Pop music video genre analysis

Pop music video analysis 1

Ellie Goulding - Burn


Ellie Goudling, Burn is a conventional pop music video, this is because it contains many of the conventions of a pop video, to begin with, we see that her costume is urban wear such as shorts and shirt, trainers and gold chain. These are all stereotypical teenage wear. The costume designer has specificaly chosen this outfit because it suits the genre of pop as it's colourful and modern again allowing teenagers to be able to relate to this type of fashion, Also within editing you can see that it is in time to the music, again this is extremely conventional of music videos under the genre of pop. The camera work mainly shows close ups on Ellie Gouldings face, enabling us as the audience to see her face to see her facial expresions to show that it's a happy song, this is important when making a pop music video, firstly because they are mainly happy and up beat however you also want the artist within the music video to appear happy, otherwise the music video won't come across happy.

For example here you can see that she is wearing shorts, jacket and trainers. Again these
are fashionable well known clothing brands, and likely to inspire
her audience on wearing similar items of clothing.

Below you can see an example of editing on the beat of the music, this is a common feature through out the whole music videos.

                                   .



Furthermore in the music video you can see other uses of camera work, such as eye contact. Eye contact is important. Eye contact is the only chance the artist has to connect with the audience, and again make the audience feel as though they are part of the music video. Again with editing, the eye contact is normally on screen for a long period of time so it is editing to the beat of the music and has alot of on screen time. Below you can see an example of the eye contact and it's on screen time in comparison to other clips.


                                    


Lastly mis-en-scene, the setting for a pop music video must be chosen carefully, pop videos are normally set somewhere bright or scenic, for example in Ellie Gouldings music video she is on a field (we can see this through an establishing shot at the beginning) then leads onto a air port run way, however in this music video the locations are exotic and stand out among others, again making this a common convention of music videos. Below you can see some examples of this.

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin - Dancing in the distraction factory


Andrew Goodwin had a theory that there are three types of music video, Illustration, Amplification and Disjunctive

Illustration - This is where the music video is always cut on the beat of the music, the images in the music video illustrate literall meaning or feeling of the lyrics and the band members are likely to be in the music video singing. This is mainly shown in pop videos, below there are some examples: Taylor swift - you belong with me. Katy Parry -T.G.I.F and Avril Lavigne - what the hell. All the videos have use of illustration where they are singing and dancing around to the lyrics.

  
                          Taylor Swift - You Belong with me  


   
                                        Katy Perry - T.G.I.F

  
                               Avril Lavigne -  what the hell


Amplification: This is where the music videeo cuts on and off the beat for emphasis on the lyrics. Imagery is used to amplify the lyrics and narrative, The band members are likely to take on a fictional role. Videos such as this are done normally by Indie groups but also known bands, the examples ill be using are from the 1975 - Robbers and Maroon 5 maps. Both of these music videos are not clear without a music video as the audience have their individual interpretation of the song. However the music video is their to create more emphasis and understanding of the song itself.

   
                                          Maroon 5 - Maps

    
                                   The 1975 - Robbers
                                                                   

Lastly, disjuntive editing. This is where the music video is cut off time (however not always) you have to be carefully as it can come across as a badly edited music video. The imagery isnt related  to the lyrics. This technique is normally used by well known bands, the bands image can be shown as nothing to what they are like. The examples here will be Daft punk - Da funk (in this music video there is no main narrative, its a clear example of disjunctive editing) and wont look back -Duke Demount.


     
       
                                        Daft Punk - Da funk


        
                                    Duke Demount - Wont Look back

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis - The kindest cut

Carol Vernallis analysed editing in music videos and Hollywood film, she identified distinct approaches to each.

In comparison, music videos have incomplete and obscure paths where as Holly Wood has single clear paths. This means that in music videos we normally see them in multiple places where as in Holly Wood film it has to be in the correct order otherwise it wouldn't make sense to the audience watching. Furthermore the order of shots in a music video aren't in any particular order as we can cut between shots of the lead singer in different locations. However in Holly Wood film it's normally in chronological order and making sense as you can't cut between shot locations, again as it wouldn't allow the film to make sense.

Above you can see an example from the Chris Brown music video New flame where the location changes, however if you was to this in a music video it would not make sense.

Furthermore, in music video there isn't a unity of time space or character. This means that there's no specific role to the video such as the lead singer can play take on any narrative or role at once, however if this was to be in a film there is a set role and narrative and wouldn't make any sense to the audience if they was to watch the film, again emphasising that there is more of a open area to music video in comparison the HollyWood films. There is also an element of Discontinuity in music video Vernallis said that pop videos draw us away from the narrative by foregrounding. There for taking us away from the fact that it's not realistic, with having the music and the celebrity. However within film there is continuity. The film is created to draw a narrative and make people want to watch it because of this reason.

Lastly, for music videos there's visual hooks creating continuity, there is then non continuous shots linked by a single feature such as shape, figure, colour and setting. Sometimes all elements are equal however some are more dominant than others (only music video specific) and example of this would be in pop videos where they have multiple bright colours to emphasis happiness.

Here you can see a screen shot from the pop video Taylor swift - you can see use of bright colours however it's of the night, where as if you was to have a movie it would likely seem more realistic by having darker colours.

Overall Carol Vernallis showed that there is a clear difference between music video editing and film editing, as you don't want your music video appearing as though it's a film, so it is important that you have an understanding of the different ways both film and music videos are edited.

Brief

Analysis of rock video 1

Rock Music Video analysis

Low Budget ideas

The two videos which i watched who had a low budget to create their music video, similar to ours within the two music videos A-Ha and The Fix Just Got Paid you can see how they made their low budget work to create an effective music video.

For example in both music videos you can see that they provided the costumes for themselves and they were wearing suitable clothing  that fitted the genre. Clearly showing that they have done research into it. For example in the A-Ha music video they were wearing dark clothing and gothic make up as the soundtrack had an eerie feel to it and was fast paced, so the editing was done on point to the beat of the music. Furthermore in the second music video i watched The fixed  - Just got paid also used good costume choice. As it relates to what the video is about (earning money) and they are all well dressed in suits. There for when making my music video im going to stay to stereotypical wear for the chosen genre

Here you can see the fix - Just got paid costumes as you can see they have is stereotypical
boy band costume  

In the Ah-ha music video you cant really see the costumes clearly however you can tell
that they are dark colours to match the genre of music.

 

The camera work is important when you are making a low budget music video you have to make sure its in focus and that you have a variety of angles to make the music video interesting, what i noticed in these low budget music videos they both use lighting to their advantage, this is part of mis-en-scene however it make the video more effective, for example at the begining of the boy bands music video you have four lights appear to turn on, one after the other. I think this looks really effective and would consider including something along them lines into my music video. However when using the camera you have to make sure that you have a steady hand if doing a hand held shot to make the music video  more interesting.

What i can learn from these music videos is infact that the lip syncing and editing have to be precise also that I can use lighting to my advantage to make a much more creative music video, because with lighting you can use shadows, especially if you chose to do a rock genre shadows would be a good feature.          

 

Conventions of a music video.

Conventions of a music video

In a music video there is a variety of different conventions which need to be put together to have a final music video which is successful and popular among their target audience. Common conventions which are seen in almost every music video will be listed below and explaining why they're used.

Firstly, camera work. Within camera work we notice that there are a lot of close ups and long shots, in music videos. Close ups are mainly shown on the lead singers face and lips, this is so that we can tell that they are the main focus of the music video, the lip close ups are to show us once again that it's their song and they're singing it. Lip syncing is a very important convention of a music video, this is because if it isn't in synch with the lead singers lip movement, the music video won't be good and again meaning that it people won't be interested in watching a music video where it doesn't make sense or that it doesn't line up in time with the with the lead singers lip movements. There for it is highly important that lip syncing is carried out through the whole sequence. As lip syncing is in every music video which has been professionally made. Some examples which I have gathered from various music videos will be shown below.

Above you can see a clip from Sam Smith - Stay with me. You can see use of lip syncing and close up on his face 

Another example of a close up of the lead singer, showing us that he is the main
singer and focus of the music video.  

Another example of where the camera is at a close up of his face.

Further more another convention of a music video would be the mis-en-scene. When youre making a music video it is important that the mis-en-scene is appropriate, this is because it is supposed to set the setting for a music video. Under mis-en-scene you have: Lighting, Make up, Costume and Location. It varies for different genres for example in pop music videos you would expect to see bright lighting and the costumes of the people on set would be bright coloured, maybe set in a studio or on a street. However with a genre such as rock you would stereo typically have the music video set in somewhere such as basement, on stage or anywhere abanadondend. Costumes what they were would likely to be colours such a black or brown with low key lighting which would bring a eerie feel to the music video. Mis-en-scene should be to a high standard and suitable for the genre. This is a very important convention. 

Pop music video examples (Katy Perry - This is how we do) : 

Above you can see screen shots from the Katy perry song. As you can see in every shot there is bright colours again with make up and costumes you can see that they are bright and stand out Especially with the UV lighting, it makes the white stand out. This makes pop videos have an overall happy feel to them.

Rock example - Sleeping with sirens if you cant hang

With rock music videos you can see how important mis-en-scene conventions are because you cant have bright colours as it doesnt match the feel of the song. Showing that small parts of a music video add up to make it better and more realistic.   

Finally a convention which is used in every single music video is eye contact from the lead singer. Eye contact is the only chance the artist has to connect with the audience, eye contact is done by looking and singing directly into the camera. This is a very important convention of music videos. 

 Above you can see screen shots from a variety of different music videos, however they all have use of eye contact. Showing how important it is.

Analysis of pop video 2

Here I am analysing my second pop video which is Charlie XCX - Boom Clap.

Practice website

http://editor.wix.com/html/editor/web/renderer/edit/539a96ab-67d0-4496-aa00-148282418093?metaSiteId=0b9e21d8-bcb0-42ba-82f0-b9d7508112c5&editorSessionId=2C94B2C0-32D1-4ED6-AB54-3C79D493C67D

Calvin Harris - I need your love. Music Video Analyses

Lip syncing - Zedd Clarity

Lip syncing video to Zedd - Clarity

Music Video Analysis - Rock

Tube Chops:



                                         (camera work)
               In this Tube chop we can see use of the tracking
                      shot at the beginning of the music video.



                                             (Editing)
       Here is how editing is done to match the music on screen and
            emphasising how important it is to match the beat
                                           of the music.

Music Video Analysis

Rita Ora - Never Let You Down Clip 3: