http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F5hFana8JA
I will be deconstructing ‘Change’ by Daniel Merriweather. Daniel Merriweather is a fairly new artist, he was first noticed after making some successful tracks with Mark Ronson, and he later released his debut album ‘Love and War’ in June 2009. This single was in the top 10 at number 2. Daniel Merriweather’s genre of music is R&B, indie and Acid Jazz.
After watching the video over several times, it was obvious to see that the music video is all performance based. This conforms to the typical music video you would expect to see for this type of artist. Also as he is a recent artist, we want to see more of him (Daniel Merriweather) rather than a story. As the audience we feel as though we can connect a lot more with the artist, if they are singing to us and telling us the story. An example of this is ‘the notion of looking’, which is used through-out the video and makes the audience feel part of the music video (making them feel important) and are therefore more likely to watch the video.
It is important to notice the locations in which the performance takes place, as instead of a narrative being told through the visuals it could be thought that it was being told through the locations we are shown in the background shots of the performance. There is a small link between the visuals and lyrics, for instance the location shows a run-down estate, and in the lyrics he is talking about the two different lifestyles and how it is such a difference and how nothing is going to change for him.
I believe that this music video does not show that much creativity, although is there for one purpose, which is to help promote and sell the track. It is used as a tool, to gain sales and market the track. This is very important for the track and the artist. For instance if a consumer watches the music video and likes the track they are then more likely to purchase and download the song. Due to this track only consisting of performance I therefore do not feel that much experimentation has gone into this video, and could not be called art.
Through-out this video there are many tracking shots used, although in these shots the artist moves with the tracking. This type of camera work may have been used so we can see the artist but at the same time the scenery around the artist, which helps set the scene of the song. I believe that a camera and the artist were placed on a moving object (for example a car) and then started to film. At the very beginning of the music video we are shown a few different location shots, this is for the audience to familiarise themselves with the setting, and for them to recognise certain features in these shots which will help to tell the story, as the artist would want the video to be perceived in the correct way and meaning. Most of the shots in this video are quite long, rather than being fast paced, the shots will be longer for this type of video and genre, due to there being no narrative and mainly showing off the artist. Some types of editing techniques used in this video are the following; Fading into another shot and cuts. The cutting shots are used through the whole of the video; this is quite a simple technique, which goes well with the music video as it is also quite simple. The cutting shots start to become slightly quicker when the speed of the music and beat increases.
Looking at Daniel Merriweather’s clothing it is noticeable no special effort has been made to dress up. This conforms to the genre as most artists in this genre tend to wear very simple, plain, casual clothing, although it is usually darker coloured clothing. As the song and lyrics are talking about different classes and lifestyles, Daniel Merriweather’s clothing connotes to us that he was part of the lower class. We notice in the music video that the weather looks very dull and grey, this also helps to set the scene, it also may connote to the audience from the use of the clouds and the colours that it was difficult growing up around that area and wasn’t a very happy place. All the different elements of mise-en-scene are very important during a music video because they help the audience to understand the message being conveyed. This video is talking about different types of people, classes and cultures, it is trying to tell a message to the audience that if different types of people don’t try and start to get on then nothing is going to change, and there will always be a split between the poor and the rich. This type of video actually relates to the real world and sends a lot of meaning out to the public.
This type of track and video will help to sell his product, as consumers will realise that Daniel Merriweather’s music has a lot of meaning and truth behind it. Rather than the normal, generic things people sing about, this song has a lot of connotation used in it. They also represent the artist in a very relaxed fashion, and manor, which will appeal to a wider range of consumers. In this song Daniel Merriweather addresses different social groups, for example he mentions a guy with a gun and then on the other hand a rich man turning on the garden hose. Two completely opposite types of people, in his music he sings about why the two different social groups cant get on. In this video the ideological discourse is not being challenged the video, is very straight forward, and easy to understand the correct interpretation. Personally I believe that the values and opinions stated through this music video are reinforced by the public, it is the opinion that most people will believe about the different social groups and opinions.
This video will be consumed on lots of different music channels, such as MTV and HITS; it will also be consumed on the internet e.g. YouTube and MySpace. This gives consumers a wide variety in which they can watch the video and listen to the track.
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