Macklemore - Drug Dealer ft. Ariana Deboo

Macklemore's song 'Drug Dealer' is incredibly emotive as he sings about not being able to quit and the dealer's who make him addicted. Jason Koenig is the director, writer and the director of photography for this video. Macklemore's video shows emotion, with dark harrowing shots of the artist sitting in a shower and in a dark room trying to survive going 'cold turkey' against these drugs. The featuring singer on this track is Ariana Deboo, the audience sees her slowly drowning in the pills around her with extreme close-ups on her lips and face. 

The video opens with a close-up on Macklemore sitting in a shower, however the audience does not know this yet because of the tight frame and shadows hiding aspects of the scene. This creates enigmas so the audience pays closer attention to the footage. The footage is also unsteady because it is a handheld shot, this is purposefully done since the camera follows the timings of the singer's breathing causing the audience to become more involved in the scene.

The shot then matches off action swiftly to show him sitting in a shower with steam surrounding him, this answers the enigma of the audience not knowing where he is. I really like the steam surrounding him since it gives the shot a more intimate atmosphere.

The shot then changes again to another handheld close-up of a dark room where Macklemore begins to lip sync to the lyrics, the dark background of the shot with low key lighting causes his face to only be in focus - bringing attention to the sweat upon his nose and forehead. Also the audience focuses more intently on the lyrics, bringing more meaning them. 

The audience then sees Ariana Deboo for the first time in a close-up shot where she is left centre frame, the editor has used a similar effect to the previous shot with Macklemore - having half of the frame blurred. By doing this Koenig has caused the viewer to imagine themselves going 'cold turkey' and as a consequence of this having blurred vision. White and red pills are slowly filling the shot with Deboo becoming more surrounded by them, this shows how pills and drugs sometimes swallow a person whole and they can't get out.

Half way through the chorus the shot changes to a bird's eye view of Macklemore lying on a mattress, the mise-en-scene in this shot is very important as it shows the quality of life the artist's character is living in. There is a bare mattress which is quite clear to the viewer giving them the idea that the character has a lower class life with not much income for him to afford a bed and sheets. The walls are also dirty showing that he lives in a run down accommodation, because of the fact that he is singing about drug addicts the audience assumes that he may be living in a drug den or he has sold everything to pay for these drugs. In the left side of the shot the viewer can see an ash tray filled with cigarette butts, this causes us to believe that the character does not care about keeping his home clean. On the right side of the frame there is a silver bowl which we presume is for sick because as a side effect of going 'cold turkey' you vomit. Overall this shot provides the audience with information on the characters life and their personality. 

After this Deboo is shown again in low key lighting in a mid shot, the warm but dark lighting gives the ambience of being by a fire and with the light glare by her head causing me to first thing of it as a feather and therefore feeling like the scene reflects a native american vibe however I do not think that is the intended purpose of the shot. 

I really enjoy the aesthetics of this shot with an extreme close up of her lip syncing to the lyrics, the shadows at the top of this shot causes the audience to fully focus on her lips.

We see the previous shot before but from a different angle where we see the depth of the pills, this is also quite psychedelic because the camera has a transparent divide between the pills and the camera. The blurred effect is again used here adding to the psychedelic effect.

This shot is a mid shot with low key lighting, the aesthetics of the footage are really nice with what seems to be sunlight hitting upon the background of the shot, this causes the smoke from the cigarette to become easily visible and the audience become entranced as a dances away from Macklemore. 

The shot then switches back to Deboo now near completely covered by pills and as the song draws to an end we see her become swallowed by them. This shows the more negative ending of becoming a drug addict as she is overpowered by them.

However at the end of the video we see Macklemore's character at an 'AA' meeting where he has overcome his addiction, the room has high key lighting - this is contrasting to the previous shots which had heavy shadows in them. The lighting in the scene suggests that this is a calm and peaceful atmosphere. This shows that his character has 'learnt his lesson' which provides the audience with a happy outlook on life at the end of the video because 'all is well' with his life.

I think that this video is very good with an expertise shown in keeping the audience engaged even though there is no dramatic storyline running through it, because the beauty of the shots and the interesting editing effects the audience become entranced by it and they fully listen to the lyrics - therefore bringing more meaning to the piece.

Hey Violet - Guys My Age

This music video was uploaded two days ago, and as I was searching today I found it. I love the colour and lighting scheme of the video, I've heard of the band before: 'Hey Violet' however I've never watched their videos - only listened to the audio. However I hadn't heard of their song 'Guys My Age', I enjoyed the song as well as the video however the video is simply incredible for the lighting aspect.

Here are a few screenshots of the music video:

The footage has a filter over it to replicate dust and marks on actual physical film, I like this idea and may use it in our own video for the beginning and end of it because it gives a weathered look to the footage.

They have also included light flares over the footage whilst changing the colours of the lighting scheme. I also like how the have positioned the singer over centre and have out of focus behind her.

They also have many band shots showing them playing the instruments and singing along. They have set it in front of a dinner and followed the lighting scheme of pinks, purples and blues. 

The footage also showcases shots of the band members playing their instruments, we can include similar shots to this in our own video. 

The footage of the whole band vary in shots and length of them, this is nice because it gives some variation to the video.

The video also includes some cut away footage, not showing a particular scene but giving the viewer different shots to become interested by.

The singer also looks in the mirror during the video, this is something we plan our actress to do in our video we can follow a similar look with her hair being out of focus in a deep shot. 

She also writes on the mirror we could edit our original plan to follow the idea and film it in an almost psychotic way with lots of jump cuts and distortion.

The footage shows all of the band members we can also use this idea.

I like the close up on the members with only their hands or faces showing it creates a more intimate feel to the video.

Overall I feel that this video was very well executed with the lip syncing and playing instruments on point, and that the lighting scheme has given me more ideas about our own lighting.

By watching this video I feel that I know more about how we are going film our band scenes and how we are going to light our sets, this has helped because before we were going to fix the camera in one position and not move it for the band shots apart from close ups. I feel inspired and influenced by this video.

Here is the full video: 

The Weeknd - False Alarm

Recently I have been searching on Youtube on their 'Trending Music' page finding music videos which can inspire me further, whilst searching I have found several videos which I really enjoy and are modern - they may not directly influence our media product, however I will gain more background knowledge on music videos and will know what is popular currently.

Whilst searching I found a video by The Weeknd which already had gained millions of views. After watching I found that I really enjoyed the music video called 'False Alarm', it was emotive and intriguing and it looks incredible. I really enjoyed how the guns shots and the beat match, and the first person narrative. The lighting scheme was also great which is surprising because I believe they filmed the video in only a few shots because the footage is all continuous except from the end.

Here are some screenshots of the video:

This is the opening shot, the viewer doesn't first realise that the footage is being filmed in first person narrative so we think that this is just an establishing shot, which sets the scene of a bank robbery.

It is only when the actor begins to move that we realise it is first person, as they move around we see more of the set and the action that it going on. 

I really like the colour scheme for this section of footage, it has an green/yellow glow that is cast over the set. 

The location then changes to a getaway van, during this the video reminds me of a video game one like: GTA 5 or Pay Day 2.

The lighting scheme is really incredible throughout the whole piece, the light glares and flares really put a cinematic feel to it.

It is only at the end when we find out the identity of the robber, which is the actual singer - it's a nice a twist to the end of the video.

By watching this video it has inspired me for our video and for future projects, the premise of a music video which looks more like an opening for film or a trailer for a video game is incredible especially the amount of popularity it has gained in such a small time.

The full video down below:

Daniela Andrade's Visual EP

For about 3 months now I have been subscribed to Daniela Andrade on YouTube, I originally found her through the music streaming site, Spotify, on a playlist. Recently she has uploaded the music videos for her visual EP; Shore, it has 4 chapters with the second being my favourite because of the lighting scheme of blue and the shadows.

The opening shot is beautiful, I really like the font of the title because the simplicity of it - the sunrise in the background also really styles the footage giving normally a boring/common image a new look, which is amazing. This shot also begins to set the video, the houses in the foreground are white with colourful sides to them, this is a style that isn't typically used in the UK or USA, it is more common in latin countries - so the audience can depict from this that it is a foreign country possibly Mexico or Spain. 

I also really like the warm filter on the footage which again gives the audience the impression that the country where they have filmed this is warm, supporting my earlier thought of it being a latin country which are warm.

During the editing process I will turn the temperature of the footage up to give the impression that the video has been shot in summer.

The shot then pans around to show the protagonist walking through the shot. I really like the colour scheme of the shot with pinks, purples and blues being the main colours. The shot is also hand-held which is shown by the shakes of the camera however the crew have a steady-cam to combat this.

The shot then pans round again following the actress and shows a establishing shot to gather that she is somewhere foreign like I previously thought.

It then quickly changes to a follow shot of the actress again, this is hand-held also with a steady cam is this obvious due to not having tracking rails in the shot. I also really like the blue walls, which the editor has made more saturated so it is more vibrant and striking.

The next important shot is a close up of her face as she is walking, this again is a hand-held steady-cam follow shot. This shot is important because the audience can view the actresses emotions, we will include similar shots within our media product also.

I really enjoy this shot, the shadows and contrasts between the houses is very appealing to the eye, I hope to have similar visually appealing shots in our media product.

In this long shot we see the protagonist walking through the shot, this is another camera angle which we could use easily during the filming process

Another visually appealing shot. In which we could use something similar.

I really like the video's transitions where the directors have the protagonist falling to the side and then rising back up in another setting.

We can use similar shots of the protagonists in our video walking across a beach.

This is a establishing shot which is strikingly attractive, the flowing shots melt into each other as we see the actress walking towards a stream.

Within our product we could include artistic and abstract shots of trees. alike Daniela Andrade's video.

By being based by the sea I feel that it would be detrimental to not include shots of the sea because it is such a big aspect of our lives.

I like the ripples shown in the footage and I think we could use similar shots in our own product.

The previous stills are extremely attractive with their colour scheme and the layout of the footage, I think that I could incorporate the colour scheme of the desert setting into our footage because it would compliment the footage of the beach and sea.

The match on action of her mouth, is a technique that we will include in our product for when the band is lip-syncing - which is a typical convention for indie pop music videos.

I like the shadow effects because they are enigmas when you first see the image however your eye recognizes the shapes solving the enigma. Enigmas are important to products because it causes the viewer to carry on watching.

I feel we could use a similar lighting scheme in our product with a dark scene and red lighting highlighting certain parts of the actors face or objects in the shot.

I love this colour scheme used in these two shots, I feel that they're are so visually appealing to the viewer that they can't help but be intrigued.

The use of shadows within this video is key, the striking contrasts between the well lit shots and the dark shadows causes the eye to focus on the two figures.

I like the ending shot of this how the footage slowly zooms out to give a view of the scenery, therefore anchoring the story and shot.