Lip syncing - What is it and its importance?

Lip syncing is the process of making lip movements match with a sound that is either being sung or spoken. It can also include the actions of playing an instrument.

Lip syncing is used in virtually all music videos, however some choose not to include it. It is used in music videos as normally in music videos, when the artist is playing a role, it can be difficult for him/her to do the required actions for the narrative and sing at the same time, so he/she just lip sings it and the producers will put the song over it when editing the video.

Despite this, there are downsides to lip syncing, as if somebodies lip movements do not match the lyrics at the exact same time, it can look very unprofessional.



This is an example of a music video that uses lip syncing throughout the majority of the video.

Uses and Gratifications theory

Practitioners of the uses and gratifications theory study the ways the public consumes media. This theory states that consumers use the media to satisfy specific needs or desires. For example, you may enjoy watching a show like Dancing With the Stars while simultaneously tweeting about it on Twitter with your friends. Many people use the Internet to seek out entertainment, to find information, to communicate with like-minded individuals, or to pursue self-expression. Each of these uses gratifies a particular need, and the needs determine the way in which media are used. By examining factors of different groups’ media choices, researchers can determine the motivations behind media use.

 

A typical uses and gratifications study explores the motives for media consumption and the consequences associated with use of that media. By studying how and why people watch Dancing With the Stars while using Twitter, scholars suggest people are using the Internet as way to be entertained and to connect with friends. Researchers have identified a number of common motives for media consumption. These include relaxation, social interaction, entertainment, arousal, escape, and a host of interpersonal and social needs. By examining the motives behind the consumption of a particular form of media, researchers can better understand both the reasons for that medium’s popularity and the roles that the medium fills in society. A study of the motives behind a given user’s interaction with Facebook, for example, could explain the role Facebook takes in society and the reasons for its appeal.

 

Uses and gratifications theories of media are often applied to contemporary media issues. The analysis of the relationship between media and violence that you read about in preceding sections exemplifies this. Researchers employed the uses and gratifications theory in this case to reveal a nuanced set of circumstances surrounding violent media consumption, as individuals with aggressive tendencies were drawn to violent media.

Sven E Carlsson Theory

Sven E Carlsson stated that music video is a many faceted multi-discursive phenomenon that is communicated through the TV screen and its speakers via carriers of information such as, the music, the lyrics and the moving images.

Carlsson believed that music videos, in general, fall into two main groups; performance clips where the video mostly shows an artist (or artists) singing or/and dancing; and conceptual clips where the video shows something else during its duration often with artistic ambitions.

Standard Clip

A music video that more or less contains a filmed singer blended with inserted images. A standard clip is meant to be dynamic and has many variations. The vocalist may actively participate in the story while simultaneously standing outside the video offering self-reflexive commentary; he may have an alter ego e.g. a cartoon character.

There are three pure forms of visual tradition in music video;

Performance Clip

If a music video clip contains mostly filmed performance e.g. a video that shows the artist in more than one setting, then it is a performance clip. The performance can be of three types: song performance, dance performance and instrumental performance.

In certain types of perfromances the performer is often made into a materialisation of the commerical exhibitionist, this is where the performer is made into almost a selling item; someone that fans often aspire to be and these scenes will be extremely high in quality.

Narrative Clip

If a music video clip is understood as a silent movie to a musical background it is a narrative clip. A narrative contains a story that is easy to follow and may not contain any lip-synchronisation.

Art Clip

If a music video contains no perceptable visual narrative and contains no lip-synchronisation singing then it is a pure art clip. These are normally associated with more modern, experimental music.