Music Video Conventions

Music Video Conventions

• 1.
  Music Video Conventions Beforemaking my product, I had looked at many different existing music videos so that I could get some inspiration from. I am going to talk about the conventions I used and why I used them and I will also mention any conventions challenged (if appropriate).
• 2.
  Photographs The beginning ofmy video starts with the artist/actor holding a photograph. I wanted to incorporate this idea because I felt like it was a really effective way of portraying what the narrative is about and it shows how the artist is reflecting on the past, which is a main theme in my video. From looking at existing products which were based on love, I could see that the use of photos was very cliché. Despite this, I still used the idea because I thought if it is what is expected in a love narrative, then my product would look professional and it would be like an existing product because I followed this convention. I looked at videos like Demi Lovato’s ‘Give Your Heart a Break’ and One Direction’s ‘Story of My Life’. My Product Existing Product
• 3.
  Narrative and Performance Whendeciding what I wanted my music video to include, I was very set on having a narrative as I felt like it would work best with my song. Before making the product, I looked at existing products and after coming across a few which had both narrative and performance, I decided that it would be more appealing for the audience, rather than just having constant narrative because they may get bored. Some of the existing products I looked at for this were ‘Moment for Life’ and ‘Right By My Side’ which are both by Nicki Minaj. I felt these videos were really well made and the narrative and performance flowed really well in them. Although these are not in my genre, they are still based on love so they are still conventional. I also looked at Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ as I knew this was a really good video to take inspiration from because it was very much like a fairy tale about love which incorporates narrative and performance. The reason I looked at all these and followed their conventions was because I felt if I did not look at these existing products that my video wouldn’t have looked professional and therefore would not have followed conventions.
• 4.
  Effects (Cross Dissolve) Inmy video, I used a lot of dissolve edits because I felt like it made the narrative and performance flow well together as opposed to constantly having jump cuts from each part. I feel like the dissolve worked better with the type of music and it also worked well with the beat. I got the idea of this effect from the video ‘Right By My Side’ by Nicki Minaj. This video has a lot of dissolves in it and I think it works really well to allow the narrative to flow.
• 5.
  Effects (Reverse Speed) Inmy video, there are a few parts where I use reverse speed. This is used when the actor in my video is running, I then reverse part of the clip so it looks like he goes backwards then goes forwards again. I have then used it again when the actor is looking back at the photographs, he looks through them and I have then reversed the same clip so it reverses him looking at the same photos, reflecting on how things used to be and how he misses that. The same effect is used in the same video again, ‘Right By My Side’ but is used in a different way. In this video, the clip is playing where Nicki is about to kiss Nas but it then stops and reverses, as if to reverse to the past so we see what their relationship used to be like. The video then ends with that same clip, but this time we do actually see that she kisses him.
• 6.
  Costumes In my video,I decided to have two different costumes to differentiate from the narrative and performance. For the performance, I had my artist in a black t-shirt and some jeans because this stood out on the background and in the narrative I had him wear a white t-shirt with a grey hoodie. I felt this was a good choice because it was quite a casual look and fit in with the type of narrative. I then had the female dress in a navy t-shirt while performing as I didn’t want her to stand out too much. Then in the narrative, I had her wear a skirt, white t-shirt and a coat. The reason I chose a skirt was because I felt like this fit in with the stereotype of a girly girl, which I wanted to portray her as. I also chose the coat because I wanted her to also look casual. From looking at many existing products, I can see that women are usually portrayed very sexually which backs up Laura Mulvey’s Gaze Theory but I chose to challenge this convention because I did not want to conform to the ideologies that Laura Mulvey speaks about, I did not want my actress to be objectified which is why I made her look natural and casual as opposed to a lot of women in music videos that we see today. A few examples of women being portrayed sexually are: Nicki Minaj in ‘Only’ and ‘Anaconda’, Miley Cyrus in ‘Wrecking Ball’ and Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora in ‘Black Widow’.
• 7.
  Choreography In a smallpart of my video, I incorporated some choreography. I felt like this was interesting because it fit in well with the lyrics but I also felt like it would be appealing to the audience as it would make the performance more exciting. I did not get this idea from anyone, I just thought it up on my own but I did look at some dance videos which may have inspired me slightly. I looked at Lady GaGa’s ‘Applause’ and ‘Born this Way’ to influence me as I could see how much effort she put in to make it look professional so I would have to follow the effort to make mine look professional and realistic. This looks as though someone is stood behind her, grasping hold of her breasts. In my video I have someone stood behind the artist who is trying to sing, but the actress blocks his mouth. This reminds me slightly of this, which is perhaps where I got some slight inspiration from.
• 8.
  Lighting In my video,I used a range of different lighting in the performance and the narrative. In the performance, I decided to use a darker lighting because I felt like it would work well to reflect the mood of the music as he is sad about what he is going through. I then used more high key lighting when shooting the scenes which involved them being happy together and him looking at the photos because I felt like this reflected the type of emotions he was feeling, because they obviously felt happy. Then, in the scenes where they are obviously not in the past, I filmed nearer to the evening to get a gloomy type of lighting as it fit in with the mood because it reflected how they were going through a rough time. High key lighting can be seen in Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’ because this song is about being happy, so the lighting reflects this and has an effect on the audience because it makes them feel joyous while watching it.
• 9.
  Editing to theBeat In my video, I have edited to the beat quite a lot by using jump cuts at the time of the beat. This can be seen in many different videos as it is a conventional thing. I think without editing to the beat, music videos would be boring and there would be no structure. I always knew to edit to the beat when I made my video but to get influence I looked at some existing products. One I looked at earlier ‘Right By My Side’ has edits to the beat. An example can be seen at 0.49, sometimes they are very frantic edits because of how fast the beat goes and Jessie J’s ‘Domino’ also shows this, which can be seen throughout.
• 10.
  Lip-syncing In performance videos,lip-syncing is very conventional as it shows the artist singing their song and it looks as though they are singing it there right in front of you. In order to make my artists lip-syncing look realistic, I had to play the music out loud during filming so that he could get it as accurate as possible. If I did not do this, it would look really unprofessional and also it would be out of sync. I looked at Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space, Passenger’s ‘Let Her Go’ and Sara Bareilles’ ‘King of Anything’. I felt these were good influences as they all use lip-syncing and it looks professional and realistic.
• 11.
  Camera Shots (MediumShot, Long Shot, 2 Shots, Medium Close up, Close Up, Extreme Close Up) In my video, I used a range of different camera shots as I wanted to keep my audience entertained and I felt I would be able to do this by using a variety of different shots. In the narrative, I mainly used medium shots, long shots,2 shots and close ups because I felt this was good to capture what was going on. In the performance parts of my video, I used a range of all the shots named above. One of the main reasons I have done this is because I have edited to the beat and I felt like having jump cuts in this part would fit in because I cut to their eyes as the lyrics say ‘You’re giving me the coldest stare’. This is done with a beat so I have cut my footage to the beat by using these different shots. One shot I have used is the close up on the artists mouth and I got the inspiration for this from Meghan Trainors’ ‘Lips are Movin’.
• 12.
  Have I ChallengedConventions? By looking at my video and the existing products I looked at, I don’t think I have really challenged many conventions other than the way I have presented my female actress as I have chosen not to conform to the ideologies that Laura Mulvey states in her Gaze Theory. Another convention I feel I have challenged as well is having the male who is heartbroken and wanting the girl back as opposed to the usual conventional video of a female who is heartbroken and is trying to get the guy back. Overall, I feel my music video follows most conventions and is a professional and realistic looking product.