Research into chosen music genre

When researching into the music genre we wanted to use we had mixed opinions and views. Our group all like different music genres but all had similar interests in one music genre. We all agreed that alternative best fit our interests into music and thought that an alternative music video usually conveys the concept that we want to convey in our music video.

The two different alternative music artists that im going to write about is Ed Sheeran and Maverick Sabre. The Ed Sheeran music video that i am going to analyze is 'The A Team'.  The A Team was sung and written by the artist him self. The song was very successful across Europe's music industry being a top ten hit in ireland, germany and the UK. The A Team is a narrative music video and doesn't have the artists as the main attraction in the video. The music video conflicts with the usual stereotype of an alternative artist as the music video doesn't tell the audience who the artist is. As Ed Sheeran is a widely popular mainstream alternative artist he will have a very broad target audience. People aged between 15-40 will be his target audience for a song like this.

The narrative is about a homeless girl and all the struggles that she is going through. Their is a strong message in the music video which the artists is trying to convey. The artists is trying to convey this by relating all the visuals with his lyrics. This makes it so much clearer for the audience to understand whats he saying and what he means. Goodwins theory of relationship between lyrics and visuals is present throughout the music video. Goodwins theory is shown when he said "And with a pipe she flys to the motherland" And the visuals in the music video s her with a crack pipe trying to get high and get away from the hell that she lives everyday. The pace of the editing is slow to fit in  with the pace of the music. The slow paced editing is too also emphasize the emotions of the young girl in the music video.

The Mise-en-scene in a music video like this is a key element. Every micro element needs to be perfect to make the story look realistic and to give the audience the sense of sympathy for the girl that the artists is trying to create. The artists is trying to create a broader awareness of these homeless people and what they actually go through. The Mise-en-scene plays a big part in this as people will feel more sympathy when actually seeing the girl. The opening shot of the music video is of the girl sleeping on the bench in a park. The camera is using a black and white effect to convey how she is going through a dark time.
The girl in the video is wearing small old shorts a big hooded jumper and is walking around with a sleeping bag wrapped around her. This conveys hows she is a homeless person and going through a rough time. In the music video the setting is changing constantly. Every location that she goes too it is really dull and grey. This is too convey the sadness and emotion in the song. The lighting is very low key to fit in with the narrative of being homeless and alone. The low key lighting is also to fit in with the setting like when she was standing in the pitch black car park at night.

The hair and make up of the character in the music video also connotes her feelings. The running mascara down her face shows the audience that she is sad and has been crying. She is also sitting on the street selling the big issue which indicates her status in society. She then lowers herself to prostitution. This is connoted through her costume. She is wearing netted tights and a small skimpy vest displaying her cleavage. This implicates the needs for survival as she has turns to prostitution to earn some money.

Maverick Sabre-Let Me Go

Maverick Sabre is a popular artist catering for the target audience of alternative music genre. he has broad commercial appeal due to the lifestyle he appeals in his music videos and the conventions behind his lyrics.

The opening shots in the music video are fast pace cuts between different landmarks in las vegas. This is to give the audience a clearer view of what las vegas is like if the viewer doesn't know and also gives the audience a clearer view to what is going to happen in the music video. The artist is wearing a shirt with a pair of baige chinos. This contrasts with the artists music genre as alternative music genre is based around originality whereas the artists clothing is more mainstream and would fit an artist like Justin Bieber better of the pop music genre.

In the music video the artist himself is not the main character in the narrative behind the lyrics. The man shown next to him driving the car is the person who is playing the main character in the narrative. This music video does follow goodwins theory with a relationship between the visuals and lyrics. The lyrics are describing the narrative of the song and the visuals. The lighting changes throughout the music video. As they are in las vegas and they tend to use high key lighting which is used to bring the colour out of all the lights in las vegas. The clip also jump cuts to scenes of only the artist in a desert. This uses natural high key lighting as he is outside and standing in a desert.