The first one we felt particularly inspired by was "You've Changed" by Sia. It has a very interesting visual style, full of mise-en-scene like DIY props and eccentric costumes in order to create this style. The whole video is presented as a video game featuring various young people as the playable characters- the on-screen graphics are simply cardboard pieces held up physically by people's hands, which are sometimes shown in shot. The colour scheme also work towards this simple, playful style, as it is simple and pastel coloured, and the various gestures by Sia and the actors also convey this. The video also swaps between performance and narrative with a bit of crossover- some shots show Sia singing, and some show the characters in the game, but they all share the aesthetic as if they are all part of the same game.We decided we could incorporate the use of young people, i.e. people from our target audience, into our video, as well as the idea of referencing pieces of media such as video games. We also assimilated the pastel-coloured, DIY aesthetic of the video into our overall video ideas- besides the fact that we can easily create props and costume that looks like this ourselves, it also provides a fairly unique visual style, that we can tweak and put our own spin on.
"You've Changed" by Sia. A very unique music video, which doesn't really move the camera around or change shot types (as is conventional, and as we are planning to do,) but that still manages to provide a varied experience through its constant switching of cardboard background and foreground elements. We really like its style. Click to play.
Another video quite instrumental to our ideas is that of the song "Ghengis Khan" by Miike Snow. It has references to popular culture and pieces of media like the Sia song- in fact, the whole video is a parody of spy movies in general, and James Bond movies in particular. We really liked the direction it took- once more, performance and narrative are mixed, with the characters who are acting out the narrative also singing as performers. The contrast between normal home life and the James Bond-esque over-the-top villain's lair was also quite interesting, as was the constant movement between extreme long shots and close-ups and everything in between. Filters have been used to make the video look like an older movie, and there is a strong colour scheme of bold colours like the red laser against plainer colours like the grey stone. The romance theme is also interesting to us, as we are leaning towards the idea of having a love-based storyline- the lyrics reflect the actions of the characters as well as the storyline, as the villain is torn between acting out his role or giving in to his feelings and admitting he wants the secret agent to be with "nobody else but [him.]" Finally, the video ends on a small outro scene without music or singing, which is an idea we were already toying with.
"Ghengis Khan" by Miike Snow. Elements of post-modernism are found throughout, with the references to pieces of media such as classic James Bond films, as well as the positive portrayal of a homosexual relationship, which you would be unlikely to find in said older movies. Click to play.
The third and final video we decided to research in more depth is "When I'm With You" by Best Coast. Another video that deals with love through exploration of a popular culture icon, "When I'm With You" depicts a relationship between the singer of Best Coast and a slightly edited version of Ronald McDonald, the clown mascot of large fast food chain McDonald's. Once more there is a strong visual effect on the video, achieved in this case through warm lighting and filters. The camera jumps between a variety of shots, as well as quite a lot of movements, and the camera follows the characters through the events of the video. The intertextuality of Ronald McDonald appearing in this video was very interesting, especially as he has been put in the real world in a normal relationship with a person not originating from a piece of media. Aside from love, another big theme of the video is "remembering good times," which works quite well in tandem with love, so we may well end up using this theme too.
"When I'm With You" by Best Coast. An inspirational video from one of our top inspirational bands, which contains a lot of the themes and camera shots, movements, etc. that we are considering using. Click to play.
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