Pop Music Video

Pop music is a genre of popular music, it originated during the 1950's and 1960's adapting its modern form in the western world, it overall deriving from rock and roll. Pop music normally is electric and incorporates other elements from other genre styles for example urban, latin, dance, rock and country. There are elements of a video and song lyrics which easily identify the song as pop music, they usually include a verse- chorus structure as well as a repeated choruses, melodic turns and hooks, along with a narrative which matches the music video to the lyrics.


Conventions of Pop music videos 
The typical pop artist is preferably girls, with the majority of male singers being in pop bands such as 'One Direction and The Vamps'. The costumes that are seen within a pop music video depends on the artists look and appearance, fashion and designer clothing is the key way for pop stars to promote their image and style.Vibrant eye-catching clothing can be considered very pop, whilst also an artist uses their image to express their feelings. For Nicki Minaj who is typically well known for her extravagant style, with her bright coloured hair and vibrant patterned bold clothing pieces, she does this to make herself stand out and put across her bubbly and fun personality to her fan base.  
Whereas in contrast, Justin Timberlake who is also a pop artist uses his well dressed style of wearing expensive suits and jackets to present himself, this highlights him as a very wealthy and conscious person about how the world perceives him. 

Little Mix Black Magic

Within this little mix music video showing their black magic single, there are a variety of characteristics which show genre throughout the video.  By the song being targeted towards teenagers the video has been adapted and aimed to fit the stereotypical chartists of a teen culture, for example, the girls (little mix) has used a school location to relate to their young teenage fan base. The video shows sleepovers and classroom layouts which are all stereotypical girly things to do when you are in school years. Little mix has shown their strong bond and friendship with each other by using group shots within their video, also they have lip synced the lyrics to the song which is common for a pop genre song to include. 
The clothing which the girls wear within the first few moments of the video have a geeky feel to them, the glasses Perie wears which are associated with nerd glasses represent they aren't popular people within their school. The clothes are dull and very basic, subverting the stereotype of pop being colourful and energetic colours. The girls are represented as shy and nervous individuals how haven't had a lot of confidence in themselves, this is something in which their fan base could relate to. However throughout the video, there clothes change when they incorporate musical powers, a special effect is used to create a purple puff of smoke turning them into confident and powerful women. They transformed into stylish nd fashionable characters, their clothing is sexualized as more flesh is on the show and also their hair and makeup makes them look extremely elegant and glamourous.  Throughout the music video, the director has chosen to use a variety of different camera angles and shots, cutting from the group and individual shots. This has been done to show each member's appearance and shows they are all individual people who have a close friendship bond.  
The video follows a narrative, which is about a group of teenage geeky girls who find a magic recipe and start to become glamours and attractive popular girls. There is a clear narrative throughout the music video and there is a discrete relationship between the lyrics and visuals. 


'HEY' - This is an example of the visual and lyrics







'Here's the answer' - This is another example of the visual and lyrics






Throughout this video a variety of different shots have been used, the director has
chose to do a combination of group and individual shots. within a bands music video its important to show there close friendship but also at the same time showing off their own specific talents and personalities. Close up shots have been used to allow each member of the band to sing their line of the verse , this has been done to symbolise they can single solo along within a group. This is stereotypical for a pop music video to have. Because throughout the video the visuals play out within the narrative when singing its much harder for the viewer to connect to the music straight away. Throuhgout the song the beat is used to link to the visuals , for example when little mix walk down the school coridor after ther transformation the word 'HEY' is used to keep the video flowing , they also walk within synic of the beat. This highlights the type of music genre the song has  with the tone of the music and combination of physical movement allows the visuals to become more synchronized.
Overall the whole narative to this music video is unrealisitc as it wouldnt take place in everyday life, the magical incounter they have giving them powers to producs spells doesnt creat a realistic perspecive on highschool. It also amplifies the unrelistic atmosphere bevause no body could ever ecperience this.
Royals By Lorde

Within this music video, there is a variety of different camera shots which include close-ups, long shots, tracking shots and mid shots. By include a variety of different camera shots it creates a more realistic feel to the video due to it enabling the audience to see more of the scene either through the eyes of the artist or by showing her in unique and exotic street locations, producing a music video where the view feels they are a part of. Throughout the video, the camera frottage is filmed on both handheld cameras and a tripod/ Steadicam, a Steadicam creates a steady and levelled recording whereas the handheld method picks up on slight movement and produces a shaky movement, which is usually used when the director wants to show the scene through the eyes of the artist.  Overall throughout the video, a tripod/ Steadicam has been used the majority of the time which I feel creates a clean cut feel and also allows the audience to concentrate and focus on the content of the shots without being side-tracked by excessive camera movement. The artist has been filmed lip-syncing to the song within the music video, the director has consisted mostly of close-up shots when the singer is looking directly eye level in the camera lens. By the director using this type of camera angle it allows the viewer to connect more with the singer and gives more room for recognition from the audience.  A shot which I found interesting and effective was the tracking shot of a street which was used towards the being  of the video then replayed near the end of the video, this created a feeling of traveling to and from the setting and location of the video, creating a sense of closure and overall a narrative perspective for the viewer.

Editing

During this music video, the uses of editing transitions played a major part in producing and linking each scene together. There have been simple jump cuts which were used to switch between clips, this overall highlights the clean smooth cut feel that have been added to the video. By having creative and quirky transitions it distracts the audience from really focusing on what taking playing within the music video, therefore by having basic cuts it ensures that the focus is entirely on the clips on screen rather than someone taking more interest in the elaborate transition. A jump cut has been used, this produces an immediate switch between clips, it doesn’t have much effect rather then the turn takes up less screen time.  Another thing which has been used and looks effective is a slow motion effect, this creates a dramatic scene and more tense atmosphere which is overall linking perfectly to the theme of the music video. 

Mise en Scene 

The overall colour of the music video subdued, dull with a lifeless feel, creating a depressing feel to the music video. Due to them going for this look it may have been hard to find a colourless and grey misty look location, this means the colour desaturation could have been done during the editing stage by decreasing the saturation on the technology or device the editor was using. This gives the video a bleak ad desolate quality, which enhances the dramatic effect of the narrative, another thing which adds to the uninviting colouring of the video if the lighting, due to its muted brightness it gives each shot within the music video an effect which works to link together the whole theme of the music video.  The constant background clicks and beat tempo is interesting and catching, I noticed that during every clean beat there in a cut meaning that they have linked the cut edits to the tempo and beats within the music audio.

The clothing which the actors and artists wear are very simple and basic clothing,  by there not being a brand logos on the pieces of clothing or obvious expensive material clothing it, therefore, highlights that costume wasn’t the large focal point to the video, as they all seem to blend into the surroundings. By doing this is makes them look normal and not out the ordinary. By doing this it implies that there are more elements of realism shown in the video and therefore the audience would be more relatable to the struggles and perspective she is giving off within the lyrics.  The clothing also reflects the modern and contemporary style of music by the use of present day clothing which everyone in the music video wears.  The clothing within this pop music video subverts the stereotype of a female pop artist wearing revealing clothing to gain male attention from the audience, however, this hasn’t been done within this music video. There is also no glamorous jewellery or makeup applied to her appearance which implies she is a natural looking artist and doesn't feel the need to cover herself in cosmetics to create a stereotypical pop artsiest appearance. 

The video opens with a tracking shot revealing a suburban housing estate, automatically we can identify that the video is set in an everyday location that the audience can relate to. During the opening we can tell that the location is empty and not at all lively, however, there are other locations within the music video, a house, gym, bus stop and swimming pool settings are all used to create this video. These places are seen as everyday locations and therefore fit the stereotype of a person's everyday surroundings.

Robbers by The 1975

After watching the music video for this single I noticed that a handheld camera has been used for the majority of the video, the use of shots being unstable and with a wavy  quality it makes the overall video more realistic due to nobody seeing someone dead straight., the video shows chaos and the use of this wavy camera framing it ass to the elements of tension within the video. By also using a handheld camera it allows the audience to feel more involved within the narrative of the story.  There are tracking shot and close ups but overall no establishing shots, this is due to the video narrative focusing more on the two main characters adventure and chaos situation, and the setting is not given across to be the main key element to the music video. The director has used close up shots to emphasise the intensity of the narrative and show the feeling /emotions of the artist's character through their facial expression.
Editing is very basic within this music video, they have used simple jump cuts to transition between clips and camera shots. By using simple edits to combine the whole video together it allows the audience to stay focused and not be distracted by quirky or imaginative transitions. The editing towards the beginning of the music video is slow and follows the slow tempo of the song audio, then when the song picks up in the beat so does the speed and quickness of the cuts. By it being slow, to begin with, it reflects the relaxed atmosphere which the narrative obtained, then when the storyline becomes more dramatic the speed picks up. This highlights the chaotic mood and intense atmosphere to the video which has been developed. The tone that is used within this video is subdued and muted, and due to this not being available during the filming process this is a clear desaturation filter which had been added to each clip during the editing stage.

Mise en Scene 

The clothing worn in this music video are very urban with a hypy quirk look to the button up shirts and ripped jeans symbolise this. It's clothing with is view stereotypical for the songs indie genre, plain high wasted and patterned tops which the female protagonist wears is also seen as a stereotypical outfit.  Their style is overall unique and defiantly has an unusual look which you wouldn’t see on daily bases,  In contrast, the male protagonist is also wearing edgy and fairly distinctive clothing with his black ripped jeans, various patterned shorts which represent an indie aspect.  The overall colouring of the video is dull and desaturated due to the overlay filter they have added, this type of filter is stereotypically added to indie pop genre music videos, due to the misty vintage undertone being referred to as an indie themed filter. The lighting used throughout this music video is natural which adds to the realism of the song, during parts of the video, for example, the bedroom scene they have used lighting which creates artistic effects, also a camera glare was captured through the background window which produced an interesting scene. The locations used within this video are majority abandoned places and deserted towns, for example, the shop they rob is located in the middle of a road, and no other people are in the scene of chaos in the video. However they have set the location to everyday locations that the audience can relate to, I wouldn’t say that the setting plays a massive impact within the music video, due to their being a strong storyline between the two characters it means that that’s the main focus and is captivating itself. However, during the robbery scene, the establishing of the store is the only main locational shot which plays a key importance within the narrative, as it links to the title of the song. It makes an air of mystery, as commotion and loud gunshots can be overheard from inside the store, it leaves the audience unaware If what's happening as they are unable to see into the store and are left frantically waiting to see what happened. The main prop used which plays a major impact on the storyline of this video is a gun, this is a key element to the narrative of the video.

Within the music video representations is used but only through the main singer of the band due to the other band members not being featured within the music video. Matt the main lead singer from The 1975 is painted as a dangerous character within the storyline, with a romantic shine to his personality. He defiantly isn't seen as a role model through the video due to his exsessive use of smoking, drinking , messing around with a gun and experimenting with drugs, this all takes place before the robbery towards the end of the video. This makes him come across as a character who is unappealing and is someone people would avoid.