jake nava
TRANSCRIPT
JAKE NAVAMusic Video Director
Jake Nava is an English Music Video Director but also does advertising and feature films. Nava has worked with many different acts some of these including; Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Leona Lewis, Atomic Kitten, Usher, Destiny’s Child, Robbie Williams, Mariah Carey, Dido.
He has been nominated for Best Video at the MOBOs and Best Director at the MTV Video Music Awards as well as a BET award. Nava also won a MVPA honour for his 2003 music video for Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" in the category of Best R&B Video. He focuses on mainstream work rather than underground and his music videos seem to be predominately female artists rather than males.
BEYONCÉ; CRAZY IN LOVE
I really like this music video that he directed, this
Is because I like the fact that there is lots of
dance throughout it, I also like the way Beyoncé
connects with the camera and the fact it’s not just
shot in one or two locations there’s quite a lot of
different scenes of location. I really like the bit
where the car catches on fire and the camera flits
between her inside of the car and the outside of
the car on fire. It gives quite a dramatic effect.
Throughout the music video there is a clear
relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.
Beyoncé is constantly connecting to the
camera through the use of the lyrics.
There is also a clear relationshipbetween the music and the visualsas the video contains lots ofchoreographed dance routines thatgoes with the beat of the music. The video is quite sexualised, there aremany shots of Beyoncé playing up tothe camera in a sexualised manner.
The editing in this video is quite fast paced. Their are many cuts and transitions, that are kept to the beat of the music and the lyrics of the song. He usesnatural and unnatural lighting in thisvideo.
USHER: BURNThe editing in this music video is slowpaced, which fits well with the song. At thebeginning there are quite a few shotswhich fade into the next shot, whichintroduces the song and Usher well. Thereare also shots of different parts of Usher’sface which creates a build upof who it mite be.
I notice that with most of JakeNava’s music video’s, they are all based around the artist, and there are manyclose-up shots of them.
The lighting that he uses is mostly
natural e.g. When Usher isoutside, though there is someunnatural lighting e.g. When Usheris in his house.I like the use of the animated firethat Jake Nava has used when thegirl is swimming in the pool andwhen Ushers singing outside whenthe palm trees catch alight. Thereare also random objects that catchalight, it seems to reinforce what thesong is about. I also really like thelittle dance routine that Usherperforms outside his parked car when everything is going up in flames. Its all quite dramatic.
LEONA LEWIS: RUNThe editing in this video is also slow
paced, this works with slow tempo of
the song. There are not loads of
transitions to another shot and when
there is one they just gradually fade
out. There’s quite a few long shots that
go into a close-up shot of Leona’s face.
There are many close-up shots of
Leona’s in this video, which show the
emotion of the song. However this is a
reoccurring thing with the music video’s
Jake Nava has made, he seems to
take a lot of these to make the video’s
all about the artists.
The video is quite dull, there isn’tmuch light in it and when there isit is unnatural light, just enough to see Leona herself. This addsdramatic effect and goes well withthe lyrics and tempo of the song.
I really like this music videobecause its mainly about Leonaand her voice. There isn’t muchgoing on in the background, thereare just many different shots ofLeona . It has been stripped downto not be so much about the videoand to be more about her and hervoice.
This is one of my favourite shots of the video. I think it’s quite a powerful shot of Leona in the centre with the light just breaking out behind her.
HOW JAKE NAVA HAS INFLUENCED MY IDEAS FOR MY A2 MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT...
I really like the fact the Jake Nava makes hismusic videos all about the artists themselves andfocuses mostly on them, making sure that they areat the centre of the video. I will think about thiswhen coming to make my music video. I want it to be all about my band. I also really like the use of the close-up shots heuses to get through the emotion and to make itmore dramatic, and some of the really nice camera shots, especially in Leona Lewis’ music video.