Lighting in Music Videos...

Rihanna- We Found Love

Kesha- Tik Tok

Jessie J- Who You Are

Lighting is very important for any type of video productions- from film trailers to music videos. The use of lighting is important for more than one reason, ranging from making it easier to see everything, to portraying a certain mood. For example, if little lighting is used, it would create a dull and sad feeling in the video, which would highlight what the song is about. Then if lots of lighting is used, it gives the impression that what we are watching is a happy and enjoyable moment. To see if this is commonly seen in music videos, I looked once again into Rihanna and Kesha videos and also Jessie J, so that we have more of an understanding when creating ours.

As you can see from these 3 print screens of her video, the scenes at the beginning which are being showed whilst there is a voiceover, the lighting used is very little. This immediately gives the impression, even if there wasn’t the voice over, that the song is about sadness and regret. To do this the director either just let the natural light be the main source, or they would have used lighting that could be dimmed to create this dull feeling seen in the images.

I looked at this video too, as it has a completely different storyline to it- the Rihanna video is all about love and heartbreak, whereas the Kesha one is very upbeat and about partying and having fun. Therefore, the lighting is used to portray a completely different type of feelings and is used more often. As you can see in all 4 images, it is all very bright, and is it clear than both natural light and lighting equipment is used to create a light airy look. This immediately makes you feel happier and allows you to identify with the artist and what their song is about.

Lighting can also be used in a special way, so that it creates a certain colour. For example, the colour blue relates to coldness and sadness, so in Jessie J’s video “Who You Are”- the lighting has been filtered so that is gives off a blue colour in all the scenes. The lyrics in this song are very deep and quite personal, so the use of this colour is very effective in representing this feeling.

● ● ●Conclusion

After looking at these 3 different music videos, it is clear that lighting is very important when creating a music video. It not only has the function of making everything easier to see, it is very important in revealing certain feelings that the song is trying to explain. When me

and my group make our music video, we will definitely be taking these different lighting functions into consideration.

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