Pop Music Video Research

One Direction - Kiss you

• The artists are very familiar with each other in the video and I think this is important because it shows they are having a fun time in the video which will help them sell more songs. The performance is very convincing and the performers have lots of charisma, my group would need to find performers that will give a realistic performance to make the video more involving and enjoyable for those watching it.

• The artists pose for pictures during the video which gives a sense of travelling and this adds more interesting camera shots to the video, the freeze frame gives more of a chance to see the change of setting so it is a good change from the cut aways. The quick cuts in the video are useful in transitioning the cuts between the scenes, this makes it all very hectic and the boys in the video seem to be having lots of fun.

• The vigorous costume and setting changes make the video very streamlined and exciting to watch as it is more appealing to the audience to watch something that changes so quickly. The costumes here have been thought through very well to make the audience familiar with them, the use of hawaiian shirts and christmas knit jumpers is something that audiences may identify with and this helps add to the fun, family image that One Direction tends to have.

• There are lots of quick scene changes which gives the impression that the artists are travelling very quickly, this adds to the dynamic of the video and it tells more of a story about the song. The scenery that was chosen for the video shows how tourists may react in the same scenery and there is so much excitement during the performances, the change of scenery gives a chance to give different performances because the surfing scene and the driving scene are forms of travelling but entirely different so the artists get a chance to show how they would react to the different set changes.

• The costume changes are also very fast and the costumes used are all very cohesive, they may all be apart of the same colour scheme or the same uniform and this brings the group together to make them look like more of a band.  The whole video incorporates very quick movement and changes to make it all more exciting and dynamic to watch.

• The use of powder in the background creates a new sort of textured image within the video and it gives us more of a gritty image, the costume also highlights a very floaty sort of style which in the style of the video gives a more magical sort of style which would appeal to a younger female audience because it might give connotations of disney, princesses and fairies.

• The song doesn't continue throughout the whole video and i think the dramatic build up between the song helps with the dramatic edge of the video. The starting up sound makes it very tense and the build up works well to create a more fantasy sort of style because this gives a sense that something is about to happen and the artist is about to do something magical.
• The use of the wind machine makes the artist look more dynamic and gives the artist a very vicious look that makes her look more dark and deepens the edge of the music video making it all seem more striking.

• The lighting used in the video is very varied and it helps to match the tone of what the video is trying to evoke, the image of the artist is very dark in the video but the lighting helps to vary the tone. The use of high key lighting also gives a sense that the artist has both a dark and light image that she is trying to contrast.

• The costume for the video is very lavish and the image for selena has turned quite gothic which is a different image from her past and i think this is why the video might be so powerful is because she is trying to make a new image for herself.

• The lyrics cut to the beat in most cases but i found the off beat cutting very effective in a sense that it helped to show the dance as more of a linear thing that isn't as punchy and more elegant.

• The video includes three persona's of the main artist which contrast with each other to give the audience three styles which will both appeal to the target audience, all are quite provocative which is what is conventional for a pop artist as it is more about the image for them, this is what sells. The two lighter images give more of a stereotypical image of the artist and the other more darker persona shows a different side to the artist which switches up the image they might want to give, it gives the artist a chance to try a new image to see how people like it without completely changing their style.

• The mise en scene is very imaginary  although there are recognisable settings which the audience can relate to, there are elements that make it look very imaginary and i think this is down to the editing of the video with use of different filters to make it look more like a cartoon and i think this works well for the video because it also tells a story, just as a cartoon would, its also a similar plotline you might find in a comic book or a cartoon, not a full narrative but it gives a good summary of what the story is about, which suits the song.  I thought that the quick cuts in the video worked well in speeding up the story and this helped the video to not linger for too long on certain areas.

• The main artist is the most important part and i feel like she has been represented really well as a powerful sex symbol. The costume used is very revealing which shows a more sexual side to the main artist. The video seems to be more aimed at a male audience and this is apparent through the sexualised nature of the music video.

• The artist is a female which shows a view of the female gender that is somewhat provocative. This is a very stereotypical representation of artists in the pop genre because pop is more central around image so the sexualisation of females is often seen as a way to sell records and to raise popularity females and in some cases males have been dressing in certain ways to shock audiences.