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.