Research&Planning: Techniques used in music videos.

Cutting to the beat- this is when the footage is edited to compliment the beat of the song and the action happens in time with the beat. It can also mean that camera angles change at every beat.  A good example of a music video which uses this technique is Good Charlotte-I Don’t Wanna be in Love.

Whilst researching this I found a really good tutorial for how to do this on Final Cut Pro, which is the editing software that I’ll use when I come to making my music video.

http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/cut-to-the-beat-tip-for-editing-to-music-in-final-cut-pro-x/

Effects- Using editing software many different effects can be used in music videos to achieve a wide range of different effects. Using effects can enhance the video but if it is not done right it can come across as looking amateur and can ruin it. When using effects it is vital to consider the target market, the type of effect and if it will work with the type of music and the advantages and disadvantages of using effects. Effects can include Chroma-Key and black and white. Plain White T’s- Hey There Delilah use colour effects.

The use of effects can also be seen in Maroon 5’s Misery. In the American version only a few superimposed images are used toward the end of the music video however in the UK version a lot more have been used as a way of censoring what is seen due to the violent and aggressive nature of the video. For example in the American version the woman can be seen playing with a knife and in the UK they have added a cartoon ice cream cone over the top of the knife so that it is less controversial.

Miming and lip syncing- This is where the artist is filmed miming to the song and then it is edited so that it appears they are actually performing but they are not. This is one of the most common techniques used in music videos and can be seen in a lot of them.  A good example of this is Nickelback- Rockstar. In this video a many different number of actors are seen miming to the song.

Playback and lip syncing- Different to miming, this is when footage of the band playing live in concert is edited to the song.   An example is November Rain by Guns&Roses where they mix actual live footage into the video.