​A2 Media Studies

19th June 2014- Lip Synchronisation

In today's lesson we researched in to lip synchronisation and the definition, usage and impact it has upon the music industry. Lip synching is short for lip synchronisation and is a form of miming in which the person imitates the song by moving their mouth in time to the music and lyrics. It's vital when lip synching it looks realistic so an artist must pronounciate the words and put emphasis and action in to their lip synching performance to reflect upon the genre of the song as well as display appropriate facial expressions. During lip synching an artist must move their mouth in synchronisation with the pre-recorded lyrics and/or speech.

 

Lip synching has been heavily criticised for it's usage especially during live performances in which it is noticeable as it can't be differentiated from the original music video; this also implies to consumers that the star can't truely sing and lacks musical ability if they rely on miming for every one of their performances which leads to their fans being mislead and disappointed. Furthermore, lip synchronisation can be used by some artists that can't actually perform at all and are purely within the media due to their looks and star quality; when this happens the vocals aren't actually from that person at all and is actually the voice of a 'ghost singer' who is hired to sing for the marketable artist as for some reason they either don't have the appearance or star quality or presence to make it within the music industry themselves. Other problems with lip synching is that some stars can find themselves out of synch which makes it noticeable to the audience they're miming; lip synching is also criticised as not being believable when the artist is also dancing vigourously as a person's lung capacity isn't capable of coping with both strenuous dancing and singing. However, although lip synching can be heavily criticised when used for the wrong reasons it can also be used for genuine reasons such as allowing a person to perform an extravagent performance with a full dance routine and believable lip synching to allow an audience a more fulfilling and pleasing show; however, it's still vital to look believable. Lip synching is also regularly used to cover illnesses and to rest an artists voice which needs resting in some performances as if they sing regualrly and for long periods of time they could permanently damage their tonsils and voice long term. Furthermore, lip synching can benefit the music industry more as it allows them to save money since lip synchronisation takes less time.

 

An example of a lip synch fail by Ashlee Simpson can be seen below on the left and an example of Cheryl Cole can be seen on the right; Cheryl Cole regularly used lip synching and although, some argue it's in order to pull off strenuous dance routines she uses it so often and doesn't make it realistic or believable that she is singing for real which causes critics to state she isn't a true artist and can't sing at all. Below the video of Cheryl Cole in which she is lip synching but due to having a vigourous routine is a performance in which lip synching failed her and she failed to notice until the second part of the song in which she then realised she has to sing live.