Pop genre example

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music orientated towards teenagers, usually consisting of catchy short songs. Popular pop music artists currently include Jason Derulo, Usher, Katy Perry and Example. I have chosen to research and evaluate Lady Gaga's song Poker Face.


This video typically conveys representations of the pop genre. Camera angles show many close-ups of her face, long shots/establishing shots when dancing with other backing dancers, and Lady Gaga is always at the centre of the screen, surrounded by others. There is also a mirror/split screen used to split up the shots and these always contain a close-up of her to suggest dominance. Editing again shows a lot of close-ups using slow motion, especially when coming out of the pool. Zoom, tilt and panning always concentrate on Lady Gaga as you would expect from her music video, and the four way split screen focusses even more attention on her. The costumes are always over the top and different hairstyles show her to be a fashionable icon. Typical conventions such as gambling and half-naked men and women dancing portray Lady Gaga into her chosen genre. Huge dogs and a rich setting of mansion holding a house party are more typical conventions. The sound used in this video is just the song, with no interruptions. These four tools portray Lady Gaga as a powerful woman, who is rich and a typical popstar, all key conventions for the pop genre.

The CD cover is basic, and supports the music video clearly as one of the images from this was used for the CD cover. The text is clear and bright to make it stand out, and the picture shows Lady Gaga in a typical costume in a rich bacakdrop to emphasise how rich she is - typically a popstar thing to do showing off money.