I have chosen to analyse One Directions music video of 'What makes you beautiful' as it is extremely stereotypical and follows many conventions of a typical music video. The video shows all five male band members at a beach and then three girls join them whilst they participate in fun and group activities. The song is about trying to persuade a girl who thinks she isn't beautiful that the little things she does makes her beautiful.
One of the first shots we see shows all five male band members wearing casual clothing and on a beach. We now know that the beach is the main location. I think that they have used a beach because it is a stereotypical place for teenagers to 'hang out with friends' so this will help the audience relate. This shot is a long shot and shows all the boys walking next to the sea whilst lip syncing, lip syncing is a very stereotypical convention of a music video and is done very well throughout this video.
Close ups are used throughout the video of the band members staring directly into the camera. This is to make the audience think that they are staring directly at them, this technique would be used specifically for female audience members. Each close up shows the beach location in the background out of focus, and the band member in focus. Close ups are mainly used for solo's throughout the song to make the focus and attention onto that specific band member.
We are then shown shots of the mini bus that the boys are travelling in. These shots are used for the narrative of the song. The narrative of the song is the idea that the boys have come to the beach to meet some girls. So, when these shots of the mini bus are shown no member is lip syncing but the song is still being played in the background. The use of a narrative is very stereotypical for a pop music video as it makes the video more interesting and more watchable. I think it is effective how we are shown shots from both outside and inside the bus and it creates two very different perspectives.
We are then shown a shot of a red convertible with three girls and we instantly realise they are the three girls that the boys are meeting. This long shot shows that the wind is in the girls hair which makes the shot much more effective as it creates that idea of 'natural beauty'. We are then shown a mid shot of one of the girls and the song plays 'The way that you flick your hair gets me overwhelmed' the girl spins and flicks her hair. This is very stereotypical of a pop music video to link what is shown to the lyrics.
An effect used frequently throughout the video is cross fade. The cross fade is used mainly to show two different locations. But has also been used to show people. The first cross fade shows a very subtle section of girls hair and then cross fades into a low angle shot of both the boys and the girls clapping. The other cross fade shows three different locations: the inside of the boys bus which then cross fades into the high angled long shot of the girls red convertible which then cross fades into an extreme long high angled shot showing the beach and the hills behind it. A cross fade not very stereotypical of a pop music video as sharp cuts are usually used instead.
These three shots show the band lip syncing altogether as a group and they also show three subtle location changes. The use of a location change is very stereotypical of a pop music video. The last shot shows all band members walking along the beach and towards the camera however, there has been a subtle costume change. The boys are now wearing jumpers which suggests that it is evening which indicates that they have been at the beach all day. A costume change is very stereotypical of a pop music video, however it is usually much more obvious.
This shot shows a mid shot of Harry singing to one of the girls. Harry is lip syncing his solo which makes the moment very overwhelming. We can see that they are still on the location of the beach however it is now sunset as we can see through the girls hair, the use of the sunset makes the shot much more romantic. The use of the theme of love is very stereotypical of a pop music video, especially a teenage boy band as most female audience members 'wish it was them'.
One of the final shots show all five members in a long shot facing the camera. They are still on the beach however the sun has almost set which has resulted in the members looking like silhouettes which I think is very effective.
No comments:
Post a Comment