Music video inspirations - Miss Georgiou

A lot of music videos take the inspirations from different music videos, artists and genre. These inspirations are essential to creating a music video and planning a music video because they can create a base for each of the micro elements. Inspirations give ideas for what to use in music videos and how they effect and attract the audience, this then shows you how to recreate this into your own music videos.

Inspirations
In previous research into music videos, I found a few video which gave me some inspiration for my own product.  Three videos which inspired me the most are Russian roulette by Rihanna, Come and get it, Selena Gomez and Tears dry on their own by my chosen artist Amy Winehouse.

The first video I found an inspiration from is Rihanna's R&B song, Russian Roulette. This video style is narrative based, Rihanna is seen playing Russain roulette with her partner, they put one bullet in a gun barrel and take turns to fire it at their owns heads. In the video Rihanna is also placed in some sort of gas chamber as authority figures watch her suffer. This narrative shows the clear message of the video so its audience can see that Rihanna is willing to take a risk for the man she is in a relationship with. The fact that the audience can see her suffering enables them to understand her love for her partner, they see the connection between her emotions in the video of pain and sacrifice with her emotions for the song which are also to do with love. This narrative style is extremely effective when audience are watching the video and are making sense of the meaning, the videos become more relatable for the audience and allows them to compare the emotions to what they may have felt in their own relationships.
I want to use a narrative style scene in my music video because I think it creates more emotions for the audience and allows them to relate with the artist, they can see how they feel about the situations and what they mean to them. I think narrative style will also work well with the soul genre because often soul songs are meant to show a story, so it will be easier for the audience to get an understanding of the lyrics. I want to use a narrative similar to the Rihanna video, including couple and their issues. I want my audience to be able to see the tension between the two characters and their journey through the relationship.
It will also be conventional because my chosen genre is soul, a narrative style if often used in a soul music video because they all the artist to show the story of the song. Having a narrative style within my video will allow me to emphasise the stereotypical soul love story by showing the audience what the song means through the plot. 

The next video I took some inspirations from was 'Come and get it' by Selena Gomez, this song is from the pop genre, the colours and lightings inspired me the most. Throughout the video the lighting differs, there are three different scenes in this music video and each one has different lighting, for example the performing scene which consists of Selena dancing in the meadow, has very high key lighting with bright green and blues. Whilst the dancing scene is extremely low key with black, brown and beige shades used a lot. These different lighting and colours make the audience see the light and dark sides of the video, they can understand how the artist feels towards the lyrics and the messages the song is meant to portray. The different lightings make the music video effective because is keep it interesting the audience can see which sections make the audience feel different emotions. This is shown throughout the high key lighting portraying happy and hopeful emotions, whilst the ow key lighting represents the deeper messages focusing on the hurt and possible depression of the artist.
I want to use this in my music video to shows the different emotions of the artist, I my target audience to be able to see the negative and positive sides of the song. I think the contrasting lighting allows the audience to relate more the each part of the music video and also keeps the video interesting. It keep the viewers attention and make them want to see the different outcomes of each scene. To use this contrasting of colours I want to have one scene possibly in black and white, using a filter, to portray the sad and unhappy emotions of the artist, whilst also including a scene using high key lighting to portray the happier and more exciting feelings. Using this will give my own music video the same effect that 'Come and get it' has.
This inspiration is conventional to soul because more often than not soul music is about some sort of love story and the contrasting lighting shows the ups and downs of a relationship and how they can have an effective negatively and positively on people.

I also gained some inspiration from one of my chosen artists own songs which is Amy Winehouse's 'Tears dry on their own'. This music video shows her image including hair, make-up and costumes. In the video Amy is using her normal signature image of high, quiffed, back-combed hair, thick eyeliner and low cut tops/dresses. This unique image inspires me because having a unique look which isn't commonly seen intrigues the audience because they are not used to this style, nor do they expect it. The different look shows the audience that Amy isn't following normal fashion, implying that she likes having her own style and being herself. She clearly doesn't like doing thing just to please other and she isn't bothered if someone doesn't like her look. The audience look up to this because she is represented as an independent woman, who is strong and this role model isn't often seeing very day life. Therefore the idolise her and what to watch more of her music. This video has shown me that you don't need to follow other music artist in order for your own product to be successful.
I am going to use a similar unique image to intrigue my audience. For my own music video I would like my female artist to follow the same image as Amy, I would like her make to be similar and her hair. I want me now artist to have bold make up to that her face is clear to the audience, and her personality can show through. My artist will be having heavy contour and eyeliner to highlight the most important areas of the face, eyes and forehead, which will then go on to highlight her emotions. This image will be effective in my music video because they audience will get the same effect at 'Tears dry on their own' by idolising my artist, but they will also feel a better connection with my artist because her emotions will be enhanced.
This image is conventional to the soul genre because soul music video do not follow the stereotypical dance music video or club music video image of vibrant colours, over the top personality or up to date fashion. Instead they have their own style, they are normally kept classical but have a unique twist, no two soul artists are the same. Most artists of the genre express themselves heavily though their image and there music, so having my own artist do the same will make my video conventional to its genre and will enable the audience to build a relationship with the artist.

Another video which gave me an inspiration was Duffy's 'mercy'. I gained two inspirations from this video, the first being the iconography of an old fashioned microphone. In the video Duffy is performing in a bar setting with men dancing around her, she is on a small platform and singing in to an 80's style microphone. This piece of iconography take the audience back to the ear that the soul music was popular, whilst also enhancing the fact that Duffy is the most important character in the video. The audience focus on her because they know by the microphone that she is the artist, they can see how much she is enjoying herself and how much pride she takes in her work. The iconography make the whole scene more effective, it adds to the look, because it isn't a modern piece it shows the stereotypical classic image of the video, following the soul conventions.
 I want to use a statement piece of iconography like this to draw attentions to my artist and add to the scene. I think that the microphone is an effective piece to have in my own music video and I would like to use the same thing if not similar within my music video to show my artist performing. I believe it helps the audience to connect with the artist and they focus on her more, therefore seeing her passion for the song and her career.
The microphone is conventional to soul because the classical image it portrays. The microphone used isn't a modern piece, so it shows the era of which the music was popular, in the 80's people were highly in to soul and therefore would use the iconography when performing the music. The piece shows the audience an original piece of equipment which would have been used and therefore it adds to the soul genre as the audience relate the song back to were it started. It gives the video a classy look and make it seem respectable.


I was also inspired by the setting of Duffy video. It is set in a dark, 80's style bar and she is placed on a small stage in the centre. I think this setting is effective to in the music video because it make Duffy stand out she is constantly in the middle of the room and always has the audiences attention. The bar appeals to the audience because they will have been in the setting before and will know what the vies of the place are, the will be able to connect with the characters and Duffy and can feel as though they are there with them. The setting is popular place which may take place on a weekly basis for the audience, because it is old fashioned it also added to the unique image of the video. A lot of soul music videos following a unique style which intrigues the audience because they haven't seen anything like it before and want to understand more about it an why the artist has chosen it. They are also able to relate to the artist because she is in  popular setting and is therefore represented as a normal person who has a normal life as well as being famous, it shows that she enjoys these types of setting as much as an average person does.
I would like to use similar setting to this in my own music video because it will help my audience find interest in the video and enable them to connect with the artist. I would like to use a setting which is poplar for the audience and they will visit themselves on a regular basis, so that they can see my artist in the setting and relate to her. A possible setting i could use is some kind of restaurant, this is somewhere that the audience go on to a lot in their lives and therefore will link the artist to there own experiences and relate to her being a normal epson not a music star.
This type of setting is conventional to the soul genre because it is realistic and relatable. Soul music video to use extra ordinary location, they keep it simple and often use places which the audience can go the themselves to do go to. Therefore the bar setting is conventional because it isn't extravagant or over the top it is a normal place visited by the audience a lot.

These different inspiration will help me when it comes to creating and planning own music video because it have they have given me a lot of ideas that i can build on in the planning. I know how they are all effective and how i can use them my own way the attract, appeal and allow my own target audience to relate to the video. These inspirations will help me decide on the different micro elements to include in my product and how to make it effective.