Pop Genre Conventions Research

As we have altered the genre category that our music video will fall under,therefore It was important to have some common conventions of the genre present within our music video I have researched the following as it will help us create a product that follows aspects of real-life music videos.

Pop music videos generally consist of performance or narrative.
The mis-en-scene typically involves bright colours and high key lighting.Outfits tend to be quite bright and glamorous.Something that I noticed was a trend was the fact that the majority of females were over-sexualised in comparison to male singers which supports Richard Dyer's concept of 'star image' as the artists promote a specific image to their audience in order to appeal and generate revenue e.g Nicki Minaj is best known for her vibrant and quirky outfits.

The editing usually involves tints and filters in order to boost colour. In addition to this the shots are edited to the beat and can vary from fast to slow paced.

In terms of cinematography, close-ups are heavily used along with long shots which allow emphasis on the choreography/dancers in the background.Point-of-view shots are common in order to put the audience in the artists shoes and evoke sympathy.

Storyboarding Reflection in AS

For our AS film opening we storyboarded to help use have a clear plan and focus on the days we filmed as well as making sure we incorporated a large variety of angles and shots rather than it being repetitive. In addition to this, the practice of storyboarding helped me when planning on shots that flow together. 

However, I felt it was best to know the location that we were filming in well just to familiarise ourselves with the shots that we could incorporate within our setting to the best of our abilities.
Moving on for our A2, I plan on having more detailed notes when storyboarding e.g lyrics for particular shots and having a variation of unique shots using props in our mis-en-scene.

Audience Research:Our Storyboard 'Better In Time'

After completing our storyboard for our music video,we decided to collect feedback from a variety of people to see whether the music video would appeal to them, and also find out if the fight was explicit enough to suggest domestic abuse as this was one of our concerns and gain some feedback to further improve our initial ideas.

Storyboard for 'Better in Time'-Leona Lewis

Shot Types in Pop Music Videos

Music videos within the pop genre typically have shots that are used commonly such as some of the ones below:

Eye Level angle:

This is the most common angle used in pop music videos, this is where the camera shows the subjects, how we would see them if we were to see them normally. This angle is perceived as being a fairly neutral shot.

E.g. Katy Perry-Dark Horse

Low Angle :

This is where the camera is positioned below the subject in focus. These types of angled shots aren’t necessarily commonly used within music videos, but they can be spotted occasionally.The subject gets the impression of being powerful, as they appear bigger.

E.g. Beyonce ft Nicki Minaj 

High Angle:

This is when the camera is placed above the artist facing downwards, this shots is commonly used when the focus is solely on the artist, as these shots seem to capture the artist shoulders and above. 

E.g. Jessie J- Do it like A Dude

Bird's Eye Angle:

This is where the camera is positioned directly above the subject in the music video; Also this type of angle is specifically used when emphasis and a dramatic effect is needed in the music video.

E.g Dua Lipa -New Rules 

Close-ups:

This is where the shot will consist of an individual who will take up the majority of the frame.  The point of close up is to show more definition and detail in the artists face, this emphasizes emotions.

E.g. Sam Smith- Too Good At Goodbyes

Wide shots:

These are the shots which provide an overall view of the whole setting, these shots never have a specific focus, as the whole frame is taken into consideration by the audience.

E.g Demi Lovato- Sorry Not Sorry

Our Music Video:

For our music video, we will incorporate shots that are typically used in pop music videos as the ones above in order to incorporate conventions of real life examples to inspire our final music video. Some shots in particular that we plan to embed are the eye level angle, wide shots,close-ups as they will aid in emphasising the emotions of our characters.

Change in Genre: Pop

As we have changed the song choice we have also decided to switch to the pop genre as it we assessed the ease of replicating elements of the genre to replicate real-life products.
Alongside this we also noticed that our central plot is fitting in the types of music videos that fall under the genre category such as themes focusing on love, heartbreak and pain.
We also had to take into account the ways in which we could subvert features such as saturation and filter as well as lifting stereotypical roles our characters would be confined to.

Another necessary aspect that we had to take into consideration was the fact that the audio more well suited under the pop genre label  as we carried out a short survey as to whether the public would associate the song with the pop genre or RnB.
Below are the results..

Pitch/Treatment Feedback Table

Pitch/ Treatment Feedback

We presented our initial ideas for the music video to the class. This session was useful as we were able to receive criticism along with positive feedback,and respond to any questions questions the class had in how we were going to complete certain elements.

We also produced a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting specific points like 

• genre choice 
• typical elements in the genre 
• location, props and costume 
• narrative plot