Music video analysis
There are different styles of music videos such as narrative, performance and dance.
Narrative music video
A narrative music video is a video that features a visual story that is easy to follow
The advantages of narrative videos is that narrative videos can often empasise an artists insistence that they are more interested with their music than portaying themselves on fil, and they simple plot is often easy for the audience to follow and keeps them engaged.
One of the disadvantages is that often narrative based music videos are very costly to produce for the record label.
Performance music video
Some music videos are also animated, such as The killers song Miss Atomic Bomb.
IThe codes and conventions of music videos are they different techniques used to construct meaning in them. These techniques can be divided into two types; technical and symbolic.
Technical- how meaning is conveyed using technical equipment e.g the way camera angles are used, different types of shots, sound either diegetic and non-diegetic sound, the pace and style of editing, and the genre
Symbolic techniques are ways of showing meanings beyond what yu can see for example through, facial experessions, egestures, poses and mis en scene.
Reasons for codes and conventions:
-The audience can become familiar with a particular genre, as they get use to recognizing the different conventions within a genre.
-It provides a structure that the audience can understand.
-To ensure the lyrics of the song fit in with the video, of how we the audience would expect it to be.
The codes and conventions
The conventions of a music video vary depending on genre of music. however, the general conventions include;
-The style
-The camera
-The editing techniques
-The sound (diegetic, non diegetic)
-Mis en scene- props, lighting, costume-hair and make up, location/setting and colours
-Notions of looking- stereotyping
Camera
The way the camera is used is cruicial in producing a music video. It can have and create different effects by the different angles, and movements. In general every music video uses a variety of camera shots, angles and movements to create different techniques and to make the video different and unique in its own way, to other music videos
Sound
Sound consists of two main forms: Diegetic sound which is already present in the film and non-diegetic sound which can be edited in. Sound is absolutely essential in any music video as this is the main reason for why people watch and listen to them, to gain a sense of art via different artists'. Sound, like footage can be edited to create different effects and variations to the normal vocals that we hear.
Sound parallel sound is when the music matches the mood of the video. An example would be if the song was slow then the video would also b slow to with the mood of the song. Also, if it was a sad song then the video would also be sad. Some musc videos have diegetic sound, where they include sound from the surroundings, such as birds, police sirens that make the video seem more realistic. However, the music itself non-diegetic sound.
Mis-en-scene
The Mis-en-scene for music videos focuses on the lighting, props, costume, hair and makeup, location, and colour these elements usually depend on the genre of the music video and the style. These elements are also important in contributing towards the chosen genre. They are used to convey the importance of the people in the music videos. They are also used to represent certain characters in different ways