Research into music videos with a political message

Radiohead- All I need

This music video is using a political message to show the indifferences in the world due to wealth and poverty and how wealth is not evenly distributed over the world. It is showing the parallel lives of two children from two very different backgrounds and how one child lives in a comfortable middle-class western environment, whereas the other child works in a shoe factory in a third world country. The connection between the two children in the video is that the child living in poverty is making the shoes for the westernised child. This is showing the differences between the two life styles and how children from third world countries deserve a better life. This is showing a politcal message as it is showing that something needs to be changed as all children should have the right for education and not have to work at such a young age. It also shows inequailty between two different sides of the world and how politicians need to do something about poverty in third world countries.


Anti-Flag- "1 Trillion Dollar$"




This music video is explaining the amount of money the US spent on the war in Iraq, and this video is all about what the money for war could have been spent on for example with one trillion dollars you could travel the world and get free college education as stated in the video. This is stating that it was wrong for the government to be spending that much money on a war and that the money should be spent on other things to help the people of America. This has a politcal message as it is emphasising the fact that the government have spent their money on the wrong things and also portraying that war is not the best option.

Initial Ideas

We have decided to use the song Burn by Ellie Goulding. This is because we wanted to use a female lead singer as we have got some creative ideas for a female artist. The song Burn can have many interpretations whch makes the song very open for creative ideas. The artist Ellie Goulding is Indie Pop which is what we want to match. However, we have decided to have depth and meaning in our music video by having a political view behind our meaning. As a group we believed we had a right to vote in the EU referendum even though we was under 18 as it was something that will effect our future. This is why we will be using the song to also portray how we feel about politics but to also use a generic Indie Pop artist to show this.

Our main artist we are using is Italian and we thought we could use her to reflect how leaving the EU could effect her life in the near future. For our locations we are thinking of renting out a big storage room for one of our locations as many pop music videos use this to focus on the artist. We was also thinking of going into london to places such as the houses of parliment to emphaise the political side of our music video.

 

Artist Research and the portrayal of the artist: Chris Brown- With You

Another artist I have researched is Chris Brown and in particular his song 'With You'. This music video differs to Taylor Swift 'you belong to me' as it is not an idealised version of the American dream as it is on the normal streets of America with typical buildings. In the video the artist (Chris Brown) is wearing a grey hoodie and lain jeans which is seen to be normal clothing and this is what he wears in his everyday life. This shows that he is trying to be himself whereas Taylor Swift was creating a new image for herself. 

Considering the actions taken by the artist in the video, these are not things you would do in real life as he is walking down the street at night dancing and singing with someone playing the guitar next to him. However, this emphasies his talents suchas dancing and makes him a more likeable artist. The reason he portrays himself in a way of a typical American person and a good dancer is so that he can be a good role model to others. This is so someone they look up to isn't too flashy in what he wears or where he comes from due to his actions and the setting.

In the video Chris Brown is portrayed to be a person who cares deeply for someone he loves as in the video he is hugging and caring for the girl at the end. However, his public personna differs as he is known for being violent in relationships with women for example the Assault of Rihanna during an arguemt in 2009. This implies that Chris Brown's music videos portray him in a different way to how he actualy can be. 

Like the Taylor Swift video the Chris Brown video has stereotypical represenations as Chris Brown finally gets the girl at the end of the video. This is similar to the Taylor Swift video as she also wins the boy at the end. The setting of the video is used to imply that Chris Brown is an ordinary person like anyone else as he uses ublic transport and is an urban setting. The editing is used to emphasise the dancing abilities of Chris Brown as there are fast cuts. There is also a slow motion effect used when the two girls drive past to show that they are looking at Chris Brown and are intrigued by him.

Artist Research and the portrayal of the artist: Taylor Swift- You Belong To Me

One music video that I have researched is 'You belong with me' by Taylor Swift. This music video is useful to research as it relates to the music video we want to create with a lead female artist. The music video doesn't take place in real life as it is an idealised version of the 'American dream',  for  example seeing the good looking person in the opposite window is seen as a perfect love story/dream. This implies that the video has a Cinderella type theme and is quintessential.

In the video Taylor Swift is portrayed as a very innocent young girl who has a nice nature and wins to boy. However, her public persona is that she dates lots of men and writes songs about them. Also, in the video Taylor Swift dresses quite geeky in the video as she is wearing large 'nerdy' glasses. This is not necessarily what everyone wears, nevertheless she is wearing comfortable pajams which shows Taylor Swift is being portrayed as a trypical teemage girl. In the Video both Taylor Swift and the male charatcer hold up notes saying "I love you", these thing would not necessarily be done in real life which again emphasises the idea of the idealised version of the 'American Dream'.

The reason Taylor Swift portrays herself as an innocent and kind hearted young female is that it shows her to be a good role model for young girls as she is not exsposing her body in the video which means parents are more likely to buy her album for their young daughters rather than a Miley Cyrus Album as she exposes her body. In the music video nearly all characters are stereotypical as the attractive cheerleader (played as Taylor Swift) is portrayed as a spiteful person and the innocent geeky girl ends up getting the boy in the end. Also, the male charcter is stereotypical as he plays football and falls for the geeky girl at the end of the music video.

When considering the editing there is a lot of slow motions effects to emphasie the representations of certain characters. For example there is a slo mo of the Dark haired cheerleader when the boy goes to hug her in the car as she flicks her hair looking at the geeky girl. This represents the cheerleader as stuck up and emphasises her stereotypical charcter even further. Another aspect which again emphasies the idea of the 'American Dream' is the setting as it is a typical American setting with the prom and the nice cars.