Pop/ R&B genre music video analysis

All representations in modern day music videos are mediated by the producer, as Stuart Hall (1980) suggests, the audience have been positioned to accept a preferred representation about the artist’s attitude and lifestyle. The music video shows typical conventions for a modern day ‘pop/R&B’ genre, for example, the artist features in both the narrative and separate shots of the actual (mimed) performance. The narrative itself signifies binary opposition of female vs. Male which is a fairly common narrative in Pop/R&B genre music videos. Other conventions include, pretty young female vocalist/artist, lush locations, fashionable clothing as these conventions for a female pop song help familiarise the audience with the genre as they expect to see this. Another typical convention is that the music video includes a narrative which fits with the song to anchore the meaning.

I have analysed a music video by the Queen of Pop herself, Britney Spears, and the song is called ‘Radar’. I shall discuss how micro elements are used to create macro meanings to represent the artist in a desirable way to engage the audience to watch the video. It is aimed at 15-18 year old girls who will watch it and think of the artist as an ideal self or role model. The mode of address is friend to friend as some of the lyrics are slang which is used by teenagers.

Mise-en-scene is used to create verisimilitude in a variety of ways; the producer includes certain props or iconographic locations that the audience can immediately relate to so the diegetic world, modern day America, is believable. The producer also relies heavily on stereotypes within the video as the audience will expect to see them. The artist is shown to be a strong female, to women, an ideal self, but to men, an ideal partner/ sex partner, one example of this is the close up on Britney's perfectly toned stomach which is appealing to men and women as i stated above. This in itself is a typical shot, as in most Pop music videos the women in them are objectified (Laura Mulvey) as sex objects rather than intelligent people. The old fashioned car is another un-expected thing in the video as i would usually expect to see brand new flash sports cars but again it fits in with the new 'classy' style Britney is displaying in the video. However she follows the usual rules of fashion in the video, show casing what she's wearing, this is stereotypical beacuse its a stereotype that girls love to be in fashion and if your not then you wont be as 'popular' as a person who is, you wont be as 'attractive' hence the fashion indusrty. There is a lovely long shot of Britney in her 'first' outfit, which has been composed using the rule of thirds, and there is also another close up on her boots, which again is a stereotypical shot as 'girls love shoes' which is why they have included it.

Locations within the video included, a race course, while the others are examples of set design like, the inside of the mansion and balcony scenes. I think it is quite clear that the producer wanted the audience to see a 'classy' side of Britney Spears as in previous videos she is represented to be a promiscuos girl, performing suggestive dance routines where as in this video, horse racing is associated with the 'upper class' society which brings a touch of 'class' to Britney's video and herself. However these arnt the typical locations you would expect to see in a Pop/R&B genre video which is why, for me, it stood out from the rest.

Throughout the video it was all continuity editing with very frequent fading in and out transitions to give the quick shots a smooth and calm feel to the video. There’s no camera movement in the video. Just really quick editing.

All in all, the aspects of the micro elements are significantly used to give a stereotypical representation of a pop genre female vocalist music video which helps the audience recognise the genre.

Rihanna - Umberella

I chose this video to look at the different shots involved (long shot, medium shot and close up) and the effects, because its all a performance, and in our own video we are planning to have performance shots in it. Also its a RnB genre which is what we are looking at. One specific effect which stood out for me because i haven't seen it in any other music video, is a gradient effect used on the background and on the artist. Although I'm not entirely sure what it has to do with the song/video itself.

Lady GaGa - Just Dance

I added this video because the whole video revolves round a crazy house party which is an idea which my group and I are deciding on whether to re-create in our own video. I looked closely at the havour in the video, you can see people drinking, dancing, getting with other people, acting drunk and just generally acting wierd. Which looks great with quick editing to quicken the pace of the video to make it look really 'crazy'.

Pitbull - Hotel Room Service

I embedded this video because it follows RnB genre codes and conventions, the main one being; loads of half dressed girls, which conform to Laura Mulvey's theory, the male gaze. In fact Pitbull, the artist is the only man in the video, which men woud look up to as he's managed to get all the good looking girls in his hotel room. This is stereotypical of a RnB genre music video which is why they have used it so the audience can recognise the genre, and because it makes the artist look good and desirable.

Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You

I like the clear line between the narrative and performance in this video, which is why i added it, and how the narrative links with song lyrics. My group and I think that in our own video, we shall have a divide between a narrative and a separate performance although this maybe quite challenging to re-create, we think that it would look really effective and conform to the codes and conventions of a pop/RnB genre music video.

To see Shakira 'La Tortura' video click here.

LeAnn Rimes - Can't Fight The Moonlight

Analysis of Music video

All representations in modern day music videos are mediated by the producer, as Stuart Hall (1980) suggests, the audience have been positioned to accept a preferred representation about the artist’s attitude and lifestyle. The music video shows typical conventions for a modern day ‘pop’ genre, for example, the artist features in both the narrative and separate shots of the actual (mimed) performance. The narrative itself signifies binary opposition of female vs. Male which is a fairly common narrative in Pop genre music videos. Other conventions include, pretty young female vocalist/artist, a dance routine with background dancers, skimpy fashionable clothing as these conventions for a female pop song help familiarise the audience with the genre as they expect to see this.

I have analysed a music video by Kristina DeBarge, the song is called ‘Goodbye’. I shall therefore discuss how the micro elements are used to create macro meanings to represent the artist in a desirable way to engage the audience to watch the video. It is aimed at 14-18 year old girls who will watch it and think of the artist as an ideal self or role model. The mode of address is friend to friend as some of the lyrics are slang which is used by teenagers.

Mise-en-scene is used to create verisimilitude in a variety of ways; the producer includes certain props or iconographic locations that the audience can immediately relate to so the diegetic world, modern day America, is believable. The producer also relies heavily on stereotypes within the video as the audience will expect to see them. The artist is shown to be a strong female, to women an ideal self, but to men, an ideal partner/ sex partner, but also very feminine as she wears a lot of make-up and jewellery, one on the items she wears is a bright pink ‘Baby G’ watch which is show in a close up shot, this is important in two ways; one, the colour reinforces the fact that she is a girl and likes pink things which in itself is a stereotype for females, it gives connotations, Stuart Hall (1980), that girls like to look ‘girly’ as its more appealing to men. And two, the idea of a close up shot on the watch was to make sure the audience could see the clear designer make, ‘Baby G’, which is a famous watch brand in America, again this is stereotypical as its representing that females like designer/expensive things, ideally given to them by males because stereotypically you can almost buy a women’s affection with the right price.
Also she uses her mobile phone quite a lot to acquire boys numbers, this represents what the songs about, as she is saying ‘Goodbye’ to the ‘old’ her and saying ‘hello’ to the new single girl “I got that new I'm a single girl swag” who is keeping her options open and not being tied down again, this is showing the audience that the artist is not just a pretty face but is strong, young, independent and knows what she wants, the whole concept of finishing with her boyfriend and being a happy single girl is stereotypical because it’s not original, you’d expect girls to carry off like the artist is in the video hence women watching it and thinking of her being their ideal self, the producer has to rely on the audience being able to interact and connect with the song which is rather likely as everyone at some point in their life has finished with a partner.

The locations included, a beach, streets, cafe and a house party, you can tell it’s a house party and not a club because it has windows. Within the house party shots, the artist is shown in the brightest light to emphasise her importance, all the other people around her are shadowed so that they aren’t as noticeable, this is very typical and is seen in many other music videos, not just Pop genre either, if the producer didn’t do this effect it would be hard to pick out where the singer is, she would just be stood in a crowd.

Throughout the video it was all continuity editing with no special transitions. However there was a cross cut from the girl driving her ex-boyfriends car and the man trying to find her, this is just showing the contrast in emotion between the two, for example; the girl is happy, she has no man to tie her down and she’s pinched his car, where as the boy is confused and upset because he has no girlfriend or no car, this is to reinforce the narrative and to show a discordant attitude between them. There was a montage of the dance routine, as they couldn’t show the whole routine as there would be no time for the narrative. And there was an ellipsis included, as in any music video, otherwise it would be boring to watch and too long for the length of the song.


The artist emphasises a few of the lyrics by adding an action to them which the audience can easily identify, example; the female vocalist keeps waving her hands while synchronised with the word ‘goodbye’ this anchors the meaning of the word so it is fully understood, the connotations of this action are that she’s not bothered about her boyfriend and will happily wave him goodbye. Another action which is emphasised within the dance routine is when she says ‘broken hearted’ she pulls her hands apart on her chest to act it out almost, but in fact this is the opposite of what she feeling thats why its emphasised so much.

There’s no camera movement in the video. However there are a lot of shot types involved such as; a long shot to show all the dancers together and it’s done at a slightly low angle to show that they have power and are independent women, close up of the artist’s face when singing out of the narrative, medium close up and medium shot at the house party when people are dancing to show the craziness of the party and that everyone’s having a good time, especially the artists because she has said ‘goodbye’ to her boyfriend. For the rest of the video it’s all eye line match. When on screen the composition always involves the main female artist in the middle facing the front, again to show importance, all the eyes are on her to represent the attention ‘single girls’ get.

All in all, all the aspects of the micro elements are significantly used to give a stereotypical representation of a pop genre female vocalist music video which helps the audience recognise the genre and reinforce the binary opposites (Levi Strauss) of female vs. Male.