Exploring music video

Johnny Cash - Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho

 This music video has clearly been used to portray the life and memories of the life and memories of the artist Johnny Cash. The extremely personal contents of both the song and video make it even more poignant, showing both past and current footage of the artist really captures the sense of regret and pain that the video is trying to portray. Age representation is key in this video as we view the artists transformation from youth to the very late stages of his life. Many common media stereotypes are that associated with different age groups are used in this video, such as more recent footage showing the artist to be far more vulnerable and feeble in later life.

Beastie Boys - Sabotage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE&ob=av2n

This music video is one of the best examples of a video that despite its low budget is still very effective and entertaining. Although both the costumes and cameras appear cheap they do their part in setting a comedic tone for the video and when combined with great cinematography the video soon becomes  far better than it first appears. Like many music videos of this genre it is likely to appeal to a younger audience due to its less than serious content. It may not be an entirely accurate depiction of law enforcement in America but the video still does well in parodying the genre of  'crime/investigation' television programmes.

Fat Boy Slim - Weapon Of Choice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Ky5R-vxns&ob=av2e

This music video is fairly hard to place into a genre for the reason that it almost completely unique, it almost immediately contradicts media stereotypes such as old age being associated with lack of energy and enthusiasm as we see a man who the audience may ordinarily associate with these stereotypes and dancing around full of energy, the colours and lighting used also add to this energetic tone. it is because of these qualities that the video may appeal to a wider audience.

Godley and Creme - Cry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtPRF6NG7I

At the time this video was first released it was considered to be revolutionary because of the advanced  special effects used. although the video may have been created purely to showcase modern technology, the facial expressions of the characters in the video do well at portraying there emotions and reinforce the general tone of the song. The simple cinematography also does a great job of helping the the audience to focus on these emotions.


All these videos have been successful in the past and have been praised for their innovative ideas and cinematogrphy, i has been very useful studying them as it has allowed me to identify what works in a music and what doesn't. I have found that the videos above all have a strong artistic influence and cinematogrphy seems to be an important factor in the success of the video, this is something i can learn from and try to incorparate in my own video. I think it is crucial to make the cinematography as interest and uquice as possible so my video stands out from the rest.