Deconstruction of a pop video

A contemporary pop video that shows the use of the conventions of film making is blink-182’s video for “Adams Song” which can be found here

Throughout, Mark Hoppus (the bassist) is featured in the top left, or first hot spot to draw attention to him. The shot below clearly illustrates clever use of the rule of thirds.

In the next shot, attention is drawn to Travis the drummer, through the use of a dynamic visual triangle. This focuses our attention on him, despite him not being on one of the important hotspots.





This shot beneath shows the use of match cutting, and leading the eye. In picture below, your focus is directed on Mark Hoppus, as he is in the top left hotspot. The video then cuts to a wide shot of the band, with Mark once again in the top left. You gaze has been directed through the use of hotspot to focus all your attention on Mark, without consciously thinking about it.

Picture Composition Rules

Often, low angle shots of musicians are used in pop videos. This is to make the performer seem taller and therefore more powerful than they are, and to provide what may look like an audience’s eye view of the band. There are several unwritten rules which aid picture composition in any kind of film media and will convey meaning to an audience. The first is the size of shot, whether it be an extreme close-up which can be used to show emotion, or an extreme long shot which can show a single person to appear isolated in the world. The position of the camera can also reveal a meaning – shooting a person from a low angle will make them seem more powerful, or just taller. Shooting from a high angle will achieve the opposite, making a person appear weak or feeble. Shooting a person from the front will make them appear boring, as they lack 3D definition in our eyes, but the more of an angle a person is at to the camera, the more interesting they will look. The rule of thirds, is a term that refers to how our eyes view a picture, and how we can use this to draw attention to something in the frame. The first place we look when we see a picture is top left, then we move across to the top right, down to bottom left and then across again. The graphic below shows how we can use the rule of thirds, and the “hot spots”, highlighted by green circles, to lead the vision of a person. This “leading the eye” is another composition rule that is used in pop videos. By leading a person’s eye, we can direct their attention to certain things in the video, like members of the band or important iconography.

Low angle shots of musicians are used frequently in pop videos. This is to make the performer seem taller and therefore more powerful than they are, and to provide what may look like an audience’s eye view of the band.

This picture clearly shows how the rule of thirds works. The picture is divided into 9, with the overlaps, also know as the "hotspots" shown by red dots. The subject of the picture is placed on the top left hotspot, as that is the first place that your eye will travel to when you see the image.

Completion of R&D and Pre-Production

After settling on our concept, we finally got down to the nitty-gritty of pre-production. Pre production is the logistical time in the creation of a pop video, where everything is worked out in order that the shoot day can run smoothly. This foundation of all this is making sure you know exactly what you want to shoot on the day. To achieve this, we constructed a timeline of what each shot would be, including the angle, duration and what would be in the frame. After this was completed, we transferred the timeline to a storyboard so we could see what the pop video looked like visually. During this process, we went about the process of selecting our cast, which is probably the most important element of a pop video featuring a band. After selection, we performed a camera test to see whether or not our cast would be suitable when on film. We did this by filming each member just standing still with a neutral look on their face, and then with the cast member playing their instrument, so we could see how they would look in both the performance and narrative elements of the video. We also had to do some research on shooting locations, as our original idea was to shoot in a train station in London or Trafalgar Square. However, after doing out research we found that shooting in a station would cost us vast amounts and that it would be very hard to get good footage from Trafalgar Square as the camera would constantly be being jostled by passers by.