Madonna - Vogue (1990)
'Vogue' is a song by Madonna about the actual fashion magazine company 'Vogue', which is what this video links the lyrics to, from the use of models and fashion shows with judges within the video. Although videos are usually done in colour, this video has been edited to black and white, with lighting effects to create a bigger contrast, to show how in the media everything literally has a 'black and white' or positive/negative view, there isn't much in between. This is because the media creates a society of people to either all do one thing or all not do something, where in the music industry, this could be to create a society that mostly listens to mainstream music and discourages other types of music, or in the fashion industry which this music video relates to, a society is created where most people wear similar clothes because they are seen as fashionable, or how you shouldn't wear certain clothes because society will judge you. The black and white effect can also then relate to being an outcast - trying to break the mould of following the crowd, which fits the idea of relation directly to the lyrics, in this case 'it's everywhere you go, you try everything you can to escape'. Another music video element being used here is a dance routine - there are dancers who have a very specific routine which then an audience may remember and associate the song with, especially considering the dancers are mostly men, where in previous videos dancers are usually women, to make this video stand out from others and seem more memorable. In more terms of mis-en-scene the set is very much linked to the theme of the video, such as the catwalk stage, which shows how music videos have moved quite far away from the idea of performance on a regular stage, and moved more into the ideas of representing actual songs. Madonna is wearing expensive looking clothes in a posh looking studio, as well as the models wearing posh, formal suits and doing elegant gestures and body language, which links in with the materialistic themes of more modern music videos - showing off the life of being a music star which an audience can aspire to be like, as well as promoting the main theme of the song which is 'fashion' and could relate to how designer fashion brands which are considered the most 'fashionable' of clothing can only be afforded by wealthier people. Some of Madonna's clothes in this video are also quite revealing, which shows how in the music industry girls are becoming more sexualised to appeal to a wider audience, as if they have to 'sell themselves sexually' to promote themselves as an artist, which from this point has increased as an idea rapidly within music. A lot of mid shots and long shots of Madonna are used to reveal this clothing and image to the audience. Low angle shots are also used on Madonna and other models to show that fashion and wealth are superior in our society according to industries like Vogue, almost to intimidate people into thinking they have to be fashionable and wealthy to be a better person which we can't escape, which is the message Madonna here is trying to portray. The editing speed fits with the beat of the music, to show how industry in media is very free-flowing but organised, and in some cases where the beat is fast, the editing is fast, to show how also in these industries such as Vogue, the atmosphere is busy and also can control the minds of society to an extent.
The Beastie Boys - Sabotage (1994)
'Sabotage' is a music video which acts as a parody to old American 'cop shows' on television, with the Beastie Boys as the stars of the programme. It builds on the ideas of narrative in music videos, to the extent where in itself it is just a summarised version of something which requires narrative as its main focal point - television programmes. This idea is so that it stands out as a music video because it uses elements from other media products to bring about its success - cross media convergence. Another use for this video is to promote the boy band, by actually introducing each member in title credits (fitting also with the theme of a television show) so the audience can identify them and know each member individually as a way of advertisement for the Beastie Boys as well as just their song and video. In terms of mis-en-scene they use the stereotypical conventions of police television shows in a mocking manner, such as the large fake mustaches and the idea of the police hanging around eating doughnuts, as both a humorous element and something the audience can associate with from things they have seen before, which makes the video memorable. The editing speed is very fast paced to mirror the fast paced chase scenes in typical American 'cop shows' to which the Beastie Boys here are chasing criminals, put together with a variety of camera shots to make the scenes more dramatic, including close ups to show emotions and mid shots to show clothing. In this video however, the 'police' don't exactly do their job right, by for example just throwing a criminal out of the car, or letting one fall to his death, which fits with the idea that music videos link to the song in some way - in this case, the idea of 'sabotage'.
Spice Girls - Wannabe (1996)
Since girl groups like Bananarama, the Spice Girls with this promo video really began to set off the theme of 'girl power' within music videos for the female audience to associate with, and to reach out to this specific target audience. This idea became popular, inspiring girl groups like Atomic Kitten and Sugababes, right through to modern groups like The Saturdays and Stooshe, and even solo artists like Beyonce and Britney Spears. This started mostly from political and sociological movements of feminism. This theme is portrayed in this video by the way the Spice Girls act - they are confident, and cause mayhem in a building full of upper class people with more of an elegant nature compared to their fun attitude, and different sexualised style of dress including short skirts and crop tops. This represents how they are trying to be different and connect with the social class of their audience, as well as sell themselves as artists with their sexualised identity, which is also shown in the way they dance. Another element that promotes them as artists is the way they include and introduce each member of the group individually as a different identity. Each member dresses and acts a different way, and when a member gets the chance to individually sing, the camera pans to a mid shot of the member so their identity and image is fully revealed. This means that they can connect to a wider audience where a member of society can 'choose' a member they are most associated with, or they find is their 'favourite'. The song is sung in second person, addressing 'you' in the lyrics, and so another way of addressing the audience is the way they look directly at the camera and sing to the camera, as if the song is about the person watching it. A few low-angle shots are used to make the group look superior to everyone else in the room, especially when the group are around male characters, to further represent the message of 'girl power' in this promo video. The set has been carefully thought about as well, where normally music artists up to this point use sets and stages for their videos, the Spice Girls used an actual venue after walking in from the street, to show how they don't just exist in the music world, that they are part of the real world too and try to show that the things they sing about connect to real life situations, which is another technique to connect to their audience.
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