Student Work

By Ben Snape

Macklemore - Cant Hold Us - A2 Media Studies Music Video – by Tyler west, Jeffrey Sasu, Jorgenson Paragas and Jordan Edwards.

Their ideas for narrative/visuals

I think that the ideas Tyler and his group showed were much more different than the other music videos I had seen, saying that I mean that their ideas were carefully thought such as the plot of the robbers mixing up their bags and ending up chasing the other man to get their bag back and their narrative was much more upbeat and positive than other music videos I came across, this made their video refreshing and entertaining to watch.

However, the most interesting parts of the video was the comedic value through their brilliantly planned narrative and visuals such as the comic effect to show the audience what they were saying and the visuals of the robbers being silly and hurting them selves they had.

Camera work In their music video they used many different camera shots and angles which made their

video even more interesting and sometimes enigmatic such as the aerial shot of the bags tells the audience that there is obviously something dodgy in the bag as they are robbers.

Shots such as long shots and establishing shots allow the audience to get a good feel about where the characters are and what they are doing, this is shown in the scene with the dance off.

A split screen is also used for when the robbers are in jail, this is quite an unused camera shot which makes for another unique feature in the music video.

Editing

The editing in this groups music video was quite unique and different from others I’ve seen which made theirs stand out more.

Firstly the use of freeze frames with the comical effect was a great addition whilst editing as it made the video have something that others didn’t have.

Also the use a small montages here and there ad for more comical effect such as when the robber is being silly when posing for photos.

Mise en scene

The mise en scene in their music video was great, I thought that they planned out what they were going to wear very well as it is evident to see that everything worked, from the stereotypical robbers outfit notably used in cartoons to the simple business outfit the other man was wearing, all of this came together brilliantly and fit the music very well.

Also the use of a real chicken at the end of their music video completely changed a lot of things in terms of funny as they moved up a notch and really enhanced their video and from what I can see accomplished what they wanted to actually see, even if it was getting a chicken.

Use of sound

I thought the music was perfectly in sync with the lip syncing which Is very important, that being said the groups seemed to understand what they wanted lip synced and what not and certain times and places.

Also the use of the other song when they were dancing added to that comical and funny effect they were looking for and made it very different to what others have produced.

Strengths

They used a lot of different camera shots and angles.

Lip syncing was on par with the music.

I believe that by what they made, they managed to create everything through what they wanted to do and didn’t let things stop them.

The mise en scene was planned very well as it all fitted the comical theme.

Lastly editing was very good, especially when creating the comical effect in the music video.

Overall, all of these strengths would have been why they would of gained marks.

Weaknesses/Mistakes

There weren’t many clear weaknesses but I would say that:

The only flaw would have been the other music track that they added in the music video, obviously it was there to add a comedic effect, although in some way it didn’t really fit with making a music video for the Macklemore song.

Nevertheless, I personally think the idea was good but maybe just not a authentic as it could have been.

Overall, I don’t think that there are actually any mistakes and I believe that they planned the whole thing perfectly and took time which each shot.

Elements I liked

I particularly like the who comedic theme of the music video as I feel that is what made everything work such as the chicken and the other music played when they were dancing.

I also liked the mise en scene as I thought it was perfectly planned out and worked really well with the music.