R+P Post 9: Music Videos that have inspired and influenced my ideas

A key music video that has influenced my ideas is 'Miss Independent' by Ne-yo. This video was already a personal favourite of mine due to its fast tempo and catchy lyrics, however after taking a closer look at it for research I began to understand the secondary message of the song, which is female empowerment. This influenced me as it showed me that you can send of differing messages through one music video, i.e. the guy gets the girl whilst still respecting her position.

'Miss Independent' also showed me how Vernallis' music video theory can be incorporated into our music video successfully. The four main concepts which Vernallis eludes to are:

1. Narrative
2. Editing
3. Camera movement and framing
4. Diegesis

In regards to Narrative, Vernallis' ideas on the narrative of a music video being disjointed are certainly seen in this music video; Ne-yo, for example, is seen talking to different girls throughout the music video even though he seems to have entered a meeting at one point. As well as this, this video also takes on her idea of not matching the lyrics to the on-screen visuals, for example the lyrics are about Ne-yo praising one girl ans saying exactly why he loves her, however he is only seen talking to this girl at the end and once in the middle, apart from these occasions Ne-yo can be seen flirting with other women.

In terms of editing we could easily incorporate Vernallis' ideas of cutting to the beat as this is also a common convention for any R&B music video. This can make a music video more visually engaging as it stops the audience from becoming bored as they cannot become fixed on one shot for too long.

By changing the framing in the form of jump cuts you break normal continuity rules and therefore make your music video stand out and become more interesting. This concept was successfully used in 'Miss Independent' as in many of the dance breaks the camera will cut from a long shot to a close-up.

Diegesis, i.e. the 'made up world of the video' is a key element of 'Miss Independent' as in this video Ne-yo is seemingly the only man in his workplace- this could be considered to be the opposite of what it actually is like in real life so by having this stark contrast you immediately make the audience stand up and take notice of your video.