Above is George Ezra's music video for his track Blame it on Me, it appears to follow Goodwin's theory of having a demand for lots of close up's of the main artist, which is certainly fulfilled as the whole video is centred and follows Ezra on his journey down the street and also a reference to the Wizard of Oz at the start with the use of a foreign language to ask Ezra Are you sure you want to follow the yellow brick road? which can be conceived as either a threat or an invitation which intrigues the viewer to join the artist on this unknowing journey, which would coincidently last the same amount of time as the music video, thus encouraging them to watch until the very end due to the iconic reference anything could happen and due to social expectations the viewer is extremely likely to understand the use of intertextuality. According to Lynch' (1984) this video is performance and narrative, although it doesn't necessarily have a beginning, middle or end it focuses Ezra on his journey on the yellow brick road.
To start with camera angles there is a variation of techniques, for example the use of a establishing shot through the technique of tilt introduces the viewer to their surroundings for the next 3 minutes and 44 seconds and throughout there is a reference to different camera shots such as close ups to distinguish Ezra's feelings about the yellow brick road and his journey upon it, medium shots to, for example, emphasise the power of the rugby players absorbing Ezra and lastly long shots to emphasise a contrast between the artist and his surroundings, for example when there is a rain cloud over his head the long shot allows people to be eating ice cream and sunbathing at the same time, therefore reiterating that it is Ezra who is having a bad day and no one else. During the start of the video there is a shot reverse shot, after an eye-line match, using close ups and the use of reducing speed during post-production creates a stereotypical set up of a love story and puts the expectation in the audience for a relationship between these two to progress, and throughout the next few frames the camera will refer back to the girl to build up an idea of her being more than just walking past, thus suggesting 'love at first sight'.
Above is the shot reverse shot using eye-line match and close up.
Throughout the video the lighting remains and appears to be natural, therefore reinstating the idea of the everyday and that these events within the music video are everyday happenings and in no way are composed at all. The natural lighting coincides with the location as during the day walking down the street the viewers expectations is that the light source is the sun. The use of space and location is very well composed with just a street used it makes a short journey into a whole music video while telling a story and captivating the viewer, which is very effective as lots of other music videos tend to use various locations to appease and entertain the audience.
Above is Jake Bugg's Lightening Bolt which takes advantage of various locations to keep the viewers interest.
Props are another vital factor to the music video, they appear to come in three categories, the guitar and case fall into the general expectations of the viewer due to the singer/songwriter genre as the guitar is the stereotypical instrument played by the songwriter over any other instruments so the involvement of the prop conforms to the viewers expectations of a singer/songwriter, which conforms to Goodwin's theory that the genre has it's own iconography. The second category is to do with luck and karma through the use of bird excrement, which under superstition is lucky, and the paper drinks cup which Ezra litters with, hence the karma, this idea appears to be very relevant to Newton's Third Law (1687) where every action has an equal and opposite reaction this idea seems to spark off the rest of the plot line and is the basis of the music video. The final set of props appears to be through the technique of foreshadowing as the little boy has a toy gun but then towards the end it is escalated to the use of real guns. The use of such a dramatic elevation of the plotline keeps the viewer watching and absorbed, and every new problem appears to grow in severity to the point which we as a viewer and society would recognise as a 'bad day'. Finally there are more minor props which although contribute to the video, the plot would still persist without any difference, for example the ice cream during a hot day contrasts with Ezra under the metaphor of, a raincloud hanging over your head, and exaggerates it making the viewer accumulate sympathy for the artist.
Above are all music videos from the singer/songwriter genre with the artist and their instrument (guitar, as expected)
The costumes conform to conventions by appearing as normal everyday clothes and would accommodate the viewers expectations of the Ezra and extras being in normal clothes, as well as the police being in their uniform and the binary opposites of the criminals wearing the balaclavas to reiterate the normality of the day and to avoid the costumes taking away from the plotline. If Ezra was dressed up then this would make the viewer suspicious and could draw the audience away from the intended subject.
Within the video there are various editing techniques used to emphasise and mark the moment. For example the editing is significantly reduced in pace during the rugby players to accentuate their animalistic traits of a herd stampeding and that a skinny, tall Ezra has no chance against these well built athletes. The same technique is witnessed during the gun fight at the end, which could lead the viewer to expect that this is a build up to Ezra getting shot but this doesn't happen, changing his suggested bad luck into good luck as he survives.
Although the track Blame it on Me is played throughout the music video there are additional sound effects added. For example at the start a positive atmosphere is set through the bird song, which has uplifting connotations. As the song starts there isn't as much added sound effects but as Ezra's day gets worse the sound effects increase, so the aggressive nature of the dog is asserted through the added growl and bark and the realness of the gun fight is accentuated through the addition of the shots. It could also be argued that the sound effects are added to prevent the music being downloaded illegally through a YouTube Converter as people just want the track rather than the sounds with it.
An impressive visual effect is the rain cloud above Ezra's head which makes him wet and rains on his day, but this isn't there during filming and is added during post-production. This effect heightens the impact of the bad day due to the metaphor having a dark cloud over your head. As well as the sound effects of thunder the idea of a bad day for Ezra is asserted.
Representation is also explored within the video. The Policeman is a male which conforms to the stereotypes and the idea meets the expectations of the viewer as a male is seen as the more dominant of the two sexes, which is similar for the male rugby players being strong and overpowering. Yet the female is the criminal which subverts the viewers standards and subverts the stereotypes.
