T2B98

Taylor Swift's "Style" is out now! :D I've been waiting for this song, I think it's one of her better ones.

The video's very serious and sad. (I think it's a little creepy, but then again I think a lot of things are creepy. So. You know.)

This is kind of contrasting to the way Target uses this song. They used the "And I got that red lip classic thing that you like" and set it to an upbeat commercial.

In this video, the whole scene is vibrant, yes, but not in the happy, uplifting way Target's commercial is.

Mr. Lattimer was talking about how directors use music to affect your viewing of pictures. An author uses words, a director uses sound.

This video kind of makes me thing about the opposite. The images set to a song can affect the way the song is perceived. I suppose this is slightly different--in a film, the background music (usually) doesn't have words, and affects the scene because of its subtlety--it's almost unconsciously affecting the way you perceive the scene and the words in the scene. In this case, it's the song with the text, the meaning of the lyrics, that is affected by the visuals. The visuals aren't the main focus, in this case, instead, they enhance the song and add a level of depth to it, the same way background music works for films. I think, in this case, the music itself (in the song, so not the lyrics) is the focus, which is why the visuals add to it. 

This also kind of leads me to the different types of music videos I've noticed. I'd say there are 2 main types.

The kind where there is a story, i.e. You Belong With Me, also by Taylor Swift:

And the abstract kind (Style ^).

I think the ones that tell a story usually tell the story behind the song, if there is one, or one that is related somehow to the theme/subject of the song. There, a storyline develops in the video as well as the lyrics. The second, abstract kind, simply explores different fragments of the same topic. I'd say even the abstract kinds have a bit of a storyline to them, as they explore the same topic and are consistent, i.e. Style (it kind of follows a relationship? I don't really know about this one) or This Is How We Do, Katy Perry. (In the case of This Is How We Do, the entire song is just one topic and doesn't really evolve.)

Anyways, I think it's all very interesting and subjective (See what I did there? XP).

Music is an art, and music videos bring the joy of it to everyone. It's all a matter of perception, but I think it's very interesting how directors and (what do you call the people that film music videos? producers? or still directors?) producers, I guess, play with your senses to clue you in, in many different ways, about the stories.

After all, as we're learning in English, stories are a great way to learn. :D (I'll blog about that tomorrow. XP)