How dance sequences are constructed in music videos.

How dance sequences are constructed in music videos.

Sia, Chandelier.

·     Minimalist clothing 

·     Lots of use of shadows 

·     Panning / tracking shots to follow the dancer

·     Match in action, allows the music video to move and be edited in a way that doesn’t confuse the audience and allows it to run steadily instead of jumping around in the sequence. 

·     Close ups when safe, shows the dancers emotion, allows to encode feelings into the music video.

·     High use of rule of thirds, dancer is either on the left, middle or right, adds a sense of structure to the routine

·     Slow edit

·     Double framing 

·     Low and high angled shots when following the dancer. 

Ed Sheehan, Thinking Out Loud

·     Strong single colour dominated light (red could connote danger or love) 

·     Hard lighting, casting lots of shadows

·     Spotlights 

·     Slow edit 

·     Lots of panning shots to follow dancers around the room

·     More use of mid and long shots

·     Mixture of high and low angle

·     Lighting used to cast patterns / objects. Used to create a heart around the two dancers, encoded to further reinforce  to the audience the music video is about love

·     Clothing mainly one block colour, so not to distract from the dance sequence. 

Michael Jackson, Thriller 

·     Dance sequence built into the narrative 

·     Mainly mid to long shots

·     Hard lighting, casts shadows 

·     Panning shot to follow dance sequence as characters move down the street 

·     Low angle when he turns into a ‘zombie’ and joining the herd, they are dominating and powerful  

·     Michael in red, main character, stands out when dancing with others, attention drawn to him.