Codes and conventions of a  pop music video

1. Voyeurism- How males are represented?

1.1. Male artists like Justin Bieber and Calvin Harris are rarely objectified in music videos. We often see female dancers in the background of the video or dancing with the male artist. Here the females are once again objectified.

2. Voyeurism- How females are represented?

2.1. In music videos both solo artists and bands display themselves as a something. Females, solo artist or in a band are objectified as a sexual object. A solo artist like Nicki Minaj is a clear example of voyeurism within pop. This reason being that she wears little clothing or tight fitting to catch the gaze of men.

3. What is a Pop music video?

3.1. Pop music came about mid 1950's. Mostly all of the pop music videos now-a-days use vibrant colours and edit the videos by applying effects on top of the video.

3.2. -Wealth is shown through the artist wearing bling or designer clothing, or cars.

3.3. in pop music videos like Fifth Harmony, Rihanna, Beyoncé , Chris brown and Justin Bieber etc all have dance or performance aspects within their music videos. This is very common for pop music videos to include this as it gives the audience a feel of what the artist is like.

4. Setting

4.1. The settings in pop music tend to be located in places like California, LA, New York, London or Paris. These places are well know for the city lights and atmosphere. or party scenes.

4.2. Wake me up by Avicii was shot in Piru, California and then the concert footage was taken in Miami.

4.3. We don't talk anymore by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez was filmed on the streets of New York city following the different lives of the characters.

5. Pop music videos  display an element of love As well as a party lifestyle. This is generally the case because the target audience of pop music is teens. This is when they are going out clubbing or getting into a relationship.

5.1. Narrative/ Audience

6. Depends on the tempo of the music. If the tempo was fast then the editing would have to fit in time with the beat of the music, the same if the tempo was slow.

6.1. Editing

7. Intertextuality

7.1. Intertextuality within pop music video refers to the inspiration taken from pieces of work and put together to make one idea. .

7.2. For example in Bad blood we can see that the Hunger Games and Divergent can be used as inspiration for her video. With the use of different weapons that make each of the characters have a different role and representing the women as strong individuals , working and supporting each other.

7.3. Another example can be seen with Iggy Azalea in her song Fancy. There is a lot of inspiration take from the film Clueless. Her costumes are very similar as well as the storyline. However it is in a song version and has a modern twist.

8. Cinematography

8.1. Camera shots are medium to quickly paced cuts fitting the beat of the music.

8.2. Close up shots of the artist are used to display different emotions that the artist or the character is feeling. For example in Miley Cyrus- Wrecking Ball, the close up shot captures a tear rolling down her face this tells the audience she is upset which links to the lyrics of the song. A Pop rock artist such as Pink is angry in the close up of her song, So What.

8.3. The camera shots sometimes focus on what the artist is know for. This can be seen in Pink and Fifth Harmony etc. Pink can be seen with different hair styles or colours in each of her videos whereas Fifth Harmony are known for the performance aspects of their videos with a dance routine which is a convention of a pop music video.

9. Mise en scene

9.1. The costume in pop rock can be seen as casual,  generally we see jeans and a shirt. However we may see brightly coloured clothing that is fashionable, which is shown mostly in pop music videos. Regular costume changes keep the music video interesting to the audience and give more depth to the storyline.

9.2. Lighting in pop rock can vary. Lighting in pop is often bright, outdoors in summer and colourful, whereas in a rock video it is dull and darker. Pop rock fits between the two there is colour and darkness in the shots, but are often natural.