A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.
What is pop music?
As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks.
So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, using electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth. Pop music is generally thought of as a genre which is commercially recorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal. (Wikipedia)
Conventions of music videos...
- Tend to include a lot of long, mid and close up shots
- camera movements are used to follow and trace the artist, camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots
- Quick cuts between shots are most conventional technique used in music videos, it allows a sudden change between one scene to another. Fades and dissolves are also commonly used to create a different effect from cuts.
- In order to emphasize a specific mood or convey the era some music videos are presented in black and white
- Most use artificial lighting to enhance a look
- Vocals are the only sound heard however, in Michael Jackson's Thriller it is made into a short film
Conventions in a pop genre-d music video...
- Clothing is fashionable
- Artist is happy and content with her life
- Lyrics are usually based around relationships and love
- Teenage target audience
- Pop music tends to follow the current trend, rather than producing unique sounding music
- Verse-Chorus-Verse structure with catchy hook lines which remain in the audiences mind
- Very up beat with choreography throughout
- A lot of imagery is based on sex or partying as this is stereotypically what the target audience enjoys
- Artists make up tends to portray the artists feeling and expresses a message within the music video
- Technology is a big part of pop music videos nowadays and chroma key is used to create exaggerated and animated backgrounds and sets
No comments:
Post a Comment