The Perfect Guide To An R&B Music Video

My partner and I have decided to do the song “Meet Me Halfway” by the Black Eyed Peas. This song would most accurately fall under the genre of R&B, or Rhythm and Blues. R&B includes elements of pop, soul, funk, and hip-hop. 


Some features commonly featured in R&B music videos include: 


Costumes/Make-up:

  • > Women wear minimal clothing to make themselves more attractive to male audiences 

  • > Women wear lots of accessories, like high heels and jewelry, and non-cheap clothing to show their audience they are desirable. 

  • > Women have perfect make-up and hair, to give them a goddess effect and support the idea that they are perfect 

  • > Clothing for females in slow paced songs are usually plain and the make-up is natural, to give the artist a natural goddess appearance. 

  • > Males are usually topless to appeal to female audience. They also often have tattoos to seem cool and attract women. 

  • > Males wear subtle jewelry, as opposed to hip hop, because they are not trying to show off their wealth. 

  • > Males are seen wearing fashionable clothing. This video takes place in the early 2000s, so the fashionable clothing at the time was baggy jeans, baseball hats, and designer shoes. 


Lighting/Props/Setting:

  • > Fast paced R&B songs will have bright colors, flashy cars, flashy jewelry, and dance routines. 

  • > Fast paced R&B songs will sometimes take place in a party or club, having champagne bottles. 

  • > Slow R&B songs are usually about a breakup or love, so they’ll be depicted in a greyscale or very soft lighting. Darker colors show intense emotion and natural light signifies shifts back to reality. One popular technique is “lowkey lighting,” which gives the video a moody or depressing effect. 

  • > May be set in a bare location with minimal setting, to show the significance of the artist and allow the audience to concentrate on the singer’s words. 

 

  1. 1. Many R&B music videos follow a narrative, to present the song in a meaningful and sensitive way. 


  1. 2. Shots of a slow and long duration to match the song tempo give the audience more detailed glimpses of the story of the video. It also allows the audiences to focus on certain parts of the song that the videographer and artist want them to focus on. 


  1. 3. Lots of close ups are used to convey emotions of song to audience and focus on specific lyrics. 


  1. 4. In fast paced R&B songs, fast paced short cuts will be pasted together to make the video match the upbeat track. Also, lots of mid/wide shots will be used because fast paced songs aren’t usually emotional. They won’t need specific camera angles to focus on details of a song, like a slow-paced song. 




 

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