Task 2: Styles, Conventions & Techniques Of Music Videos

Styles, Conventions & Techniques Of Music Videos

Everything produced in media has codes and conventions and music videos are no exception. A code or convention is like a guideline of rules that music videos often follow that are always dependable on genre or style. The main conventions for music videos relate to camera shots and angles, editing, lyric interpretation, extending or consolidating songs meanings and allusion.

Lyric Interpretation - lyrics being shown as a music video and this catches the audiences attention and it could make them sing along or even understand what the song is about.

(Lyrical Video from The Chainsmokers - Closer)

Extending or consolidating - Extending or consolidating a song's meaning in a music video is when you use symbolism and things in the mis-en-scene to further push the meaning of the song or to add more of a meaning to a song or to just bring the lyrics together into a visual explanation of what the song actually means which is linked similarly to lyrical interpretation. 

Allusion - images from a music video showing the meaning of a song without explicitly saying it; an indirect/passing reference.

Focus on performer - when the camera is only on the artist and nothing else, for example the scene would have to be shot on a deserted site or the editors have to make sure that the performer gets the most attention. "The Script - If You Ever Comeback" the band was performing in a dark room whilst the video was shot.      

Lighting for mood - Lighting for mood is basically the way the lighting is set for the music video depending on the tension, for example, the video below is shot in a dark room and this could suggest that the artist is upset/lonely.

Chroma Key - This is another name for green screening, where the artist is in a virtual-real-life-like world but is actually just infront of a screen which would then be turnt into CGI.

Example of Chroma Key.

Multi-mage - where many images appear on the screen at once.

Cutting to a beat - this is where different elements of the music video are transitioned at the same time as the beat to the song, this is very effective because it gages your attention more and it explains more than just a story most of times.

Miming/Lipsync - this is when an artist or even someone else mouths the lyrics to the song, the example below is by "Paul Simmons - You Can Call Me Al" the person to the left is the actual artist of the track whilst the person to the right is miming the song.

Animation - technique of photographing drawings or positions of models to create an illusion of movement when the film/music video is shown as a sequence, an example would be a cartooned image being shown as the music video. The example below (Mystery Skulls Animated - Ghost) and this music video was completely animated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlEb3L1PIco&list=PLz8mUwqsw3iQlHm0B1LLbXXYisQBa6Blo

Illustrative - As the music video progresses, the lyrics correspond with what is going on in the music video at the same time.

Interpretive - where the lyrics get interpreted using them to perform a narrator function making the video literal and clear to the point.

Surrealist - images/videos used in a music video to grab the audiences attenyion, not just normal images but images that are unreal which would make the audience want to watch more of the video to see more of the interesting bits.

Pastiche/homage - Pastiche & Homage are a tribute of the original music video to what they are copying. They arent making fun of it but they are using it in a positive way.

As-live - the music video shot from a concert hall or a large area of space where the artist/band performs like their performing live.

Parody - in contrast to Pastiche, Parodies are usually fun and made to take the mick sometimes, and they could included different lyrics different recording style and also it could be a fun/sad emotion whilst shooting.

Animation - technique of photographing drawings or positions of models to create an illusion of movement when the film/music video is shown as a sequence, an example would be a cartooned image being shown as the music video.