What makes a good product

As part of my research I went on youtube and watched several music channels to watch a range of music videos to analyse both the positive and negative aspects of them. Below I have included a selection of some of the videos that I watched, spanning across several genres and have briefly summarised them.

The conventions of a good music video are:

This music video does not have a narrative as it is purely a performance and more of an abstract music video. However it does feature some conventional features of a pop music video with the use of costume, props and locations.

Positives:

• Editing pace matches the tempo of the song
• Some events of the music video match the lyrics of the song
• Colourful use of costume and location which is engaging to watch and was considered effective at the time the video was published as colour film was not very popular, therefore demonstrating a lot of money was spent on the video. Also the bright colour allows the band to stand out and suggests that at the time they stood out from all other bands and artists. It also attracts a female teenage audience, which would of been there main target audience, with the use pink in the costume and the background.
• Use of performance - Lip-synching and band iconography of instruments
• With the location of them on stage, and the use of the performance element of them lip-syncing, creates an image of what they would be like at a live concert and sttracts the audience to want to go and see them live.

Negatives:

• Lack of narrative
• Length of shots too long, gets boring
• Bad use of cinematography, shots of band members poor as missing their heads off and extra space not needed.
• Poor camera movement due to lack of editing

This music video is also of the pop genre and also does not have a narrative, it is an abstract video which continually consists of the performance element. It contains many conventional features of pop music videos such as costume, props and locations.

Positives:

• Good use of mise-en-scene, with costume and the colour theme all matching and suiting the pop style.
• Fast paced editing which matches the tempo of the song
• Good use of cinematography which includes a wide range of different camera angles and shots which keeps the video interesting
• Many elements of performance such as lip-synching and dance choreography which is conventional of the genre, but also is enjoyable to watch.

Negatives:

• Slightly too repetitive which could appear quite boring
• No narrative so therefore no relationship between the music video and the lyrics
• Lack of different locations as it was all filmed in a studio, which although is conventional for an abstract pop music video, but it came across repetitive.

This music video also is a prime example of Laura Mulvey's theory of the media portraying women to please men. For example, with the use of camera shots accentuating certain areas of the female body; along with the use of mise-en-scene as the main artist's costume is a short dress which may e appealing to the male audience.



This music video is of the Indie genre and consists fully of narrative as it features no abstract qualities or performance element. In addition, it does consist of some conventional features that you would see in other music videos of the indie genre.

Positives -

• Emotive narrative which matches emotive song and genre, keeps the audience intrigued.
• Editing matches the pace of the song
• The dark lighting and filter matches the sombre mood
• Unexplained storyline, encourages audience's own interpretation

Negatives -

• The music video does not match the lyrics
• Shots on for a long period of time, quite boring
• Not a wide variety of cinematography
• No special effects which although add to the theme of realism, does appear quite boring
• No performance element

Knowing what audiences consider to be a good music video is beneficial to me, as I can apply the results that I have collected from my research and can apply this to the production of my music video, so that it appears professional and aesthetically pleasing.