The song 'Run Boy Run' is by a French music video director and singer-songwriter called Younn Lemonine who goes by the name WoodKid. The song comes under the genre of neofolk.
We decided to look at past students work in aid to give us inspiration for our own music video and also to give us a guidance into what we maybe able to achieve, in terms of quality, shots, production etc. To complete this research we decided to use YouTube to find past students work, we came across an A Level music video for the song 'Run Boy Run'. We both really liked the whole concept of the video and the actual song used as well. Another reason we liked this particular music video was that we felt that in terms of technical aspect we could be able to create our own music video to this standard, as many past students work is of a very high standard as they have the accessibility to high tech equipment such as cranes, tracks and cameras of much higher quality and also more advanced editing software. Therefore, we felt that we should look at videos which were effective but simple as we felt that looking at advanced music videos would not help as we do not have the facilities to be as ambitious in our own work.
The first shots used in this music video are very effective as they have used a series of close-up on various different people, which have been edited nicely to cut to the beat of the song. Also the use of the fade to black and black and white also adds a sense of mystery and atmosphere which sets up the audience for the storyline behind the song and video. Another aspect of the video which I think is effective is that for the drumming sequence part of the song they have used shots of a person, in an unusual costume that resembles a Native American, who is playing the drum and the frantic drumming and quick shots match that of the actual music. These shots make this video become not only a narrative music video but also has aspects of performance as we can actually see someone in the video playing the drum.
The actual storyline behind the music video has many different aspects to it which intern makes it become slightly confusing however I feel that overall the narrative is effective as it almost leaves the story open to audience interpretation. The narrative also reflects the genre of the song as it is from a genre called neofolk, which is unusual in itself.
Another reason we felt that this music video was so effective was due to the standard of the mise-en-scene used. This is because the students have thought about all aspects of mise-en-scene in particular the use of location and costume/make-up is on a very high standard. For example, the use of many different shots in various locations such as in the Castle and woodland keep the audience in tuned with the song and understand the general meaning of the song and music video. The use of the castle creates an unusual mysterious effect that creates an effective meaningful atmosphere with powerful shots of the castles and the characters within the music video. Costume has also been effectively used through out the music video as the various costumes help to create a variety of characters which help to build up the storyline. For example, the use of the hooded figure with the armour helps to create a mysterious character which symbolises your usual hero as he heads towards the tower where he meats the innocent looking 'princess' type character with the white dress and flower crown, to help to create this apearance. Props have also be used such as a drum, sword, mask, and even included animals such as dogs and even a horse, which is very effective as they have used clips of a dog running for the main chorus part of the song which has the lyrics 'Run Boy Run' which makes the music video directly link to the songs lyrics.
On a whole we both really liked this music video as we felt that it was very effective and something that we could possibly achieve in our own work, and also the actual song as well. Another, final aspect that we loved about this music video is that it is almost all narrative as there is no lip syncing used in the video, the only performance aspect is the boy playing the drum. This is something that we really liked as we like the idea of having a narrative based music video as we personally don't like the whole concept of someone standing around and miming to the camera as it feels quite fake and takes away the emotion from the storyline. So this music video has given us inspiration into who we can make an effective music video without the use of lip syncing.
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