Pop Genre - Influences

Openings

It has become a growing trend in recent music videos to have an opening before the song starts, some examples shown below. This is what influenced us to have an opening to our video. Each opening adds something to the video, either further narrative (as with Avicii) or a better understanding of the concept behind the video (as with Eminem and Lily Allen).



As each opening clearly has a reason behind it, it is important that ours adds something to the video and would not present the same message without it. Our original ideas were all to have something that adds to the narrative as our video doesn't really have a clear story behind it. We initially thought off the artist throwing clothes out of a window and then storming out of the house. This then created a thought behind the whole music video of shes just left her boyfriend because she wants to have fun. Therefore bringing meaning to the video instead of just the artist having a laugh. After the lyric deconstruction we were all clear that the video had to, yes, be fun and upbeat, but have the underlying narrative of the girl leaving her significant other because she was fed up of him bringing her down and not allowing her to just have fun. We then came up with the idea of a young girl being trapped in the life of a 50s housewife (because of the line 'you're from the 70s... I'm a 90s...') and being subservient to her boyfriend who doesn't allow her to do what she wants. And so we decided to make the opening of the artist serving tea to her boyfriend who is mumbling about something dull and then the beat of the music kicks in and she snaps and shoves a cake in his face (adding a slight bit of humor to keep it light-hearted) and then storms out before the lyrics come in. This added the underlying narrative that we wanted so that the video can have some meaning behind it.

We also thought that this also could show further insight into some issues in today's society such as voyeurism and patriarchy. Showing how woman are being objectified and seen to have to serve men, not only literally but in the way the look and act; to please men. Therefore the act of her going against him could not only show how she is fed up of the relationship but how women of the 21st century are trying to push back against the domination that males have over them.  

Pop Genre - Influences

Wings by Little Mix is so bright and colourful, with the make-up, costume, setting and lighting. It gives off a fun and youthful feel to the video. With our video we are trying to get across the same amount of colour and fun.
Also the very fast paced editing style is similar to what we hope to achieve.



Another good example of this is We Are Golden by MIKA which has extremely bold and bright mise-en-scene, and includes a lot of colour and fun, which again is what we want for our video.

Pop Genre - Influences

3.44 - 4.20

There is a specific part in the music video for Battles Ice cream which we thought would look really eye-catching in our video. It's the part in which footage has been shaped into silhouettes and is playing on top of another clip. We thought it would look good if, drawing on this idea, we shaped the words I LOVE IT out of footage and put it on top of another clip just as the final lyric of I Love It is heard and then the footage flickers off. We feel this would be a captivating way to end the video.

Pop Genre - Influences

Take It Off by Kesha shows an interesting use of powder paint and has influenced our idea for the powder paint fight in our music video. The use of the paint alone creates an incredibly visually interesting, eye-catching image, the video furthers this by involving rewinds of the paint and body parts exploding into powder. We want this part of our video to just be a messy party and so we wont be trying any of the cool special effects (such as the person turning into powder) during ours.

For our video we aim to play with the speed of the clips e.g. speeding up the clip and then putting it into slow-motion just as it hits a person, and rewinding the clips to fully maximize the impact of the powder paint and make it as eye-catching and interesting as possible.  

 

Pop Genre - Influences

The music video for I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas features the use of glow in the dark body paint. This influenced the glow paint idea for our music video as it looks fun and eye catching on screen. However, we were thinking of making the style of how we put on the paint look more sophisticated and creative. As in I Gotta Feeling its more funny and party-like, where we would be using it during the more slow parts of our video to add a more pretty and delicate dimension to the music video. Slightly more like Kesha in Your Love Is My Drug, but less tribal.

Pop Genre

The music video for Poker Face by Lady Gaga is typical of the pop genre. It focuses heavily around the artist, shows her in exaggerated, provocative outfits (bold mise-en-scene), has fast paced editing, uses lighting the enhance the video, constant camera movement, lots of glamorized close-ups of the artist. The video uses all possible attention draws to keep the focus of the audience on the artist, as most pop music videos do as it is a from of promoting the song and hence the artist and their image.

 

Pop Genre

Editing

The video for Roar by Katy Perry uses a lot of editing techniques and special effects. It is themed around the jungle and starts off with a cartoon - styled title which gives a sort of Tarzan-like feel to the video, as Katy Perry slowly becomes a sort of 'Jungle Jane'.

The editing pace at the beginning of the video is slightly slower than the rest of the video, this is probably to subtly reinforce the idea of her being frightened at the beginning. Although it is slower it is still quite quick, which is common for this genre of music video. The rhythm of editing follows the beat of the song and the specific lyrics.

The video also features a lot of special effects, for example, the fireflies, the wall paintings. Special effects such as these aren't necessarily specific to the genre, however, they do feature a lot in Katy Perry's music videos, e.g. Firework, in which it is made to look like fireworks are shooting out of her chest. There is also added glare from the light onto the camera which has been put on to enhance the natural feel to the video, this has also become more common in recent videos.

The final editing technique used is the brightening of the footage, the footage after the fireflies scene has been made lighter and brighter in order to create a more visually eye-catching image for the audience. This is typical of pop music videos.
    

Pop Genre

Camera

The use of camera for most pop music videos is very similar, in that it's constantly moving. This is generally done to keep up the fast paced feel to the video and maintain the audiences attention. An example of this being Jessie J's Wild, in which even when it seems like the camera is steady there is still slight movement. This also helps to create a more realistic feel to the video.

In the video for Wild there is also a sense of synesthesia as the camera movement sometimes follows the sounds of the music (e.g. shuddering moving down, or slowing down when the music gets slower.)

There are frequent close ups used and the majority of shots are either mid-shots or close-ups show the artists lip-syncing, which is again a typical feature of the pop genre. With occasional long shots to show dance moves or gestures.

Pop Genre

Lighting

The use of lighting in the music video for Heart Attack by Demi Lovato is used effectively to help enhance the style of the video.

Her eyes are faintly light up using a circular light behind the camera, this is a very common thing in pop music videos. It helps to glamour the artist and creates a little more interest to there face, therefore if the video is mainly lip syncing it helps to maintain the audiences attention.

In one of the shots in the video Demi Lovato is heavily lit both from the front and the back giving a very bright image, which is also common to pop videos, however it's generally done with a coloured background e.g. Mcfly - Love is on the radio (bright back light blue backdrop). It is also specific to the song though as it links to the lyric 'you make me glow' and then as it begins to be covered in black ink (as is she) it further links to 'but i cover up won't let it show'.

The main use of lighting which helps to enhance the video is during the performance shots, when the lights in the car park are flickering during the verses, turn off at the bridge and then completely light up during the chorus. This type of lighting effect is often used in the pop music video genre (e.g. Move by Little Mix - the lighting flickers) and helps to add another dimension to the video and keep the attention of the audience.

Pop Genre

Mise-en-scene

The colours in this video are very bold and bright, giving a young, light-hearted feeling to the music video and making it very eye catching. It also features a lot of young, slim, attractive people in it as it is aimed at a younger audience, so is therefore trying to visually relate and also give them something to aspire to be like and admire. The costumes are very brightly coloured and trendy, with lots of chunky bold accessories. The make-up is glamours-looking, however they keep it young and fun with hints of colour in the eye-shadow or on the lip. The general feel of the mise-en-scene in the video is bright and colourful which helps to keep the video fun and happy, giving it a feel good vibe - which is what most pop video aim for.