The music video I selected was Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics. This is the oldest video I can remember watching when I was little. I can recall hearing the song on the radio first. Then one day when I was watching the television this video came on. I remember watching it and thinking Annie Lennox was a man, with her bright orange hair. She also had on a suit. This really bothered me. Little did I know that she was a British music artist. I can remember thinking she looked really mean and if I met her she would beat me up. Yes, I was really scared of her. I think the reason why I watched the video was the beat and the song. The synthesizers they used really drew me into the song. It was like nothing I had heard before. I was use to all the old country hits. I can recall seeing the cows in the video and wondering why they were placed there. Now, looking back on the video I come to realize that I still do not know why the cows are in the video. The only thing I can think of is that is what she was dreaming.

When I was little I did not really watch music videos. I listened to the radio a lot, but I never watched the videos. For some reason when this video came on the television I was hooked. I started to watch a lot more music videos. Music videos began to materialize the lyrics I had listened to on the radio. To me it was interesting to see what they had in the different videos. I always had my own picture in my head before I saw them on the television, so it was fun to compare them to what the artist had done. Each song is everyone’s own interpretation.

The video I chose was Barbie Girl by Aqua. This music video just makes me want to kill myself. This is one of the most annoying songs I have ever heard. The only thing that is remotely good about this video is how funny it is. Ken is bald and has a tattoo and Barbie has black hair. This upsets me. Barbie is blonde, and Ken has a full head of hair. Not that I really care, but it displeases me that they would change these key factors. You cannot change the Barbie icon. Barbie is the perfect stereotype of perfection. I also don’t like the fact that there is a song about Barbie in the first place. Who really makes a song all about Barbie, and that in and of itself is annoying. Barbie should not get her own song. She already has everything else.

The voice of the musician is high pitched and annoying. It is like one of your little brother’s friends that will never leave you alone. You feel like you cannot escape it. The voice and the look of the fake unblond Barbie do not match each other. This makes the video that much more unbelievable and aggravating.

To me this video is creepy. It is really scary how close the costumes and the scenery match Barbie. This video is set up like a Barbie toy ad. When she kisses the horse that really freaked me out. It was too much like the commercials you watch on cartoon network, where the doll moves by itself. When I watch this video, I get a sense like everything in it is really plastic. In that sense the video does a good job of portraying the plastic Barbie doll, but it is also weird because there are real people in this really fake world. It is totally unbelievable.

The music video I chose is twisted transistor by Korn. I had another video picked out, but I decided I wanted to go with something funny. If you know Korn you might be asking yourself how could it be funny. Korn is a more heavy alternative rock band. What makes this video funny to me is that Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Lil Jon, and DB are in this video. These guys are famous rappers. To see these rappers pretend to be Korn is hilarious. Throughout the whole video they are making fun of the real band members. Like when David Silvera is supposed to be auditioning for “sexy beast cologne,” the two men who are auditioning him keep yelling at him “perfect just what we were looking for.” Every time I watch this video it cracks me up and I cannot help but laugh.

Another thing I really like about this video is the fact that it is not set up in a traditional way. The video is set up like a documentary. They play the song, but throughout the video the producers cut the words out and put dialogue into the video. It is like you are watching a making of the video. The dialogue scenes are hilarious. They use an intern throughout the video to make it that much more funny. One example is when the intern gets arrested. The manager goes over to the cop car and starts to yell at the cops. He says “that’s my intern. He is earning college credit for this mate.” The reason this is funny because the intern is arrested because he is on a bus full of prostitutes. Why would the manager be yelling at the cops? It is funny because the manager has no ground to try to help the intern. I do not know if anyone else who watches this video will think it is funny, but I believe it to be hilarious. The documentary style and role-playing are what sets this video apart from traditional music videos.

This is a commercial was made by the Department of Economic Development for the Nebraska state government. It is a sales pitch for how great our state is. The television commercial uses a lot of visual, textual, and audio aspects to make you want to come to Nebraska. Nebraska as a vacationing spot appeals to the family based vacationer who wants to have fun and enjoyment for the entire family.

For the visual side of things, the commercial appeals to one’s pathos. The commercial uses an emotional appeal of happiness to get the viewer’s attention. The commercial keeps showing the people doing different things together. It shows people riding bikes through a thick brush of tress with mountain like hills in the background. It also shows a couple going to a vineyard at sunset, drinking a glass of wine, and sitting next to a field of grapes. These are things that most people would see as fun and relaxing. All of the things in the clip are places and events that anyone could relate to in some way or another.
The commercial shows the average American ideal. One example of this would be going camping and sitting around the fire. People do not want to think about making house payments or taking out the garbage. They want that relaxing feeling that these images portray. The commercial does not show anyone getting upset or not having fun. It only shows the good side of things. It shows these perfect events happening almost like in a dream. This helps to show how Nebraska is a family oriented state.

For the textual side of the commercial there is a lot of in your face and easy to remember things that appears on the screen. The author uses logos to portray this. Throughout the entire spot at the bottom of the screen there is a phone number and a website to visit. This is a good technique because sometimes you miss the website or number when it only appears at the end of the commercial. Keeping it on the screen for the entire time makes it easier for someone to remember. In the commercial, the author also uses big, bold, yellow, words that flash on the screen. This is a good technique to grab the attention of the viewer. This makes them focus more on the visual side. That is what they want to sell to make you want to come to the state. They use different sizes of text to make the viewer more attentive. Like on the bottom of the screen the text is smaller but clearly readable. Then when the words come on the screen they are big and bold. This makes the viewers focus their attention to what new thing has come up on the screen. At the end of the commercial, the words appear on the screen “Nebraska, possibilities…endless.” In some ways this is too cheesy of an ending. The consumer will not agree with this, but this statement is set up to be the commercial’s thesis statement. Through the entire commercial every visual and textual thing represented is an argument for the words “Nebraska, possibilities… endless.” That is why they use the bold words to tell you about a new argument. I think this commercial does a great job of proving their point with the great visual displays. People are more likely to respond to a visual representation of a subject matter, rather than just reading about it.

The main focus of this commercial is set up around its audio and visual. This commercial is set up like a puzzle. Without all the pieces, it will not work. The author uses different pieces of this puzzle like the sound and the visualizations in the commercial to carry his piece. The author uses the cause and effect rhetoric style to implement these two things together.
The author’s use of narration in this television spot makes everything he says not understandable to the viewer. One example of this is when the narrator says, “ you could find reds and whites in our fields of greens.” To the ordinary person this phrase is more like a riddle than a statement for a sales pitch. When the viewer hears this they try to make sense of what the narrator is saying. Because of this, they cannot associate this phrase with having a fun filled trip with the children. They are trying too hard to figure out the phrase.

The author uses visualizations to help carry the television ad along. One example is a couple at a vineyard. The clip starts with a far shot of the couple sitting at a table next to an olive field. Then the camera zooms into the couple’s glasses hitting each other for cheers. After that the glasses move out of the shot all you see is a vine of grapes. When the viewer watches this on the screen they think of a romantic dinner with tcheir significant other or going on a date with someone. When you watch this scene you do not realize why the camera shows just a close up of the grapes standing alone and not go back to the couple, or why the couples glasses get a close up of its own.

When the author brings the pieces of the puzzle together they become clear and precise. When the author says “reds and whites” the camera zooms in on the glasses. When the narrator says “in our fields of greens” the camera is focused on the vine of grapes. You as a viewer realize that the reds and whites in a green field are types of wines that are made from the grapes in the fields. Without this narration and visualizing the commercial does not make sense and the viewer is lost. When these two elements are included in the commercial, it creates synthesis for the people watching the commercial. The author uses these things of puzzlement and then counterbalances them with visual effects that make everything flow.

Another aspect of the commercial is that the author uses narration and speaks directly to the audience throughout the commercial. The narrator says, “ There is more to Nebraska than you have ever imagined.” When most people imagine Nebraska all they think of is as flat land with nothing to do. Most people talk about their drive through Nebraska, but it is never a vacationing spot. I think when the narrator talks directly to the audience it makes the viewer more focused on the commercial. It gives them a sense of involvement. The scenes in this commercial would appeal to a person’s emotions. The author uses pathos. When a consumer is looking for a place to vacation they are looking for a place they can have fun with the entire family. The vacationing spot needs to have something for everyone to do. This commercial shows different aspects of Nebraska that most people do no think of.

This commercial is definitely selling itself to a certain audience. The music during the whole commercial sounds like some old tape I would watch at my grandma’s house. The music is more geared toward the older aged consumer, rather than the younger consumer who would not be able to go on a vacation by themselves. This commercial is trying to sell itself to the middle-aged consumer who probably has a family and goes on big vacations. The commercial appeals to them because they see these families on the screen having fun and they want that same experience for their family. They are trying to show Nebraska in a family oriented way. Almost every one of the scenes shown with the exception of the vineyard there is a family doing stuff together. The vineyard scene would be geared to a parent’s night out.

The author uses ethos in this commercial to create his credibility. This commercial does not really say who is the sponsor besides Nebraska itself. It gives itself credibility by the website and phone number to call. The website is www.visitnebraska.org and the phone number is 877-Nebraska. These in and of themselves gives the author credibility. I believe most of the credibility that this commercial has is implied with all of the different elements and how they come together. One example of this is all of the visual aspects and the text written on the screen. Another form of credibility given by the author is the sound of the narrator. He has a deep laid back voice. It is a voice you can trust. If it was a high pitched squeaky voice I believe this commercial would lose some of its credibility.

I believe this commercial does exactly what was intended to do. It forms its own thesis and gives points to support that. I think it supports it thesis very well giving visual, textual, and audio examples together to form a one-minute commercial. The author takes all the different pieces of his puzzle and creates synthesis with them. This synthesis is what carries the commercial through the entire television spot. This is a great example of how to appeal to a particular audience. This commercial truly supports itself in showing that Nebraska is a family oriented state.