Research - Conventions of Music Videos

Singer songwriter, Elton John had a lot of other stars in his music videos such as Pavarotti, Millie Jackson and  Eric Clapton. In these videos, he is the main artist of the song . Inspired by this and Pharell Williams' Happy music video, we would like to have lots of people mime the lyrics to the song so that we still give off the feel that our main message of being 'Better Together' is portrayed throughout.  We do however, want to make it clear as to who the actual artist is singing the song in order to promote them. 

In order to make this the best music video we can, we looked into the conventions of music videos.

The conventions of a music video are as follows;

• Camera shots; create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Close ups are also used to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the artist's lips.
•  Camera movement; is used to follow and trace the artist or band. These can include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.
• Mise-en-scene; this covers the arrangement of performers and props on a stage or in a scene. Items can be well known to the target audience meaning we link the prop to the artist themselves. A good example of this is Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies' video or Michael Jackson and his glove.  This importantly represents something. For example, Neyo's music video for his song 'Mad'  shows him walking alone down a road and in an isolated room. This represents the isolation from his lover. The costume includes hats and dark clothes highlighting further the down mood. This image is accentuated through the use of dark lighting as it is in black and white.  This is a connotation of his anger and depressed mood. When artificial lighting is used, it can put the artist in an enhanced look. Costume tend to go with the scene in the song and also reflect the song's genre. This is a highly important factor as it has a slight influence on how the viewers will dress because a lot of artist and celebrities are seen as role models. A good use of costume being used to highlight lyrics is Rizzle Kicks' 'When I Was A Youngster' video. Colour also plays a key role in setting the mood of the song by creating an atmosphere. Dark colours tend to be used more in rock song music videos such as Kings of Leon's 'Sex On Fire' music video. Brighter colours tend to be seen in more pop and hip hop videos. For example, Katy Perry's 'This Is How We Do'. Hair and make up is also key in showing a character's or the artist's personality or can be a tactic in attracting the audience. It is important that the artist look  good and bold and bright make up can make an artist look fun, making them stand out. Lady Gaga is famously know for her hair, make up and costume in her music videos. Gold, silver and glitter can be used for sex appeal.
• Editing; the predominant editing technique used in music videos is jump cuts. This is because it allows a sudden change from one scene to another which can also be in time of the beat of the song making it more appealing to us as an audience. This is also common is narrative music videos. Other popular transitions include fade and dissolve. Parallel editing is when there are cuts with many scenes happening at the same time.
• Sound; the sound is mainly the vocals but in music videos such as Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', the producers can make what started off as a music video, into a short film.  During some music videos, there is some dialogue at the beginning or during the video. Sound parallel is when the music matches the mood of the video. If the music video was sad then  the music would also be sad. This would be the same for a happy music video. Diegetic sound can also be included. This can include surrounding in background sounds such as police sirens or birds tweeting. This helps make he video seem more realistic.
• Props; these are vital in creating a significant link between particular objects or people and so add to the scene.
• Location; this can decided on the genre of the song. For example, videos located at the beach, in a car or at a party are associated with a dance style pop music video as they give off a lively and happy feel. Hip- Hip and grime music videos have typical locations which give off the feel of gangs such as on a street or in a modern house.
• Notions of looking - stereotyping; notion of looking elaborates upon stereotypes and labels that you may associate with a certain artist or group. These stereotypes are usually taken advantage of in many music videos in order to appeal to specific target audiences.  Keri Hilson's 'Knock You Down' ft. Kayne and Ne-yo manages to question the dominance of females. in the beginning, we see an intimate hug where the male leans away portraying a cool and steady stance yet the female looks vulnerable. This ideology allows males to idolize this masculine behavior as it guarantees supremacy which is enhanced as Keri lies seductively on the bed. This questions whether she is a sexual object in order to lure more of a male audience. This perception is changed when she is the cause of a male confrontation and she stands tall by maintaining her posture that women idolize. She is more dominating when she looks down on her partner.

There are also conventions for music videos of our song's genre. Although Jack Johnson is thought to be a rock artist, we felt that this song had a more acoustic sound to it as well. Here is what we need to consider as conventions for our music video.

• Use extreme close ups and long shots.
• The artist is often seen playing their own instruments, so you realize that they are proper musicians.
• Editing is fast paced to match the song.
• Normally wear their own clothes, but this can change.
• Some use of special effects.
• Can be mixed with elements of narrative and concept. Narratives tend to be deeper than those in pop music videos.  
• Camera movement is slow paced so to not distract the audience, allowing them to understand the meaning of the music video. This creates deeper emotion.
• Locations tend to be in isolated and run down areas or a location that reminds the artist as to who they are singing about.
• Costume is mostly sophisticated in which men are usually in suits and women are equally as smart.