Female Artist Music Videos

Female Artist Music Video Research

Lauren Aquilina: Sinners

This is the genre that we want our music video to be. We plan on making a female solo artist video therefore we are going to look at research music videos of the same genre in more depth to make sure what we create is correct. Female solo artists are very strong, passionate and ambitious because they want to succeed on their own being themselves and doing what they love best. We chose to make a female solo artist video because we thought we could add as much as possible to this because being females ourselves and listening to this kind of music we know what looks good and works well.

Lauren Aquilina is one of my personal favourite artists, she is very genuine and down to earth. Lauren isn’t signed to a large record label she just has her manager Ryan Walter despite Lauren not having a large amount of money behind her she still manages to produce amazing videos. She writes all songs herself and produces the music which is something we want to be able to do. This video is about all the everyday, normal people who sin because everybody makes mistakes.

Mise en Scene

Costume-

Red, passionate and powerful: Her dress is beautiful, bright, bold and shows strength in her character as it stands out against the quite pale backgrounds.
The lace at the top of her dress allows her to look mature without having too much flesh on show as that isn't appropriate with this style of video.
Her make up is quite dark however minimal and makes her look fragile.
Red lipstick shows love and passion for what she is singing.Her hair isn't over done and is quite natural. It is childlike and portrays a delicate personality.
The fact she is the only person in colour allows our attention to be drawn to her instantly.

Location-

The sky is blown out which shows that it was a day specifically picked for the style of video they were shooting as it was dark.
If we were to do something similar we would make sure the sky had texture to it such as a few clouds because this looks too lifeless.
They chose a sea to show a never-ending sadness and this could portray the fact that people have a fear of the unknown consuming them.
An abandoned building she is stood in later on in the video this could add to the unloving, lifeless feeling.

Props-

An old, tattered bed which could be used to show that everything around her is imagined it is used to bring reality back to the video. The way it is slightly burned shows that the fire which could be her sin burns everything around her.
Fire, this fire that is used could be the actual sin people create because fire is usually associated with bad things.
Water, when she is in the derelict building water starts to pour on her, this could be to show her sin trying to be washed away.

This music video is about a sad, slow paced song therefore the artist has chosen to keep a sad expression on her face and move around slowly in time with the beat of the song. She is only 18 years old therefore she is dressed how an 18 year old girl typically dressed. She hasn’t played up to the male gaze making herself appeal to the males who watch her video. However her target audience is mainly a female audience around the same age as here therefore there is no need to attract male attention by wearing less clothing and presenting herself in a promiscuous way.

There are a lot of close up shots to get across that emotion on her face. The closes up shots in this music video are what make the artist connect with the audience and for her song/lyrics to relate to them in a similar way. The direct eye contact shows that she is trying to portray her emotions onto the audience.

The use of depth of field in this part of the video adds variety to the shots because the majority of the time the camera is focused sharply onto her face. However in this shot the camera is focused on the fire with her blurred in the background behind the fire. The fire is a large aspect of this music video because it makes the audience wonder about why a bad thing like fire is there and wonder what the fire actually symbolizes as well as adding colour and texture to the video.

Gabrielle Aplin- The Power of Love

Here again we have chosen a smiliar artist, she plays soft melodies and mostly writes her own songs however this is a cover. She too isn't signed to a large record label and therefore doesn't have a huge fund behind her videos. She still however manages to create her videos to a great quality, she produces a good narrative and all contain proffesional shots throughout. She as an artist is very much about being herself and doing what she does best rather than trying to make herself popular and make a large profit.

Mise en Scene

Costume-

She is wearing a long black coat throughout the music video which trails down the back of the piano stool which looks very elegant when the back shots are shown. The colour black could have been chosen because of the nature of the song with it being very slow , sad and soft. We don't see much costume in this video because she stays sat down and theres a lot of shots of around the building rather than ones of her.

Location-

The location for this shoot is very beautiful, they have chosen an old, vintage building which is somewhere we would love to be able to film.
The different rooms which are shown in various shots give you a feel of the building adding to the emmotion because you feel as though you are there.
The shots of the rooms show the emptiness and how she is all alone there which is a very sad feeling in such a large beautiful house.
There are a lot of shots of the damaged parts of the building which could suggest how something so beautiful has just been left unloved.

Props-

The main prop in this video is the great piano, this prop provieds the music as well as adding to the elegant feeling.
Towards the end candles and lights are used to add a warm and brighter feeling to the room because up until this point it has been very cold and unloved.

The music is slow therefore she has very little movement throughout the video because she is going along with the beat of the music. Also she moves her hands elegantly to show very detail of her playing the piano. She is also dressed in a large coat to suggest that it is cold where she is because there is no attention to the house it has just been left cold. She again is dressed to fit the video and this means she isn't dressed to grab male attention because if she was in less clothing and dancing in a way to create a male gaze it would fit to the song.

By Jazmine Allen

Rae Morris- Don't Go

Here the artist is singing one of her own songs, she is a singer song writer which is the same kind of artist we would like to use. There are various shots in the video, there is a mixture mainly of close up shots and medium close ups. The music video is just the artist and her piano, this shows that she isn’t just a singer she has many musical talents. This music video is simplistic but at the same time effective, it creates a real sense of the artists love for music, this isn’t just a job to her, it’s her entire life. I hope that in my music video I could create the same effect of real passion. In this music video there doesn’t seem to be a plot or narrative, I want the same for my music video because even though a music video should be about creating a short story, I feel I could create a better story through her actual lyrics and feelings.