Women in RnB usually have very little clothing on and their stomachs are on show a majority of the time; this is because to male fans they are meant to be seen as objects of desire, the male gaze.
Their hair is always styled in a very dramatic and eye catching way. Their makeup is also very bold and defined, especially their eyes, particularly dark coloured eye shadows with golds which makes their eyes very alluring. To show power some females wear red lipstick in their music videos.
Female RnB artists also tend to wear very high heels to elongate their legs because if they are wearing hardly any clothes the higher the shoes the longer their legs will look. However some RnB females wear trainers in their videos for choreographed scenes. For example; Beyoncé dances wearing heals in her single ladies music video:
Big earrings, necklaces and watches are always worn by females RnB artists. But usually when they wear a lot of necklaces they are breaking gender stereotypes because it is usually RnB males that wear copious amounts of jewellery. An example of an RnB female artist wearing jewellery is this picture of Keri Hilson.
RnB Genre Conventions
Conventions for male RnB artists:
The artist Trey Songz is usually pictured in his music videos with very minimal clothing on (topless). This is because a lot of male RnB singers target market is young teenage girls.
If the artist is pictured topless, they usually are wearing jeans slightly lower than usual (sagging), so you can see the brand of their boxers. They also tend to be wearing a designer belt, close up shots of the belt is a form of advertising for that particular brand.
Unlike males artists in hip pop, RnB artists usually wear subtle jewellery, like a watch or a single chain etc. Where as in hip pop the artist would wear a lot more 'flashy' jewellery to show their wealth; this is called conspicuous consumption. Below is a picture of the RnB artist Usher wearing subtle jewellery. Often called 'bling culture', many other famous sports stars are influenced by RnB dress culture and start dressing very similar, for example; Nick Young who plays basketball for the LA Lakers.
A lot of male RnB artists have multiple tattoos which are usually located on the arms or chest. They tend to have a lot less tattoos than hip pop artists, example: Wiz Khalifa.
RnB Genre Conventions
Rhythm and Blues (RnB) originated in the USA among black slaves and chain gangs. To keep spirits up the chain gangs would sing in black American English so the guards wouldn't necessarily know what they were saying. Another influence on RnB is the 'call and response' which is when in Church a group of people would sing up beat tempo Christian songs. Call and response is a way of communicating. It requires at least two people, with the first person introducing an idea and the second individual finishing or repeating it. For example, "Praise the Lord", "Thank you Jesus" etc.
An example of this is in the film Forrest Gump:
There are a number of protest themes that have been included in the RnB genre, two examples are; black panthers and black lives matter. Sam Cooke produced one of the most powerful songs about social change called; 'A Change Is Gonna Come'. The song was one of the first overtly political songs by an R&B artist. Although it was only a moderately successful commercially when it was released in the mid-1960s, it eventually became an anthem for the civil rights movement.
At first from the 1960s to the 1970s, RnB was very popular in the South of America as there was a higher black population. As there was little money, musical instruments were limited, the genre mainly consisted of a drum/guitar basis and female singing voices. There was a rise in popularity with the genre RnB in the 1980s due to Whitney Houston. One of her most famous songs in the 80s
was: The Greatest Love of All, which topped the charts in Australia, Canada and the USA, was a cover of George Benson's song in 1977.
Rhythm and Blues became even more popular in the 1990s because of Michael Jackson, his music videos, including those of 'Beat it', 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller' from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers. The majority of Michael Jackson's music was a pop and RnB hybrid genre.
At the start of the 21st century, RnB became very popular with the Hispanic and Black community which attracted a white audience. This was influenced by pop and RnB merging together. TV shows depicting RnB/pop stars became very popular, for example; pimp my ride, hosted by Xzibit.
Sets need to have sufficient detail so that they look authentic to the audience and don't look out of place in the narrative. Dumbledore's office contains numerous books, which are actually just phone books with specially designed covers. There's no need to design the inside of the books as they will never be shown, but the outside cover requires enough detail to make it appear correct to the audience. The potions classroom is made up of cauldrons and bottles which are on the shelves, making the entire room look believable.
In film, sets are locations built especially for the film in order to suit a particular scene. They are built by Construction Managers and specified by a Production designer working in collaboration with the director of a production. Often, sets are not as they seem on camera. They are frequently missing walls or ceilings and are often not the size they appear to be on screen. The corridor of the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter appears to be a full-sized corridor in the film, but in reality, it is not only very small, but also very thin.
Without set decoration the set would be incomplete. Thebranch of the Art Department develops and selects props in collaboration with the production designer. This typically means researching sourcing and making furniture, drapery, light fixtures, art and many other decorative objects large or small.
Special Effects are extremely important in film, they are used to create scenes that can't be created in the real world. Companies such as Softimage and Autodesk lead the way with suites of titles designed to cover everything from green-screen imaging and compositing to character animation, lip synching and lighting.
In the film 'Bahubali', there are so many scenes and sequences which will give you goosebumps. The cost and the time spent on capturing the situation in a real way is really high. Therefore visual effects are used.
The usage of visual effects is a double edge sword. You have to make sure that it appears “real” to the audience.
'Bahubali' grossed more than 300 crore in box office.
Props are most commonly used in conveying the time and place the narrative is set. Props are often the only indicator of what decade, or cultural movement a story is set in.
For example, if a narrative is set in Ancient Rome, certain props will be used to show that. The prop maker will have to thoroughly research that time period to convey this to an audience.
It helps the story come alive, and helps viewers activate their imagination more readily.
Atmosphere
As well as helping the audience understand the narrative, a prop can also help actors get a feel for their role. An actor will find getting into their Native American role; if they have they’re dressed similar and holding weapons and tools used in that time period.
Today, films rely more and more on shooting in front of a green screen. This can make it extremely hard for actors to get into their role. A prop can help them do that.
Character
Film characters often become instantly recognisable through their props. Think Indiana Jones’s hat and bullwhip. These two props serve as an extension of this characters personality, and help him become recognisable instantly.
Safety
This is often overlooked, but props can help ensure the safety of actors. A fake knife of gun can look just as intimidating as the real thing when done well, and don’t put actors in any immediate threat.
A very established and well known prop used in James Bond series is the car brand; Aston Martin, it is used in many Bond movies because Aston Martin is a British company.
The mise en scene of a pop music video usually consists of choreographed dancing, up to date, fashionable, mainstream clothing. Expensive costumes. A lot of popular pop music videos also include conspicuous consumption, which is the showing off of wealth. An example of this is Justin Bieber - wait for a minute. The music video consists of Justin Bieber and the hip pop artist; Tyga, dancing and walking around the set wearing very exclusive clothing. Both artists are also wearing very expensive jewellery, including chains and watches, during the music video it often zooms in on the jewellery so the viewer notices their wealth, for example Tyga's watch.
Justin Bieber - Wait for a minute ft. Tyga (original music video was removed from YouTube)
Many pop artist's lyrics are often about love and relationships, this is because it attracts the attention of younger teenage girls, which is the main target audience for this genre. An example of this is Taylor Swift, who's majority of songs are about past relationships. Particularly the song 'I knew you were trouble', which is aimed at the artist Harry Styles who is a part of the group; One Direction.
Taylor Swift - I knew you were trouble:
Editing clips to the beat to the song can be seen in many pop music videos. This can be seen by the clips changing in time with the beat, or the clips transitioning in time with the beat, i.e. Olly Murs Troublemaker. Other editing techniques such as photoshopping the artist or tints and filters can be used. Photoshopping the artist allows them to look more eastethically pleasing. This was used in the music video for Bound 2 due to Kim Kardashian after she had just given birth.
Pink Pound (Appeals to homosexual males - increased sales)
Camera:
The most common camera shot used in pop videos are close ups and extreme close ups. These are mostly focused on the artist's face or lips. The other common camera shot used in pop music videos is a wide shot, usually to show a choreographed dance scene, for example; Beyoncé - Single Ladies or to show a character's location such as a beach or a party.
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