The genre I am researching for my music video is Pop, and R&B music, as the song I am using for my own video follows this particular genre. I have analysed three Pop music videos; Jessie J – Who you are, Girls Aloud – The Loving Kind, and One Republic – Good Life. I found a pattern of conventions they all use to distinguish the genre of the videos/music.
The editing techniques of shots in pop videos is conventionally cut on action shots, using quick shot changes - as the pace and background instrumental beats of pop songs are usually fast, they mostly do not follow continuity rules in these type of videos, using several different places of mise-en –scene, rather than one specific location or scene. (an unconventional video that does not follow this convention is Coldplay's video for Yellow, which uses only one location, and one continuous shot.)
As the instrumentals and beats of the music in pop songs are generically fast and up-tempo, the shots are fast cuts and timed with the music track, as opposed to acoustic videos or other slower pace genres of music that follow continuity and do not match shot cuts with the beat of the track.
Another convention of Pop music videos is the importance of style, through the use of fashion and high maintenance of looks. Generally, females in pop music videos are dressed fashionably aand highly glamorously to connotate a style to the audience, whereas videos for other genres such as rock music-use black make up and leather fashion to appeal to their audiences.
In addition to this I noticed on analysis that the most frequently used camera shot size on pop genre videos is the close up shots. Artists use mostly medium close up shots to convey the emotion and meaning of the song through expression, which the close-up shots allow. These sizes of shots are also used to prioritise attention on the image of the performer in rellation to make up and accesories, as pop music is the most vain genre and image is what sells songs.
Long shots and wide shots are however rare shots to be used in videos of pop genre as fast editing uses mostly extreme close ups and mid-shots. One Republic's video for Stop and Stare is an example of unconventional use of camera shots, as the video uses many long, and wide angle camera shots, whereas Jessie J’s video for Who You Are follows the conventions of pop videos using close ups, mid shots and extreme close ups to make up the majority of the video, due to lyrically meaning of the song, it conveys the emotion of the music, which is a style frequently used in pop videos.
Another pattern of conventions used in pop videos that I noticed is the use of colour. Unlike the rock or heavy metal genres which connote the mood of the music through dark colour themes in the videos, pop music very rarely uses a black and white themed video, instead bold colours or particular colour themes, such as pink, yellow, blue colour themes; are used to convey the stereotype image of pop music, and the upbeat mood of the majority of pop music. For example, a stereotypical 'girly girl' in pop would use a pink colour theme - an example of this is Nicki Minaj.
However one pop music video that does not follow this convention is Beyonce, with her video for If I were a boy; which is shot in black and white, and suggests the tone of the song to be serious and of a negative mood.
The most popular and distinguishing convention of a pop music video is the use of constant scene change which occurs every few seconds, particularly in the most upbeat pop songs, and to keep the interest of the audience on the video.
