Hamda Dinbil

Case study

Music video “A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.”- Wikipedia As written above music videos can be created by for multiple purposes, artists could sometimes feel the need to produce a track after an event in their life which has been talked about in the media or for profile- raising. Here are examples of those two reasons; 1. Kanye West "Only one ft. Paul McCartney

2. Fergie “LA love (la la)” ft. YG

The first video is an example of a song inspired by real life events, videos with more meanings conveyed into. Kanye released the song dedicating it to his first born; North West. She is also featured throughout the video.

Where as “LA love” is a representation of the second category, a track more for the promotion and less connotation around it. Its more playful and upbeat tune.

2014

British born singer and songwriter Timothy McKenzie better known as Labrinth, released the track “Let it be” summer last year, as part of his second studio album. The song is initially a way to promote the artist however there is a back story and a message being portrayed. Labrinth says here;

“I'm just telling the story of what’s been happening while I've been away. I’m sure there’s a lot of fans that have just kinda been like “ WHERES LAB BEEN? WHERE YOU AT?, WE NEED YOU BACK!” So its kinda been

a way to re- introduce myself ” Labrinth was inspired by many early 1930’s American artists and composer, which you can hear throughout the song and instruments related to these themes are portrayed, such as the trumpets for the “jazz” and electric guitar for the “rock” and orchestra band with violins for the harmony and “composer” section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwGERoFtQoM

Narrative and lyrics

the video tells a story about the development of creating his album, and how he’s been gone for a while and wants his fans to visually understand why. Throughout the 3 minute video, you see a collection of scenes of what starts out first as a typical everyday-life, however as the video wares on the passages become more personal. The lyrics were express his The lyrics express his decision to allow things to just be, hence the title “let it be” and how he’s been under pressure by a lot aspects in the music industry, such as writing, recording, ideas etc.

http://genius.com/Labrinth-let-it-be-lyrics

It doesn't sound like anything I've done before. It made me go back and look at all the other records again and be like, "Ah, maybe it needs to sound more exciting? Maybe it's not poppy enough? Or commercial enough." I started doing all these things that, after a great piece of work has been made, it starts to fuck it up. I had a bit of an anxiety attack, but after that I was just like, the only answer is to do what is right – just let go and let everything happen the way it is going to happen. That is where the record kind of came from

Pace & cuts Due to the song alluding that the video was filmed all in one shot, the ‘cut to beat’ is disguised as different shots/scenes. When the camera spins round, there’s a moment before the scene changes where it scoops down low to the floor and then rises back up; that is the interval. The pace starts off slow and introductory, yet the electric theme that inspired labrinth is heard shortly after the intro. The content is sways more to the digital platform of editing, as discussed on the “behind the scenes” video.

Making of the video “the video too a day” –

LABRINTH KISS FM interview.

The video seems as though its only been created in one shot and in order to accomplish this crazy task all in 24 hrs, a large amount of planning has been put behind this video, as later on explained in the interview.

Labrinth even quoted that the only reason his video was a success is because the creative dept. And visual director's put so much effort and elaborate and detailed scheduling.

Target audience the main audience are his listeners and whomever

knows labrinth as an artist. Also the absence he’s had over the music world and those who noticed are his audience in this particular track/video.

This can vary from the ages of 14/15- 25 and over, more towards a younger viewers as the song is upbeat and jumpy tune.

Here is a ready comparison to different age preferences towards music.

Each individual artist has their own genre and age group to go with it. Whilst labrinth is not on either of the two lists, there are artists much alike him that could represent him on these two relationships.

Research

Props and costumes

The clothing and items used in this video are very modern- everday-21st century pieces, relating to a current time period.

As the artist is trying to portray surrounding in real life to the viewers, through the video, therefore realism is key.

Other tracks/artists relations Labrinth has been associated with acts such as;The Weeknd, Rihanna, Usher, Tinie Tempah,

Wretch 32, Professor Green, Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sandé, Plan B, Devlin, Yasmin, MckNasty, Etta Bond and Raf Riley.

Most of these artists follow similar styles to labrinth and although this track is more of a story telling/ personal piece, labrinth has collaborated and released tracks with many artists.

Bibliography • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFHS5X_KICU – behind the scenes • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2luqUiyMaUI – the interview with

KISS FM • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_(Labrinth_song) – facts• https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6b/b8/9f/6bb89f2040

4b2d70b937d305cbf32a4e.jpg - images all from google • http://musicmachinery.com/2014/02/13/age-specific-listening/ - target

audience research • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrinth - labrinth profile; research