Conventions of a music video
To
gain a better understanding of the typical conventions of a music video, I
looked at Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call Me Maybe'. This video
is very popular YouTube with more than 500 million views and as a result of
this, it helped make the song one of the most popular and biggest selling
single of 2012.
Camerawork
In a music
video there a three commonly used camera angles that helps create a strong
music video.
Long Shots- this is used to help establish the location of the music video and allows the other members of the band to be shown. In 'Call Me Maybe' this is long shot shows the audience that location is a garage and that there are in fact other members of the band other than the sing, Carly Rae Jepsen.
Mid Shots- this is used to help make the music video seem more real, as it is common for these shots to evolve the main artist singing the song. This help to make it more interesting and enjoyable for the audience to watch. In ‘Call Me Maybe’ most of the mid shots show Carly Rae Jepsen using a microphone and singing the song.
Close-ups- this type of shot
is mainly used to show the emotion of the ain artist in the band. These shot
help the audience get a feel for a song/narrative. In ‘Call Me Maybe’ the song
is upbeat and involves the narrative of a fancying her neighbour, so the close
ups of Carly Rae Jepsen she always looks happy.
In a music video the only type of camera movement commonly used is a panning shot. This is used to make the music video seem more real and makes the audience feel that they are more a part of the narrative. In ‘Call Me Maybe’ a panning shot is used as Carly Rae Jepsen cleans her car and looks at her neighbour.
Editing
In a music
video the main editing technique used is a straight-cut, if fact it is unusual
for any other type of editing used. This is done simply because there is no
need for it. A music video only care about the artist and their song, so
technically the video can be very straight forward to help keep the focuses on
the song and nothing else. Unlike films, people don’t care about amazing
editing in music videos so it is pointless for people to waste time on
something which isn’t that important. In ‘Call Me Maybe’ there is a lot of jump
cuts used. For example there tends to be quick shots of the band followed by a
shot showing Carly Rae Jepsen singing the song.
Lighting
Costume
The costumes used in a music video are always used to match the genre and narrative of the video. This is done to represent the artist in a certain way. ‘Call Me Maybe’ is a pop song, so Carly Rae Jepsen wears very fashionable, normal clothing showing her audience that she is very up to date and is therefore cool.
Props
The most
common props used in a music video are the instruments guitar, drums and bass.
These props are used because they help to make music videos realistic, as when
the artist performs live there would be instruments. It also allows the other members of the band
a chance to show who they are and it not just focus on the lead singer. In
‘Call Me Maybe’ there are a couple of shots of the band when the Carly Rae
Jepsen is performing to her boy crush, this has been done to make the narrative
more believable.
Location
The location
of a music video very much depends on the type of genre the song is and what
the songs meaning is. If the song is a apart of pop genre than it is likely the
music video is going to be filmed in
‘normal’ location. Where as if it was a part of the rock genre it likely
the location is going to be somewhere dark. This is done so the audience can
fully understand what the song is about song is about and what type of artist
created it. ‘Call Me Maybe’ is a song about having a crush on someone and is a
part of the pop genre, so the location is a typical American house to make the
video seem more real.
Narrative
No comments:
Post a Comment