June 30, 2013
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The SM Entertainment Style
The positive: Always chosen as the company that focuses on visuals the most, SM Entertainment has never failed to target the aesthetics of the video through the setting and the performers in order to highlight and emphasize key visual elements to keep the viewer entertained no matter what. Not only that, fully mastering the use of the camera and its angles was a huge plus--taking advantage of floor shots to capture the performers legs and make them look taller (No, SHINee's Jonghyun, insoles are not enough), the bird's eye view to examine choreography and formation that otherwise would be invisible (for example, Taeyeon's "ah~ nae wangjanim" part in I Got a Boy, and of course, the 360° camera which allows you to view the surrounding and behind objects or people. No matter what anyone says, you have to give it to SM Entertainment for emphasizing and highlighting key choreography and visuals to a T better than any other company.
 Bird's Eye View & Ant's Eye View | ||
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The negative: They don't give many of their videos freedom. Though their dance and flashy camera movements are exciting, I, as well as numerous other people, would much rather see a storyline or even something other than dancing and close-up shots which is even more exciting. And although some argue that Girls' Generation's sub-unit TaeTiSeo's video Twinkle or SHINee's Dream Girl broke the SM-stereotype, we all just need to stop lying to ourselves--no, they are not. Older SM videos like SHINee's Noona Neomu Yeppeo broke the SM boundaries however, now that SM knows they have fangirls in their tiny, diabolical fingers, they've taken all effort out of producing videos... well, unless the artist is BoA.
The YG Entertainment Style
The positive: YG gives their videos more freedom to have a storyline or at least something other than dancing. Also, I got to hand it to YG Entertainment, they are arguably unpredictable. What I've noticed is that they configure and shape the music videos to match the song's mood and what it's depicting. For example, if YG is letting someone come back with a sad song, give them a sad storyline video like Park Bom's You & I, Don't Cry and Taeyang's Wedding Dress or put dark colors and random hairstyles that actually do tie into what the song is talking about with Big Bang's Monster. Oh, you need a crazy video? What about G-Dragon's MichiGo, Crayon or Big Bang's Fantastic Baby? Well, okay, guys! We're making a video (depicting) sex, alcohol or anything else thosesheep fangirls loved K-Pop for, anyway. GD&TOP's High High, Knockout, Seungri's Strong Baby or TOP's Turn It Up.
The negative: There's a lot of walking. There's walking in the street, walking indoors, walking by the pool... seriously, just walking. Honestly, I could only think of Lee Hi's Rose from the top of my head as a video that didn't have walking... then I realized she was standing about 100% of the video and counted that as the same thing.
The positive: YG gives their videos more freedom to have a storyline or at least something other than dancing. Also, I got to hand it to YG Entertainment, they are arguably unpredictable. What I've noticed is that they configure and shape the music videos to match the song's mood and what it's depicting. For example, if YG is letting someone come back with a sad song, give them a sad storyline video like Park Bom's You & I, Don't Cry and Taeyang's Wedding Dress or put dark colors and random hairstyles that actually do tie into what the song is talking about with Big Bang's Monster. Oh, you need a crazy video? What about G-Dragon's MichiGo, Crayon or Big Bang's Fantastic Baby? Well, okay, guys! We're making a video (depicting) sex, alcohol or anything else those
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| WAEEEE~ Dun crey |
The JYP Entertainment Style
The positive: Genuinely, JYP Entertainment has a mixture of SM and YG style. There's lots of dancing, highlighting choreography and manipulating the camera to their advantage yet also giving the video more freedom to well... be a video. Nevertheless, I've taken to account that JYP takes advantage of color a lot, with monochrome videos or with multi-color videos, they tend to keep the scene very pleasing.
The negative: I can't say much about JYP other than they walk a lot, too.
The Cube Entertainment Style
The positive: What I like about Cube is how even though they have both dancing and a storyline, they still have a different, style from the other companies above that I can't put my finger on... it's just... different. Not to mention, they tend to exploit of the biotic factors in their videos. Placing plants, animals and all kinds of shit in places that otherwise would be illogical to put it in... but because it's Cube who's doing it, it has all kinds of logic.
The negative: If they have female entertainers, they let them turn to sex objects, 4 Minute--especially Hyuna and G.Na being prime examples. Their videos are starting to get typical or at least have typical elements in them, for example, 4 Minute's newest comeback songs What's Your Name? and Is It Poppin'? both had a let's-burn-the-place-down element which was also seen in G.Na's 2Hot.
The LOEN Style
The positive: Genuinely, JYP Entertainment has a mixture of SM and YG style. There's lots of dancing, highlighting choreography and manipulating the camera to their advantage yet also giving the video more freedom to well... be a video. Nevertheless, I've taken to account that JYP takes advantage of color a lot, with monochrome videos or with multi-color videos, they tend to keep the scene very pleasing.
The negative: I can't say much about JYP other than they walk a lot, too.
The Cube Entertainment Style
The positive: What I like about Cube is how even though they have both dancing and a storyline, they still have a different, style from the other companies above that I can't put my finger on... it's just... different. Not to mention, they tend to exploit of the biotic factors in their videos. Placing plants, animals and all kinds of shit in places that otherwise would be illogical to put it in... but because it's Cube who's doing it, it has all kinds of logic.
The negative: If they have female entertainers, they let them turn to sex objects, 4 Minute--especially Hyuna and G.Na being prime examples. Their videos are starting to get typical or at least have typical elements in them, for example, 4 Minute's newest comeback songs What's Your Name? and Is It Poppin'? both had a let's-burn-the-place-down element which was also seen in G.Na's 2Hot.
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| Oh, there's fire? Let's run towards it! |
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| Oh, there's a fire? Let's point at it and hope it goes away! |
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| Oh, there's a fire? Wow, those firefighters are not useless! |
The LOEN Style
The positive: From fairy-tale and back in the past, LOEN Entertainment never fails to leave the viewers of the video captivated. Though they utilize dancing as well as freedom to be different, they tend to focus on the plot more than dancing to keep the viewer watching. Nevertheless, whenever they do have a dance, they add elements of the plot and song's meaning inside the dance such as IU's You & I when she had the sort of "clock-work" maneuver.
The negative: Though this is a very small negative, sometimes the over-complications can captivate and confuse viewers. In fact, after watching a few of their videos, I sometimes think to myself "What the hell just happened?" and are forced to have to watch it yet another time (maybe they're confusing us on purpose for more views... conspiracy!) only to wind up with the same feeling of confusing if not more. Yes, I do love a story, LOEN, but really, I don't want to feel like I'm in school learning a lesson when watching some of your videos. Thanks.
Other company styles
TS Entertainment tends to mix both dancing and acting in one video, their sets a lot of time being outdoor-themed or just outdoors, in general.
Pledis Entertainment usually focuses more on dancing than acting yet still adds both of them to the video.
DSP Media focuses more on dancing than acting.
What's your favorite company music video style? Comment below!
My favorite is LOEN because like you said they captivate you in all they're videos... but I never get confused with them....
ReplyDeleteLOEN is the best overall, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteTheir production values blow the others away.
Cube and LOEN are the best imo, but what about B2M Ent and Woollim Ent?
ReplyDeleteAgreed... not to mention, not only are their videos good, but the songs are always great.
ReplyDeleteAgreed with the favorite being LOEN... maybe it's just me. I remember the IU - You & I video, I was confused until people said on the comment section what the hell was going on.
ReplyDeleteBoth companies with great videos... especially, Woollim... I mean, have you seen Infinite's Destiny teaser? That look extremely high budget but interesting!
ReplyDelete