Good & Bad Music Video Techniques

Large Number Of Cuts

Good Example

Kanye west - All of the lights

Kanye west video all of the lights has up to a large amount of cuts within his video this is to adds to his song as it is a up fast up tempo beat, the effect it has on the views is that it gives a playful engaging imagery as if the cuts are meant resemble flashing lights which is said in his lyrics , the cuts in his  video  are edited together at every fast paced and shows fast graphics that are said within the lyrics. The structure of the video was to get the audience to understand what his song is about by using these fast cuts. This has a good effect as you see  the fast pace cuts as it engages the viewers to keep watching. They successfully put this together as you still see the main artist with the the fast pace lyrics from his collaboration Rhianna.The audience is also dragged into video by the imagery since this technique is done very creatively by the use of colourful flashing graphics the large amount of cuts emphasises this.

Bad Example

All i want for christmas is you-Mariah Carey

 

This is a bad example of large amount of cuts, Mariah Carey's video has a cut between every 3-5 seconds throughout her video, this drags out her video making it look very slow and boring. This can have a bad effect on who views her video as they are most likely to lose interests and stop watching the video since there is not anything to keep them entertained, the video is made to seem like a lullaby as its slow and soft along with her tempo and imagery within her, the video show Mariah singing in the same location with long dragged out shots,however it sets the mood of the video giving the videos a relaxing soft mood that comes across from the video.Although this can be presented as uncreative as they did not experiment with the cuts,especially as there isn't much movement from the artist or location.

Cutting To The Beat

Good example

Pow-Lethal B

This is a good example of cutting to the beat.The cuts is not only cut to the beat but by the lyrics as well they all work together well as there's a lot of movement as well as a fast pace beat.The video does not cut to the beat all the way through but mostly does within the chorus.The cuts help the visual of movement although the camera does not move allot in this video.. Even though the camera does the move entirely in this video, the cuts that are in sequence with the beat makes the video look visually intriguing to the viewers.The video trys to create the effect the artist moving by putting together fast shots without their actual movement within one.The beat goes really well with the video especially when the chorus kicks in.

Bad Example

Gold Dust- Dj Fresh

                                         

Gold dust - Dj fresh is a bad example to cutting to the beat in his video he drags out his cuts so viewers can see the movement within his shots, without long shots it would be difficult for him to show what is in his music video e.g people doing impressive skills while skipping rope,  he if he was to use a large amount of cut he would have to shorten the movements as well as getting the people within his video to repeat their stunts for different angles and shots taken, which could be a long process, however the long shot amount of shots works well for his video as there is a lot of movement seen in his shots so this along makes his video exciting without the need to cut to the beat as you see people doing stunts and dancing to the beat.The cuts do not go with the beat within the fact that he had the movement within his shots to back him up, to make it look like a music video and not just random.

Varied Camera Language

Good Example

Dappy-Ying Yan

Dappy- Ying Yan has many different type of camera language throughout his whole video we see the camera does a good amount of movement and hardly keeps still, the entertainment it gives off is by emphasising the imagery shown from this camera angles. For example at the beginning of his music video we see dappy laying down in a empty forest, we see this as the camera is placed high above him as a birds eye view. The movements and angles of the camera language also emphasises his set location in a forest/jungle and sets the mood to be very uncomfortable a creepy, this all works together very well with the music as well as his video as its a up beat along with the movement of the camera language it give of a sense to the viewers for the need to move/dance.

Bad Example

Bat for lashes- All Your Gold

This video is a bad example of bad camera language. In the artist video we mostly see mid-shots of the artist showing her shoulders an facial expression, with a few landscape shots that show her location, her shots work well with her song as the lyrics seem to be very down and sad and to emphasis this the camera shows the artist face alot throughout her video, which is seen to be in a un-comfort pain expression as you can tell as she does not smile.  Although it works well with the song viewers can find this to be boring and less creative than other videos. The video does not use different ranges of shot types but does allow the artist to be viewed in different angles.

Special Effects

Good Example
Missy Elliot-Work it

 Missy elliot work it uses special effects massively throughout her video.She uses special effect's  in this video to create a image of her doing stunts she would not actually be able to do as an artist, it si a benefit to her as it allows her to have control over what she would like to achieve through her videos as an artist e.g within her video we see her face on another persons body who is actually doing the stunts, but is shown as if the artist is doing the stunts from this effect.The video works really well and a s theres well thought out stunts and  unexpected moments presented by the artist by using special effects.This gives the viewers a reason to watch her video as it has very entertaining elements to it.

Bad Example

Green Screen

Good Example
Beyonce ft. Lady gaga - Telphone

The use of green screen in this music video is used when Beyonce and lady gaga are seen to be in a car, the green screen is used as imagery for the outside of the car windows to make a more realistic effect that the car is driving down a road, this works well as they cut away to the outside of the car as if their is actual movement, this gives both artists the freedom to do stunts and movement within the car without the risk of the safety as they are on a fake set of a moving car.This works well for the viewers and the artist as their able to create a fake set on a driving car without the risk of safety and in a way it looks cool and creative to the viewers.

Bad Example
Twist & Shout

This is an example of a very bad green screen video, the use of green screen was not very creative and looked very unrealistic as it cut half of his body off most of the times rather tahn making his look as if her way infront of this moving background, he also has a white outline around his body which indecates that the green screen was not used and done well. When artist are using green screen within their video's it is important that they make sure it is used and done well, as it can have a big impact on their viewer it can come across visually irratating and unprofessional.Although green screen helps the artist to do and visually make imagery that may not be possible for them to do in real life, using green screen can be a big disadvantage to the artist videos.

Lip-syncing

 Good Example

Dynamite- Dy-Na-Mi-Tee

This video is a good example of lip-syncing, as we see the artist on stage singing through a mic, and also a large amount of close ups to her face having a clear view of her lip-syncing. The way she uses this well is through her body language and makes it seem as if she is actually singing it live, this is edited very well.Their is a high importance of good lip-syncing in music video's it can determine on a professional music video that looks good, rather than a video that is not made well and suited to their song, this can have an impact on how many views the video gets.

Bad Example

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