Conventions of a Pop Video.

Sarah Byard.

Videos referenced:

• Waterfalls – Stooshe.• Troublemaker – Olly Murs.• Heart Skips A Beat – Olly Murs.• Please Don’t Let Me Go – Olly Murs.• Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5.• What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction.• Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen• We Are Young – FUN.• Wings – Little Mix.

Link between lyrics and visuals.

‘I got them moves like Jagger’. ‘Don’t go chasing waterfalls’.

‘The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed’.

There is usually some link between lyrics and visuals. If it did not, then the video would be pretty irrelevant and people wouldn’t care about it. It also helps people remember the lyrics, as they can see it. That makes the person remember the song and, possibly, want to buy it.

Link between music and visuals.

Rapid cuts in Moves Like Jagger used to intersperse images of

Adam Levine and other images. It is edited in time to the beat. This

suits the theme of the song, as it is about a person with a dominant personality. Having him as the

dominant in the video reflects this.

In Troublemaker, these three clips are edited to slide in to shot in

time with the music. This makes it more aesthetically pleasing.

Editing clips to the beat is often used to make a video more

aesthetically pleasing.

Fits characteristics of genre.

There’s usually bright lighting and some form of bright object/costume in pop videos. This makes the video stand out more and also appeals to youth (the target audience), as it appears vibrant and lively, something young people are attracted to. It also makes it more upbeat, so it fits the beat and general message of the songs.

I like to think One Direction will be like fashion: a fad that will go away.

I love her cardigan, how pretty.

Olly Murs is fashionable. He wears nice clothes.

Suits are cool. FUN are cool.

The costume for actors in pop videos is generally whatever is fashionable at the time. This makes them relatable and liked by their youthful target audience, as fashion is important to them.

Carly Rae Jepsen Olly Murs. I like to screencap mugshots.

One Direction.The actors in pop music videos are generally young. This is because the artists are mainly young, but it also appeals to the target audience: the youth of the day.

Most pop videos feature some element of love in their narratives. This is because most of the lyrics are about love. It also appeals to the target audience, as young teenagers are often obsessed with the concept.

Troublemaker features Olly Murs following a woman that he likes the look of.

Call Me Maybe features CRJ stalking her gay neighbour.

WMYB features the most awkward ‘romantic’ scene ever.

There are often references to the artist’s name or the song title in the music videos. This establishes straight away who the song is by probably because it’s hard to tell without because they all sound exactly the same and what it’s called, so it embeds in the brain of the audience more

Maroon 5 performing with Christina Aguileria and a bunch of Jagger

lookalikes.

Fun performing in slow motion whilst a bunch of people fight.

Stooshe performing whilst a load of people dance.

There’s usually a lot of performance in pop music videos. This is because a video can’t be full of narrative, otherwise they would be boring. They also want to be taken seriously as artists, so they show themselves performing.

There is generally synchronised dancing in pop music videos. This is usually done by female pop groups, and shows them to be all-round performers, not just singers. It’s also the norm today for girl groups to be pretty dancers who can’t actually sing.

Close ups and motifs.

Adam Levine looking fine as always.

I’m baffled as to how this man looks 10 yet 40 at the same time. Congrats on the face.

There are often close ups of the artist or the band in the music

video. This is because they want to keep their faces

relevant, as the world of pop music is ever-changing.

Olly Murs wears a certain type of hat (my stepdad called it a pork pie hat but I doubt that’s the real phrase for it) which has become his motif. This makes him recognisable.

Artists might choose an item of outfit or a recurring symbol. This makes them recognisable, and therefore, popular.

References to looking and/or voyeurism.

There is some voyeruism in pop videos; however, it is not actually voyeurism of the female form. In these videos, there is voyeurism of the male form. This highlights some hypocrisy in the music industry; it’s okay for men to be looked at, but when it’s women there’s fuss about it.

This appeals to the (largely female) target audience, as they want to look at pretty men, thus the popularity of things such as the Twilight films.

Intertextuality.

This man is dressed like this man.

TLC in the original ‘Waterfalls’.

TLC in Stooshe’s ‘Waterfalls’.

Intertextuality is often used by artists to give

a nod to either their subject matter or the original artist of the

song. Adorno would call it pseudo-

individualism and there being no

originality in the world; I call it laziness.