CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF A

MUSIC VIDEOAmy Myers

CAMERA SHOTS, ANGLES AND MOVEMENTS

• In a music video there are many ways in which the video can be shot to engage the audience an make the video look unique and professional.

• CLOSE UP: close up shots mean that the audience can connect with the artist in a much more personal way than any of the other shots. they are also used to highlight specific locations and facial expressions.

• MID-SHOT: mid shots in music videos are a lot less personal than the close up shots but they enable the audience to get a better understanding of the location and surroundings through showing just half of something.

• LONG SHOTS: long shots enable the performer to show there entire body and surroundings. A long shot may also be known as an establishing shot which is typical used at the start of a music video to set the scene and to give the audience an idea of the mood of the video. These shots are the least intimate types of shots.

• The camera movement is also shown in the music video and can be used in many types of ways such a tracking, panning, zooming ect... Camera movements allow the artist to be followed and to give the audience an idea of the surroundings.

EDITING• The way that a music video looks when it is finished is down to the

editing. Editing the music video ensures that it looks good quality. Editing the music video allows the video to look different to the other types of music videos that already exist.

• In pop songs the shot is cut at every beat which keeps the audience engaged in what is happening whilst meaning that the video has a better flow to it. However other songs that are lot slower will have to cut to fit the speed of the song.

• When editing a song there are a varied amount of effects which can be applied. For example CGI which is where the editor may want to include parallel editing where the narrative and performance are shown at the same time.

SOUND• In many music videos that have a narrative extra sound and scenes

may be included in the video that are different from the original radio edit.

• There may also be many types of sounds in a music video through the course of the track such as non-diegetic where there may be a voice over of someone speaking and the diegetic sound.

• Realistic sound may also be shown which is basically the diegetic sound. Realistic sound can be anything which is outside the world such as birds or planes.

MISE-EN-SCENE• Mise en scene includes everything which is seen in the music video such as

the props, costumes, make, location and many more. In music videos mise en scene is an excellent way of getting messages across to the audience.

• In addition the mise en scene which is used in the video is able to set the mood and setting as well as determining certain characters within the video such as who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. It also allows the audience to become a lot more in tested in the music video as it means everything looks a lot more realistic which the audience can relate to.

PERFORMANCE• The performance in a music video is mainly about how the video looks

which means that performance is mainly shown through image

• Most music videos that we watch today not only have a narrative but they also have a performance on the side which allows the audience to watch the video from the artists point of view as well as your own point of view through the narrative.

• Some music videos will only be performance based which means that the artist is shown in a lot more detail and the majority being shown from the artists point of view. Not only this but it would give the audience a wider understanding of who the artist s and to expand on the artists performance. When there is no narrative this means that the artist has to ensure that the are engaging with the audience. In this type of music videos it is common that it is to promote a particular main artist which the audience can connect with.

• Example – Single ladies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY

NARRATIVE• A narrative music video means that there is a connection between the lyrics of

the song and the story line to the video. Most music videos we see these days will combine narrative and performance or just performance whereas it is unlikely to see a music video with a story on its own.

• The story of a music video is able to wok along side the lyrics which means that the audience would be watching something that is relevant to the song rather than something that has nothing to do with the lyrics.

• This is able to keep the audience focused and will make them want to watch the video to the end as they will want to find out what is going to happen. Not only this but often the viewer I sable to relate with the video and therefore would want to continue watching.

MIXTURE• When there is a mixture this means that both narrative and

performance have been shown. A typical mixture music video would have many cuts between the performance and narrative to ensure that one isn’t getting shown more than the other.

• Using a mixture works well for music videos as it means that the audience are able to be drawn in through the narrative whilst becoming very interested through the performance.