What Makes a Good Music Video?

First and foremost, a good music video needs to be able to keep the attention of it's viewer and avoid VIEWER FATIGUE (viewer becoming bored). This can be achieved by:



- Costume changes and Location changes; this form of mise-en-scene is aesthetically pleasing for the viewer, keeping them interested in what they're watching rather than staying the same the whole way through which would prove to be pretty boring (for example, in my own lip synching task we had no costume change and very little variation in location).

This example (right) from Lady GaGa's 'Pokerface' video proves that a professional and interesting video needs a continuous change in mise-en-scene, including costume and location, to avoid viewer fatigue. The video includes a total of 6 costume changes and around 6 locations also.

- Shot types and Angles; Using a variety of shot types and angles is  another of the most common and most effective ways used by music videos to keep the attention of their viewer. A wide range and interesting use of  cinematography can be used to compliment also mise-en-scene as well as tell the story of the song and introduce the artist. Using a range of shot types and angles, is again, aesthetically pleasing and keeps the viewer interested. Whereas

a video made entirely of long shots or close ups would not. This example from Bjork's video for 'It's Oh So Quiet' uses a variety of shots throughout and has been named as one of the best music videos of all time (despite no costume changes) due to it's cinematography and clever use of props (mise-en-scene).






-Lighting; in a music video, this must always be spot on to create the effect of professionalism but also to build an ambience or a setting for the video - rather than just filming a natural lit set, otherwise it will just look like a set to the viewer, rather than a new and exciting location. Lighting can be used to brighten a dark set, or darken a light set! Lighting can also be used in conjunction with colour which may be conventional of the genre or the artist itself (e.g, chart boy and girl bands such as 'JLS' and 'The Saturdays' use a colour each to express each artists 'individuality') and this could be expressed using lighting. However, coloured lights such as LED pars and RGB Stage lights in which colour can be altered using computer programming could also be used for mood lighting purposes or symbolism within a video, for example blue lighting may symbolise a 'sad' part of the song/video, red lighting may symbolise passion etc...

 On the left is a contact sheet I made of several screenshots from Mcfly's video for their song 'Lies'.
This is a perfect example of how lighting can be used to set a mood or to bring a set 'to life'. The video is made in the form of a short fantasy film, which doesn't generally adhere to the conventions of a pop music video however it maintains highly professional standard, excellent mise-en-scene, cinematography and definitely avoids viewer fatigue. The lighting is vital in the video as it does set the dark mood of 'no-go city' (where the video is 'set').

On the right is another contact I put together using Duffy's 'Mercy' music video. I wanted to put forward how lighting in a music video can be used to different effects with different genres, in Duffy's video lighting creates a more glamorous feel in fitting with her soul genre. The lighting is places directly around the artist as she performs central to the frame which is very typical of a female ballad/soul video, it draws attention and glamorises the artist.

However, most importantly, lip synching in a music video must be edited completely in time, with both sound and motion appearing fluent as one! The aim is to create the idea that the performer is actually singing the song which is playing alongside the video, without this a music video would look unprofessional and wouldn't achieve the general aims a music video intends to achieve. 

A good music video looks professional, avoids any viewer fatigue and fits the conventions of the music genre.

Lip Synch Task

WWW:
- As a group we used our skills and somewhat 'common sense' developed in AS Media last year during filming to ensure we would be left with a definite amount of clips to play with during the editing stages by recording each of us lip synching the whole song in every location/angle. This meant we could use these clips and cut them up for continuity and viewer fatigue purposes as we needed to afterward rather than filming small clips of different parts of the song as this would limit us during editing and give us little/no leeway.

- We used a variety of different mise-en-scene and cinematography techniques to avoid viewer fatigue. For example, a range of different shots varying from close up to long shot and changes in location.

- During editing stages (due to our skill during filming) we managed to put together a large number of clips effectively for lip synching purposes to make the video look as professional as possible.


EBI:

- If we had been more creative with our choice of location and costume to reject viewer fatigue and increase professionalism.

- Put more thought into lighting each shot also to counteract viewer fatigue but most importantly to create a sense of professionalism and improve the quality of shots within the video.

- More effort into general mise-en-scene including costume which is all important in a music video!

The Brief

Our task is to research music videos of different genres. As a group (Kayleigh Hobbs, Cameron Roberts and I)  together will research a musical genre and eventually plan and produce a 3 minute music video conventional to our researched genre.