This is a screen grab of multiple screen grabs from music videos over the last ten years, I used Photoshop to cut all of these images together. We have looked at successful dance videos from the year 2000 up to the present day, this is in order to look at typical conventions of dance music videos. This can help us to include typical dance aspects in our own music video, as this will be what fans expect from a dance video. We chose most of these music videos from the nominees and winners of the 'MTV VMA Music Awards'.
2000 - Destiny's child music video uses colour themes where the mise-en-scene all matches in colour, these change between the basic primary colours throughout the video. Then towards the end of the video, the colours combine together towards the end of the video. The characters are repeated throughout, the females change costumes often, perform a dance routine where cars are in the background, this video also has a loose narrative story line.
2001 - The Lady Marmalade music video uses exaggerated glamorous make up, with references to the classical looks of the 1920's-1940's. The video also idolises women, as it shows them all getting ready, doing their hair and make-up etc. Additionally they all perform a dance routine within the video.
2002 Kylie Minogue's music video has a matched pace to the pace of the song, her costume changes throughout the video, into outfits which are quite revealing, she has backing dancers to support the routines she is performing, and the video often goes back to shots of Kylie driving a car.
2003 In Britney Spears' music video, she is the main focus for the start of the song, she is shown driving a car and then performing a dance routine with her at the front and centre of the dancers, the camera follows her while she is moving around the maze like building, all the while she is successfully lip syncing. In order to oppose one of the typical conventions of a female dance music video, Britney is wearing masculine outfits consisting of a suit and a hat. The music video also has a narrative throughout the video.
2004 Usher's music video has a narrative about him and a girl in a club, he also performs a dance routine which is expected of both a dance video, and a Usher music video, as dance routines are an aspect closely associated with Usher. The video has shots of people in a club dancing, with changes in coloured lighting. When Usher is performing solo, he is surrounded by blue lasers, when the other artists perform later on they are surrounded by green lasers. The concept of lasers is something which Usher has also used in many music videos. Finally the pace of the video follows the pace of the music, as at the start the video footage is slowed down to reflect the pace and associations with the video.
2005 The Lose Control music video uses a narrative and shots of cars, much like many other dance music videos. This music video has all of the dancers in matching outfits, all lined up and doing the same routine in the same time. The background to these dance shots are dark and simple, with a lot of focus shots of each artist.
2006 The Nelly Furtado video has simple dance routines performed by each artist against a differently coloured light brick wall background. It also has people inside of a club dancing, with a narrative of the perusal of women. The camera has close up shots of the artists lip syncing to the lyrics of the song.
2007 the Fedde Le Grande music video uses a consistent lilac coloured background, the same room, costume, dance routine and people throughout. The video uses a range of shots through the video. The females in the music video are objectified as they all have seductive outfits, playing instruments.
2008 The Forever music video uses conventions such as a car and a highly advanced dance routine. The car is used at the start of the video and the main artist is shown driving the car, much like Kylie in her music video. The song is very fast paced, so the editing of the video, the pace of the dance routines and the speed of the car all closely relate to the song. This music video also has a narrative about a woman at the club, and rescuing her when she needs it later on, thus relating to the lyrics 'won't let you fall'. The camera also uses close up shots which Chris is lip syncing, and him singing and dancing surrounded by coloured lights circling him, showing he is the focus or 'meat' of the video.
2009 Akon and David Guetta's music video has a narrative much like many of the music videos, it is about the perusal of a mystery woman. Therefore the whole video focuses highly on the idolising of the woman at the pool party, and identifying the woman from the picture at the start from her tattoo. The camera shots in the music video all focus towards women dancing dressed in bikinis. The video uses shots of a party and people enjoying themselves, and switches to a gig performed by the artists.
2010 The Swedish House Mafia video starts with close ups of the music equipment. The video then changes to some close ups of an eye as the lyrics start in the song. As the eye blinks, the Dj mixing board is reflected in the eye. The video then uses birds eye high angle shots looking down on a party, the camera focuses very little of people's faces. This video shows very little signs of narratives or controlled dance routine.
In conclusion, a large amount of dance music videos over the last decade use conventions such as cars, dance routines and a narrative, we could use some of these aspects within our music video. Additionally most videos use matching outfits, which change through the video, use of bright contrasting colours, different coloured lighting to change the mood of the video, to show something has changed and in some videos the lighting changes colour when the artists change through the song. We could use all of these aspects to help with ideas for our music video.
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