UNIT 29 (Music Video) Task 2
STYLES, CODES &
CONVENTIONS
MUSIC STYLE
Source
MUSIC VIDEO STYLE &
NARRATIVE
MUSIC VIDEO 1 - 2014
MUSIC VIDEO 2 – 1991
“I Got U” Duke Dumont feat. Jax Jones
“Do You Want It Right Now” Degrees of
Motion
“Do You Want It Right Now” was released
in 1991 and saw the start of a decade of
popular dance music releases from a
variety of artists including Robin S, Corona
& Haddaway mostly from around Europe
and America. The song is a typical, high
energy, fast tempo song of the era and is
one of the many from the 90’s of which are
classed as Club Classics.
“I Got U” was written and produced by British
house DJ Adam George Dyment and comes
across as a summer feeling dance song of
which fits into the category of house music.
Dyment is one of a line of new an upcoming
British house DJ’s of which are enjoying
worldwide success from producing such music,
often featuring the vocals of the other
established artists and new upcoming singers.
Dyment is also part of a growing trend of music
producers receiving a full artistic credit despite
not singing the song.
(Wikipedia, 2014)
The “I Got U” music video was produced closely
with the theme of the song in mind, focussing
on showing a summer theme and satisfying
what people come to picture during the
summer (i.e. exotic locations and lots of
sunshine). The video features the producer
himself at the start, during and at the end of
the video and cuts between two locations, one
of which is in the UK and a second location in
Thailand. The videos narrative sees the
producer (who is acting during the video)
receive a package at his home in a rainy UK. He
then opens the package to find a large, virtual
reality style headset that when worn, it
transports him to his ideal summer location, in
this case being Thailand. During the Thailand
scenes, we see different snapshots of a person
taking part in a variety of activities in the exotic
location but during this, we see small snapshots
of the producer back at home imitating these
activities in his flat in a comedic way. During
the Thailand based scenes, we view the
experience from the first person, as if we were
looking at it being there and or wearing the VR
headset. The video appears to be more of a
mini drama rather than a music video as we do
not see anyone miming along to the lyrics for
the duration. The video certainly has the feel of
a commercial during the Thailand scenes in
particularly and has some feelings of it being an
(YouTube, 2011)
The “Do You Want It Right Now” music
video is very representative of the style of
music video and music of the decade,
seeing mainly a high-energy dance routine
with the artist mining along to the music in
between. This song features two main
distinct pieces, one being the high-energy
dance routines by usually a group of ten
dancers and the cuts whereby we see the
lead singer mime along to the song. The
video sees very fast cuts between shots and
the camera is often moving very quickly.
The video does not seem to have any story
behind it unlike modern music videos and
chooses just to demonstrate the song as a
great anthem to dance along to in
nightclubs particularly. The videos high
energy really adds to the face pace and up
tempo of the music and makes the listener
want to join in. The video is so
representative of the era and because it
was a highly used way of making dance
music videos during the time, it is actually
filmed in the same location and with the
same dancers as another one of the songs
performed by the group called “Shine On”.
Source
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Source
EDITING
Source
LYRIC INTERPRETATION
Source
advertisement for travel agents trying to sell
holidays to exotic locations during the summer,
away from what we perceive as a typical British
summer.
(YouTube, 2014)
This video contain relatively professional
cinematography, mixing a use of typical dolly
and tripod shots during the UK scenes and a
head mounted point of view shots for the
Thailand scenes providing a different
perspective on the scenes. During the UK
scenes, there is a noticeable grey texture to the
colour pallet giving the impression of it being a
grey and wet day in the UK. During the Thailand
scenes, there is a much richer colour selection,
with bright sunshine and blue skies featuring
throughout, giving the impression of it being a
dream and desirable world. The Thailand
scenes were shot using a head mounted
camera, giving us the first person perspective
making it feel like it was the view taking part in
all the activities and also giving us an idea of
what the producer was seeing through the VR
headset of which he receives at the start of the
video. The video was shot in full HighDefinition giving us a crystal clear view of the
environment and making the video even more
immersive for the viewer.
(YouTube, 2014)
This video is mostly cut just before the beat
and this provides enough time for the viewer to
see what is happening but keeps the visuals
moving, maximising the amount that can be
placed within the duration of the song. The
edits are quick cuts of which jump to various
different activities in different location giving it
a holiday highlights feel rather than a complete
story.
(YouTube, 2014)
After looking through the song’s lyrics, it has a
close link with the video of the song of which
sees the main character meet up with a female
partner enjoying what it seems as a holiday in
the Thailand region. The lyrics mainly talks
about the experiences of which the couple
have had since being together with the visuals
acting like a flashback to one of those
experiences while on vacation.
(AZ Lyrics, 2014)
(YouTube, 2011)
(YouTube, 2011)
The Degrees of Motion video was shot
completely at night time with the building
of which they were performing in front of
being lit with both bright while lights and
smaller yellow tinted lamps. The video
contains very fast camera movements and
often features motion blur as the camera
pan extremely quickly. The camera often
moves side to side on what it seem is a
dolly with the addition of a few camera
crane shots when the performers are as a
large group or are on one of the buildings
balconies. Again, this is very reminiscent of
other video from the era of which often
uses very fast camera movements and
angled camera shots. Extreme close ups are
also commonly used in which sees the
performer dancing in an out of the tight
frame.
(YouTube, 2011)
This video has very quick edits and jumps
harshly between different scenes giving it
its fast pace. Again this video is edited to
the beat of the song and gives the viewer
an impression of the up tempo nature of
the song.
(YouTube, 2011)
In terms of lyric interpretation, there is no
real lyric representation during this music
video with aim of representing it as a dance
anthem being the main focus.
(YouTube, 2011)
MIMING AN LIP
SYNCHRONISATION
Source
VISUAL EFFECTS
Source
This video does not contain any mimed lyrics The lead singer of this song does mime
and so miming and lip sync is not applicable to along to the song during the video and
this video.
some synchronisation issues can be
spotted. In some parts of the video, miming
delays to the lyrics can be spotted.
(YouTube, 2014)
(YouTube, 2011)
This video is majority filmed as a Live action This video is also most live action with
video also though some enhancements are some fade in and fade out transitions
made during shot cuts and some on screen between shots of which can show some
distortion has been added during key transition image overlay briefly during the transition.
periods.
(YouTube, 2014)
(YouTube, 2011)
Bibliography
AZ Lyrics, 2014. DUKE DUMONT LYRICS. [Online]
Available at: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dukedumont/igotu.html
[Accessed 17 June 2015].
Wikipedia, 2014. I Got U. [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Got_U
[Accessed 17 June 2015].
YouTube, 2011. Degrees Of Motion - Do You Want It Right Now (Official Video). [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXzsW6lEfWg
[Accessed 17 June 2015].
YouTube, 2011. Degrees Of Motion - Shine On (Official Video). [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBfhuq6sOZQ
[Accessed 17 June 2015].
YouTube, 2014. Duke Dumont - I Got U (Official video) ft. Jax Jones. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHCYHldJi_g
[Accessed 17 June 2015].