Researching real music videos

Following on from the feedback we received regarding our music video idea pitch, Fran and I decided to research some existing, real music videos of a similar theme to explore firstly whether or not instruments tended to be included (and thus whether or not we should cut our drummer), but also for some interesting shots and effective, simplistic techniques we could steal for our own idea.

In Kehlani's music video for Gangsta (off the Suicide Squad OST), the opening 'sequence' is a plethora of shots of her lying on a floor of broken glass. This would be a good idea to play with in our second location where there is a very 'gangster' vibe given how we may struggle to create the bed of money we originally intended to, whereas a bed of glass would be a lot easier to achieve. Fran pointed out that glass may be a health and safety issue and so if we experiment with the idea further, we'd have to get some fake glass.

Another effective shot from this music video was of Kehlani sitting on a golden ribbon-type seat with a beautiful, ostentatious painting and lighting behind her. We really liked this shot, but understand that the setting is simply not replicable. However, we may be able to steal this below-shot of our artist lip-syncing upon some suspended fabric platform.

Azealia Banks gives off a very sassy, high-attitude performance in her The Big Big Beat music video which we want for our main artist. We may also take some inspiration from her outfit. The multiple shots of her being silly and sassy and dancing, intercut with lip-syncing is another idea we want to play with.

Thinking about a third location for our music video, we are interested in possibly using an alley way, or industrial/city setting. However, using an outside set may not 'flow' with our first two, studio-based sets.

Rihanna's Needed Me video contains very gangsta memorabilia which we may try to replicate in our second location, such as the money, gun and golden framed picture.

MØ's Kamikaze video contains a panning shot in which she sits on a throne made of gold-painted tyres with animal print detail, as well as other gold coloured items in an abandoned building. The general aesthetic of this shot is something we want to replicate in the second half of our music video.

In MØ's Waste of Time video, the decrepit location with peeling wallpaper is exactly the type of setting we'd like to have for our gangsta location.

Finally, in MØ's Don't Wanna Dance video, the junkyard location is something we could possibly use as our third element. However, alike with the Azealia Bank video, the outside set may not flow with our other two studio shoots.

Having researched these music videos for inspiration, we will definitely play around with some of our finds in the next few weeks to see which are the most effective.