Research into chosen music genre

Research into chosen music genre

The music genre that we as a group have chosen to do is pop as it is one of the most popular music genre that majority of people enjoy listening to. As our genre is pop, it shows that we will be aiming our music video at a mainstream audience. We chose the pop genre as we thought that it will be effective seeing as it will relate to both Goodwin's and Dyer's theory. Another reason we chose to research the pop genre is because within our group, all of us have a great interest in listening to music that is within this genre. Therefore we decided that we will be able to come up with more creative and effective ideas for our music video.

James Morrison - Broken Strings ft Nelly Furtado

Within this music video both artists are presented as ordinary, everyday people. This is shown through the mise-en-scene used within the music video. The mise-en-scene within the video is pretty much very basic. This is mainly shown by the location which is an empty and simple hotel room, however this could possibly be used to represent how lonely the artist is feeling as he is singing about being heartbroken.

Both artists are shown wearing simple jeans and casual top which emphasises the fact that they are very much like ordinary people. However this doesn't actually apply to

Richard Dyers Star theory as his theory suggest that artists are not people but possessions and objects but within this music video, both artists look very ordinary.

The main iconography used within this video consist of a guitar which is very effective as it is the typical iconography used in many pop music videos.

From watching this music video, you realise that it relates more to Goodwin's theory than Dyer's theory as Goodwin's theory states that their is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, so when the beat drops in the song and both artists sing "you cant play on broken strings" as they both sing the word broken, the lamp and television start breaking.

The music video is mostly performance based as it shows both artists singing throughout the whole video. However they way the video is made also shows slight narrative. This is shown when James Morrison is singing about how he is trying to get over his girlfriend but her reflection pops up on the glass as she starts singing. This shows narrative as it tells the audience that the other artist Nelly Furtado is supposedly meant to be his girlfriend.

The camera show used at the beginning of the video is an extreme close up of the artists face. This was an effective way to start of the music video as it introduces the artist before anything is said or done. This allows the audience to take a moment to recognise the artist and also build a relationship with him through the music video.

Another camera show that was used quite often was a close up and this was used to maintain the relationship between the audience and the artist. However, the close up camera shots were also used to emphasise on the artists facial expressions and emotions which allowed the audience to understand the absolute pain he was feeling and to get a feel of the type of atmosphere that was going on within the video.

Summary

The research I have carried out on the chosen music genre will assist me when it comes to planning our own music video as I have had a chance to broaden my knowledge about what sort of videos pop artists create. Also I have learnt more about the codes and conventions of a pop music video and what camera shots would be effective to use throughout my own music video.