Codes and conventions of a pop music video?

1. What is a pop music video?

1.1. Pop music began to become popular in the 70’s. In the modern day the majority of pop music videos use vibrant color scheme and edit by using a lot of special effects on top of their video.

1.2. Within music videos, pop artists portray their wealth throughout. Its shown through designer clothes, fast and expensive transport etc yacht and fast cars, bling In pop music videos its very common that popular artists such as rita ora, beyonce, drake, Justin Bieber include both dance and performance within their music videos this gives more excitement and insight of what the artist is like. On top of that some pop artists such as pink and Rihanna include narrative though their videos.

2. Cinematography

2.1. Cuts in pop music videos are usually medium to fast cute depending on the tempo of the song. Shots that are mainly used are mid shots to see the main artist and background, also close ups and extreme close ups to portray the artist emotions. For example a close up on the artists eye with a tear dropping. Shots like that commonly link to the lyrics of the song.

2.1.1. Top Priorities

2.1.2. Medium Priorities

2.1.3. Low Priorities

3. Mise en scene

3.1. Costumes that are used in pop music videos can vary. This could be casual clothing to revealing clothes or most of the time designer. There is a lot of vibrant colours worn to match the scenery, these are clothing that is fashionable and in trend. Costumes change regally throughout the video usually when a change of location, to keep the audience more interested.

3.2. Lighting within a pop music video is often bright colours, and summer vibes with natural light usually outside. Prime example is Justin Biebers ‘I’m the one’ video. High key lighting would be places that are set outside in the sun e.g. a beach, whereas low key would be somewhere such as a night club.

4. Intertextuality

4.1. Intertextuality in music videos refers to the inspiration taken from different pieces of work and put together to create one. For example, Taylor swift- bad blood we can see she got inspiration from films such as The Hunger Games and divergent. With the use of different weapons which portrays strong female characters and individuals, they are part of a team and work together. Other types of intertextually consist of inspiration of costumes and storylines.

5. Setting and locations

5.1. Usually in pop music videos the artist and director chose locations that are popular and close to the public eye, landmarks that are recognisable. For example, London, New York, LA this is because the beauty of the scenery and the audience find this inspirational. These sorts of cities are well known for their bright lights and party scene atmosphere. Examples: Rita Ora- Anywhere, New York times square, party scene night clubs, New York yellow cabs One direction one thing, different landmarks around London big ben, red double decker buses

5.2. However, settings that pop artists use can variety depending on the tempo, story line of the song. Locations used can be personal to the artist for example family home, work etc. such a Beyoncé if I were a boy. Abstract videos could use random locations keeping their video simple such as walking along the streets while including dance routines. A prime example of an abstract video in Kiesza hide away.

6. Voyeurism

6.1. Women- Most popular pop female artists such as Nicki Minaj try to portray themselves as something. Stereotypically women and female groups usually show themselves as sexual objects, Nicki is a perfect example of voyeurism in pop music. This is because she wears hardly any, tight fitting clothes extreme amount of makeup. This is all to gain attention of the public eye, especially to catch the gaze men.

6.2. Men- Popular male artists like Justin Bieber, drake are rarely objectified in their videos. Majority of videos we see female dancers in the background or even dancing with the male artist. Once again the females are objectified to gain more attention.

7. Narrative and audience

7.1. Pop music videos display elements of love, friendship and the party life. This is the case because of the target audience of the pop genre is teens and they can relate to that type of life.

8. Editing

8.1. Genially the editing used I pop music videos is fast pace this is due to the tempo of the song. However, can vary depending of what type of song and how quick the beat is so editing can match. Usually within pop music videos a lot of special effects and techniques are used to enhance the video to make it stand out.