Music Video History

Work that I admire

Jason Mraz – I Won’t Give Up (Lyric Video)

The lyric video for the song revolves around the theme of letters. The time which the video was set seemed to be old and so the colour/lighting of the video was made to be dimmer and brown so that it matched the time era. Furthermore the props used matched this time era as letters were more often written before the computers were used by most people so this suggests the time the video was set in. Furthermore, the use of fountain pens and old style keys reinforces the time era it was set in.

There are several ways in which the props are used to present the lyrics of the song. A lot of the time the lyrics are written on the envelopes of the letters but they are presented in different ways; for example the lyrics were sometimes written on a few separate envelopes and sometimes the whole line of lyrics was written on one envelope. Another thing which was often used was a table which varied in colours to make it not seem too repetitive. Actors were used in the video where they flipped the page in the book and picked up the envelope to reveal the lyrics. The video also had a narrative to it as there was some acting in the beginning and at the end of the video.

I like this video because it has a nice theme and the props used were well selected to create the theme. The lighting was also adjusted to match the appropriate time era to when it was set. Furthermore, although some of the props were used over and over again, each time it varied a little to make it look different and interesting to watch. Another thing I like about it was the incorporated acting in the beginning and at the end of the video which makes the video different to other lyric videos.

Katy Perry – Birthday (Lyric Video)

This video is really creative in the way it presents the lyrics of the song. Firstly, the number of cakes used to create the video is quite incredible. Although most of the lyrics were displayed on birthday cakes but the amount of different types of cakes used made it remarkable. Some of the cakes included traditional birthday cakes, cartoon cakes, cupcakes and other types of cakes were used. The bright colours used were very appealing and suitable for the theme of the song as they connote happiness which links to the title of the song “Birthday” as it typically a joyful event. Another part of the video which I like is the use of transitions between the different types of lyrics. Some examples include the use of a pan and tilt. The sequence of the lyrics shown was also continuous a lot of the time where it was not edited so it was all in one shot and this made it flow. There were a variety of props used in the video which were all closely related to the title of the song. For example, at first there was a cake mix which a wooden spoon, then there was plain flour, a rolling pin, ribbons, candles and so on. It is quite fascinating how the lyrics were put onto each of these items to make it look interesting to the audience. Overall, the lyric video was creative in how the lyrics were displayed with the great amount of props used to create it which is what I really admire about this video.