Research Blog: Music Video Conventions

 The genre of my music video is a musical. The song Money Money Money by ABBA is best known for the Mamma Mia musical, with many more ABBA songs. It is a very dramatic and theatrical part of the movie, which is what I am planning to do with my music video. The typical conventions of a musical are lots of singing and choreographed dancing. The songs in the musical are usually performed by the main characters of the movie. The characters convey the emotions expressed in the song to help the audience understand what is happening. Obviously, I will not be singing in the video, because the project requires the actual song. Instead of singing the song, I will be lip-syncing the lyrics. The purpose of this is to make it seem as if I am actually singing the song to tell the story. For dancing, I will probably do melodramatic gestures and expressions to convey the story of the song. In musicals, the song and dance portion are directed towards the viewer of the film, or camera, instead to someone within the film. Musicals are very unrealistic, however, because the song spontaneously begins out of nowhere. All the actors and extras dance perfectly to the rhythm and beat of the song, and are choreographed to dance at the same time. In Mamma Mia, the main character sings the song as it applies to her life at the moment. Her two friends follow her around everywhere, as if they are listening to her actually telling them a story. Sometimes, they join in the song as background singers. The main character also walks around her town, showing her friends how little time and money she has. The people around the town also join in singing the song as background singers. The song shows everyone working at their jobs, or fixing stuff around town, but in the form of a dance. They also change settings throughout the song. For example, the characters are in their house, in the town square, or even on a yacht. Despite of this, they still manage to sing and dance throughout the whole song.