Macro and Micro Elements of the Pop music video genre and textual analysis of ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry
Madeline Washington
Pop Music Genre Pop music is music that appeals to the popular taste. According to Wikipedia ‘The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular (and can include any style).’ Current pop music artists include; Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
Features of pop music videos Costume within the pop music video genre is fashionable and up to date with recent tends as its target audience are those who will be wanting to keep up with the latest trends and want to be like the artists and actors/actresses used within the videos. Some pop artists feature obscure and dramatic make-up and or clothing to stand out and promote their image. An example of this would be ‘Lady GagaBad Romance’ as she wears extravagant clothing to match her out there image. This allows the audience to connect with the artist, thus more albums are sold and more money is made for the industry. Some artists use costume to depict narrative and demonstrate characters in a certain way. The music video for ‘Rizzle Kicks-When I Was A Youngster’ uses costume effectively to illustrate narrative by having the lyrics reflect the song.
Location Location and the scene of a music video mustn’t only show where the artist is but what genre the music is. For example, music videos that use a beach, car or party as the location you would usually find in a pop or dance because of the happy and lively atmosphere they give matching the music. Music videos filmed in a house or street usually are of the hip-hop/grime genre. The location the genre, but are also chosen purposely to fit the song.
Locations of ‘Firework’ Firework was filmed in Budapest and takes a metaphorical look at fireworks. Locations of the video include a balcony on top of a building. There are also scenes from a hospital, shots on a street, a benefit at an opera building and a pool party.
Mise En Scene Mise En Scene for pop music videos mainly focuses on the lighting, colour, props, costume, make-up and hair. The way in which the artists look is styled for a specific reason that displays personality attracts audiences. However, hair and make-up in pop music videos is really about style and current fashion of what’s in at the time.
Mise En Scene - Firework Costume, make-up and hair are used accordingly to the scenes of the video. For example, the scene with Katy Perry singing she is in a opera house so is dressed classically in a stunning dress, with heavy make-up and big hair, in this she is made to appear beautiful and flawless.
Camerawork Music videos features many od shots for various reasons, to relate with the audience by expressing thoughts and feelings, but also to show the viewer what is happening. Shots that you would usually find in a music videos consist of; Very long shots, long shots, mid shots , close ups and extreme close ups. Camera angles also play a very important part as they convey different images to the audience. Eye level angles are also known as ‘real world’ angles as they show the audience what we would expect to see in real life. High angles show the subject from above and makes the subject appear less powerful and less significant. Low angles show the subject from below and makes them appear very powerful and dominant.
Camerawork - Firework Camerawork within the video consists of lots of extreme long shots showing the location change of the video and showing fireworks. There are also lots of mid-shots and close-ups of Katy Perry singing and of the other characters within the video.
Editing Editing is the final step to the music video, placing and tying the music together. This concludes the music video. I will be using final cut pro to edit my production. Common editing techniques that appear within the pop genre include colour filtering (black and white) and super imposition. Pop music videos usually have either minimal editing or rely solely on editing. for example Coldplay – The Scientist’s music video the whole video is reversed.
Editing - Firework Super imposition of the fireworks in the video is the main editing technique that has been used for this video. Parallel editing is used to link the artist with the story. For example, when Katy Perry sings ‘Do you ever feel buried deep six feet under? Screams but no one seems to hear a thing’ the video shows a scene of girl feeling too self-conscious to get in the pool at a pool party.
Sound Sound within a pop music video consists of both diegetic (exists within the video) and non-diegetic (only the audience can hear) sound. Sound is essential to the video as it is the main reason for the audience to watch and listen to them to make money for the company. Sound for a pop music video is edited to create different effects an to form variations of the vocals we hear. Also, sound parallel sound is a sound editing technique which matched the mood of the video. For example, if the song is sad the video would also be sad.
Sound - Firework Sound the is present within the music video includes the song it’s self which is non-diegetic as only the audience can hear this. Firework sound effects can be heard right at the end of music video as the music finishes and fades out and is diegetic.