Monday 24 September 2012

Analysing music videos: 'I wanna know what love is'.

So, to carry on with my research I'm trying to analyse as many music videos as I can. I've decided to analyse 'I wanna know what love is' by Foreigner. I chose this one because I'm trying to analyse as many different genres and different styles as I can. This video is performance/ a slight narrative.

Here's the video:


So to start off with:
Camerawork: The camerawork throughout this video is mainly point of view shots. The only significant angle change in a shot is the shot with the 'love interest' at the very end. However there are a few low angle shots to connote power when they're filming the choir sing. This is to poosibly show that the singing or the song itself empowers them and gives them confidence. The significant angle of the love interest implies that she could be 'an answer to his prayers'. He is constantly saying 'I want to know what love is' and this shot at the end of the video portrays to the audience that she is going to be the one to show him! It also ties up the narrative element, as we see her running towards the studio and to him.

Editing: The editing is steady throughout, and the entire video seems to be shot using dissolves as the transitions between shots. This gives the impression to the audience that the struggles of every day life aren't just on you, that everyone goes through them from time to time. Also it is to linger on the previous shot, putting more emphasis on the character we are being introduced to. This makes us recognise them when they all enter as a crown in the last section of the video. 

Mise-en-scene:
Props: These are mainly unimportant props such as bags, scarfs etc. The main prop we see throughout is the microphone that the main singer, Lou Gramm uses to sing. Obviously the song is playing all over the different shots, linking all of the characters together, however we don't know how they're linked until the end shot, where the entire cast comes in as a choir for the song. So the microphone was giving us a subtle hint of the link between the characters the entire way through. 

Another important use of props to portray things to the audience, is the shot where a building worker is hauling heavy piping work and the lyrics at that moment are 'feels like the world is on my shoulders'. Implying to the audience that he is working very hard, and rather than the lyrics meaning a mental metaphor, the shot shows it physically, emphasising the theme of hardship throughout the video. 

Costume: All costumes are vaguely normal. Most people could and would wear the costumes in this video. It could be used to portray the normality of these people in the video.

This video is a fantastically simple video. It portrays to the audience the hardships that people go through every day and the quest for love that every day people can go through. I really like this video because I love this band and this song but also because the lyrics are very simple and very poignant in realtion to the video. It shows normal people in normal situations and helps the audience to relate to the characters by showing these simple people. I could use a style like this for our music video because it helps people of all ages to relate and so we could have a very wide target market. Also this song isn't rude so it's available for any age to relate to.

More research to follow :)



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