Yesterday we had a music video analysis presentation in class and my presentation is on Drake’s Hotline Bling. The music video directed by Director X was released on October 19 and its imagery has become an Internet sensation, inspiring countless memes and parody videos. I chose this music video because I really love the way how the director plays with camera and the lighting. Director X uses complex cinematography in the video such as full shots, tracking shots, panning shots, mid shots, long shots, close-ups and tilt up where full shots are mostly used in order to put emphasis on the dance movements. He also plays with the colourful lighting where the constant changing colour of the boxes emphasise the video is being ‘fun’ and ‘crazy’. Most importantly the choreography in the video is the crucial reason that makes Hotline Bling become a viral music video where Drake dances in ways that most famous rappers do not.

Initially my respond to this music video is simple and boring where I was puzzled by its soaring popularity. However, after I carefully watched it again, I realised that this piece of work isn’t that simple from what I think. The production actually needs lots of technical skill in which Director X makes it as an art. For our upcoming music video production, we have chosen a song called ‘Good Vibes & Regrets’ (Due to some reason, we have changed the song for our group project). It is a happy song mixed with jazz music. If there is something from Hotline Bling music video that might ​influence​ ​our ​own​ ​music video​ production, it would be the lighting technique and choreography. As discussed with my team members, we are thinking of including dancing in our music video production.

There are also some interesting presentations from our classmates. The presentation on the Korean Idol Big Bang’s Zutter surprised me because we rarely see this kind of comically dark swag in Asian music video production. It is a non linear narrative music video revolving the story between gangster and swindler. Each minor story gives a strong message to the audiences which it has more impact compared with the linear sequenced ones.

Another interesting music video would be Mayday’s Tough. When I was back in Taiwan, I always loved to listen to their music. In some of Mayday’s music video, they like to use the narrative structure to give a message to their audiences. In this music video, they want to show a spirit of never give up where the actor in the video has overcame the difficulties to achieve his dream.