Inspiration Music Videos

Before planning and producing my music video I first have to decide what genre of music video that I want to make. My earlier research determined that there were three main genres of music video which include 'Performance based music videos', 'Narrative based music videos' and 'Concept based music videos'. To help me decide what genre of music video to choose it is important that I choose the genre of music video most suited to the genre of music that I have chosen which is a male acoustic artist. I am going to research into existing music videos to artists that are similar to my acoustic artist - Benjamin Francis Leftwich to gain knowledge of any repeated forms and conventions, running themes or any other important features that occur throughout other male acoustic artist's music videos that I might want to consider using in my music video.

The first music video that I have looked at is called 'For Lovers' by Pete Doherty

Pete Doherty who was a former member of the Babyshambles and the Libertines also has a solo acoustic career. I would say that the target audience of Pete Doherty is quite similar to that of my artist Benjamin Francis Leftwich so it shall be very useful to study this music video.

After watching the music video for this song it was quite clear that the genre of music video was a combination of a performance and concept based video.

The second video that I have looked at is called 'Old Pine' by Ben Howard

Ben Howard is a male acoustic artist who has emerged into the music scene almost the same time as my artist Benjamin Francis Leftwich. He also has a very similar target audience as Ben Howard. This was also another mix between being mainly a concept based video with elements of performance in it too.

Some features that I felt were really successful in both of these music videos and shall definatly consider using in my music video include;

• Lots of establishing location shots throughout the video of different scenery all help to set a a clear location. I also thought that these shots were also very interesting and kept my attention throughout the video.
• The video had a vintage, old fashioned style to it which I thought was very fitting for the genre of music. This was created through the type of the camera used or effects used on the footage.
• Mainly all natural lighting with a few subtle effects.
• I particularly liked the use of handheld shots where the camera is slightly shaky but I feel that this gives the video a more artistic and personal feel to the music video.
• I also thought that different shots of the same position focusing on the same area was interesting almost like stop frame animation.

After researching further into music videos within my genre (male acoustic artists) I have come to a firm decision that I want to produce a concept based music video with some elements of performance as well as I thought that this genre of music video really suits the male acoustic genre of music. Having a clear understanding of the lyrics of my chosen song I feel that this genre of music video would be most suitable for my artist.