Research into Chosen Genre

Our chosen genre is 'Pop' as it gives off positive vibes and is generally a very upbeat genre to go by of most songs. Its also the most commonly listened to genre, so it gives us a wide verity of demographics to choose from. Our chosen song is 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes, which is from the pop genre. I am going to do some research into our genre so I can see what it consists of and properly understand it. This will help me have an idea of what content to involve for my own music video to make it suit our chosen genre.

Pop is term that is used short for the word 'popular'. The first time the term was ever used to describe music, was in 1926. Pop is a genre which can include a mix of many other styles of music which vary from jazz, to country to rock etc. What makes a song become a 'pop song' is the style of the artist, the target audience and how popular it actually is. With the genre of pop it has quite a verity of properties in terms of the style of music and style of artist because the idea is to be unique so you can stand out from other artists to get the biggest audience and be at the top of the charts. Here are some examples of pop around the music industry.

From this mood board based upon pop music, it brings off a similar pattern throughout the pictures. It includes very colourful images with people who have a their own look and style. Usually in pop music videos, you will see that the artist will be unique with there look and fashion sense so they can start a trend and be unique. A few pop artists who are famous for their style of fashion are Britney spears, Michael Jackson and lady gaga. In general, most pop artists who aren't as big will be up to date with the latest/most fashionable clothing and get inspiration from bigger artists. This is because pop is mostly targeted at a younger audience as it is mostly the younger generation who enjoy listening and watching pop music, so to start growing a fan base, newer pop artists will work with the trends that this particular audience like before trying to stand out and become more known as a celebrity rather than for their work. This genre consists of music that can be fairly realistic and relatable to an audience even if they have extreme / unrealistic music videos. A lot of songs are about love and relationships which makes the songs realistic to peoples lives. Yet, the genre of pop music uses certain techniques to gain an audience by showing a sense of enjoyment and thrill making the songs catchy and stay in your head. Pop is a very big industry for artists to be getting into, so it being quite famous, artists will produce more pop songs to make their profile larger. However because it is so big, it is very competitive so not a lot of artists become successful. A lot of artists are now becoming of the 'Indie Rock' genre as its beginning to become more popular to audiences and the industry isn't as big as pop so it is easier to get into. On this moodboard we can see Ariana Grande, Adele, Jessie J and a lot more famous artists, these people are very big in the industry and popular from many different audiences. This reinforces that big artists are unique in their own ways with allows them to stand out and have their own fan base.

Pop music is usually constructed into different formats of the song, they use repetition of the beats and the chorus to make it sound catchy but also to put that message of the narrative across to the audience. This can be seen by the hypodermic needle theory, saying some sort of message to the audience by the use of repetition in the lyrics. Pop is targeted to more of a general audience - its suitable for everyone. For example although younger people are more likely to enjoy it more, it doesn't mean the older people won't. The genre typically focuses on generic themes like love and relationships, so its relatable to anyone.

Here is an example :

Here are two very different types of pop music videos:

The song, artist, and music video are all very different from each other. Britney wears extreme costumes to make her stand out and start a trend because she stands as a role model for her type of audience. She uses bright colours, has a lot of narrative which is quite fantasised, there's a lot of editing involved and the song is very upbeat making the shots quite fast paced. Britney also includes herself within the narrative of her music videos - she is the main character. Adele wears dull colours as well as dull settings, she mainly just performs in her music videos and isn't involved with the narrative aspects, and the song still has a beat but its a lot slower making the music video slower paced. The sort of content Britney uses is quite hyperealistic so she takes reality to the next level. Adele is very basic with her content, a little goes a long way in her music videos. There are so many differences however they are both of the pop genre. They seem so different from each other but they do have many similarities that make them both pop artists. For example they both have their own style to make them unique and stand out, their songs are both very catchy, and the narrative is based around love. In terms of Goodwin's theory, they both use a lot of close ups, and they both include aspects of performance and narrative. These two music videos can represent how broad the music genre of pop is in terms of style of music and the artist.

Overall by doing this research I have found out how broad the pop genre is which has allowed me to understand how important it is that I make my music video specific towards theme and style so it stands out and creates a style for the artist. I will need to research about my chosen artist to understand their style and see how to attract our target audience. This research has helped me understand the genre and given me an idea of what is expected for making my own music video.