Thursday, 2 August 2012
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Conventions of existing music videos
Cinematography
Editing
Conventionally, music videos are a continuous piece of footage, all in chronological order. This is because most songs are telling a story. The story is told through the images on the screen and the words in the song. It wouldn't have such a big impact if the video used montage, hence the use of continuity editing. To create realism, most music videos conventionally use cuts and the occasional fade at the end. This also enables the video to tell a story. If there were fades for example throughout the video, it wouldn't make as much sense to the viewer and it would take away from the big impact the video is supposed to create. Abstract videos and songs sometimes use fades, special effects and occasionally montage editing to fit the genre of the song. Much like Euan Baker's Your Heart Is So Loud video, although it's not essentially a music video.
Mise
en Scene
Music videos vary in terms of mise en scene depending on their style. For example a music video of a dance-pop song will have flashing lights, maybe a dance routine and it will have props such as a microphone and other pop related items. The costumes are usually outgoing and brightly coloured, much like Jessie J's LaserLight video.
Jessie J is sponsored by Vitamin Water. So she features their product in her video LaserLight too. This is to promote the product and ultimately get them more money and custom. This is a common feature of a well known artist's music video.
Slow music usually features a quiet setting and 'everyday' clothes so the audience just concentrate on the song and the artist. Or bands that are not that well known. They do this so the audience also concentrates on them as an artist, as they need the publicity to get well known. Ed Sheeran did this in his music video for A Team, although he didn't feature in it himself.
Lip syncing is also a common convention, used in almost evry music video that has a soundtrack with dialogue. The performer will mime to the words then the soundtrack is added to the final video later, to create a professional finish.
Sound
Sound is conventionally the song the music video is being made for, occasionally with some dialogue or other diegetic sound over the top, creating realism. The music track makes the video, so without it, the music video wouldn't actually be a music video.
Genre of my chosen song
The genre of the Jessie J song "Who You Are" is coul pop. It tells a story, making it a narrative which the audience can relate to.A lot of pop songs now don't have that crucial 'soul' element, which makes them impossible to relate to as they don't tell a story. There is almost always next to no passion behind the lyrics. This means the ausience don't connect with the artist/performer as much as they have no underlying meanings to think about.
Another artist that uses this soul pop genre is Adele. She writes songs mostly about her own love life, making them extremely relatable and believable. This in turn, makes her an extremely popular artist as she sings from the heart, a skill which not many artists have now. Similarly, Leona Lewis (another soul/pop artist) uses the same genre codes and conventions to create music.
Similarly, Leona Lewis (another soul/pop artist) uses the same genre codes and conventions to create music.
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