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.