I told myself that I could postpone the process of the music video until about two weeks after the start of the project, but that's passed. A while ago. I started this in December. I'm pretty sure it's been two weeks. So I am giving myself an ultimatum and requiring some thought on the music video. The only problem? I don't have the music yet. The band wants to do their newest song, called "Heartbeat", but they don't have the lyrics, or melody, completely done yet. I'm trying not to be annoying to them because I don't really know how the creative process of creating a song works, but I also need the song. Without a song, I can't really create a music video.
So what I am doing for now is searching for inspiration. I'm watching many music videos on bands with similar styles to SOS (and even some different ones), and trying to find a light. Maybe if I find some characteristics I like then it'll be easier for me, when the time comes, to come up with a good idea for the video.
I've been doing some research, and now I wanna talk about some specific ones that caught my eyes.
SIDE NOTE: I will showcase many music videos, so don't feel obligated to watch all of them until the end. But the first one -watch the first one.
'Breezeblocks', by Alt-J. They are an alternative (very alternative) rock band, and I personally like their music a lot. When I asked the boys in SOS about their inspirations, this was one of the first names they mentioned. This music video is directed by Ellis Bahl, and it is extremely well produced. I love the idea of it (you'll get it when you watch it to the end) and was especially impressed by the editing -AMAZING. I think that if I take any inspiration from this video is the editing, with the going back and forth between shots of the current action and the water dropping, and the pace matches the pace of the music -with the fast action peaks coinciding with the song. Also, the camera movement is AWESOME, perfect to not make it seem repetitive.
'Red Hand' by Walk Off the Earth was also directed by Ellis Bahl. (To be completely honest, after watching Breezeblocks, I looked Bahl up and watched all of his music videos. Ops.) What I most enjoyed about this music video, like Breezeblocks, was the editing. BEAUTIFUL, beautiful. This video showed me that I don't need to be ultra creative with the content of the video, but I can make it super interesting just by having 'creative editing'. 'Creative editing' is a term I just created to describe the type of editing in "Red Hand", which is composed of fast cuts, reversing and repeating shots, and using fast and slow motion. There is only one setting with a limited amount of props and they don't change clothes at any point, yet the video keeps the audience engaged through the editing.
Red Hot Chili Peppers is a band that the SOS guys (I like how this sounds, SOS guys. I know they'll hate it though, sounds like a boy band) said that has a style similar to theirs. I've seen many RHCP music videos before, but I felt 'Dark Necessities' met my necessities (get it?). I like three things about this video:
1. There is no clear story line to the narrative part, it's just girls riding their skateboards -which is still pretty cool. Still, the video is interesting and there is a narrative part to it, so it doesn't get boring with only promo.
2. This is a half promo video, and like many other RHCP videos, it showcases all of the band members. There are shots of the Chad (drums) alone, Flea (bass) alone, so on so forth. Anthony (vocals) does have more "alone" shots than the rest, making him sort of the front man, which brings me to
3. Anthony (I know, I'm on first name basis with all of them) does not star the music video as a character in the narrative; instead, there are actors for this, which makes all the members (almost) equal in the eyes of the public. We still see the lead vocalist more, but it's not an unnecessary more.
I'm not sure number 1 is a route I want to chase, but if I do decide on a narrative/promo, it's a better looking option. Numbers 2 and 3, although, are very much characteristics I want to have in my music video.
I have two videos by Cage the Elephant now, which I like very much. Their style is very much alternative, and their music videos often take... weird routes. The first one, 'Come a Little Closer', I like very much because of how they mix animation with live action. It's very psychedelic and trippy (I'm not advocating the use of drugs, just to make it clear), with multiple different bright colors being used together, fast moving images, and no real reason behind the choice of characters being showcased (a burning lion, the shadow of a woman, undefined creatures?). Of course, realistically speaking, I won't make an animated music video because that's simply TOO MUCH WORK and I'm not that good of an artist, but I like the disjointed shots and the colors utilized in this video. The second video is 'Ain't No Rest for The Wicked', which is probably a more feasible route for me to take. What I like so much about this video is the style. The whole thing is supposed to be a film, which can be seen through the film burns that appear sometimes or how it skips shots sometimes like projectors do. Not only that, but the background is being projected at all times, showing different settings -that's a cheap, easy, and creative way to create different settings when in reality you're only using one. Both videos are also strictly promotional and still very creative and engaging. The only characteristic I don't like is how the singer is obviously the front man,and even though the audience still sees the other members of the band, they are left on the background at all times.
I guess that's enough music videos. I can for sure say that I have a vision now of what general characteristics I want to follow, and which ones I don't, and I even got some cool ideas for my video, to make it different and interesting.
As I've said before, don't feel obligated to watch all the videos to the end, but if you do, I hope you, dear person who's reading this, enjoy them.
http://ellisbahl.com/musicvideo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bt-FHaFVH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oIoR9mLwc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKtsdZs9LJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYup3Qwh8Q
1. There is no clear story line to the narrative part, it's just girls riding their skateboards -which is still pretty cool. Still, the video is interesting and there is a narrative part to it, so it doesn't get boring with only promo.
2. This is a half promo video, and like many other RHCP videos, it showcases all of the band members. There are shots of the Chad (drums) alone, Flea (bass) alone, so on so forth. Anthony (vocals) does have more "alone" shots than the rest, making him sort of the front man, which brings me to
3. Anthony (I know, I'm on first name basis with all of them) does not star the music video as a character in the narrative; instead, there are actors for this, which makes all the members (almost) equal in the eyes of the public. We still see the lead vocalist more, but it's not an unnecessary more.
I'm not sure number 1 is a route I want to chase, but if I do decide on a narrative/promo, it's a better looking option. Numbers 2 and 3, although, are very much characteristics I want to have in my music video.
I have two videos by Cage the Elephant now, which I like very much. Their style is very much alternative, and their music videos often take... weird routes. The first one, 'Come a Little Closer', I like very much because of how they mix animation with live action. It's very psychedelic and trippy (I'm not advocating the use of drugs, just to make it clear), with multiple different bright colors being used together, fast moving images, and no real reason behind the choice of characters being showcased (a burning lion, the shadow of a woman, undefined creatures?). Of course, realistically speaking, I won't make an animated music video because that's simply TOO MUCH WORK and I'm not that good of an artist, but I like the disjointed shots and the colors utilized in this video. The second video is 'Ain't No Rest for The Wicked', which is probably a more feasible route for me to take. What I like so much about this video is the style. The whole thing is supposed to be a film, which can be seen through the film burns that appear sometimes or how it skips shots sometimes like projectors do. Not only that, but the background is being projected at all times, showing different settings -that's a cheap, easy, and creative way to create different settings when in reality you're only using one. Both videos are also strictly promotional and still very creative and engaging. The only characteristic I don't like is how the singer is obviously the front man,and even though the audience still sees the other members of the band, they are left on the background at all times.
I guess that's enough music videos. I can for sure say that I have a vision now of what general characteristics I want to follow, and which ones I don't, and I even got some cool ideas for my video, to make it different and interesting.
As I've said before, don't feel obligated to watch all the videos to the end, but if you do, I hope you, dear person who's reading this, enjoy them.
http://ellisbahl.com/musicvideo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bt-FHaFVH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oIoR9mLwc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKtsdZs9LJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYup3Qwh8Q
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