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.

Representation Of Women

  Good Girls

Developing My Treatment

Laura Mulvey (Theorist) on Representation

Laura Mulvey - Representation Theorist

 



Laura Mulvey

 The 'Male Gaze' is a theory developed from a feminist view to address the lack of equality between men and women- analysing the way in which men see women, the way women look at themselves and the way in which women look at other women.

The theory portrays that the audience are forced to view the from the perspective of a heterosexual male. The camera constantly focuses on the curves of a women's body, completely objectifying female characters making them less 'important' than other male roles.

Sexism has been shown to be presented where the audience are encouraged to look at women in advertising that sexualises a women's body, even when the advertised product is completely unrelated to the women's body. 

As audiences watch films without being watched by the characters they become onlookers of their lives.
 Therefore they become voyeurs of the people on screen.
This can lead to two effects: objectification and narcissistic identification.
Voyeurism involves turning the represented figure into a fetish so it becomes increasingly beautiful but more objectified.

It has been contended filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock objectified his female subjects, positioning them to merely arouse the audience.

The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events. 

This relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

A photo analysed showing aspects of the male gaze.

Forms & Conventions Of Music Videos

The Seven Conventions Of Music Videos

1. Lyrics
2. Music
3. Genre
4. Camerawork
5. Intertextuality 
6. Editing
7. Narrative and Performance

Forms and Conventions

The theories of Goodwin

Goodwin Extract

SUMMARISE 

Ilustration

Amplification

Disjuncture

conempory videos fit into catagorys state why

Auteur Theory / Director as Auteur

An Auteur is a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie’. You would expect to see the film-maker’s distinctive and original style writ large throughout the film, and it would be considered to be their film even though he or she has the assistance of many other people and skills to create the project. Famous auteur directors include Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplain and Quentin Tarantino. Their films are instantly recognisable and unique to them.

Ian Wolfson / REX ARROW FILMS

Ian Wolfson is an independent filmmaker best known for his collaborative work with independent hip hop artist, Mac Miller. Over the past three years, their collaboration has amassed 400 million views online, as well as broad exposure on the MTV, VH1 and Fuse Networks. Through his company, Rex Arrow Films, Ian has also worked with dozens of other artists including Nelly, B.o.B., Bun B and Freeway. Having already completed one feature film, Ian has several new film projects currently in development.

After graduating from Taylor Allderdice High School (in the fall of the year he left, Wiz Khalifa began his freshman year), Wolfson went to Columbia University to study film theory and creative writing. After college, he worked a year in a video store, Kim’s Mediapolis (“Textbook what you do if you want to be a filmmaker”). He returned to the ‘Burgh when the opportunity to make Invisible Cities arose. A year later, in 2009, he filmed Miller’s first video for “Cruisin’."

Jean-Luc Godard’s (a renowned French auteur) film Breathless was the first film he saw in college that inspired him, because at that time in the French film industry there were accepted film mechanisms in place. Wolfson says – “And Godard was like, screw all that, I’m going to go out with a camera with some young kids and essentially break all the rules. And that mentality is extremely influential in why Mac and I have been able to go out and do what we’ve done. When we first started, we didn’t have any money at all. We were just like, let’s go out and see what we can do”. 

Creative Vision: He is a filmmaker whose work is instantly recognisable and yet it’s his love of the music and artists he films that shines though his work. He visualizes and creates films of what he hears in the music and sees in the artist and communicates that to the audience, He says:

“I think the first half of my career was much more documentary style, sort of a day in the life. Now, because my interests have changed, I’ve sort of put the focus on trying to do things that interest me in terms of concept, visuals, or the equipment that we use. I think one answer is it’s really important to try to do a video that really doesn’t artificially force an image on the artist. That could mean if the artist isn’t naturally charismatic, interesting, or quirky, then they may not make it as an artist in the long term. I think you have to have that – whether you’re Mac or A$AP Rocky you have to have that thing that draws people to you. I’m always hesitant to sort of superimpose something on the artist. I think the artist has to be interesting. Mac for example, there were so many elements against him in the beginning, but he was accessible and didn’t take himself too seriously. He clearly was enjoying himself and I think people connected with that”.

In any shoot I have to be fair to the artist. My goal is always to try to give them as close to what they want as possible. Now, often times I feel like I’m able to say, “Ok, cool. I know what you want but I think this will be more interesting or more exciting” and usually it works. I think I’ve maybe only had one instance where I really had to go back to the editing or go back to the coloring to make them happy.

Wolfson is an auteur because his work is unique to him. His personal creative vision is communicated in all his work. The way he interprets and portrays Mac Miller's songs visually is truly creative and unique. And since he's been filming Mac since 2009, the techniques used has developed as Mac has also developed lyrically. His videos range from portraying different emotions, matching which song Mac's performing, some examples of his styles are care free, happy and brightly coloured - such as 'Senior Skip Day', then in 'Missed Calls' where Mac is talking about a lost love, a more matured and emotional narrative video. Another example of his various styles is in Mac's video 'SDS' off his latest album, the video demonstrates witty humour as well as a lot of green screen animation.