When producing our own music video, I needed to research the styles, themes and conventions used that make a video identifiable within that genre. I soon realised that the genre contained many different types of videos that have their own individual styles. However, there were several general trends that could be identified throughout them all which made them stand out as pop videos. My group and I decided to use, develop and challenge some of these conventions in order to produce an authentic and believable video. In this answer, I shall be identifying which conventions I used, developed and challenged and discuss them. I’ll explain why they were chosen, what effect they had compared with other real industry products and if it was done successfully or not.
USED- Lip Syncing
One convention I used was the use of lip syncing in the music video. This convention features in near enough all pop song videos and I felt that it would be essential to use it when creating an authentic pop music video. This technique is where the artist on screen appears to be miming the words in time to the song to give the impression that the lyrics where sung in that particular environment. Often, this miming can ease the understanding of the narrative by the audience and add another dimension to the performance side of a music video. Lip syncing is very useful when trying to emphasise specific lyrics in the song, especially the chorus.
In Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus (as seen on the top right), the artist sings directly into the camera whilst lip syncing the song. Cyrus appears vulnerable and desperate in this shot and this is emphasised by the lack of editing. Only her face is displayed in this shot and the mode of direct address (looking directly and singing into the camera) connects the audience to the artist. This is a main feature of Horton and Wohl's 'Parasocial Interaction' theory. This connection automatically makes the audience feel sympathetic for her as she is upset and some members, particularly the female section of the audience, may be able to relate to this.I replicated this close up shot multiple times in my own interpretation of the song Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo (as seen on the bottom right). The shots I used also display the artist in my video miming whilst looking into the camera and occur mainly during the chorus. I used lip syncing in my music video to emphasise and express the lyrics and underlying meanings that the artist wishes to show. This also adds to the visual depth of the narrative on screen. This creates a powerful focus on the lyrics being expressed and the emotions that can be understood and ascertained by them. This emphasises the lyrics being sung -“I gotta stay high all the time” which are important to understanding the narrative. By using the lip syncing convention, I have replicated an essential feature of a music video which adds to the realism and authenticity of the product. However, I have also at the same time created a star image for the artist.
A star's image is not how an artist actually looks, believes and behaves but instead a fictitious star perceived by the audience and the characteristics that represent them. Lip syncing ties in with the Star Image theory written by Richard Dyer. This is because the audience will only be able to interpret what the artist wants to be portrayed as or to show. In this case, Mayla Lee in my music video wants to show that she is out to have fun and is a hedonistic character. This contrasts with the use of the convention in Wrecking Ball because Cyrus wants to be seen as vulnerable and in emotional turmoil. Despite the obvious difficulties of miming in time, I think I used lip syncing successfully in the video and makes the video of a higher quality.
USED- Voyeurism
Voyeurism was another convention that I used and incorporated into my music video. The theory of voyeurism written by Sigmund Freud is the act of looking at unsuspecting individuals, usually strangers, who are semi or fully nude, in the process of disrobing, or engaging in sexual activity. This is a convention used in the music industry particularly in the pop genre by female artists. Since artists like Madonna and Britney Spears have been around, there has been an increasing trend in music videos containing a sexualised or voyeuristic style. This links in with Laura Mulvey’s music video theory named “The Male Gaze” where artists are now actively encouraging a sexualised tone and appearance in their videos. Female artists want to continuously show off their bodies and gain the attention of female as well as male audience members.
In the music video Sweet Nothing by Calvin Harris & Florence Welch, voyeurism is used to belittle the status and role of the female in society. The video does this by showing a man feeling and engaging with a semi-nude female in a sexualised manner without consent, as if the girl was an object. The video is set in a bar suggesting that women are only in that environment to please the eye and ‘perform’. Voyeurism in this video also supports the over-arching narrative containing domestic abuse but nevertheless uses the convention to highlight or express a message.
Alike the video Sweet Nothing, I used the convention to convey a message and show something to the audience. My music video shows a young female con artist and pickpocket getting changed in a toilet in a variety of close ups from different angle. This short scene shows the characters bare chest, legs and her behind. I wanted to use the convention of voyeurism to give the audience more of an intimate perspective into what the character does for fun. The character in my video Bad Habits is quite a sadistic person in the light that she takes pleasure in conning and stealing from people, specifically men. It could be argued that my use of this convention contradicts the stereotypical view that men exploit women rather than the other way around. However, the unclothing takes place in the video to show that this character almost has to emotionally strip down and then re-clothe to represent a new appearance or disguise. If the convention had not been used within this scene, it would just show her walking in and out in different costumes with nothing in between. This would have been unclear and would have missed the point in writing the scene in the first place.
Overall, I think voyeurism was used in a correct manner and effectively shows this message within the context of the narrative well. One issue of using this convention was finding an effective medium in terms of the undressing. We had to cut some shots where too much or too little was physically revealed as they were either inappropriate or didn't output the effect we wanted.
DEVELOPED- Mirror Shot
I decided to take the convention of the mirror shot and extend it further. Mirrors are often used in pop videos as they are a symbol of physical or spiritual reflection. In pop videos, the artist is the central aspect and this is the main focus. Mirrors can have connotations of self-importance and vanity which fits with the style of music videos in this genre. However, depending on the use of the prop dictates how the audience interprets its presence.
The video Bad Romance by Lady Gaga uses a brief mirror shot. I believe this is used to enhance the idea that this artist is a powerful figure. The lyrics that are sung during this shot include her repeating the phrase “I want”. This particular long shot shows her standing in front of a glamorously framed mirror with her leg up looking at her reflection. Her pose and the lyrics support the presumption that she is talking about herself and how important she is. Gaga is wearing a crown implying regality or another form of authority. This links with Freud’s theory of Exhibitionism in the idea of confidently presenting yourself and showing off, especially with a sexualised undertone. The use of the mirror shot also gives the impression that the artist is reminiscing upon her feelings or an event that has taken place. In this case, it is her relationship with the music industry. Despite the shot being angled from behind her, the mirror reveals her expression as she sings the lyrics. This is filmed in such a manner that the mirror is used to reveal the artists true emotions or real personality that the audience would not have seen otherwise. Intimacy is added into the scene due to the mirror. I took this concept of using the mirror and developed it into our main sequence of shots during the performance of our video. We incorporated the mirror into our narrative to serve its primary function whilst at the same time giving the audience a deeper meaning to interpret. In my video, the artist is seen getting ready for a day of work after a night of wild events. The mirror is firstly used by the character simply so she can complete her makeup. Secondly, the mirror is used as a tool for reflecting back upon and remembering the events that occurred the night before. This is emphasised by the white flashes to represent flashbacks and the reflection visually illustrates this. Lastly, it is the audience’s viewpoint of the scene. From behind we cannot see what the artist is doing but we can with the mirror. This can be interpreted as a metaphor for how this woman is cunningly and secretive on her night out when stealing from her male targets, which only she knows about. The viewpoint of the audience in this main scene also reinforces the voyeuristic aspect of the video as we see preparing herself alone without her knowledge.
The fact that the mirror shots are used to exhibit the performance in the video shows that this convention has been developed as opposed to just used. I strongly felt that the mirror would serve as a great and unique form of doing this and it has been very successful. Relating back to Dyers Star Image Theory, this scene in the video is where the audience form their opinions on the artist. The target audience has played a large role in the design of the narrative and the unique (and voyeuristic) viewpoint of the mirror shot establishes an artist-audience parasocial connection. The relativity of the storyline to viewers own lives is particularly important in the pop genre and that is why this has been developed in my video.
DEVELOPED- Fast Cutting Rate
The second developed convention is the fast cutting rate. A quick cutting rate is an editing technique which refers to several consecutive shots of a brief duration, often 3 seconds or less. Pop songs in general tend to be fluent and fast in terms of audio and there is no exception when it comes to the editing of their music videos. Cutting is most effective on the beat of a song and this is a common convention. The fastest cut sections of a video tend to be towards a climax of the song, especially during a verse of bridge part before the final chorus. The quick cutting rate of a video is often anchored to a meaning of action, excitement and pace.
Hot N Cold by Katy Perry used a quick cutting rate, particularly in the chorus to emphasise and keep up with the fast paced action on screen. This was also done to cut on the beat of the song. In the video, the two main characters are caught up in a chase as the groom of a wedding runs away from his bride-to-be, Katy. It is a sequence of match and jump cuts, stringing together various shots of the chase. Not only does this let the audience keep up with the scene, but it adds to the excitement of the scene as if you were in the moment. This type of editing allows more shots to be compressed into a smaller amount of time in the video.In my music video, I used and developed this convention of the quick cutting rate. I not only wanted to cut on the beat, and allow the audience to keep up with the fast action on screen, but also wanted to show a progression of time. This means that our scene on screen actually takes much longer than it displays in the video. I chose to use this effect during the poker game because the song is at its climax- the bridge and final chorus. In addition to this, by using the quick cutting rate combined with the various cross cuts and fades, I compressed what may have been more than an hour in real time of footage into about 45 seconds. It would have been boring and unconventional to have used real-time footage in the music video. This links with the idea of keeping my product as close and realistic to a real pop music video as possible. This technique allowed me to show the progression of the long poker game as well as establishing other characters into the narrative within the short period of time.
According to Steve Archer’s 2004 music theory, “music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the artist” and that “there are three types of music videos; performance based, narrative based and hybrids”. My music video is a hybrid as it contains both a performance and narrative. The development of the fast cutting rate in my video is also the reason why there is less performance towards the climax of the song.
CHALLENGED- VFX/Filtering
I decided to challenge the convention of visual effects and filtering because I felt that it was not appropriate for my style of pop video. Stereotypically, visual effects and filters are common in pop videos (especially within the dance sub-genre) to give a video an arty and illustrative style or to highlight a particular aspect of the video such as a location or costume. This relates to both Richard Dyer’s Star theory and Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory. The Star Theory states that "A star is an image constructed from a range of materials". This range of materials can include visual effects in music videos and certain types of effects can be related to particular artists, like a trademark image. Goodwin’s music theory states that there are four main types of narrative, two of them being illustrative and amplification. Visual effects can be used to illustratively emphasise something that can be seen in the video. However, they can also be used to imply, insinuate or suggest a deeper meaning to something on screen, having more of a metaphorical touch.
In the music video, Right Here by Jess Glynne, lots of visual effects are used including slow motion, rewinding, fast forwarding, filters and mirroring. These effects have been applied to this video to make it very suitable to the dance/remix style of the song. One can imagine this song being played in a club by a DJ and the effects give the relatively plain video a vibrant and illustrative feeling. These effects could also be used to emphasise the meaning of the song- finding a place/comfort in a relationship. There are lots of ‘warm’ filtering such as red, pink and orange. These colours have connotations of love, passion, heat etc. and are used to visually demonstrate these feelings on screen. The mirroring has been used to emphasise that there are two people in a relationship and not just her. To some extent, it could be argued that these effects are part of her star image. As mentioned above, this states that she part of the dance/clubbing sub-genre of the pop genre and this is what is wanted and expected in this genre of music.I did not want to use any filters or other vibrant effects as my video did not match that style of editing. I wanted to keep the editing consistent and have a clean, crisp cut video to match the no nonsense attitude the artist, Mayla Lee, wants to put across to her audience. Due to the nature of the video, I felt it unwise to do so especially because my product was more narrative based than performance based. My video is more aimed at more mature female audience members of the pop genre between the ages of 24-35. The static qualities of the performance and the clean cutting of the video support this. The visuals in my video present the audience with a clear, illustrative storyline and the lyrics, an amplification of the meaning- the use of visual effects would have been unnecessary. In evaluation, I think this decision was a good one and makes my video look clean and professional.
CHALLENGED- Performance
Performance is the second convention I challenged. According to Steve Archer’s music video theory, “performance based music videos often contain shots of the artist performing, dancing or singing (or all three) in a scene that is not included within the narrative”. In modern day pop music videos, there is a very large emphasis on the performance. Artists tend to mime to the camera in close ups, relating to the Horton and Wohl’s Parasocial theory establishing the important artist-audience relationship. There is usually a dance sequence which increases the repeatability factor of the song/video. This also ties in with the theories of Star Theory and Exhibitionism as the artist displays themselves or shows off in order to gain attention, often in a sexualised manner. Pop videos are often like this as the artist is almost as important as the song and its story. “Narrative based music videos will often contain a long sequence of shots which follows a story or event. Characters in this story may be played by the artist/band that perform the song or may even play a version of themselves”. I chose to create a hybrid of the two types of music videos with more of an emphasis on the narrative side. This is a challenge to pop video conventions.
In the music video, Love Song by Sara Bareilles, there is a large portion of performance. The video is undoubtedly about the artist. Bareilles performs from her piano as she mimes to the song. This is rare in pop video as the artist’s main instrument tends to be their voice. Particularly within the chorus, the camera shows the artist in the centre playing the piano in close ups of her face or in long shots of her at the piano. In other shots, she is also seen dancing and singing to the camera. This shows she is aware of her audience and is performing especially for them, as if the audience were there with her. This is further emphasised by the use of high key lighting as a spotlight is shone down upon her and the piano. The fact that the narrative in this video is so heavily entwined with the performance suggests that this is an illustrative music video. This means that although there is a narrative, it is very simple and restricted in the ways the audience can interpret it. In other words, it has no deeper meaning than what is shown or sung in the video.
In my music video, I wanted there to be more of an emphasis on the narrative side of the video. By challenging this convention, there is more for the audience to interpret and relate to then just the artist singing to the camera. Although my video does include a performance, this is not the primary focus of the video. The narrative in my video tells the story of a young lady, presumably a con artist, doing what she does best to her unsuspecting male victims. Throughout the video, we see her arriving home from the night out and getting ready to go back out for work. However, with the use of flashbacks, I incorporated scenes of her hedonistic lifestyle from the night before promoting more of a complex storyline to the video. In my opinion, this makes for a much more interesting video. I think that I challenged this convention well and combated the stereotypical perspective that pop videos have to always contain lots of performance in. This makes my product more unique and memorable. 