Music Video Analysis 3 - I dont want to miss a thing - Aerosmith

The video that I will be analysing is I don’t want to miss a thing by Aerosmith, the genre is classed as a rock ballad as it hasn’t got all the usual characteristics of a rock song but the band are classed as a rock band. Some characteristics of the genre of rock is the dark clothing worn by the artists in the video, the use of the band playing their instruments is also common of the rock genre. Another feature that I will go into more detail later is the performance side of the video, most bands that follow rock have a way of performing which is very over exaggerated and in a style that differentiates from other genres.

When looking at the relationship between lyrics and visuals, the video it features the band performing the song which is intertwined with scenes from Armageddon as this song is the cover song for the film. The visuals in the video don’t entirely contradict the lyrics but they don’t follow a narrative story and give you some imagery to what the song is singing about, for example when he sings “lying close to you feeling your heart beating” the visuals show a bed of sharp nails around the artist singing, which doesn’t show a soft image of what he is singing but the opposite. Which again shows the genre as rock and very dark. When the band are performing you tend to see a negative image of what he sings about, but you are them given some illustration to the intertwining video clips. For example you see the clip from Armageddon where the wife and husband kiss and the song “and then I kiss your eyes and thank god were together” the image on screen creates a relationship with the lyrics and song.

The solo instrumental are made very illustrated in this video, which is probably due to the rock genre and promoting the bands image of playing their own music live with the singing. This makes the relationship with the visuals and music match well as whenever you here the drums or guitar on a slight solo you always see it on the screen at a close up view, highlighting the instrument in the song. The pace of the music always seems parallel with the visuals on screen for example as the tempo progresses faster in the chorus it reveals that the band is playing in front of what appears to be the fictional Space Shuttle with the actions of the musicians and the conductor gets faster and more movement is produced. Also along with Aerosmith, the full orchestra plays in sync with the melody

There are lots of close ups of the lead singer steven tyler and his band members, I think the image trying to be given here is that Aerosmith, even though they are a rock band they can also slow down the pace of their music and be diverse because this song is a lot more relaxed and sensitive compared to their other releases. The record company are also trying to sell this track through the use of a hit movie using the band as their cover artists of the movie. This gives Aerosmith even more of a diverse look to previous songs as it is the first movie track done. This video does still relate to their previous videos as they are always at some point performing through their video, but the rock ballad does change their image to show they are not different but are more widely talented in what they can do in music.

I don’t feel that the actual band have any sense of sexual display, although steve tylers daughter who is featured in the video does have some sexual impact through the facial expressions and body movements from the film Armageddon. Another image of sensitivity is shown through reflective objects and looking through camera lenses or TV screens at the lead singer. This has been chosen I feel because in one section

you see him through the TV with liv tyler touching it as if she misses it like the lyrics that are in the song “I don’t want to miss a thing” this brings a whole new concept to the song as you can actually see the father daughter interaction as if you are looking at it through their eyes, or as if you are looking through a window into their life.

There are intertextual references involved in the video as it is a cover track of a big movie so therefore the movie clips are intertwined with the performance of Aerosmith. The other massive intertextual reference is Steve Tyler’s daughter Liv Tyler being the main star of the Armageddon film and she has also featured in Aerosmiths videos before which adds to the stars image also showing how his life can relate to his daughters.

The music video I feel is mostly performative as the whole way through the band are on a stage and performing to the camera, also they bring in the orchestra and have close ups on the band playing their instruments. Although having the constant flashes from the film you are being told some sort of narrative based throughout from the film but the whole song doesn’t give you a short story so I would class this video as performative.

Music Video Analysis 2 - Taylor Swift - You belong with me

The video I will be analysing is Taylor Swift’s video for you belong with me. Music videos are not only to promote the song but show off the unique characteristics of the artist and their music. You can clearly see that Taylor Swift sings in the genre of pop, this stereotypical “pop” image is created through the use of icons such as the video being set in a high school, based around a teenage love affair involving the stereotypical characters of a handsome boy and his nasty girlfriend who totally ignore the stereotypically geeky girl who is in love with the handsome boy who she feels is out of her league to even be noticed. The story also consists of lots of costume change throughout which is a trend that runs through many pop videos. For example Taylor Swift goes from a T-shirt, to a band member outfit then lastly to a prom dress, this along with other dress changes in the verses shows her as a controversial artist. Another aspect of the video that relates to the genre of pop is using props to show off some wealth, like the convertible car that is featured and all the glamorous dresses gives off a stereotypical pop feel.

Now looking at the relationship between lyrics and visuals, the video is a narrative music video with some performance throughout as Taylor basically sings to all of the songs lyrics whilst telling the underlying story behind it. All the way through the video the visuals amplify the lyrics and usually reconstruct the images she sings about. An example of this is right as the lyrics start Taylor sings “Your on the phone to your girlfriend she’s upset” and you see the boy on the phone pacing his room which links the visuals and the lyrics together instantly, even though we don’t get to see or hear the girlfriend we can assume that she is on the other end of the phone due to the lyrics matching the visuals. This idea of following the lyrics with the visuals shows the narrative aspect of the song, which is also shown when the chorus is sung “she’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers” the audience is shown a quick shot of both the girls, the cheer leader and then her as a bleacher which is adding the image to the lyrics that she is singing about, which amplifies the whole message of the song. Another aspect of the song is some of it is performance based as we do see Taylor Swift singing throughout, although she is not actually performing to an audience live, she is still performing to us as an outside audience. For example she sings into a hairbrush in her room, which gives the idea of performing as she uses the hairbrush instead of a microphone which also adds to the narrative side as she talks about being in her room on a “typical Tuesday night” and then we see her based in her room.

The relationship between the music and visuals is all set in the same pace as the video, when she sings faster it goes with the beat which then makes the visuals speed up as you see lots of fast cutting between scenes of the video. For example when she sings “all this time I’ve been waiting at your back door” the beat gets faster along with her singing and therefore the visuals in the video get a lot more choppy and fast, the band jumps up and down along with the crowd in the background which is parallel to the lyrics and beat. This is also parallel with the solo instrumental of the electric guitar that is played just after the fast paced part of the video. The video at this point then slows back down with the actions of what is going on, we see the boy and his girlfriend arguing to the electric guitar giving the element of anger between them, this definitely shows that the video’s visuals change pace with the music as on every chorus “you can see that I’m the one that understands you… you belong with me” the tempo is raised along with the music, at every chorus the visuals always speed up. The first chorus Taylor dances around her room then you have her singing and dancing with the crown at the football game which shows how it all speeds up and slows down in a manner that keeps the visuals and lyrics adjacent to each other.

This video shows Taylor Swift as the same as her previous song Love story. The idea of her image is to show her innocence and I believe to give a simpleness to every teenage girls life, to forget about other issues and just be a teenage for a minute or two. I feel that the record label are selling this record by emphasizing the stereotypical teenage love triangle to relate it to every other teenager to sell the song and video. The video does represent a change to her previous video Love story as her image looks slightly older and more serious in its visuals, like the 18th century dress and medieval castle used as the setting. I feel this was to attract a wider audience with the video then with “you belong with me” another angle was taken as the song highlights teenage issues.

There is no reference to the notion of looking as the song and artist tends to be aimed at such a young audience therefore the idea of her being on sexual display doesn’t get included, the opposite of her being innocent is used throughout the video, which plays effect on the actual artist being innocent and her songs/lyrics. For example the use of very little makeup highlights her innocent nature and also the prom dress at the end of the song is white or a very cream colour which suggests innocence. Along with the constant dancing and smiling throughout this also shows the notion of looking is not as a sexualised display.

As for any intertextual references I don’t feel that there is any specific aspects except from maybe films such as “Cinderella story” when you get the quiet girl turning into the princess and winning the man, it could also be referenced to fairytale story’s and old films such as grease which relate to teenagers in love triangles.

To conclude this video is mostly a narrative video as a story is being told throughout which is parallel to the lyrics, this creates a sense of her personality as an artist and how she see’s life and stereotypes. There is some performance based included in this video as she does sing the lyrics throughout the song also whilst following the narrative storyline, this I feel adds to the pop genre and along with the props and ideas in the video like it is set in a high school with lots of costume change and bright lighting. I think that this video attracts its audience very well as it includes a range of diverse ideas for teenagers to relate to. She also sells herself very well as an artist through the lack of intertextual references as she can show she is an independent and different artist to others that are aiming to attract this audience also.

Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel

The video I will be analysing is Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer which was produced in the 1986, it was the first of its time to have produced a concept pop video that related entirely on the artist singing with changes of setting around, rather than the usual pop video’s before this were almost entirely performance based or live performance of the band or artist like The Monkeys. The video has no strong characteristics of a regular pop video at this time as it was an experiment of changing video history, the only characteristic is that the artist sings the lyrics all the way through the video.

There is a strong but quirky relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as every single line of the song is portrayed in the video amplifying the effect on the audience with the words he sings. For example a line of the song is “You could have a steam train, if you just lay down your tracks” this is then shown in the video going around his head. This concept idea of having every image that he sings about created on screen shows his personality is eager to try new approaches to his songs but it also creates a good way of his audience remembering his songs through the visuals. Another lyric is “you could have a big dipper, going up and down or round and round” this then shows Peter going down a rollercoaster that is pencilled on, but he creates the motions himself as though he is going down it in time with the lyrics. This video as it is the first ever digital video made my photographic images, he can play around with hair and makeup to create motion effects like how he does on the rollercoaster which fits in perfect time with the lyrics, like up and down he moves his head up and then down to the pace of the words.

The relationship between the music and visuals is very easy to pick out and notice, as the pace of the music never really changes until the very short chorus of 3 lines. Therefore the video does change with the pace of the music as with each syllable of a word the photographic image changes so for example as the pace goes “I - want - to - be - your - sledge - hammer” in 7 beats, 7 different shots are put on screen. In this instance it is the sledge hammer coming down on his head again relating the visuals with the lyrics. Because of the pace going with each syllable or beat of the song I feel that the relationship between the music and the visuals go together very well as you get to see a new part or image or sequence of movements with each line of the song.

The whole video is a medium close up of Peter Gabriel the artist singing each line of the song, I feel that this was done to show off his new style after leaving his rock group Genesis in 1967 and starting his solo career as a pop artist. This unique style I feel was the main selling point for the record label as no one had tried this before. Therefore this video represents a whole new change of image for the artist compared to his previous videos with his band Genesis. I think the image trying to be portrayed here of the artist is a new fresh faced solo artist trying something different to every other pop star around which would instantly get an audience through the use of this new technology in his video.

I don’t feel that there is much reference to the notion of looking towards Peter as he would be recognised already through his band, but I do feel an image was given to represent him as a good looking pop star to attract the girls to his new look and genre. There is one part that I feel may slightly be there to promote him on sexualised display to the women, which is towards the end of the video he dances with a group of people, whilst changing shirt. He is wearing tight black trousers also which could be used to promote his assets which he didn’t do in Genesis. Although this may show some sexual display I think that it is more to show his new look and image after leaving the band.

I don’t think there are any specific intertextual references included in this video as it was set out to achieve a whole new world of technology and future development therefore it was not necessarily needed. Also as he was a new solo artist like Taylor swift they used themselves to promote the video through the singing and visuals. He did use his surreal ideas through to his tour by distorting his face through lenses on stage and mirrors and wearing unusual make up. One intertextual reference I feel that he strongly used throughout this video is his idolism for David Bowie through actions and makeup in the video.

The video is totally a concept video as the ideas portrayed are very surreal and unusual compared to other pop videos, an up to date video that uses similar concepts is “crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. They both completely rearrange the characteristics of a usual pop video and add their own ideas in to create their image of themselves rather than follow the stereotype. The song is also per formative which is always close up on his face which again adds to the surreal feel of the video. Overall I feel that this video shows a brilliant concept based video as it promotes so many different ideas and images but also shows strong relationships between the visuals and lyrics and the music and visuals.