Changed Music Video Director Essay
The Music Video Director I have chosen first is Emil Nava and the Music Video I have picked is one of his many Jessie J’s videos her 2011 hit single Nobody’s Perfect, I selected him to write about out of 3 directors because his music videos appeal to me and are always very interesting, imaginative and attention grabbing, He has been making Music Videos for many years and for numerous worldwide stars such as Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith, Rita Ora, Calvin Harris, Tinie Tempah, The Vamps and even Ne - Yo which all started of when he made one of his first ever Music Videos Jessie J’s Do it like a dude which started of her career and his. Nobody’s Perfect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSZVYZTze74 Which has a immense 52 Million views on YouTube was written by Claude Kelly and Jessie J and released as the 3rd single of the biggest selling album of the year Who You Are, Was shot on set at Nu Boyana Film studies on the 24th March 2011 by my chosen director Emil Nava, Inspired by the classic book and film Alice In Wonderland Nobody’s Perfect Music Video is very much a story tale with a dark side. I would say that Nobody’s Perfect is a Narrative video with a hint of Performance as Jessie J the talent is performing to camera and the audience throughout the whole Music Video but it is also based on a story that relates to the lyrics and the Alice In Wonderland theme. Since the theme allows the director and talent to go where ever they like with the Music Video it has so much creativity, feeling, visionary and eye-catching scenes that is rarely seen in Music Videos which is one of the main reasons why I picked this Music Video and Director.
The way he uses his tracking shots, his pull focus’s, neon colors, voiceovers, special effects and fast-pasted cuts make it very effective and interesting for the audience to watch. Every frame is beautifully thought out, with all the right lighting, locations and shots from a short tracking shot from the end of the table towards the talent to a simple wide shot of the talent at the end of the corridor.
All the tracking and moving shots going between each character in the Music Video feel like you are watching it from the main character/talents point of view which therefor again relate to the lyrics of the song. The amount of different shots, in different locations with different costume’s keep the audience captivated from the close ups of clocks smashing to the mid shots of the talents lip syncing with feeling to the song to the slow motion corridor shots.
What I think is one of the best parts and shots is towards the end when the talent is walking down the corridor using a slow motion still wide angel shot when everything is blowing up behind her it’s simple yet very effective.
How Emil used all different themes from Alice in Wonderland to the Statue of Liberty and that they all work so well together just goes to show how imaginative and talented he is.
From the narrated mysterious eerie start to the video, to the artistic and vibrant shots, to the fascinating and perfectly fast pasted editing and the directors ability to work to with talent to get the best out of her. All through the Music Video the story combined with all the captivating shots and Jessie J’s performance the song literally jumps off the screen to the audience. I would love to use the vibrant, unique and arty creative shots used in this Music Video in mine as is automatically grabs the audience attention and hopefully will keep them hooked enough to watch the video over and over and go out to buy the song.
Emil Nava seems to make this apparent in all of his videos from Jessie J’s Do it like a dude, To Ed Sheeran’s number one song Thinking out loud and To his latest Music Video Calvin Harris’s and Ellie Golding’s Outside, His inventiveness,ENERGY , enthusiasm and imaginative thinking has found him working with some one the biggest names in the music industry. Here are some examples of him working of the Music Video in relation and Emil Nava working on other Music Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuVEEnqdclQ & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEGOiGpOIqc & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc-CzXQJg8Y&spfreload=10
The second Music Video and Director I have chosen from Ellie Goulding’s Number one album Halcyon Day’s is Goodness Gracious which couldn’t be more different from my first one Jessie J’s Nobody’s Perfect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekPBOVgGRSA Directed by Kinga Burza, The 2013 song written by Goulding, Greg Kurstin and Fun’s Nate Ruess, shot on location in Los Angeles premiered on 5th January 2014 has over 20 Million YouTube hits and was Ellie Goulding’s tenth top twenty hit. I chose this Music Video and Director because it stands out from others because of it’s catchy Synthpop sound and Edgy, Vibrant and Neon Colored Music Video, Directed by Polish-Australian Music Video Director Kinga Burza known for highly loved videos such as Kate Nash Foundations, Marina and The Diamonds Hollywood, La Roux In For The Kill and even Katy Perry first Number One Single I Kissed a Girl which has a over a massive 63 Million YouTube hit’s.
This was Goulding’s first time working with Kinga and in her own words “She’s Young and really clever and it’s really important to know you’re going to connect with someone” and Ellie wanted the Music Video to showcase young people having a good time and Kinga helped do this by making it as positive, futurist and happy as possible. Kinga Burza who is now based in London, also works on Fashion videos for companies such as River Island and also short films such as Candy which was shown on BBC in June 2014. Kinga has won awards for her Music Videos for example Best Pop Video at the UK Video Music Awards For Kate Nash’s Foundations and was also nominated for Best New Director at the CAD awards and has been said to be among ‘The next wave of up and coming directors’.
Kinga using the Hue effect straight away creates something that will stand out from the rest joint that together with the different shots used makes for a good Music Video.
The slow motion brightly colored with bokeh shots instantly catch your attention and then the what seems to be handheld or shoulder rigged mid shots of the talent lip syncing along to the song which are always kept moving so the audiences don’t get distracted and stop watching.
Some of my favorite parts and shots of the Music Video are not the hue scenes but the shots of the talent with in focus and the city skyline in the background creating a beautiful colorful bokeh effect and also another favorite is the slow motion scenes of what seems to be petals the characters are throwing into the air falling but in a glow in the dark neon blue which looks very cinematic on scene.
The use of mainly handheld shots which can seem homemade but this is done in a professional way that works, makes it the same as Nobody’s Perfect as if the audiences are following the characters on there adventures during the time of the Music Video which makes them more inclined to like and buy the artist’s song.
The mixture of both lip syncing shots of the artist having fun with the other characters and cover shots of them work very well together with the use of hue nature/ beach shots which Kinga added in perfectly.
Some concepts of this music video I like are the striking and eye-catching shots combined with the story of just a group of young people enjoying themselves and having the time of their lives while Ellie tells the story of the song through her singing and also the whole atmosphere of the talent and the marvelous shades and tints of the neon colors with the backdrop of the stunning landscape’s of Los Angeles. Here is an example of Kinga Burza directing the Music Video Goodness Gracioushttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7994zKsybk and also Kinga working on another one of her many Music Video’s this one being Marina and The Diamonds Oh No https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAG9xKcCm24
The last but not the least Music Video and Director I have picked is Say Something https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera, The powerful, moving, simple yet inspirational 2013 Oscar worthy Ballad was Directed by Christopher Sims shot on November 8th 2013 and released on the 19th and which now has over a enormous 161 Million views on YouTube, Christopher known for his work on Music Videos such as Ne-Yo Let Me Love You, Ludacris FT. Usher and David Guetta Rest Of My Life, Keane Silenced By The Night, Nicole Scherzinger Run and Usher Good Kisser. The difference between this Music Video and the others I have picked is that this one is all about the message it’s not just about the artists or trying to sell the song but trying to promote the message through the song and artists performances. It’s very much all about the 3 main storylines, The young girl and her quarrelling parents, the old man and his dying wife and the couple fallen out of love. A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera are very much at the sideline of the story of this astounding Music Video they are just there to help pass on the emotion and carry on the meaning of Say Something, which ultimately is about letting go off the unstoppable and forgiving yourself for doing so.
This video and the ways it’s Directed couldn’t be more different from the other two and there bright colors and happy upbeat message this yet it does tell a message in a similar way tells it in a more deep emotional that would pull at any ones heartstrings. With Christopher’s Directed there’s no special effects no dramatic shots just simplicity which I actually ended up using in my own Music Video instead of something like Nobodys Perfect which is all about clever and interesting shots. With Say Something it’s simple but beautiful. Using a blend of slow tracking shots towards, down on, and away from and to to first introduce the artist’s and the characters.
With once again simple but effective lighting all around the black studio already creating sad emotions in the audience even thought nothing has really happened yet. Some of my favorite scenes/shots in Say Something are the slow motion water shots shot with a black background mid shot with a white ordinary water droplet.
All of the colors even on both of the talents are dark and lifeless apart from the young girl and the water drops in the videos that are white colors.
There is not one hand held shot in the whole video as I suspect that Christopher would have wanted it all very clear shots, nothing to clever and over the top to just keep the emotion feel because the whole idea of the video is to show what happens in every day life.
Every is keep to a pare minimal from the old bed with no mattress to the old piano A Great Big World are playing on to the one toy that the little girl has to once again show though the art of stunning shots and great directing what and how hard life can be and the challenges that people go through that nobody knows that relate to the lyrics of the Say Something.
Here is a sample of the Director of Say Something Christopher Sims at work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6lkTKf-Ums & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plV1IV71POE&spfreload=10 To end my view on these Music Video and there Directors I have picked two and have tried to compare them, I think Both the Music Video for Say Something and Nobody’s Perfect try to convey a strong message to the audience. The Music Video for Say Something does this by using actors to create sentiment and make the audience feel empathy with the character’s so therefor they understand the meaning. We can see this when the old man is crying over his fading wife and has to say goodbye. However both music videos shows this in different ways. The Music Video for Nobody’s Perfect does through the talent (Jessie J) Performance we can see this when she storms through a vacant timeworn corridor and because of her now superior presence it slowly falls apart. The effect of this on the audience is that they see the change in her character and the true meaning of the Music Video and song, which is Nobody’s Perfect. The music video I prefer personally is Nobody’s Perfect Even thought I love the meaning between both Songs I prefer the Music Video of Nobody’s Perfect This is because of the way it is created with the shots used and how the story is told through the talent, location, props, costume and musicality. “I was never interested in BECOMING AN ACTOR
. I was directing videos. I was never into acting. I was into shooting music videos. I’ve only ever been behind the camera. Never in front of it.”













