Music video techniques

Videos which have large number of cuts. 

Music video name: Fall Out Boy The Phoenix

This music video uses a large range of cuts within the music video, during the duration of the song we can see that there is a lot more than 100 different and original cuts which they have used within the video. The intended use of this technique is that it makes the song  quite fast paced, the shots and cuts within the video are very quick and fast which matches the tempo and genre of the song, the genre in this case is rock which is usually very fast paced. This makes it more visually appealing as it is fast paced which makes the audience feel uplifted and energetic when they listen to the song. This ensures that their interest is kept with the music video as compared to if the cuts were slow paced and dull, this would not match the tempo and genre of the song.This technique has been very successful as the shots work well with the fast paced tempo of the song the shots work well to convey a story to the lyrics, all of the shots are fast paced original and appealing to the audience it grabs the audience's attention and works to sustain their interest with the song as well as the music video. This techniques works to engage the audience and to keep them entertained. However some music videos do not use this technique very well. Some music videos do not have a large range of cuts this video has less than 100 shots which is not enough. For example the music video created by Liam Lynch "United States of whatever" this song has a lack of shots as it has less than 100 different shots this makes the video lack variety as the shots are mostly repeated throughout which makes the music video look uninteresting and dull for the audience, this will make them lose interest as it does not engage the audience as well as the song created by 
Fall out boy which had a large range of varied cuts.

Special Effects 

Music video name: Kanye West Good life

This music video created by kanye west  "Good life" uses the technique of using special effects within the music video, throughout the video we can see brightly coloured writing in the back as kanye west writes they say the lyrics which are being said by the artist for example 0.02-0.05 seconds of the beginning of the video we can see these special effect. This technique is a good technique as it makes the music video more eye-catching and appealing towards the audience as it looks bright bold and colorful like 0.13 seconds we can see the writing makes the music video colorful, it offers the audience more options to the narrative, the special effects can sometimes help to replace shots that cannot be naturally filmed due to the difficulty of getting the shots. This music video has used special effects well because it is well edited it looks very smooth and flows well with the music video. Also sometimes these special effects can help to create a story about the artists life for example in this video the lyrics as well as the special effects tell the story of the artists background, where he grew up and how he became a success, it engages the audience as it more visually appealing  and fun  the writing is fun and bright rather than being dull for them which ensures that their interest will be sustained throughout the music video. An example of a music video with bad special effects 

Cutting to the beat 
This technique is used within music videos a lot, cutting to the beat is when the music videos matches or cuts with a specific element of the songs beat, this makes it more visually appealing as mostly dubstep use this effect, within this genre of music there are a lot of flashing lights and images which are fast paced which gets the audience excited it helps to build the tension of the music drop in the beat as well as the song. The effect of this technique is to make the video look more appealing and exciting the cuts are fast paced and brightly lit for the audience to see this keeps their attention to the music videos also the cutting to the beat helps to build suspense for the beats drop within a song which keeps the audiences attention to the music video

Varied camera language

Music videos use this technique; this technique is where they use a large range of different varied shots, the effect of this technique is to give the music video more variety with shots such as the shots from 0.05 seconds, 0.07 seconds  and 0.09 seconds they have a variety of creative shots. It would be more appealing and interesting as there is a large choice of shots with variation rather than ranges of shots which repeated themselves throughout the music video which is seen as dull boring and lacking imagination which makes the audience lose attention. This technique also helps to make the video look more professional videos lacking varied camera shots look very shaky and unprofessional as they lack ranges of shots which make the video lack variety for the audience to see.  The song “in for the kill” by la roux has many different camera shots and angles the shots look visually appealing for the audience as it has a range of varied shots rather than repeating the same shots over again which makes it looks repetitive and dull. Certain music videos don’t use this well which make them look unprofessional, music videos such as 

Green screen

Music videos tend to use green screens within some of their shots to incorporate some scenes which in real life would be difficult to shoot for example a shot the artist going into space it allows the artist to be imaginative and creative with their music videos. Green screens are good methods when editing music videos because they help to save money because they can incorporate shots and locations without having to go there, for example if the artist wants to be put in a location instead of having to actually go to the location they are able to green screen it in which is easier. Green screening also allows the artist to film shots which he couldn't do in real life which makes the music video more creative and visually appealing for the audience it gives endless possibilities for the music video as well as for the artist. The song “all falls down” by kanye west uses a good example of green screening in the shot of him standing looking into the bathroom mirror at 1.51 seconds the mirror is not a real mirror but instead a green screen of the mirror this music video uses green screening well as it looks smooth and undetectable for the audience the green screen looks very realistic as it is done to a good standard. Other music videos use green screening however they do not use is well it is very shaky unclear and very obvious for the audience to see. An example would be the song “united states of whatever” by Liam lynch during his music video he uses green screens however they are not as well used as Kanye west’s green screens they are blurry unclear and highly noticeable for the audience for example at 0.06 seconds into the video he has shadows around his body which makes it clear that he has used green screen it is not as professional as Kanye west’s music video

Lip Syncing

Lip syncing is when the artist moves his lips in order with the lyrics without having to actually singing the lyrics. There are many music videos which use this effect if they are done they look smooth and undetectable the music video “when I’m gone” by Eminem they use the effect of lip syncing it is does well throughout the scenes the music video shows Eminem and his daughter lip syncing it is does well as there are no slip ups which makes it look as if he is singing live and not just lip syncing. Lip syncing gives a story to the video; by lip syncing the artist is able to place the lyrics over a part of the video to create a story it creates a narrative or story for the audience to follow for example in this music video the lyric all relate to what is happening within the music videos whatever the lyric says happens within the music video which creates a narrative for the audience which is easy to follow. It has been successful within this music video as it done to a good effect which makes it look believable as compared to videos which use this effect but use it badly where it is obvious and detectable for the audience to see an example of a music video which does this affect badly would be anna kendrick "cups" in this song and music video she lip syncs however it does not look as smooth as eminem she does not move her mouth as fluently to the lyrics as compared to eminem, the lyrics sound a lot louder and sound like they have more emotion she does not move her mouth and has a very monotone lip sync so it looks out of sync as compared with eminem where he puts more emotion with he moves his mouth more to create more emotion which makes it look more believable for the audience Anna kendrick has used this technique badly.