Forms and Conventions

 Lyrics

Lyrics tend to help to establish a general feeling, or mood, or sense of subject matter rather than offering a coherent meaning. Key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with the song, but very rarely will a music video simply replicate the lyrics wholesale.

Music

A music video tends to make the use of the tempo of the track to the drive of the editing and may emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as guitar, keyboard or drum solo.

Genre

While some music videos transcend  genres, others can be more easily categorised. Some, but not all, music channels concentrate on particular music genres. If you watch these channels then over a period of time, you will be able to identify a range of distinct features which characterise the videos of different genres. These features might be reflected in types of mise en scene, themes (see post students did for summer), performance, camera and editing styles.

Camerawork

As with any moving image text, how the camera is used and how the images are sequenced has a significant impact on meaning. Camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers (walking, dancing etc) but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance, for instance by constantly circling the band as they perform on stage. The close up camera shot predominates, as in most TV, partly because of the size of the screen and partly because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. It also emphasises hlf of the commodity on sale – the artist, and particularly the voice. John Stewart of the mucic video production company Oil Factory said, that he sees the music video as essentially having the aesthetics of the TV commercial, with lots of close ups and lighting to focus on the star’s face (aka the product for some commercials).

Editing

Although the most common form form of editing associated with the music promo is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing, some videos use slow pace and gentler shot transitions to create a mood. This is particularly apparent in promos for many female solo artists with a mass appeal such as Dido. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure to the audience. This might take the form of split screens, colourisation and blockbuster film style CGI.

Intertextuality

The msic video is often described as a ‘Post-Modern’ form, a slippery term which is often used to describe intertextuality., one of post-modernism’s more easily definable features. Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definitions of intertextuality. Not all audiences will necessarily spot a reference and this need not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. Arguably, it also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product, an important facility in a culture where so many images and narratives compete for our attention.

Narrative and Performance

Narrative in songs, as in poetry, is rarely complete and often fragmentary (David Bowie is renowned for writing words and then jumbling them up sporadically to create his lyrics). The same is true for music promos , which tend to suggest storylines or offer complex fragments in a non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again.

Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a crefeul choreographed dance might be a part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as a narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lyp sync close-up shots and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos.