Music Video Techniques

Number of Cuts:

An example of a large number of cuts used well is Katy Perry's Hot N Cold music video. Using a large number of cuts in a music video is a good thing because it makes the video more interesting. adding to that is having the cuts the shots in different locations. In Hot N Cold met the intended affect as the audience want to watch more. watching a long shot will get boring as you'd be watching the same thing for a very long time. An example of where cuts is used badly is Little Things by One Direction. There are numerous long shots in the video and the pace is quite slow. The intended affect of the video is to present One Direction as a humble simplistic boy band. The institution achieved their goal but the music video is quite boring not only because of the lack of cuts but the shots are in black and white. One Direction's fan base are teenage girls and so the video would appeal to them as the video presents the band as innocent lad working hard on their music to please their fans. 

Special effects:

One Directions music video for You and I is a good example of well used special effects. From 2:47 the band walk in to freeze frames. The intended affect of this special effect is to do something different and more interesting. Although the technique has been successful the effects done come until over 2 minutes in to the video. Before that there is very long shots making the beginning quite boring. The video would appeal to their audience as the band are just having fun making music. An example of bad special effects is 90s music by Kimbra. Throughout the video the special effect look fake. At 1:26 you see starts that shine out which although it looks cool but its obvious it's not real. 

Cutting to the beat:

A good example of cutting to the beat is Alexdandra Stan's Mr Saxobeat. Cutting to the beat is a good technique in fast paced like at 0:22 music because the shots change fast making the video more interesting. Gold Forever by The Wanted is a music video in which they don't cut to a beat. The first cut is at 2:05 and this is one of the only cuts in the music video. Throughout the video the camera is following the guys around as various random things are happening. Having little cuts can make the music video boring but this song was purposely made funny as it was made for comic relief. 

Varied camera language: 

Tick Tock by Kesha uses a range of camera language which help to amplify the lyrics and the mood of the song. for example at 0:40 a high angle is used at the word "tipsy" which shows she's high. At 1:08 there is a pan which is fast paced. This makes it more interesting and people want to watch the music video. Another Love by Tom Odell is a music video in which it appears that it was only filmed in one shot. Throughout the video there is only a straight on shot of Tom Odell lip synching and the camera is zooming out. At 3:53 the is another close up of Tom's face in which you can clearly see his emotions. Not using a range of different camera language can make the music video seem long and boring.

Green screen:

Using green screen in videos is good for the institution as they don't have to use read location or even spend a lot of the set. Black Widow by Iggy Azalea uses a lot of green screen. The backgrounds that are used are beautiful and look cool. At 3:36 the shot is colourful and interesting making it appealing to the audience. Using green screen well is quite creative as it looks good and it entertaining to watch. Technotronic's music video for Pump Up the Beat is an example of bad green screen. You can clearly see the shadow on the green screen at 1:08 which makes it obvious that a green screen was used. 

Lip Syncing:

The artist is able to preform and dance in the video without having to worry about singing too. Bad lip syncing can make people not want to watch the artist live as they think their music is auto-tuned as the artist is not singing. Heart attack by Demi Lovato is a good example of this. At 0:19 you can see her lips are sync with the song. It looks like Demi is singing herself. An example of bad Lip Syncing is Wannabe by the Spice Girls. At 1:06 you can see the artist's lip syncing is way off. Bad lip syncing can distract the audience from the music video as it is clear that the artist or actor is not actually singing. This also make it look like the artist can't sing and perform at the same time.