Previous Year 13 Music Video

This is a Year 13 Student Video from Long Road Sixth Form College - they have been set the same brief as us therefore we will be able to learn something from analysing the video they have created. The song The Nextmen - Amongst The Madness was one of our choices when we were deciding what song to choose and the genre of music is rap/hip-hop much like our song choice of Kyle Rapps - Hard Knock Children.
The video uses some conventions stated in Goodwins Theory - for example the use of music and video relating to each other in the video. When the record scratches and stops and starts, the visuals in the video also glitch and change speed with the music. This is a good effect and works well in their video. The video also uses the concept of voyeurism and looking as we see throughout the video the characters walking down streets. We get views from in front and behind, like we are following a journey - however the character does not know we are there. We could say the video does make sure the demands of the record label are met with the chorus always being rapped by the artist, however a mid-shot is only ever used (perhaps to get a good view of the graffiti behind) however this means we never really get a chance to see the artists face. This, I feel, could definitely be improved in the video. I also think that the relationship between the lyrics and visuals could be worked on. The main lyric "Amongst The Madness" does not seem to be illustrated in the video too much. Although it could be possibly seen as the character walking is getting away from "madness" or the madness is in the streets, I think that this is a weak idea that could be improved.
The genre characteristics are used well in this video - with modern, fashionable somewhat urban clothing - which seems to work in the video as the song has a modern hiphop/rap feel to it. The use of graffiti is also a sensible addition to the visuals as it amplifies the modern rap idea. The locations of city streets also reflects the genre well however the location never seems to be highlighted much. I think that the video overall seemed to never really grab the audience, with prolonged shot durations and no lip-syncing until the chorus I think the video never really got going from the first 20 seconds. The story being shown in the video seemed to never be very clear to anyone and there were no costume changes or real passion in the artists performance. In balance some of the genre characteristics were adhered to and I think this video has given our group some feel for the amount of shots we will have to do to make sure our video does grip and entertain our audiences.