unconventional use of genre

I have found a song which is played under the 'pop' category which arguably messes with the view of genre towards woman. Woman in pop songs are generally seen by the viewer/public as being quite good looking, and trendy with all the latest fashion and this song doesn't. The song is by a Japanese pop group called 'Minimoni' The song is called 'Aiin'.

As you can see from this picture the woman are not what you would expect from a pop video. The song is really playing with the gender and the way people perceive them. With the Ed Sheeran's drunk, the woman in that were girls in dresses and modern clothes in a club, and wore fashion that was in trend at the time of the video being created. With this the girls are wearing something which you would not see people wear in public  and so is defiantly not in fashion.

















As you can see here the woman are acting quite childish and pretending that they are flying through the air. Again, this is not something you usually see in pop videos when looking at genre. Woman usually show maturity especially in the way they are acting, and are living a good life. Here the picture above, and throughout the clip, it shows the woman being child like and messing around, which when looking at pop songs is not something you would expect.
Also throughout the song it feels like they are all trying to get into the clip all the time (trying to all be in front of the camera) and it makes it seem crowded, and not lady like. With pop videos i learnt in previous research that they target teenagers to listen to their music and watch their videos, but i cant see them enjoying this or even wanting to listen to this, and so the gender in unconventional.

Conventional pop song (genre)

I have looked at a song where the pop song has a lot of conventions when it comes to the genre. The song i chose again was by Cody Simpson. The reason why i have chosen to analyse a lot of his songs is because we could be potentially be using a song similar to his as our song.
The video we used to show the conventions of genre is Cody Simpson - Got me Good . Again, it is a typical pop song in the fact that it is about someone who he loves and so writes a song about.

In terms of what he is wearing he is wearing something you would expect a boy who is a pop start to be wearing. From this shot here you can see that he is wearing up to date clothes which are in fashion and something that most boys his age are currently wearing. They might have also chosen him to wear this because they are trying to start a trend and boost the sales of these kinds of shirts. In terms of what the girl of the character is wearing, then this is similar to the reasons of Cody. In a pop song you would expect the woman to be wearing clothes which are quite trendy and look quite good. You wouldn't expect their clothes to be tacky or dirty. Also unlike other genres such as R&B, and would expect them to wear a normal amount of clothes, and not necessarily dancing. This video is following what you would expect from both genders - Trendy, clean clothes which boys and girls after watching the song might want to see. In terms of camera shot, again like the previous videos i have researched, there is a medium shot of the girl. The reason for this might be because it was the correct distance for the audience to be able to see the girl. They will see a lot of what she looks like, from the waist down, and she wont be to far away.
















This is also something you would expect to see with gender in a pop song. Here it shows the boy and the girl holding hands and falling/being in love. When there is 2 different genders in a love song you expect them to fall in love and show it, which is what they did, and so was a convention. In the song one of the best ways they showed it was buy holding hands, and using a close up to show there closeness. The camera shot used for this is a close up. The reason why they might have used this type of shot is because of the fact that the two people holding hands are feeling close, and so a close up shot showing them holding hands is a good representation for that.

Pop songs from this year

As part of another bit of research i am going to be analysing 2 pop music videos which have been released this year. The first one i will be looking at is Cody Simpson - Summertime of our lives.

This is one of the first images we see of him in this music video. And having looked at some analysis of pop music videos already, i can look at different things from this shot and know straight away that it is a pop song. First of all what he is wearing is something that you would expect. He is a young pop star, and so you would expect him to wear the latest fashion which is what he is doing so here. With the Mise-en-scene, in terms of props he has got a ukulele, which at the moment is seen as quite a popular instrument. This would have been used in the song, but want to be emphasised in the video. In terms of the location, it is somewhere beautiful and unique. This is common within pop songs and i think the reason for this is because of the fact that songs are usually quite romantic and so to show this they choose a location which can emphasis on this. Also this is shown through a medium/long shot, and i have noticed in this analysis that this is used a lot. The reason for this in my opinion, is because they want to show the artist and the background they are in. I also think this helps for the editing in the fact that instead of changing shot every 1-3 seconds to keep the attention of the viewer, i think because the pop song hasn't got a particularly fast pace to it, it used quite long lasted shots which follow the character, use medium to long shots to show everything going on. There was very rarely any close up shots during the music video. The two pictures above are long shots showing both the character and the location. The location is in the middle of nowhere and maybe quite romantic and the fact that it looks good. Using the these shots allows for both to be in view of the audience. I have noticed that this is used in a lot of modern pop songs, and because this is a modern pop song it is used a lot.



 













Again here they have used a shot which shows the viewer an iconic location. I don't think you have to use these in pop videos, but when they do i think you have to show it a lot. Here they have used an extreme long shot and in the video it zooms out. This is unusual for a pop video because it usually consists of medium shots, but i think they did it to show the location. When they zoomed out they did it really slowly. It matched well with the music of the song because at the same time the music slowed down in pace, and they tried to do the same through the use of editing and through the use of camera work. The long shot allows them to slowly build up what the location is and shows a typical summer theme, as well as a place where the audience would want to go in the summer and what they would do if they were on holiday like the singer. So the main reason why they use the long and medium shots is to show the location and to show as much in one picture as they can in order to help the audience understand what is going on. Most of the music videos that i have researched and watched so far to help me with mine have mainly done medium to long shots. So when it comes to making mine, i need to make sure that a majority of my shots for my music video is like this aswell.

Throughout the whole of the video the shots had been quite slow motion, and i think this has been done in editing because of the fact that the pace of the music was quite slow. However, from this point onwards the music got a bit faster and then so did the editing. It resumed to normal speed (mainly) and each shot shows got a little bit quicker to match the pace of the music. Still the shots were medium shot, and tended to focus on both him and the background.

The next song i looked at was Dear Darlin' - Olly Murs. Again, from previous analysis and research i know straight away that it was a pop song from the title. You know it is about someone who he loved, which is a key, and common, topic into what pop songs are based around. The song in general showed how Olly's life had changed from his break and the video tried to show his sadness, and the story he was trying to tell.

First of all they try to show his mood through the use of the lighting. At this point in the song he is sitting like he is angry or upset and so with the lighting they showed this through making the room dark, and putting the lighting on his face quite dark. Also from this medium shot (common in pop videos), they have made sure they you can see part of the background and have made it easy for the viewer to recognise that he is in his flat/apartment. Because he is feeling quite emotional they have closed in on the camera shot in order for the audience to see his face. His facial expressions is key for him to show what mood he is in at this point and so the camera shot in order for this to be noticeable has closed in and made sure that they can see his face.

In the video there is a clever shot. They have used a long shot, to show the present and the past together. In the middle you can see him sad and depressed with the dark lighting still on his face, and to the left you can see how happy he was when he was with the girl he is singing about. To me, this is a good bit of editing, because it is giving a comparison to what he was like before and after the break up. On both past and present the fashion he is wearing and what he looks like in terms of his hair, is up to date, which is a key convention in pop songs, and its good they made sure he was wearing different clothes to what he was wearing in the background. In order for this to fit into one shot they have used a long shot. This way more of the apartment could be seen which is good because it means they can fit the second shot in, whislt showing the singer and the emotion he is in during the present.

When the beat and the pace of the music picks up so does the speed of each individual shot. This is done through the editing and i think it is done just to match the beat of the music and make it seem as professional as possible. Also one thing i noticed was that when the music started speeding up and the camera shots were getting quicker they started to use a lot more close up shots. I think the reason for this would be to show his face and the emotions he was experiencing.

They also did something which is quite common in music videos nowadays. They showed to stories to show that they are happening at the same time. To show this they used a tracking shot. They used a studio and used a wall as a prop and with the tracking shot it moved from one room to the other, and it was used to represent two things going on at once. I thought this was a quite clever way to show that they were happening at the same time by making it obvious for the viewer to figure out.

The rest of the video then stayed very similar and used similar shots throughout the whole of it. But like the video above it didn't use an establishing shot right at the beginning, instead they used it right towards the end. I think they used the location the used just to make it seem that little bit better. It had no relevance towards the storyline, but it looks good, and that is one thing i have noticed with pop songs. They use locations which don't necessarily have any meaning behind it other than it looks good, and attracts viewers.

Ed Sheeran - Drunk (Video Analysis)

We have been told to look at 5 videos linked to the genre that we are thinking of doing with our partner for our A2 coursework. We are looking at artists within the genre of music and looking at how their videos show the convention in away that you know its a pop song.

The one song we looked at is from an English artist called Ed Sheeran and his song 'Drunk'. The record Label that Ed Sheeran is signed up to is Asylum records. This song is a pop song and his about his love life, which i said in one of my research posts is usually what pop songs involve.

The conventions of this shot represent a pop video through the clothes, as well as the location. The jumper he is wearing is quite trendy looking. It is something the audience like teenagers would wear, and would maybe want to buy. If they see a celebrity wearing something then they will want to wear it aswell and so Ed Sheeran is starting a trend.

 The camera shot here is the rule of thirds and i think it is very clever what they have done. To the left of the picture you see his cat, which plays an important part of the video (he thinks it is talking to him), and so the 2 main 'Characters' are in shot, but also, more importantly it shows part the location. The wall in what is obviously his apartment, shows a lot of pictures of him and his girlfriend (ex in the video). In previous research i said how pop songs usually target the teenage audience, and a majority of this could be girls. Having pictures on the wall is generally a girl/teenage thing to do, and so is a good convention to show that it is a pop song. The shot that they have used used is a medium shot. This was a popular shot used within the music video. A medium shot can help focus on a character and unlike a close up it can show more than their face, and so allows the director to show more than just the character. You want to fit as much as possible into a shot, and a medium shot is good for this.

 Like most music videos each shot was very short, in order to keep the attention of the viewer. When looking at the cat it was a close up shot and the camera was looking down on it. There are two reasons into why this is. One could be to get Ed Sheerans point of view. This is what Ed Sheeran would be seeing when he was looking at the cat. He was sitting higher up and he was on the sofa and so it might make the audience feel like they are sitting in his shoes and it helps them understand what is going on. Or it could be to shower power, and the fact that because he is a human he has more rights than what the cat does, although it is unlikely that this is the reason why. 

This shot here shows his cat talking. This is an important part of the video, because it adds that humor which teenagers might find funny. I think they have done this in order to keep their attention and make them wonder why the cat is talking, and so will watch the rest of the video to find out. The picture below is a cut away shot to show the viewer the girl that he is on about and she looks like she is in her teenage years, again making you realise the song is aimed at young people. Here they have shown what she looks like through the mirror rather than showing her actual face. Teenagers are someone who look in the mirror a lot and so for the camera shot to show this i think they are doing it in order for the audience to relate and for them to stay interested in watching the music video because it is something that they might do. 

Half way through the song the tempo increases and so because of that, through the use of editing so does the video. Each shot is suddenly a lot quicker and the light changes to red. This doesn't show a typical convention of a music video, how ever it did tell us how they tried to make the editing and the use of camera movement fit in with the tempo of the music. Even the guy who he/the cat were fighting were wearing trendy clothes in what looked like to be a trendy pup, and so it is still keeping the idea of having the latest trends. But it was interesting to see how once the music got a bit quicker, the action started right at the same time, everything like the lighting, and the speed of each shot changed completely compared to the rest of the video.

In terms of the camera shot it was a medium/long shot in order to fit everything in but when the action bit starts to happen the camera starts to shake around really fast like the camera man is in action its self and to show the audience that there is a fight going on. It helps the audience know that it is a real fight and that the pace of the thing going on has increased. Through the use of editing each shot gets a lot shorter aswell.

Because this is a modern pop song the analysis we have taken from this we hope to use in our own video. With a medium shot being the popular choice in this music video it gives me and my partner something to think about using for our video. We also like the humor bit of the video and if possible i think we should try and add some humor to ours, to reach out to our young audience.  

Pop Video from 1980's

I watched a pop song from the 1980's as part of my research into what is needed in a pop video and what it is all about. I wanted to see if music videos back then had the same conventions in their videos as they do now, and if they started the trend in terms of camera angles and editing.

The song researched was Micheal Jackson - the girl is mine and i thought this would be a good song to research because Micheal Jackson is considered the 'king of pop'. The record label that he recorded for were the main ones like Universal and Sony. First of all the title of the song is a typical convention in the fact that its what you would expect a pop song to be called. In previous research i have learnt that pop song are generally about love or life, and so the title is following that trend.

This is one of the first things you see with the music video and it shows the main girl and her friends. You know which one is the main girl through the good use of the camera movement and angle and lighting. The woman in the middle is the one which is the main female character of the video. The camera angle on this part when introducing them always made sure that she was in the middle. In the editing aswell it showed a close up shot of her aswell to let the audience know which one to look at. This was to give the audience a close up of what the woman looked like, this might have been so they know who to watch throughout the video. In terms of the lighting you can notice that she is the one with most of the light on, letting people know that she is the most important. I found this interesting in the fact that even though there is a group of people, through the use of lighting/editing angles you can make it easier for the viewer to spot who is important and who is not. This was used throughout the video. The video was filmed at night, and so in the places where there is no lighting were obviously quite dark, but with the lighting, they lit up what they wanted you to see, but still gave that mysterious  romantic feeling.

In terms of the fashion, which is a key convention with pop music, the girls' hair is something that was very popular in those days. So despite being from at least 30 years ago they still follow the same conventions of using the latest fashion in order to attract viewers.

The same can be said for what Michael Jackson is wearing. He will be wearing the latest clothes no matter what the location is because at the time he was seen as being a trend setter. The location of the video was a dark ally way. I think the reason why they used this is because it makes the song seem romantic. Like i said earlier pop songs are usually bout love, and so for him to have found a girl in a dark ally way makes it seem that bit more special. In terms of the lighting, it is behind them, and what this is doing is making them see like shadows, and that makes it seem more romantic in the fact that you just see their bodies.

One thing i noticed was the fact that there was very little lighting, and with what lighting there was, it was always on those two, and it added an effect in a way that made it seem as though it was shadows that were dancing because you couldn't see there face.

Here is an example to show that. It had a happy ending which everyone back then would have been happy about and made them believe that they would find love.

In terms of the camera angles it was very jumpy. The camera usually followed the characters rather than the editing stage where they use a different camera angle every 1-3 seconds. This is something i have noticed with pop videos even in today's age, and so that is something i now come to expect when i'm watching pop songs. A majority of shots though however were medium to close ups. The reason why i think this is because of the fact that there was a lot going on within the video at the same time, and they wanted the audience to see it all go on. The camera was moving constantly trying to show everything going on, and i think the person who made this video thought that using medium to long shots throughout the video like the one above were the easiest way to show this, and the shots which meant you could fit more in, whilst keeping the audiences attention and managing to help them understand what the video is about.

However compared to today's modern pop songs the shots are not as fast paced as you see now. The editing is closely matched towards the pace of the music and the lyrics and i think that is something we will have to look into. This might however though put us off going for a fast paced song, as it would mean we would have to film a number of shots, and then spend a long time editing and putting each shot together.

Overall i think if i hadn't been analysing things like the lighting and the camera shots and mise en scene, then i wouldn't say the video is very good as it didn't particularly make a lot of sense, however if you look deeper into the video then it is actually very good in the way that they make you realise who the main characters, and the fact that you are always following them. I think the use of lighting in this video was very good, and helped build that 'romantic' atmosphere in the video.

Understanding music video's

Why are music videos made? 
Music videos are generally used in order for the listener to visualise the song, and is used to help the listener understand what the music video is about. It is also used to help promote the song itself. Artists cant just rely on the song to make it as successful as it can be. They need music videos to attract the audience to listen to their song. So it is mainly used as a promotional tool, but it has its benefits of being able to help the listener visualise the song.

Where can they be accessed?
Music videos can be mainly accessed anywhere, but the main place is the internet. Websites such as YouTube, and Google, allow people to just type in the band or artist (or song) they want into the search bar, and then a list of videos including the official music video will come up. This is probably the most common way in which people access music videos, and so bands and artists are in competition with each other to try and make their video as popular as they can on YouTube by adverting their song on the actual site.
TV is also a big way in which you can watch music videos. There are TV channels that play music videos throughout the day and are very popular. The channels are stations like music and VIVA. They usually have days or programmes throughout the day where they play a certain genre or chart of music, and it a popular way for people to access and watch them.
Social network sites like Twitter and Facebook are popular ways to access videos. You can go on the page of the artist or band and they will have links to their songs, because they want as many people to view them in order to promote themselves, and so they will have links to various websites like their own, or their YouTube channel, in order for people to view their channel.

Conventions of our music genre
The genre we are thinking of doing is pop, and pop has a lot of conventions in, as is generally seen as the modern music, and so a lot of the conventions are generally modern. They wear usually really trendy clothes
which are in fashion at that particular time. Also the way in which they are acting they are usually really happy and seem to be enjoying life. The music is generally about love/relationships or life. When you hear a song about these topics you instantly know that it is a pop song. You also see things like props or even the actors assosiated to teens in some way. The reason for this is because teens are genually seen as the target market for the pop genre. The props could be things like the latest technology or anything within the latest trend such as fashion or even the style of music.

How are technical micro codes used conventionally
Mise en scene
Location on a music video is one of the most important factors to take into account. If you are filming a band or an artist playing then the likelihood is, is that you will want them to be in a studio or a stage of some sort because that is where they would be playing in real life. You sometimes have a location where the artist or band is playing somewhere different, such as a dessert or a long piece of road. This might be to make it unique, or something different over to other music videos. The location can be what you would expect or something which surprises you. I think both can attract someone into watching the video.
With costume, this is very important and falls under conventions. A rock band would maybe be expected to wear leather of some sort and have messy/ unusual hair etc... because that was what it was like in the past and that is what is expected now and its what is linked to rock (convention). With Rap you would expect to see things like baggy clothes, cars and girls. All of this is important and it helps the listener determine what genre of song this is.

Camera shots/movement
this is important in a music video in the fact that this makes it all exciting, and is what keeps the attention of the listener/viewer. The camera shots can help a the viewer understand what the music video about because they help tell the story. The video generally shows all angles of what is going on, and this can make all the difference into whether the viewer watched the whole video or not.

Editing
The editing is also very important. With editing you can determine how fast paced the video is. If the music has quite a fast paced sound to it, you are able to make the video fast paced through editing. You can make each shot last for only a short period of time, and follow the beat of the music. This is usually what is done in music videos and it gives it a good affect. It keeps the attention of the viewer because the shot is constantly changing and so you cant really take your eyes off it in-case you miss something.

Sound 
Sound is obviously very important in a music video. The only sound you really hear though is the sound of the actual song. You don't usually hear any diegetic sound from the actual location of filming. You do sometimes at the end, when there is no music playing, but because the song is the most important thing, that is usually the only thing you hear, because that is what the music video is about. When filming you want to make it seem as though they are actually playing it live, and so you have to time the sound of the music to the instruments of the video and this is done through the editing of the video.

What we are planning to achieve in A2 media

With this new course on A2, i am hoping to learn some new skills aswell as what i learn in AS. With this music video i want to be able to understand just how they work. I know now that it isn't just any video made up. Each music video represents something in a different way. This could be something like Gender, or violence. I want to develop the skill of being able to represent something and make it obvious to the viewer what is being represented. This can be made easier through good use of camera angles.

I want to be able to understand camera angles. I want to be able to know when it is best to use a certain camera angle in different situations and know when to use each one. I think in AS we used the same shot to many times and too close to each other, and so i think with this music video, i think it will help me build the skills in being able to make a music video properly if i knew how to do this properly. Also, from my own knowledge already, i know that each shot in a music video has to be quite short, in order to keep the attention of the viewer. This is defiantly a skill i want to learn during this course, because that is what make a music video unique, and what separates from the filming we were doing last year at AS level.

I think the music video can give me some good experience which will be useful if i ever go into the music/media industry. I will get an understanding in the sort of planning and research you have to do, in order to make a video and make it represent something. I want to be able to make the representation visible and i think this can give me good experience because of the fact that it is something different. I don't think it will just be the filming that will give me experience, but also the research and planning. With the planning it will be quite different compared to the film with AS because of the fact that there are so many more camera shots to do.

What we learnt from our AS Prelim

We have now finished our AS A-level media course and are now moving on to our A2 course. Since doing our coursework in AS we have had some time to reflect on what we could have improved on either our prelim or our final piece. I think the area we could have improved the most was the camera angles/editing.

Our prelim was our first real experience with making a movie/opening, and so we didn't really understand what we could and couldn't do. In terms of our camera angles, they were really poor, in a sense that we only knew a few and so just used them through out the whole prelim. It consisted of mainly the 180 degree rule/over the shoulder shot. Because we just used this the whole time it never really made any sense, and so when we come to filming our music video for our A2 coursework, me and my partner have to make sure that we use a range of different camera shots and angles.

On our prelim we used a shot where we made it seem as though the camera was one of the characters eyes, and so we placed it in front of him and made him move his arms in front of a camera, to make it seem realistic. However, this wasn't the case, and it made the whole prelim seem like a bit of a joke. From this know though, we realise that shots like that do not fit in film or in the music industry (videos), and so we will make sure we don't do anything like this in out video's.

For the music video we know make sure that besides using a different range of camera shots, we have to make sure that they all are relevant to the genre. For example if the music is fast paced, then we need to make each shot really short (through editing) in order to keep the viewers attention. This is something we did not do in the prelim. Each shot was long, and as a result of this, it was very boring to watch.