'Otis' & 'Headlines'

The locations we choose for are music videos are very important because the setting plays a major role in creating a mood/atmosphere for the video.

Whilst on YouTube I watched two videos. One was ‘Otis’ by Jay-Z & Kanye West and the other Headlines by Drake. The locations in these videos are carefully planned and creative.

In the ‘Otis’ video there is one location that remains the same throughout. This is useful because it means the video recording process is less time consuming because you don’t have to change location. Furthermore, I can tell they planned the location well before filming because it is perfect for the theme in the video.  They dismantle and re-arrange a Maybach car in the video whilst driving it around outside factories/warehouses. At the start of the video we see the artists walking with tools in their hands in slow motion creating a soulful mood linked to the start of the soundtrack. Furthermore, the doors of the car are removed but at the back and the windows are taken out. We watch them drive doing 'doughnuts' with a backseat of women all clearly enjoying the ride. Jay -Z & Kanye West look into the camera rapping their verses in a playful way almost as if they children again with millions of dollars. This makes the mood of the song playful, fun, and exciting. They parade in front of the american flag with genuine smiles. 
I really think the location has an impact on the mood of the song.  This location is perfect for the artists to show their playful side. Something we don't usually see with two Hip Hop artists. 

Drakes 'headlines' has far more locations then the 'Otis' video. One location I really like in this video can be seen at 2.45. There's a tall isolated building which then gets spray painted, Because the building was tall and unwanted they had more wall space and therefore adding to the effect of the graffiti. The highlight of this video is the editing, which consists of several jump cuts. Theses jump cuts are used to great effect in matching the pace of the songs production. The idea of using jump cuts to match a songs production is really effective.