Conventional, Unconventional and Just Plain Good

Conventional: Britney Spears – Do something

This video abides by the conventions of pop songs. The first few seconds show a close up of Britney's heavily made-up face which sways from side to side, keeping in time with the music as she stares seductively into the camera. As Britney starts to sing, it becomes clear that nearly every phrase of the lyrics is related to the visual elements of the video; ‘Some body get me my truck, so I can ride on the clouds’, sings Britney as she rides a truck through some clouds. 'Somebody pass my guitar, so I can look like a star', she says as her friend passes her a guitar. The video contains small sections of choreographed dance routines which Britney performs with four other scantily clad girls who dance behind her to make the routine symmetrical. This is often featured in videos for girl bands or female solo artists as it portrays them in an extremely sexual way, thus gaining vast numbers of male audience members. One scene of the video shows Britney wearing only black underwear and a fur shawl as she dances provocatively in a small room. Minimal clothing on women occurs in most conventional, pop or R&B music videos.


Liked: La Roux – Bulletproof

One of the things that I like about this video is that it has little stereotypical representation within it. The female artist is not shown in any kind of provocative clothing and the make up that she wears is not used to improve her appearance but instead is used to fit in with the style of the video. Having the focus taken off the artists body (a rare occurrence in female music videos) means that the audience is left to listen properly to the music that is being offered. The special effects of the video can also be appreciated to the full extent. I like how certain parts of the visual aspects fit in perfectly with the timing of the music. For instance, where La Roux sings 'tick tick tick tick', 4 different shots are shown of the stages of her getting up from lying down. Small, clever aspects like this make the video enjoyable and interesting to watch. 2 minutes 46 seconds into the video, the screen is split into different shots and pieced back together so it gives the affect of a shattered mirror. This is aesthetically pleasing for audiences to watch because it is cleverly and successfully pulled off.

Welcome

Hey, this is my second blog which will cover everything for my Media A Level.