Analysis of Music Video 2

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Watch = Rain on Your Parade By Duffy Music Video

Name of track – Rain on Your Parade
Artist/Director – Duffy

The genre for this video ‘Rain on your parade, by Duffy’ is pop/big band. This is indicated by the costumes used in the video of all the singer Duffy and dancers are all in formal suits. Although using suits is usually not typical for a pop video, by using suits shows that of wealth due to suits are usually expensive. Therefore using wealth in a video usually indicates pop music. Also you can tell that their has been a lot of people put a lot of effort into this video by that all dancers and Duffy are all wearing makeup and matching costumes. That clever choreography has been used and clever lighting as well, so to do this would have taken time & money. Also due to that you have medium shots of the band playing the instruments (drummer and violins) in the background this shows us that the genre of this video also could be Big band. This links in with the title of the song ‘parade’ due to that a parade can be of a cabaret, I think this video has tried to reflect on a cabaret style with Duffy being the main lead.
By the lyrics ‘side of my face’ this is amplified in the video by the visuals by the camera tracking around Duffy in a medium long shot to the side of Duffy seeing the side of her face. Also when the camera tracks Duffy, she starts clapping to also illustrate a ‘smile’ an act of happiness. Then on the lyrics ‘doing good now, since you’ve been erased’, by the visuals Duffy uses her hand gestures and her pose of her head being tilted upwards, give us a body language that says ‘look at me’. Then with the dancers around her copying and clapping with her, this illustrates these lyrics by saying to the audience that she is a better person than she is before. On the word ‘you’ a lot within the song, Duffy amplifies this word through the visuals by pointing to the camera or to the dancers, to say that she is talking to you, therefore this catches our attention. Also in the main first chorus ‘raining, raining, raining over you.’, Duffy looks away from the camera, on each raining being take at different camera sizes, one close up and one medium and then looking up on ‘over’. When Duffy looks back to the camera on ‘you,’ again this amplifies the lyrics of ‘you’ berceuse it is like she is actually talking to you. Also on the word ‘fools’ this lyric is emphasised by having this on a key point of when the visuals change when the dancers enter with Duffy. Also on the long notes at the end of the song ‘parade’, to emphasis the long ness of this note the visuals use a slow motion picture.
To show that violins and big drums are being played in the music, the visuals show us a medium close up of the each band member playing the instruments in the background. To show the beginning of the song, the visuals illustrate this by Duffy bring both her hands together. Then when Duffy starts singing, the lighting lights up and focuses straight on Duffy making us the audience bring all our attention to her. In the choruses, the tempo of the music becomes more up beat, therefore this is reflected on the visuals by the shots become a lot shorter, and there is more action. This therefore is used to create more impact on the visuals. Also when Duffy lifts her hand, the dancers start to move which shows that the visuals are in sync with each other. The dancers are also in time with the music, due to that they enter the video, dance mainly on the choruses and leave at the end of the video. This shows us that the video has a beginning, middle & end, therefore the video was planned.

To sell the record, by using Duffy in the video, people will recognise Duffy and therefore catch their attention to watch the video. Therefore by getting more people to watch the video, the record company will have more chances in selling the record. Also the lighting has been cleverly made by contrasting the costumes to the background. So when the background changes from black to white, a simple idea but when you are viewing the video can clearly see Duffy and her dancers.
The costumes that are used are black & white, the dancers black trousers, jacket and a white shirt, for Duffy only a dark jacket and shorts. So due to Duffy is showing her legs, her pale legs contrast with her jacket which therefore stands out. Therefore by making the legs stand out, this would be a reference on the notion of looking. Also by using a sexy suit for Duffy by showing legs and chest, this gives a reference notion of looking. This is shown in a close up shot of Duffy’s wide legs, with the use of a black silhouette this shows off her curves. By also only using male dancers, Duffy is the only female within the video; this makes all focus on Duffy as well.
Also Duffy is typically known for having long blonde hair, therefore making everything else in black & white (costumes, lighting background,) this creates contrast as this is the only colour visible on screen. Therefore makes our eyes catch onto the video. Also in this video, Duffy uses a 50’s style which is shown through her other videos as well.
This video was performance based; this was because of the use of dancers and dancing throughout the video. The video was made as if Duffy was performing on stage, due to that she stayed in one place, the use of hand gestures towards the camera and also because it was made like she was performing, this therefore reflects on the title of the song ‘parade,’
My conclusion to this video is that it is a performance based video in the genre of pop and soul. The use of a black & white setting is very effective, with the use of costumes and lighting. Even though this was a simple video with a simple idea, I think this worked really effectively. The use of Duffy and her blonde hair has made the video recognisable to the public therefore their would be more interest in the video. Also by having Duffy in a black jacket and shorts, due to that she wearing different to the dancers, this makes her stand out, and because we can see her legs in partially this reflect on the notion of looking. To conclude I think this video was based on a performance, a performance like a cabaret. Therefore I think Duffy in this video was performing as if she was in the ‘parade’ that she is singing about in her lyrics and she in real life is showing someone how ell she is doing in the fame life.