Director Study- Hype Williams

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Video Music Task

Final Cut Express Lesson

This is the tutorial that Shannon, Ben and I did to learn how to do split screen on Final Cut Express and to show other people how to do it. We all contributed to writing the script for it, and then Ben read it out whilst me and Shannon demonstrated how to do it on Final Cut Express. Split screening is basically layering footage on top of another piece of footage in the same location and cutting it down to make it fit. This task was really useful as now we have tutorials on all the key techniques need for music videos.

Iconic Music Video

This rock music video is quite iconic and groundbreaking as the images on screen do not match the lyrics of the song. It was one of the first videos to be comical and to show men dressed as women- this was a very new idea in the 1980's. This music video is unlike many of the video's from the 80's as it's not just a band playing and singing on screen, but actually involves other arts (dancing and acting). 'I want to break free' uses a lot of 'special effects', which had not really been done before in music videos and was a very new concept in the early 80's.

I personally feel this video, although slightly dated, is a good iconic music video and is actually better than some modern music videos as it contradicts the traditional method of matching lyrics and visuals!

I like how its unlike any of their early videos, which just feature them performing on stage or signing to the camera.

I think it's really interesting how this music video goes against several of Goodwins key features of music videos. Firstly, it goes against the conventions of rock music videos as it doesn't show the band on stage playing instruments and performing. There is also very little relationship between lyrics and visuals which is unusual for music videos. However there are intertextual references to current events in this video. The part where Queen are surrounded by miners, singing the chorus line of 'I want to break free', is a reference to the miners strikes in 1984. This may have been usual for over 'POP' bands of the time, but for Rock bands in the 1980's it was unusual. This video is also controversial in terms of the image of women, as instead of using women to attract male attention they are doing the opposite by dressing the male band members as women (it's not pretty!!).