Codes and Conventions of Media Product

Music Videos

The Purpose

- A music video promotes a reaction to help promote the song to its intended audience

- It’s a way of enabling the performer to display other talents such as acting or dancing, in order to boost their personal profile

- It aids understanding the song if, for example, a narrative style video is used

- Aids in the marketing of the artist as it gives them a clearer identity to the audience

- It becomes another opportunity for a product to go viral as a video can be funny or controversial or have a particular message that causes the videos popularity to errupt

Type of VideosPerformance • Consist mainly of the artist on a

stage/venue lip syncing to their song, perhaps with an audience or backing dancers

• Examples include – Beyoncé – Love on Top, Mumford and Sons – I Will Wait, Shawn Mendes - Mercy

Narrative• Follows a storyline that fits with

the lyrics and themes of the song, often the artist/lead artist will star in the narrative

• Linear (beginning, middle and end like Bruno Mars - Granade) or fragmented (may work backwards, start in the middle ect. like Maroon 5 - Maps)

Videos can be a mixture of both, for example The Vamps – Can We Dance

Mise-en-scene- The mise-en-scene will always be reflective of the genre of music

(specifically in costume, setting, or props like instruments)- For example, within 10 seconds of the Foo Fighters song, The Pretender, you can tell the genre of the music is rock because of the iconography and use of colours. Black, white and red tend to be colours associated with rock music, and the use of large amps and the set up of the instrument like a live act with drums back, bass left and guitar right and central with a microphone it becomes clear that this is a live performance rock video.

- Stimulated by American rapper Tyga is also a good example of genre related iconography within the mise-en-scene. The flashy green sports car his reality TV star arrives in is an example of the wealth of the genre, his gold chains and watch, black outfit and snapback are clothing items associated with the genre, as is smoking weed. The video was controversial because of the inclusion of his then underage girlfriend and the explicit lyrics, this made the video almost go viral which benefits the artist and the distributors.

Editing

- Rhythmic Editing (Cutting the footage to the beat of the music)

- Jump cutting - Split screens and use of CGI or special

effects are used often in certain genres - Parallel diegesis are edited together in

sequence (live and narrative)

Cinematography

- Camera constantly moving - Close ups of lead performer (often extreme close ups of

guitar strings or lips mouthing the words) e.g. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball

- Establishing shots or extreme long shots (as music videos only tend to be between 2 and 4 minutes it’s important to establish a diegesis quickly) e.g. Foo Fighters – The Pretender

- Pans and tilts to direct focus without too many cuts – often a more stylistic choice than a necessity

- Tracking shots during live sequences to move between performers, but also in narrative sequences when appropriate. e.g. Niall Horan – This Town (1 mic, 1 take)

Sound

- The sound in a video depends on the style of a video (narrative, performance based, concept or montage) as to whether diegetic and non-diegetic (or both) is appropriate - For example in a video with a live and narrative diegesis, the live performance diegesis will be diegetic, unlike the narrative performance where the music will be non-diegetic as the ‘video world’ won’t be able to hear it

Other

- Eye contact between the lead artist and the camera establishes a connection and makes

- Lip Syncing - Ideas that represent the ideas of the artist

and the genre, and perhaps the ideas of the artists label