Bruno Mars predominantly fits in with the pop music genre. Pop music being an abbreviation of ‘popular’ is understood to be commercially recorded music, often targeted towards a youth market and often reaching high chart positions. This genre of music is portrayed through music videos, mainly shown by use of editing, cinematography and mise-en-scene. Bruno Mars could also be seen as an R’n’B artist to some people as his video for ‘Just the way you are’ shows a variation between the conventions of pop music and R’n’B music videos. However, pop music is the main genre for this artist.
Pop music videos often consist of a lot of colour variation through use of the mise-en-scene, things such as the lighting, set, costume, hair and makeup and just generally the way the artist or characters are presented. For example, in popular artist ‘Katy Perry’s’ video for ‘Hot n Cold’ a lot of colour is used in the dancing section towards the end of the video. The lighting is bright to emphasise that it is day time and also to benefit the visibility of the dancers movements, the clothing the dancers are wearing show a lot of bright colours and ‘Katy’ wears bright yellow shorts, trainers and eye shadow which helps to attract the youth targeted audience. Also, the use of the yellow man prop placed at the back brings a sense of good and fun spirit to the pop video.
Pop videos usually consist of a narrative that runs through out. The type of narrative depends on the lyrics and type of song but a popular choice of narrative is a ‘teenage scenario’, for example, some sort of ‘crush’ or a love themed plot. An example of this convention being used is in the video for ‘Justin Bieber’s’ ‘Baby’ as he is trying to please a girl at the bowling alley and it ends up with them leaving together. This example also fits in with the younger generation of teenagers and tweenagers as its target audience as ‘Justin Bieber’ is a teenager himself and they will be able to relate to him and be inspired by him and the other teenage characters in the video.
Another convention of pop music videos are the use of dance routines with the band or artist included. This isn’t always the case, although in the more happy and upbeat music tracks it is quite common. For example, in ‘Alexandra Burkes’ music video for ‘Broken Heels’ she performs in a group dance routine with other girls behind her and her placed at the front singing. They are all wearing the provocative female equivalent of a rugby kit and are performing on a rugby pitch to give a fun vibe to the music video as well as an idea of ‘girl power’ relating to the lyrics of the song and targeting a predominant audience of teenage girls.
Performance narrative often occurs in music videos and a close up of the artists face to show their emotions and to emphasise themselves as the artist is a very popular convention in pop music videos. A close up is a very intimate camera shot and could make the audience feel closer to the artist. For example, in ‘Ke$has’ video for ‘TiK ToK’ she was a brand new artist being introduced into the music industry, therefore, a lot of close ups are used of her singing which really shows her ‘rebellious’ attitude towards life and it also shows her piercings indicating that she is a tough character.
Medium close ups and medium shots of the artist are also a very common of pop music videos as seen in many.
In most pop music videos a happy, fun and light hearted atmosphere runs throughout, depending on the mood of the song. For example, in the ‘Everybody in Love’ video by ‘JLS’ the atmosphere is very happy as they perform to cheering people on stage. Pop music videos usually have ‘happy’ or peaceful locations, such as, a beach, a home or their friend’s home for example. This is a common convention and is shown in ‘Rihanna’s’ video ‘If its lovin’ that you want’ when she is happily socialising with her friends on the beach.
Popular editing techniques used in this genre of music videos are jump cuts. Its purpose is to jump from a scene of the location to the artist to instruments and vice versa for example. Editing to the beat of the music is also very often used, for example, this is very clear in ‘Rihanna’s’ video for ‘Only Girl in the World’. Fade edits are also a common convention for pop music videos, an example of this is in the ‘Everybody in Love’ video by ‘JLS’, when the shot fades from the group dancing on stage to a close up of Aston singing.
‘Artificial lighting’ is the most common type of lighting used in pop videos. It helps to enhance the look of the band or artist by making them look younger or ‘ageless’. For example, in ‘Cheryl Coles’ video for ‘Fight for this Love’, artificial lighting to highlight her defined cheekbones and her perfect complexion whilst emphasising her eyes.
Costumes worn in pop music videos are personal to the artist but it shows off their fashion sense or their character, so it is important. This is evident in ‘Lady Gagas’ video for the song ‘Telephone’ as she wears a black and white striped PVC low cut dress with high shoulder pads, sunglasses, opaque tights and high heeled black shoes which is significant of the well known ‘robbers’ striped jumper. It shows the audience she has her own interpretation of fashion and that it is important to her.
Pop music videos have many different conventions which are very important and make it significant to this genre. The specificity of elements, such as, the artificial lighting and the close ups to emphasise the artist all add up to make a cleverly thought out music video which adapts to its relevant genre.
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