Analysis of Music Video Genres - Miss Georgiou

Music videos engage an audience by helping them to build a relationship with the artist through showing parts of the artists personality. This can be done by using specific camera shots such as close ups of the artist to show their facial expressions and emotions or creating the music video in the performance style whereby they perform (sing, dance etc.) to the camera and make the audience feel like they are being performed to directly by the artist. Another way in which a music video can engage the audience is by the video creating a narrative that will provide the audience with a story to follow.

Over - Drake

I am going to be analysing aspects of a music video in the rap genre. The song is 'Over' by Drake. Various editing methods can be found in this music video that help the audience to engage with the video. A red tinted filter is used to portray the hurt and frustration of the artist. This is done to emphasise on the meaningful lyrics as red has negative connotations of anger or pain. This allows the audience to engage better with the song as they understand the serious lyrics that are written by the rapper. This also means that they are able to build a relationship with him through believing they understand how he feels or what he is speaking about. Most audiences will also be able to relate to the hurt or anger that drake is feeling and therefore will feel like they are more close of him and have built a stronger relationship with him through his lyrics. The colour and its negative connotations are furthermore conventional to the rap genre as this genre often portrays serious or hurtful themselves and meanings due to the artists usually writing the songs themselves about past personal experiences.


A red filter is seen several times in this music video.

Mirroring editing technique used in 'Over'.

Mirroring is another editing technique found in this music video whereby Drake has been duplicated and mirrored so that there are two of him on the screen symmetrically facing each other. This could suggest that he is looking at himself and realising what he has done. I believe this because the music video is suggested to be based on the theme of love and a past relationship which ties in with the previous editing technique of red and love and hurt. In terms of this editing technique, Drake is seemingly coming to terms with the situation and what he has done and lost. This could have been created in order to make a point to the audience that you do not realise what you have until you lose it and therefore trying to teach them not to make the same mistakes as him. This will help the audience build a relationship with the artist as they will feel like they have learnt something from him and his past mistakes as well as some being able to relate to his experiences personally. This is conventional to the rap genre as artists in this genre like to be portrayed as down to earth and similar to their audience. This is achieved through Drake looking at himself and understanding he makes mistakes much like anyone else does.

A close-up shot of Drake performing to the camera.

Certain camera shots and angles can also help to engage the audience. Close-ups are evident in 'Over' which show the rappers emotions and facial expressions as he sings/raps. They show that what he is passionate and serious about what he is singing about due to his serious and moody facial expressions. His angry/frustrated facial expressions prove to the audience that he is mad at other or himself as he sings a certain lyric and reveals something about his personal experiences. This helps the audience to build a relationship with him as they may have experienced similar situations or felt similar feelings therefore understand how he feels. It also teaches the audience to be open and expressive about their feelings. This is typical of the rap genre as the songs tend to be written about personal, real-life experiences of the rapper and therefore the lyrics mean a lot to the artist.

Drake's hurt and frustrated facial expression.


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Low angle shots will also help the audience engage with the music video as it builds a relationship with them. This is done by having them look up at the artist through the low angle shot and is used when the artist is sat on a bed singing his lyrics. This creates the effect that he is superior and important which makes him desirable to the audience and creates hegemony as it shows his dominance and power. This allows the audience to build a relationship with Drake through feeling inferior and low in certain parts in their life. It is evident that Drake is singing about bad past times in his life and therefore the audience will believe that they have been through similar things that the artist has. This camera angle is conventional to the rap genre as most rap songs have sad or serious meanings and concepts and this can be portrayed through a low angle shot which makes the audience feel like they are down and upset and therefore making them able to relate to the songs meaning.

Low angle shot directing the focus up to Drake.



Drake is made the main focus with camera positioning and plain backgrounds.

Mise-en-scene makes the artist the centre of attention of the audience through character positioning; he is positioned in the centre of almost every shot which causes the audience to focus mainly on him. This also portrays his dominance and ability to control situations as he is in the centre and seemingly controlling the changes in the music video. Again this allows them to build a relationship with him as they focus on what he is saying and as they know his lyrics are personal they may feel like they know him more after hearing the song or watching the music video.  This is highlighted with the use of black or simple backgrounds which cause no distractions and direct all attention onto the artist. This also make the audience believe that the artist isn't afraid of sharing their thoughts and isn't hiding anything with them and so are being completely honest with them. This creates a layer of tryst between the artist and audience and in turn makes the audience feel closer to the artist and believe they have built a relationship with them.

The location in this music video is very simplistic and ordinary as it takes place in several plain and simple rooms such as a small hotel bedroom. The purpose of this is to not cause any distractions from the artist or editing effects so that they are the main focus of the video. A projector is used to overlap different locations or backgrounds onto the plain bedroom. This allows the audience to see into the artists thoughts and imagination as they can see what he is thinking through the cloud background as it portrays he has cloudy thoughts and is overthinking etc.

A cloud background projected onto the bedroom.



Drake wearing white clothes and jewellery.

In terms of costumes, the artist in this song wears several casual outfits which allows the audience to build a relationship with him as he is wearing clothes that are not out of the ordinary and are similar to what some of his target audience may wear. However, he is seen wearing a gold chain which appears expensive and is conventional to the rap genre as it suggests money and power. This portrays him as having a wealthy and materialistic lifestyle which is stereotypical to this genre. This will engage the audience as they will be interested and intrigued in his glamorous and rich lifestyle. It may encourage them to want to buy into his lifestyle. Furthermore, the colours of his clothes has connotations that could suggest aspects of his personality. The white has positive connotations of innocence and kindness etc. This could suggest that regardless of the bad times he has been through and singing about, he has not let it affect him as a person and he still remains grounded and kind.

    Boy - Nina Nesbitt

Artists casual but glamorous red costume

'Boy' is a song by Nina Nesbitt in the indie music genre. In terms of mis-en-scene, the artist is wearing casual yet fashionable clothing meaning she looks relaxed and down to earth due to her messy hair and jumper but also quite glamorous as a result of her heavy makeup. Her image is quirky and unique which portrays her as different from other artists and makes her stand out.  This is typical of this music genre and allows the audience to build a relationship with the artist because she is seen as grounded and similar to them so they can relate. It also allows them to learn to not be afraid to be themselves or be different. However, she is also dressed to look attractive, making the audience find her desirable or want to buy into her lifestyle and look like her. Also the artist is wearing a red jumper with matching red lips. The colour red has connotations of love which gives away the theme of the music video. The music video is about love and a relationship but also the pain and hurt of the relationship as it broke down. Red is a very emotionally intense colour which represents the love and passion of the relationship in its early stages but also portrays the danger and pain of the relationship as the couple started to come across problems and argue. There are red objects in the background of the shot which also reinforce this idea. This is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists are typically very open and honest about their past experiences as they write and sing about their own life and therefore it is conventional for the colours to give away the theme of the song before the artist even begins to sing.

The artist uses mostly natural lighting in this video when the shots are outside yet highkey lighting was used inside. The natural lighting usually conveys memories she had in her previous relationship which would have felt natural to her at the time as it was normal and she would not have given much thought about it. However, the high-key lighting is unnatural and used when the artist is inside alone reminiscing the memories which may feel unnatural for her as she is not used to the memories not happening, suggesting a breakup which we know is the subject of the song through the lyrics. The natural lighting helps the audience build a relationship with the artist because it gives the impression that the lyrics or video are not fake or artificial due to the natural lighting. This suggests the artist is being honest and true to her target audience. This is conventional to the indie genre because relationships are often the theme and indie artists sing about their personal experiences. Therefore the audience would expect them to be honest and this is shown through the use of natural lighting. Also indie artists have a quirky style which can be seen through the use of high key lighting as it is bright and bold like the style of Nesbitt. The high-key lighting also helps to show off the artist more clearly as it makes her look bright as if she id being completely honest and has nothing to hide so she is sharing all of her emotions with the audience.

Nesbitt's serious facial expressions

The artists facial expressions are mainly serious or slightly sad as she sings. She appears happy in her memories of her past relationship which suggests she is sad because that relationship is over. This is conventional to the indie genre as the theme of the songs tend to be about heartbreak as indie artist often sing about past personal experiences as they write their own songs. This suggests that Nesbitt is singing about a true experience of her own heartbreak which helps the audience build a relationship with her as they feel closer to her through hearing about her life and knowing they can relate.

The predominant location in this video is a bedroom made out to be the artists bedroom and personal space. This location helps the audience to relate to the artist as it is recognisable and the audience can imagine themselves in her position due to knowing the location. Additionally, the location shows Nina as down to earth as she isn't using fancy locations, which helps the audience to build a relationship with her because they see her as an ordinary girl who goes through the same emotions that they are and that she has run to her bedroom to let her emotions out, which the majority of the target audience are likely to have done too. Using the bedroom as a prime location in the music video also helps the audience relate to Nina as it is her private space that she is allowing the audience into as if they are her friend. Additionally, a bedroom can tell a lot about a person due to what is in it so it enables the audience to relate to Nina as they can see what she has in her room.

The main iconography used in this music video is the memory book supposedly created my Nina's character to document all of her fun times in a past relationship. This book supports the main theme of reminiscing and remembering the past in a relationship before it went bad. This is conventional to the indie genre because memories  show that the artist is currently having a hard time getting over a relationship and it is therefore common for them reminisce and want to hold onto the good times. This item also helps the audience to understand and follow the narrative of a breakup of a relationship. This narrative is relatable to the audience of young adults and teenagers as they would have experienced situations like this before and the song allows them to remember back to their past relationships and past memories with certain people. This helps the audience build a relationship with the artist as they will feel that they are experiencing the same situation through the course of the song as both the audience and artist looks back on memories. This will make the audience feel that they are similar to the artist and so will feel closer to them as a result.


In most of the camera shots Nesbitt is positioned in the centre of the screen. This is done to  convey how the artists is the most important aspect of this song as it is a story from her point of view. having the artist in the entre also allows the audience focus almost entirely on her especially in her performance scenes. The audience can therefore understand her story more and relate to her as they can see themselves in the position that she is in. Also having the artist in the centre of a messy room or pile of screwed up paper has connotations of her relationship. It suggests that she was caught up in the middle of a messy circumstance.

A cinematography technique used in this music video is a point of view camera shot. This is seen when the artist is looking down at the memory book with photographs scattered over the top of it. This creates an effect that the audience is in the artists position and experiencing what  she is. This further helps the audience to build a relationship with the artist as they feel as though they relate to the artist in that they have experienced similar situations such as a relationship breakup. It reinforces the idea that everyone has been in the same position of the artist and therefore the audience is fairly similar to the audience in terms of past experiences. This will therefore help a relationship form between the two as the audience will believe they are similar to the artists and she understands how they feel and what they have been through. It also sparks nostalgia in the audience as it will most likely link to their own personal experiences and make them remember past memories.

Long shots are used to portray the music videos narrative. For example, when a letter is delivered to the girl by her boyfriend, a long shot shows her picking the letter up. Also when the boyfriend is seen drinking alcohol and looking distressed a long shot is used. A long shot is effective when telling the story to the audience because viewers will need to see more than the artists face or a close up to see the full scene and understand what is happening. Long shots therefore engage the audience as they have a clearer understanding of the narrative and will therefore build a relationship with the artist if they feel that the narrative is relatable to them.

An editing technique used throughout this video is montage whereby the music video is made up of small shots or clips of different memories of the past that the artist is remembering. This is effective in that it contrasts the happy highlights of her relationship to her current situation where the relationship has broken down and she feels alone. Blurry effects are also used in the montage scenes when the two characters are seen having fun and throwing popcorn at each other. The blurriness reinforces that the montage is of memories and something of the past because it has an unrealistic effect s though it is not happening anymore or does not seem real. This could connote that the memories do not feel real to the female character as she remembers the good times because they were a long time ago and they seem fake when comparing them to the more recent bad times. This helps the audience relate to how she is feeling as they may have old good memories that seem unreal when they think of how it all went wrong. Therefore, through believing they have been through similar circumstances the audience builds relationship with the artist.

The bad times of the relationship is also emphasised on through editing. Fast paced editing is used at the end half of the music video when the relationship begins to break down, showing the boyfriend walking out of the door. Then...


nother editing technique that is used is fast paced editing near the end when the relationship starts to break down and he walks out the door. This is used to imitate the fast paced break down and the beat of her heart that he is leaving and the anger that she feels. This helps the audience to relate as the fast paced editing through jump cuts makes the audiences heart race too as they are watching wondering what is going to happen to them because it builds tension. Additionally, the audience will build a relationship with the artist through this editing technique as they will be able to see how she is feeling through the pace if it does symbolise her heart rate as she is building up anger through out the song and then at the end it explodes, which is conventional of the indie genre.

Style - Taylor Swift

'Style' by Taylor Swift is in the pop music genre. There are several layering editing techniques used in this video. Here a shot of the artists portrait is overlapped with a shot of moving clouds. The clouds fill up her outline which connote that her head is cloudy and blurred as she does not know what to do and is stressed. Similarly, a shot which overlaps an image of the artist with an image of a forest has connotations of feeling lost and scared.

The lighting in this video has a retro feel as it is high key and bright with blue and purple tints. However when he song becomes more serious and the lyrics suggest there was a problem in the relationship being sung about ("He can't keep his wild eyes on the road") the lighting gets darker. 

 The character positioning is very varied throughout the music video.There are close ups of the artist, she is shown not he middle and at sides of the screen etc. This portrays that the relationship was never consistent and more chaotic. 

why are different micro elements used in different genres  - close ups used differently etc.
how will this help me ....