Influential Directors- Paul Hunter

Paul Hunter is one of the most recognizable and influential music video directors of today. He’s from California and graduated from Cal State Northridge, he holds a degree in Radio, TV and Film.

·        He has worked with such legendary artists as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, U2 and TLC. His music videos for Justin Timberlake, Will Smith, Gwen Stefani, among others have been awarded and consistently nominated by MTV.

·        Hunter has directed over a hundred commercials and music videos.

·        He is among an elite group of directors who can seamlessly cross all music genres from Rap, R&B, Hip-Hop to Rock.

·        He made his first appearance with freestyle in 2001 which was nominated from Emmy.

·        He helped produce multiplatform projects with Jennifer Lopez and Rhianna.

One of the videos Hunter has directed is Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stafani, we have posted the video below:

Another video that Hunter has directed is Lady Marmalade; this song held the number-one spot on the billboard hot 100 singles chart in the United States.

Textual Analysis - Firework by Katy Perry- Charlotte Cox

What is the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals:

• The lyrics combined with the visuals create depth to the video and add emphasis to the meaning of her lyrics. "You've just gotta ignite; the light and let it shine" are the lyrics that initiate the fireworks emitted from each individual suggesting that they each have the strength from within their hearts to be strong and reach there potential.

Genre Characteristics:

• Alot of the focus is upon the main artist, Katy Perry and when the story develops she passes the baton on to the individual who's the focus in that scene creating the fireworks we see beginning to sparkle from their chest. Throughout, this metaphor is used to suggest the continuing theme that people have the strength from within to be happy with themselves it is usually a way in which you can describe a feeling in the pit of your stomach, an emotion that is rarely shown. The pop culture Katy Perry is associated with is shown in this video by her having pink highlights in her hair because although this is more of a mature video, she is still able to get the fun side in and have a play with different aspects to make it more entertaining.

Katy Perry- Hot 'n Cold textual analysis, Hannah Stanton

I am analysing the music video Hot 'n cold by Katy Perry. The music video was directed by Alex Ferguson. The genre of this song is pop and the genre characteristics of the video are:

• There is a dance routine, this is where her and the brides maids perform a dance routine with bass ball bats.
• A performance of her singing the song on stage, with her dressed in red and wearing designer sunglasses. We know they are designer because the camera keeps doing close ups on the glasses.
• Katy is portrayed as 'quirky' and this is shown through random actions in the video. e.g. There's a man dressed as a hot dog and Katy appears with a zebra at the end of the video, this represents the concept of "hot 'n cold" because two opposites have been placed together.

The relationships between lyrics and visuals:

• She's singing certain words, and they relate to her actions e.g. shes says " you change your mind like a girl changes clothes" and she literally does change outfits throughout the video.
• This music video has a circular narrative because it starts and ends in the same place, in a church where they are about to get married.
• The storyline casts her at a wedding, about to exchange vows with her fiancee. He runs away at the altar before taking his vow, she follows him, and they appear to be playing a cat-and-mouse game. Katy and the dancers corner him several times, in different clothing. As she sings the song's verses to him, she appears alternately angry, and seductive. At the end of the video, it is revealed that the whole pursuit was Alexander's fantasy, and he is still standing at the altar while Katy waits for him to say "I do". He does, and the crowd in the church breaks out into cheers as Katy runs victoriously down the aisle with him. 
• In the middle of the video her dress is wrecked, makeup is running down her face and she is crying. She appears to be broken hearted and this represents her as a mess. Near the end she has got a new image with new clothes and makeup, and she appears to have a lot of confidence, this represents 'girl power' as she is now in control of the situation. The whole cat and mouse game is his vision of what will happen if he says no. 

The relationship between music and visuals:

• At the beginning everyone's moving to the beat of the music.
• Later on in the video it shows her on stage with her band, their playing and she's singing in time sync with the music, so this is a reference to the instruments used in the song. 
• Close ups of the artist's legs, lips, crotch and eyes persuade us to see her as a sex object.
• References to the notion of looking - see her talking/reflected in mobile phone all attention focused on her as the background is black.

Textual Analysis of Kate Nash Foundatins- Hannah Morgan

The genre characteristics of Kate Nash Foundations music video is pop 'talk' rap, this is represented through her clothing as she wears bright clothes; this also can link to girls who will watch the music video. There are many relationships between lyrics and visuals, the lyrics connect with the actions she performs. For example eating lemons. There is an over the shoulder shot with Kate singing to her boyfriend, but she looks as if she is singing to us. An action shot with Kate and her boyfriend arm wrestling connects with the lyrics as the actions match with the words. There is an emphasis on the lyrics which shows a negative tone about her boyfriend as she moves her feet away from him. At the beginning they are playing on a board game this show that Kate is not interested in her "boyfriend". Also the camera focuses on Kate for the majority of the time which shows she is more important. Her relationship is shown with actions of socks with the socks in twining together and un twining which is a reference to their relationship. Furthermore "Rather be with your friends matter coz they are much fitter", at this point a sock slides to a group of socks to resemble a group of boys. There is a visual vision of her letting go her boyfriends hand as the lyrics are "let go".
The relationship between the music and the visuals are through singing no instruments are involved. For example Kate lies on a sofa singing into a camera. The edits at the beginning fit with the beat of the music, this is unusual because a piano is usually shown.
There are many close ups on her face rather than her body as she does not want any sexual references. She portrays her fashion through her bright colours. Throughout her video you are more interested in the lyrics that she sings rather than watching her body.
The music video is narrative based as there is a story being shown e.g. the stages of the relationship with her boyfriend. Also the video is performance based with Kate singing into the camera.
At the end Kate shows the end of her relationship with her boyfriend as she walks out of the house. Behind her on the door it says "Don't fall for this", her she is sending a message across to everyone about how she feels; her she can really connect to the audience.