Good & Bad Music Video Techniques

Good and Bad music video techniques

Techniques in music videos:

• Large number of cuts
• Special Effects
• Green Screen
• Lip-Syncing
• Varied camera language
• Cutting to the beat

Large number of cuts

A good example of a music video with a large number of cuts would Aly & AJ's song "The Potential Breakup Song". In this music video there are 208 cuts, which is a lot. This technique is effective in the music video because the cuts change from each girl in every cut, back and forth to show how they are both singing the message out to their partners they are intending on breaking up with. This technique leaves a positive effect on the audience because women and teenagers can relate to the message of the song, therefore they will be enjoying the song. This represents to artists because they are singing too/about potentially breaking up with their boyfriends and the cuts are flowing with the beat of the song with is good.

An example of music video with little or no cuts would be Sara Barielles' "Gravity". In this music video, it was filmed in a single shot. In this music video, it's not boring but it's not really interesting either, Sara is shot singing the song in the middle of the street while people are walking behind her bringing globe miniature and replicas of other planets hens the title of the song about Gravity.  The song itself has great meaning, about the paradoxes and complexities of relationships but the music video made it seem dull and slightly depressing. This technique leaves a positive effect on the audience because the heartbroken or confused can relate to the message of the song, therefore they will be enjoying the song. It could also leave a negative effect on the audience because they could have high expectations for the music video and the result will be bad because it seems quite bleak and dull watching a woman walking the street singing. This represents to artists because they are singing too/about potentially breaking up with their boyfriends or getting back with their boyfriend or even falling in love.

Special Effects

A good example of a music video with special effects would be Katy Perry's "E.T." In this video, Perry is an alien floating around in outer space until she lands on earth and finds a robot which later turns into a man after Perry kisses him. Throughout the music video, special effects are used just about everywhere. Seeing as the music video is set in the future, technology would have evolved the way we have stereotyped it. The technique in this music video was quite successful because everything looks realistic even having a hard theme to go by, seeing as this is set in the future, and it has to be pieced together by imagination. I would say that this would leave a positive effect on the viewer. They should enjoy and be intrigued by it because it is quite interesting. This technique makes it interesting because seeing as it's the future, anything could happen and a lot has happened in the music video e.g. Earth is a wasteland, Perry finds a pigeon skeleton that has said to be extinct since 2030 which makes you wonder what happened to everything/one on Earth and what year we are in now.

A bad example of a music video with special effects would be Britney Spears' video "Toxic". Toxic is a very popular music video made in the early 2000's. In Toxic, Britney is first a flight attendant that comes across as quite promiscuous from her sexual behaviour in the scene. She then becomes different characters. The plot of the music video was that she steals toxic poison from a building then seduces a man and pours the toxic in his mouth instantly killing him, fleeing the scene and returning back on the plane like nothing happened. The purpose of the special effects in this video is to show what she goes through to get this poison, e.g. lasers, explosions and seducing men. This technique isn't successful in the music video because it isn't realistic at all. In the music video there was scenes where she's pulling off the faces of men and also dodging explosions and lasers, it all seemed quite other the top and not realistic at all.  The video itself succeeded because it is a good song and is quite interesting because you would want to know what happens, so that is a positive impact on the audience but overall the effects were poor.

Green Screen

A good example of a music video with a green screen would be Miley Cyrus' video "The Climb". A green screen is used mostly throughout the whole of the music video. If an artist is using a green screen for the majority of the music video, they can either make it look really good and effective or really bad and tacky. In this particular music video, the green screen effect is done very well, it's not that noticeable to the audience and is very realistic, both looking it and in terms of what is actually happening. The picture above is a screenshot of Miley behind a green screen but in the video she is walking down the road with fields and night sky in the background. This itself looks quite realistic and it's believable too. Another noticeable but yet effective scene is towards the end of the music video where she is at the top of a mountain looking at the camera as it moves in to a high angle, long shot pan view. That too was very effective and realistic. This technique had succeeded because it makes the music video very believable and well staged. The audience would have a positive effect watching this music video because it's quite an emotional and powerful song that will make you want to watch the whole video to see what happens along the way and what Miley does in it. This music video represents the artist because the images chosen for the green screen are in the country and quite Tennessee/western themed and that is where Miley is from, so the song could be personal about her life and herself. 
A bad example of a music video with a green screen would be Shakira's "Whenever, Wherever". I thought this was a bad example because the green screen used was obvious and wasn't realistic. Even though this was made 13 years ago, the technology wasn't from the stone age, so it still should of had a good qaulity and  the editing could have been better . There were three scenes that caught my eye because the background looked too fake and obvious. One was at the beginning -in the picture to the left- where Shakira is dancing on a rock with a sky as the background, it was just too obvious that it was fake  and there was a white outline around her body, you can slightly notice it on her right arm in the picture above.The second area was a scene where she was dancing in a field with a herd of horses passing by her. That was very effective because realistically that situation would be completely different. And lastly, towards the end of the music video, she was crawling through mud with misty mountains in the background, this was also quite obvious. By the poor green screen and editing, this could indicate that the cost of the music video, both editing and filming, was quite cheap.

Lip-Syncing

A good example of a music video with lip-syncing in it would be Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball". Lip syncing is used in music videos to look like the artist is singing the song when it was previously recorded in a studio and is then played in the music video with the artist miming to it. In "Wrecking Ball", Miley made her lip-syncing very effective in her music video. It looked very realistic especially with Miley's facial expression and emotions throughout the scenes where she's starring at the camera with tears running down her face.  The meaning of the song connects to the public and her life and this is why a lot of viewer were touched by her music video. There is also a director's cut of 'Wrecking Ball' which is just of her as a close up, starring into the camera, lip-syncing to the whole song, which look very effective and realistic. 

A bad example of a music video with lip-syncing in it would be Rihanna's "Stay" ft Mikky Ekko. In this music video, it begins with Rihanna undressing and getting in the bathtub looking sad and morose. It then switches to a scene of Mikky Ekko singing his verse in a different room also looking a tad upset, throughout the music it switches back and forth to each scene of Rihanna and Mikky singing. I choose this music video because Rihanna lip-synced her lines terribly. Between verses, she mimed them quite well, it was in time and looked realistic, only until she needed to "catch her breath" and stop singing, allowing the song to carry on. I personally thought it was boring and the artist herself just looks lazy. But i suppose, she can get away with it as she is in character. 


Varied camera language

A good example of a music video with a lot of angles in it would be Gabrielle Aplin's cover of  "The Power of Love". There are many different angles and shots used in this video, like long shots, close-ups, high angle/low angle and mid shots. The different angle/shot types makes the music video more enjoyable to watch, especially as the song is a ballad. This technique is therefore successful and effective in time with the beat/rhythm of the song, this song was also very successful itself reaching a viewing count of over 11 million views, seeing as this is a cover to the original artist 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood', Gabrielle's version got 3x as many likes as 'FGTH' which is beneficial for her and the music industry.

An example of a music video with few or no camera angles would be Nicole Scherzinger's "Don't Hold Your Breath". Throughout this video, there are only 3 angles used which were mid shot, close-up and long shot. It seemed quite boring and predictable what was happening and where it was set which will have a negative impact on the public because they may not enjoy it and it could have a negative effect on the artist and music industry because they are not going to make money. Luckily, the song was successful reaching a viewing count of over 39 million and a liking rate of just over 114,000. The song's theme was described as "Scherzinger staving off an ex’s advances" and making it clear that the relationship is officially over between her and her partner, so she left him and was singing to and about him because she was finally free.

Cutting to the beat

When a music video cuts to the beat, it keeps up with the time of the song, making it look quite effective. A good example of a music video that cuts straights to beat would be Labrinth's "Earthquake".  At the beginning of the music video,between 0:03 and 0:06 seconds, the beat cuts to beat. At  0:28 seconds, the beat drops. This technique is done successfully making the video much more interesting to watch and keeps the audience's foot tapping. This music video itself has a relevance to the song because objects are crashing and glass is braking to give that illusional sense of an earthquake occurring. This was very beneficial for the artist and the music industries because they will receive a lot of profit from this and it is also beneficial to the public because the song is quite catchy and enjoyable. At 
A bad example of a music video that doesn't cut to the beat would be "Stereo Love" by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina. In this music video it takes 32 seconds for the beat to come in to the song. This isn't a good impact on the viewers because they could get bored quite easily without evening listening to the whole song. Even though this song didn't cut to the beat, it was still successful because the song was and is still popular on most streaming websites. This is beneficial for the artist because they are still going to receive profit from this and it is going to good for the viewers because it is a very good song to listen to but it's just slow and long. 

Styles and Convention of Music Videos

A convention is a widely used and accepted device or technique that is closely associated with a particular genre. For example in a rap music video there will most likely be good looking cars and good looking girls in it.

Narrative

 In this music video, there are videos being shown. One is of a young girl and the other being the band are presenting the song in an empty river in LA. A teenage girl gets her boyfriend's name tattooed on her shoulder, as a sign of her love for him but when she returns home,she finds him cheating with another girl, she flies into a rage and is then shown in cut scenes sitting at the river with the band. At the end of the video, she is seen with a new boyfriend and a new tattoo, as her jealous ex watches her from his car. There are 2 stories shown in the music video. This is quite effective because the words have meaning to what is happening in with the other story with the teenage girl. As the audience listens the words, it connects with the story being displayed.
 An institute would want to use this music video because the story line would keep the audience entertained and focused on what was happening so they would want to know what would happen, therefore watching the entire music video. I would use the narrative style in my music video because i like the fact how it portrays to different stories, one about whats happening and about that artist their self. I think it would be quite simple to put together a story, fiction or non-fictional and would be effective.

Concert

I used this example of 'Let Her Go' by Passenger because in this music video, it is a live performance that has been recorded with cut scenes between the band and the audience. There is sometimes confusion between 'as-live' and 'concert'. 'as live' performances are mainly staged during a music video whereas a concert is real and recorded. An example of an 'as-live- performance would be 'SOS' by the Jonas Brothers or 'Party In The USA' by Miley Cyrus. The institution may use this style so they can let the audience get an idea of what live concerts would be like if they were to ever go to one. Another reason could be for profit, if the public was to watch these concert typed music videos, they would want to go to one if they enjoyed to look of it. So both the artist and company gets profit by the public viewing the music video and purchasing a concert ticket. Even though this style is very effective because it portrays the artist and audience, it wouldn't be realistic in my music video and i would'nt like to sing personally.

Animation

Animation is used in music videos to do something that cannot be done with an ordinary camera. It is also used to create entertainment. I used this example of the Black Eyed Pea's music video 'The Time' because it's a good song and has cartoon characters of each member of the band that is shown in some scenes of the MV. An institute would use this style because as i already have stated it is quite entertaining and quite interesting because with animation, the public will want to watch it and find out what's happening rather than singers in a club, dancing and drinking because it's boring.
I think this style is quite effective which will make it successful but it would also be time consuming when coming to to editing and adding the effects and animation in so I wouldn't use this an option in my music video.

Intertextuality as pastiche

Intertextuality is a name for when a music video is based upon a film or television programme. I have used a personal favourite which is Madonna's 'Material Girl'. This is based on the movie Gentleman Prefer Girls with the famous scene of Marilyn Monroe singing 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend' because Monroe is Madonna's inspiration and role model. In this music video, Madonna has a love interest and the video was the first to show Madonna's acting ability, as it combined the dance routines of 'DAAGBF' with the story line of a man who impresses Madonna with daisies rather than diamonds.The institution would use this to make a popular scene of a film re-recognized and so it become popular, benefiting the film and the artist by them gaining profit. I wouldn't use intertextuality as an idea for my music video because there are a long list of media sources to choose from which would be time consuming and also i would need the funds to get props, costumes and etc.

Intertextuality as parody

A parody is a humorous mock/spoof of an original piece of work like a film, person or music video. The idea of parody is to imitate something in the hope of entertaining an audience. There are a number of parodies that have been made in the media, both for music videos and movies. An example of a music video parody would be Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. In this version of the the music video, a man is shown imitating Miley Cyrus and taking the mick out of her and her actions. This video is mainly entertaining because of the general fact a man has dressed up as a woman. By this video being successful, this parody got over 12 million views on YouTube. I wouldn't want to do a parody music video because they are quite hard to pull off because it has to be entertaining. 

Interpretive

Interpretive in a music video is where the lyrics in the song match the visuals in the music video. A good example of an interpretive music video would be Rebecca Black's "Friday". In her music video, the visuals shows what is being described in the song. At 1:15, where Rebecca sings "7.45, we're driving on the highway..." we see that she's singing this and she is presented in the back of a car with her 2 friends beside her, driving to a party. This song is targeted for the teenage, young adult audience because the whole music video is based on the upside and joy of Friday because after you can party and have a great time.  That is what most teenagers and adults do these days. I think the point of interpretive technique is to get away with any age audience depending on what the music video is about. This music video, unfortunately wasn't successful, it received a lot of negative remarks because it was boring, cheesy and just immature. The artist herself got negative remarks so i wouldn't want to this technique in my music video unless I knew it would be successful.

Impressionism

Impressionist in music videos is where the imagery matches the mood and pace of the song but it doesn't have to match the lyrics. The style impressionism can use other styles to make the music video more interesting to watch and get the audience's attention. An example of a music video with impressionism in it would be P!nk's "Perfect". I have used this particular because it has a story in the song. It is about a woman looking back on her life and and remembering all the troubles and issues she had growing up. P!nk said in an interview that this music video was to send a message to everyone that is depressed or suicidal that they are perfect and loved. This touched a lot of people and put her in the Top 10 charts. The music video itself is depressing because the audience see how this woman has grown up being depressed and incomplete until she then found herself, became who she was and her life went perfect from there. This shows multiple emotions that audience would feel, I personally felt angry, guilty, remorse and happy throughout watching this music video because it puts life in a different perspective for the audience. If i was to use this style in my music video, I would relate my music video to this, so it sends a message out. 

Surrealism

Surrealism/Abstract are works that feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions. The point of using this is to make the music video more exciting to watch, especially as recently, many music videos are starting to become more or less the same thing, therefore all being very repetitive of themselves.
An example of this would be a Lady Gaga music video. Lady Gaga would be a perfect example for surrealism because she is well known for expressing herself in music videos. An example of this would be a strange scene where Gaga turns into a swan in 1:37. Even though this music video is odd, the audience would still want to watch it and find out what Gaga would do next because she is known for her eccentric personality, style and imagination. This is good for the artist as they are able to portray who they are as a person through surrealism. I wouldn't use this style in my music video because it has to be almost perfect to be successful and I must have a lot of time to edit in extreme detail if i was to relate my music video to Lady Gaga's.

The Purpose of music videos

The purpose of music videos is so that the artist is known and so they can gain profit from the video becoming popular. It could promote the producer/MV director so they become famous and more videos are checked out by the director's work. Also, the purpose of a music video could just be an insight to the artist's personality, e.g. who they are, what their past has been like and what are like as person or also there could be a meaning to the song or video about the artist.

 Promote a new music release

By a new music video being released in to the public, it is raising awareness of the new single/album and also the video itself could become an event itself. By airing it public, people will view it and share it through word of mouth and social networking making it popular and getting it higher ratings. Also it will be advertised through adverts on the TV, laptop e.g. mainly on streaming websites for more promotion and the artist their self could address their fans about more releases. This is good for the artist because it will gain them popularity and money. It is beneficial for the audience because watching music videos are easy to access and enjoyable.

To create a visual presentation of an artist

By watching a music video, it allows you to
see the artist without them actually performing. It also allows you to see the brands used in the video for promotion of the item. This is used quite a lot in some music videos and the brands make often pays the singer to use it in their music video. It also can allow the artist to re-invent themselves and communicates the energy and style of the artist. An example of items being promoted in music videos are in Miley Cyrus' music video 'We Can't Stop', she starts by turning up pink beats speaker made by dr.dre. These are shown to promote the item because it is used by a celebrity and it shows what they can do, e.g. the tiny music speakers can project a high volume as Miley increases the volume.

A good example of an re-invented artist would be Nicki Minaj. When her first album 'Pink Friday' was first released, she wasn't known to the public and she getting a large sum of profit, so she re-invented herself a year later with an eccentric style which was an eye opener to the public and her albums started selling, increasing her fame and income. Nicki Minaj is commonly known for her image more than her songs because she shows a seductive and promiscuous nature in her music videos. This is beneficial for the audience because younger/older boys may find her sexy and want to view more of her music videos and girls may envy her or are inspired by her so they listen to her music. This benefits Minaj because then she gains popularity, fans and profit.

Extend the play ability of and provide additional income of the song

By releasing the music video out to the public, it must get high rating and gain popularity to the get to the charts. The frequency of the song being played on music channels after release and getting good reviews will keep the artist in the public eye, gets music sales going and the artist receives income by the music channel in order for them to air their music video so the music video become viewed by more of the public and also so the artist become highly rated. This is commonly used on adverts usually with streaming websites or on television.

Here is an example below of Lady Gaga's song 'Applause' and her latest album being advertised on YouTube. Because her latest song has gone to No.35 on the Charts and she is now promoting her song with advertisement to try and keep it playing and get it back higher on the charts. By adverting the song more frequently, hopefully the audience will then go and watch the music video again and start to enjoy it. This is be good for the artist and the charting company.

Lady Gaga advertisement

To create a synergy with media sectors

A synergy is a business tie in and by creating a synergy with other media sectors like music and TV, it increases awareness for both institutions simultaneously and it may allow artists to enter new sectors of the music industry. A good example of a business tie in with music and television would be when the television show 'X Factor' makes a single with all the contestants singing one song, the image above is a direct link to the 2010 x factor finalists single 'Heroes' in respect of Remembrance Day. This is promoting the song and the TV show which is very good for because because they are 'killing 2 birds with 1 stone' as you could say. The people that enjoy the music video will buy the single in the store and  this will be beneficial for the music company because they will receive profit and also the original artist that sang the song, in this case it was David Bowie that sang heroes and after the remake was released, both versions then received a much higher viewing count. This was good for the TV show and singer because they both received a high income and the show got more viewers.

Another example would be Adele's 'Skyfall' music video. This is a tie in with the 007 film 'Skyfall'. In the music video Adele is only shown once in the official music video because all is shown is clips of the film. Adele is promoting both the song and the film, by watching the music video, the audience will hopefully enjoy it and will want to watch the film, therefore it will be leave a positive impact on the film industry that produced the movie because they will receive income by the amount of people that see it when its screened over the world. This was a bit hit for Adele, she received over 101 million views and received an Oscar for Best Song and the film itself won 39 awards and was nominated 79 times, a few of these awards were 2 BAFTA's, 2 Golden Globes and 1 Oscar.