Research Blog: Music Video Conventions

My group is going to be creating a music video for the pop and EDM song Cheap Thrills, which is a bouncy reggae-tinged synthpop and dancehall song.  

Cams: 

In the Pop/EDM genre, many music videos feature high angles, aerial shots, and tracking shots most frequently. Other popular Camera Angles, Movements, and Shots include Eye-Level shots, Zoom, Medium-Long Shot, Close-Up and Medium Close-Up Shots, as well as Two and Three-Shots. In the Cheap Thrills Official Music Video Featuring Sean Paul, they use High angles when they first show the dancers, Pan throughout the video of the dancers dancing and the judge watching, Eye-Level Shots with the dancers throughout, Zoom on the judges facial expressions, Medium Close-Up and Close-Up Shots of the dancers and their feet moving, Over-the-Shoulder Shots from the dancers shoulders to other dancers dancing, and Medium-Long Shots the entire time as the video is from the perspective of a camera that stays in the same position throughout the video. 

Sound: 

The pop genre is one of the most popular ones globally. It has a catchy melody and has a chorus that repeats several times. It includes rhythms and tempos that anyone can easily dance to. EDM is known to have a sound that is for dancing and is usually played in festivals. It has a huge umbrella of genres within it including synth-pop which is used a lot in the song we are using. Cheap Thrills is a pop and EDM song that has a very constant tropical beat with an electropop-style synth layer. It is a very uplifting song that can put anyone in a good mood. There is a fun summery feel to it. Sean Paul added his own lyrics to the song, making the song go from a party anthem into a hip-hop tinged duet.   

CLAMPS: 

• Costumes- In the pop genre, people in the music videos are usually dressed in fashionable, stylish/trendy and mainstream outfits. There is a wide range of outfits used that can help influence their fans and create trends. In Cheap Thrills the clothing was based off the 1990s so there were long skirts for the girls and suits for the men. 

• Lighting- For the pop genre the lighting some music videos use natural lighting like sunlight. Other times they use bright neon lighting to add more energy and vibrance to the music video. In Cheap Thrills, throughout the entire music video it was shot in black and white.   

• Acting- Performance (dancing) is often used within pop music videos. More often it follows a storyline, usually a linear one. For Cheap Thrills there was a mixture of both performance and storyline. Throughout the video all the actors were dancing, however it was a dance competition-like storyline. In the beginning everyone was doing a very boring and old-time dance and towards the middle/end two prominent dancers show up and change the atmosphere as everyone follows along with their more modern dance.  

• Makeup- The type of makeup used in the pop genre is usually vibrant. However, this depends on the type of theme the music video is, so the makeup could also be on the more natural side. One thing that stays constant for the makeup is that everyone’s skin looks flawless in the music video. In Cheap Thrills everyone has very natural everyday makeup on.  

• Props- The props are usually there to highlight a scene or to symbolize something important. There props used in the Cheap Thrills music video include an old camera, an old microphone, a clipboard, and a CD with “Cheap Thrills” written on it. 

• Setting- Locations such as the beach, a car, or a party would be where the artist and directors shoot these music videos. They use this type of setting because it gives off a happy and energetic feel, which the pop genre has. The set in the Cheap Thrills music video was a shooting of a dance competition.  

  
  

Editing:  

Fast-paced editing is key to pop music videos because it adds excitement and energy to the video. The editing of the footage usually matches the music or beat. This can be accomplished by cuts, jump cuts, dissolve and cross cutting. Editing also makes lip syncing look real by matching it to the music at the right time. The editing in the Cheap Thrills video was very slow paced. At the beginning of the video, there is a Fade-In to the television announcer, then a Cutaway to the dance competition, throughout the rest of the video, there are simple examples of editing such as Shot/Reverse Shot when the dancers look at their partner, and Eyeline Match while the contestants watch the two prominent dancers perform their modern dances. The end of the video features a Dissolve where the credits rolling dissolves into a black screen rapidly.