Music Video Case Study: Bruno Mars - Treasure

Song: Treasure

Artist: Bruno Mars

46,254,761 YouTube views

Uploaded on: 14th June 2013

Directed by: Cameron Duddy & Bruno Mars

 

The music video for Treasure is not available in high quality; is rather shown in standard quality and 4:3 aspect ratio to keep with the 1970's theme. This is similar to Mars' music videos for "Locked Out of Heaven" and "If I Was Your Man". The low quality aspect seems to be a theme that he is aiming for in his videos of late. The standard aspect ratio for videos in the noughties is 16:9, however it is evident that Mars is aiming for a throwback to music videos shot in the 70s/80s. The video is particularly inspired by the Jackson Five and Earth, Wind and Fire.

The video is quite basic with no costume or set changes. It is a performance based music video with no narrative designed to look as if Bruno if performing live. The theme of the video is the 1970's. It is essentially a throwback to videos that were made in that era. Mars plays the role of the lead singer and dancer in the video. Considering he is the point of focus he is always in the centre of all the camera shots. He lip-syncs to all of the lyrics of the song professionally.

 

The video utilizes a range of camera angles, special effects and editing techniques. In terms of camera angles many The song has very slow-paced and fast-paced cuts and features heavy dance routine that runs throughout the entire video. There aren't many close-ups as the video focuses on Bruno, the dancers and the band as a whole, not just Bruno alone. There are a few special effects in the video. The video features the electronic trail effect that the Jackson Five's "Blame It On The Boogie" utilized which was cutting-edge technology at the time of the song's release in the late 70's.

 

The target audience of the video is fans of Bruno Mars' music or the song in particular, casual Pop/R&B music fans that listen to much channels and watch YouTube/Vevo. As Bruno Mars is quite a universal artist, the song and video doesn't appeal to a specific genre. Uniquely the  video also captures the interest of people that were interested in music from the 1980s and will be compelled by the video's throwback theme to videos from that era. The music video encourages them to buy the record because it gives the song more exposure and it gives the song a chance to grow on fans that maybe don't like the song when they first hear it.

 

Ideas to be taken from the video include the editing techniques. The video is edited coarsely and certain parts of the video flow well as if it was shot in one take using a variety of different cameras. Although we don't want our video to look as if it has been shot in one take, the videos use of editing and varying camera angles are something that will be incorporated into our music video. Additionally we were also inspired by the fact that the video appealed to different people of different ages, genres and eras of time. This is something that we would like to incorporate in our work.