware towards what I like and what I find more effective when making a music video. I can gain more ideas towards what I would want to use. This is a good way to look at successful music videos and get more knowledge and understanding towards why a particular thing is used and how it benefits the music video as a whole.

One music video which I gained inspiration from is from the artist Amy Winehouse with the song "Back To Black." I gained inspiration from this music video by analysing the micro element of editing. Throughout the whole video, it is shown in the basic colours of black and white. Using this filter, allows the audience to watch the music video in a gloomy, depressing manner due to the little colour it represents. I think this would be extremely effective particularly for the genre of soul, as it connotes a deeper meaning towards the emotion of the artist. Allowing a deeper meaning towards a soul music video is extremely successful as it shows a clear evaluation of what the artist is trying to convey. Using this editing style also sets an instant mood towards the music video, the audience are able to see how the artist is feeling towards from the colour of the video. Soul music videos stereotypically all consist of very upset narrative, performance and lyrics. By including particular types of colour to set a mood is a effective as it is another manner of sad representation from the artist towards the audience.  This is an effective use of colour schemes, and I would think that it would be extremely successful to include within parts of my music video to set an instant tone. I was inspired to use this within my music video to allow another micro element to be conventional towards the genre of soul and to also instantly set a mood of a particular scene to the audience. This is also the artist that I am going to use for my music video, which allows me to gain ideas from the particular representation of her music videos as I can then understand ranges of elements which she used to make a successful music video. I am going to use this type of inspiration within my music video in the flashback scenes. This will immediately show the audience that this particular scene is in a past related time. During this scene, the audience will be able to see the artist and her ex boyfriend on a date, they will be shown to be very happy and affectionate, which will then emphasise the contradiction towards their current relationship which is very negative.

Another music video I gained inspiration from was the music video "I'm Not The Only One," by Sam Smith. This artist mainly makes songs which are in the genre of soul. I think this is an extremely effective music video. I gained inspiration from this music video due to most of the music video being mainly narrative based. I think this would be effective to use within my music video as it will allow the audience to almost be apart of the story and experience with the characters. This is effective as it allows the audience to learn more about the characters, as they are being educated towards their personalities, how they handle particular situations and their current mind set specifying in emotion. This then enhances the bond between the audience and artist. This would also be beneficial towards the genre of soul, which I am particualating for my music video as it allows a sense of sadness for the audience. Allowing a narrative base is successful for a music video as the audience can get more of an insight towards the situation and not feel like such a stranger towards it, it can make them feel like they are apart of the situation due to the level of detail they are being exposed with within the situation. This then allows the audience to develop a relationship with the artist, as they can witness what has happened to her which made her so upset, and are able to sympathise for her making it effective. This is an efficient use for  a music video, and I think that's why I gained inspiration and a range of ideas from it. I am going to relate this type of music video style narrative based within my work to enable the audience to be told a story throughout the video. This can relate to a love situation, her mind set and how she is feeling, this will show her vulnerability which the audience will admire as the artist is opening up to them. Within my music video, I was inspired to use narrative based throughout most of the duration of the video. This was used to show a more in depth detail towards the personality of the artist and how she handles certain situations. This style is shown within the flashback date scenes, party scenes, and walk of shame scenes.

Another example of a music video which I gained inspiration from was the music video "Good For You," by the artist Selena Gomez. This song is also a slow pace song, but ranges more in the R&B genre. I gained inspiration from this music video by one of the points which Goodwin states which makes a good music video. One of which is 'Voyeuristic representation of the female body.' This enables female artists to be perceived as a sexual icon, and attractive by many audiences. By displaying themselves in a sexual manner allows the audience to be talked about more via social media, which only freely promotes the music video. This is an effective use as it shows the artist to be mature, attractive and desired. Involving this element within a music video allows attraction from male audiences, as men wish to see them in a sexual manner if they find them attractive, and also female audiences as they can envy the attention the artist is getting from a high male audience and then look up to them for their physical purposes, such as clothing trends, hair styles, positioning of the character and more. Goodwin's theory point is shown throughout the music video of Selena being naked in the shower and in different costume changes of little clothing. Involving subtle uses of this would be successful for my music video, as it can interpret a range of ideas from audiences like she has to dress in a certain way to connote a meaning, i.e dressing with a short dress on, showing she wants attention from a variety of people to temporally hide the fact that she misses her one love and is the only person she isn't getting attention from? Another theory point which is used from Goodwin is 'relationship between lyrics and visuals.' This is shown all throughout the music video of her singing towards the camera in sync with the lyric of the song. An example of a verse which this is used in is "let me show you how proud I am to be yours..." This inspired me to include this within my music video as it would represent the artist in the light which me and my group are aiming for. We are trying to represent her as very sexually, rebellious and more careless attitudes.

Another music video I decided to analyse was "Player" by Tinashe feat. Chris Brown. I liked how the music video was created to show the artist fighting for love, this is shown through the sophistication of dancing like they are fighting, this music video is an interesting comparison towards how artist sings and presents love within music videos. There are a range of micro elements used within this video. One of which includes mise en scene, setting. The setting remains the same throughout the whole video, which is shown to be very plain, being all white and a very spacious room, with no furniture at all. This is effective as it's use allows the audience to not be distracted by background scenery and can fully focus on the artists and characters dancing when using a long shot. Another element used is editing. This is used to clearly show the audience that there is some sort of match taking place, expressed through the language of dance. This is shown through added round numbers upon the footage.This is can be seen as similar to a boxing match rounds, this shows the artist is fighting for something bigger than a trophy. There are different types of lighting used, which range from natural high key lighting to then dark low key lighting which portrays it is now night time. This is effective as it shows the battle is not quick and takes a while which requires patience and dedication but she is still motivated as she is not shown to be tired but energetic through body language. Her hair and makeup is very subtle to represent a natural beauty and does not need to work hard to get male attention. The style of this song is very upbeat and fast. The representation of the artist is shown to complete Goodwin's theory of voyeuristic representation of the artist, through tight clothing. She is also shown as dominant as she is not letting the men win the 'battle' and is fighting for her independence. This inspired me  to use the element of female dominance within my music video as it would have a good meaning behind it to teach young girls to stay independent, strong and to not let a man take over your life. This was used within my music video to perceive my artist as very reckless and careless towards the fact that an ex boyfriend to trying to come back into her life. This shows that she lives for herself and makes herself happy, showing dominance. This would be consisted throughout the whole music video.

The last music video I decided to analyse was by the very much well known artist Katy Perry with her song 'Wide Awake.' I particularly liked this song as it was very conventional towards my chosen genre of soul, and there are a variety of examples throughout the video to back it up. Low key lighting is used throughout the duration of the music video to instantly represent the mood of the music video, which is very depressing and gloomy. This type of lighting is effective for the genre of soul as it shows a sad setting. Green screen is also used within the music video to show a surrealistic scenario, this use of editing shows the audience a deeper level of the artists vulnerability as she is opening up her mind towards a large audience. The style of this video varies with narrative and performance base style, I was inspired to use this within my video to show various styles to make it interesting, personal and effective. The artist representation is shown by her being in a very dark place, however throughout the video the audience are able to see her evolving more positively, showing her confidence and independency levels rising. This shows she lives for herself and pushes boys away, which I think is an interesting and effective concept to use within my music video also. I was inspired to include this in order to have an extraordinary, refreshing and alternative music video towards the genre of soul. This is essential to use in order to show the artist living her life positively and not getting upset over a low life boy who only broke her heart, which is generally seen within the typical soul music video. An example of a theory used within the music video is Goodwin's theory of close ups. These are used to be conventional towards the soul category and to clearly show the artists facial expressions in more detail and ensuring the audience is not distracted from any background situations. I was inspired to use this within my music video to represent her independency and single persona. This is extremely effective as it will show she is perfectly content with being one her own which shows she is not vulnerable and insecure. Using this element within my music video would be highly effective due to how rare and extraordinary it is when specifying within the soul genre, as many female soul artists are shown to be mentally broken by someone who has taken them for granted, and are constantly overall very sad and depressed. This representation of the artist will be shown throughout the music video. I also admire the dark colours which are presented within the music video. I was inspired to use this within my music video to show a convention towards the soul genre. I tried to include as many conventions as I can due to the contradiction the artists persona is portraying throughout the video. This juxtaposition can easily convey to the audience that the genre of the music video could be more in the indie, pop genre. This can be perceived due to the unfamiliarity the characteristics have, as the stereotypical female soul artist is usually shown in a complete different light, such as sad, depressed, angry etc.

There are a range of artists and songs which I have gained inspiration from which would be beneficial for my music video. The main artist which I am looking at is Amy Winehouse, as I admire how different and alternative she is, she shows similar elements within her music videos but presents them in a different manner, which only intrigues me to watch more of her and admire her work. I like her songs 'In My Bed,' and 'Stronger Than Me.' These two songs fit well with the genre of soul and would be efficient to use some ideas I have been inspired by to include within the songs. Another artist I have been inspired by is Lana Del Ray as she involves her work to be more in the genre of indie. I like how her work is very simplistic but can connote a range of deep interpretations, which make her music very effective. Another example of an artist which I have gained inspiration from is Adele, her music is very bold with lots of power involved. This allows the audience to have a clear representation of the passion she portrayes throughout her songs. Some of the songs I thought would be successful to make a music video of is "Someone Like You." I admire how passionate her work is and how much meaning it has towards it. This would be effective to include within my work as it would immediately show the audience how enthusiastic and how much she is into what she is trying to portray towards the audience.