Post created by Katie Lee (group work)
My group for A2 media have decided we'd like to make a music video for the pop-soul genre (artists such as Duffy, Plan B, Adele, Seal, Jamie Cullum etc)...
Duffy's video for 'Rain on Your Parade' is very conventional to the Soul genre. The colour scheme (black/grey/white) is consistent throughout which is a typical colour scheme in itself to the genre which tends not to use bright, garish colours and prefers to give an impression of 'class' and subtlety. These choices in colour may be in place to represent the differences between genres such as chart pop and soul, to show how soul music isn't manufactured and the artists care about music more than image. In most cases, female soul singers appear classy, glamorous and well-dressed however, in this particular video Duffy is dressed moderately provocatively. Despite this, Duffy's state of dress still comes across to the viewer as quite smart, she wears a black blazer and tights and has sex appeal but doesn't look cheap unlike some r'n'b artist, no real inappropriate skin is shown.
In terms of performance, Duffy's role in the video is bold but simple, she sticks to basic but effective dance moves (as shown in the gif image attached below) which is conventional to the genre which doesn't rely on dance moves in music videos and hasn't done even since the real beginning of soul/motown music (as shown by The Supremes in the gif image attached to the right). Instead, Duffy uses male dancers to compliment her own simple dance routine with a more complex one and to avoid viewer fatigue and the technique is effortlessly effective. The dancer's costumes are also smart, the men wear suits and jackets which is again very conventional dress for men in the soul genre including artists and dancers. The male dancer's routine (below) revolves around the main artist and they are seen to be 'falling' around her which suggests her status and importance as an independant and strong woman which is an attitude often adopted by females of the soul genre. 
Cinematography is fairly simple throughout, ranging mainly between close ups and long shots which is conventional to music videos (particularly for solo artists) which tend to show the artist performing/singing the song then long full body shots to show dance moves. This is really effective because it presents Duffy as the main focus for the video, which is also portrayed by the fact that she is the only female and that the colour of her legs stand out against the black of the dancer's costumes. The camera movement depends a lot on tracking the artist, which again conveys her to be the main attraction and connotes her to be a strong woman as everything revolves around her (which is conventional to female artists in the soul genre). The camera movement is very smooth (demonstrated in the above image) and fits in well with the smooth, jazzy feel of the music.
Lighting is key to this video, despite the setting being a plain room, the lighting turns it from dark to light in an instant which creates the idea of changing setting to the viewer and thus avoids fatigue. The lighting is also used to create sillhouettes and at times (again demonstrated above) is used as a vehicle to make Duffy stand out and the dancer's to appear sillhouetted. This is a typical lighting style of the music video, which is a promotional tool and uses lighting to flatter the artist - in order to create sex appeal and sell records. As a viewer, we also see a lot of sillhouetted instrumentists, this is conventional to the soul genre in particular as the instrumentation is key to convey that this genre isn't manufactured and the artist is passionate about music moreso than image, which is more important to pop chart artists.
The editing is also fairly simple which is conventional to a music video which tends to run as a narrative with occasional cuts to performance based shots. However, in the clip above I have included a jump cut which moves from a shot of Duffy central to the frame in a long shot, to a mid shot. Her stance is strong, hands by her sides and legs apart, dominating the frame and the lighting makes her appear a sillhouette. This creates a sense of strength and mystery which again are both conventional to the genre as strong women are prominent in soul as I've previously stated and this eludes to the fact that women in soul tend to be more mysterious than those in pop as they don't so much reveal their personal lives to glossy magazines etc... The shot rotation throughout is fast and fluent to avoid viewer fatigue, although this slows down when the dance routine begins as this allows the viewer to focus.
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