A2 Media Production: G324
Soul Music
Soul music originated in the USA in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Elements of rhythm, blues and African-American gospel music are what make up soul. It became popular worldwide when it began to influence rock in the 1970s. Today soul music can be seen as mainstream as it has proved to be very popular and adapted by many famous music artists.
Two artists that increased the popularity of this music genre are Marvin Gaye and The Jackson 5. Both of American origins, these two popular artists were around when soul music truly 'kicked off' - The Jackson 5 started releasing songs in the 1970s and Marvin Gaye released his first album "What's Going On" in 1971. This is an album composed of soul music that reached #6 in the US charts; Marvin Gaye was the first recognised and well-loved soul singer, bringing soul the recognition that it deserves today. Artists in recent charts are such as Sam Smith, James Bay and Adele; two of these artists have been shortlisted for our song choice for our music video.
Soul music can offer some very meaningful lyrics and singing from the artist. This is ideal for the creation of a music video as the lyrics are easy to understand and they paint an image of what the songwriter was thinking when writing. However, this can encourage a very unimaginative creation of moving image to support the lyrics and therefore the lyrics must be looked into deeper than they were originally intended.
Music Video Conventions
- Often there are shots where the artist is in a room alone, this is often suggesting loneliness that is suggested in the lyrics (a lot of soul music refers to a break up in a relationship), for example Adele - Rolling In The Deep. This is a convention that I may use in my music video as it can connote a lot of meaning deeper than what the lyrics are suggesting
- Colour and costumes tend to be dark, such as grey or black. Men are seen wearing black suits and women in black dresses such as Duffy. However there are also some outstanding colours that are eye catching, this is usually in the narrative or highlighting a particular prop that is of importance. This could be a helpful technique to use in my music video as it creates a dark feeling emotion within the audience as desired by many soul music videos
- The editing usually has shots over a long time which is partnered by edit cuts. The shots that are 15 seconds or more create a slow and sad feeling because fast shots suggest upbeat and happiness but this is the opposite
- Long shots and close ups are used throughout to show dance moves/or a negative posture and then to show the emotion of the performer. I will definitely be using a variation of these two shot types so that the audience receive an in depth meaning being conveyed by the performer