Forms and Conventions - Chip James

Forms and Conventions

I have looked at a range of music videos and I have done a lot of research into the media product as a general and I have found some key frameworks and forms which are expected from music videos. These forms are as follows:

· There should be a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics (be it illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics). This is so that video relates to the lyrics of the song, making it easier for the audience to understand the lyrics. Or to be an artist interpretation of the meaning of the song. However there can be examples of videos that just represent the band themselves, for example Ok Go's song “Here It Goes Again” which instead of relating to the song just shows the band as being fun loving while doing a memorable dance on treadmills.

· There will always be a relationship between the music and the visuals, in a similar way to the lyrics, illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the emotion of the music.

· The beat of the music will help to pace the song, with either the cuts following the beats to help the viewer get a better feel for the song, or to cut on the off-beat to add to the disorientation or natural feel of the footage. Typically, the quicker the beat of the song, the quicker the cuts.

· The song will often show the musicians playing the song, to highlight the music and get a better representation of the bands style.

· The styles of the music videos will significantly change with the genre of the song, this doesn't just relate to the style of clothes or the song, but also with the setting as you wouldn't find a heavy metal band like Slipknot in a club, or pop band One Direction wearing black tight leather with heavy use of eyeliner.

· There should normally be a high demand for a lot of close ups of the main artists, especially for up and coming bands, to set the bands image and help the audience relate the band to their song. However for some better known bands they can have videos that are the exception and have a video that represents the song better than the band, as the bands image has already been set from their previous videos.

· The band can then set up their own image, with links to merchandise in their videos such as t-shirts or bracelets, or simply the bands logo on posters etc, This will help the band sell merchandise and advertise themselves better. The bands image will also help their appeal, with bands like Rise Against, who notably wore prisoner outfits at a concert in protest against torture to prisoners (with the image being used in some of their merchandise and music videos). Another example of setting a bands star image can be seen with the late Amy Winehouse, who had a star image built up around her to do with drug abuse and suffering, this was a part of her media covereage.

· There will typically be a reference to voyeurism, often with the way women are viewed in the video, where women will normally be used to increase sex appeal. As well as a notion of looking, for example, having screens within screens of binoculars, cameras, etc.

· There may also be intertextual references to other music videos, or links to other bands or films or TV texts, like in the All Time Low music video “Weightless” there's links to the bands Fallout Boy and Blink 182, with appearances from some band members and the name appearing on screen.

As well as the typical forms of the music videos, we can also see a number of conventions for music videos, this are key elements which include micro and macro elements of media productions which can be seen through music videos. These conventions are as follows:

· Lyrics – the lyrics of the song will establish a sense of story to a song, while setting the general mood of the video. As an example the mood of the song could be aggressive or romanatic etc. The lyrics may also be represented in the video, in a literal sense, however it is rare to see a music video represent the lyrics like this for the entire video, for example a lyric could refer to walking down a road and the visuals would show the band or an actor walking down a road.

· Music – the music will typically set the tempo for the cuts and edits, however the lyrics can also set the lengths of shots. The music will often be represented in the video through the band themselves with performance shots, timed to match the backing track. As such the music in a music video can either be diegetic or non-diegetic. Most commonly music in music video's are non-diegetic, however typically in the rock music genre the song will be a mix, being diegetic for performance shots (or in the narrative if the character is listening/singing the song) or non-diegetic, where the sound doesn't exist within the narratives world, however the image is there normally to illustrate the song. It is common for no sound to be used in music video's, other than the song itself, however it is common for rock videos to add sections of dialogue between paused sections of the song, examples of this can be found in Nickelback's “Savin' Me” music video and Green Day's “Wake Me Up When September Ends” video.

· Genre – with the different genres of music, the music videos in each gain certain characteristics. Music channels will be specific on the genre of the music played, and after watching a certain music channel for long enough trates of the individual genres will become obvious. For example after watching the rock channel Kerrang for long enough, typical trates of this genre are obvious like the need for showing the band performing, while mainly highlighting the singer/frontman. As well as having very artistic representations of the song or the band. Typically the bands or centre highlight of the music video will be the male members of the band. If there is a female member of the band in the rock genre they will most likely be in centre focus and used for sex appeal.

· Cinematography – the camera work is one of the most important factors in music videos, as normally no additional sound will be needed, due to the fact a music video is normally just adding moving image to represent the song. As such the camera movement, angle and shot distance will contribute to the video creating the overall sense of feeling to the music video, be it a live performance where the camera can create a sense of space and massiveness, or even if it is in a house, where the right angles can portray sadness and depression in a character. The most common shot throughout genres will be a close up, this is due to the fact the shot creates a sense of intimacy with the audience with the star looking directly at them. The use of hand held cameras is also quite common to make the audience feel as if they are present in the scene and feel closer to the performer. The framing of the shot will typically have the main artist in central focus with other key band members featuring around them.

· Editing – taking form in music videos as more than just cuts and transitions editing is possibly the most important part of creating an effective music video, as it can either enhance a shots mood, or set a sense of pace and mood with the music video. The most common form of editing in music videos is the fast cut montage sequences, these will make shots difficult for the audience to comprehend at first viewing and will ensure repeat viewings. However slower shots are used to better establish a mood for the music video, slower shots are more prominently used with female artists. Other effects that can be used are split screen, colourisation and colour balance and CGI and green-screen.

· Intertextuality – this is a link between the music video and another existent product, if its a poem, a speech, a logo, a quote, a sequence from a movie, a copy of a set or previous music video, or even fashion. This link is done to establish a sense of familiarity or nostalgia, as when seeing these links people who recognise the reference will get a sense of pleasure of noticing the reference. The most common of the intertextual links is cinema, with music videos showing promo sequences from the movies they are featured in, meaning that when a person views this music video there is the promotional aspect that would make the person desire to go out and see the movie if the visuals and song are edited successfully enough, whereas vice versa happens when someone sees the movie and hears the song, they will then familiarise the song with the movie and may go out and buy the song as they enjoyed the sequence it was used in.

· Narrative and Performance – the narrative of the video is how the visuals depict the lyrics, either giving them literal meaning or representing them in context. The narrative often includes a number of close ups of the main character used to show emotion during the scene, with the singer used normally either as a main character or narrator, singing while in the setting of the narrative plot. The narrative plot often leads to repeat viewing depending on the effectiveness of the visuals to draw in the viewer, either making an emotional connection or being a memorable and enjoyable viewing. The narrative story will normally be split up with performance shots of the band often to show the band in a performance environment, giving a sense of success to show the band in a setting where they are surrounded by fans, or performing in large or secluded locations, like ACDC's music video for “Shoot To Thrill” released as a promo for the film Iron Man 2, it shows the band on stage at a massive open air stadium, giving a grand sense of scale and popularity. This is a contrast to Enter Shikari's video for ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’, which shows the band performing in a small room, however this gives a sense of exclusivity to the private gig, and will make the viewer want to be at the show and make the music video even more memorable.

· Mise-en-Scene – this is important within the music video as the mise-en-scene of every shot will help the music video fit into its desired music genre. For example heavy metal music would use a lot of settings and props that would show dirt and decay, whereas pop music videos would commonly be more clean and bright. The mise-en-scene of the shots helps to build a sense of reality for the moving image product. As well as reality the mise-en-scene can create a sense of relatablity, with some music videos being featured with a band in an American high school, with the typical iconography of a high school being apparent in the visuals of the music video, having the music video in this setting will make the music video more relatable to a teen audience that go to high school.

· Continuity – continuity is more a concept rather than a convention, however it is vital within all moving image texts, as continuity allows for an easier flow of the image, whether or not continuity rules are followed or purposely broken will be up to the director. However continuity allows for a flow of the plot to be quicker, as a lapse of time can be shown through a few shots, for example, a train journey can be shown in a few shots, by showing the character in the same seat, however doing different actions in each shot, suggesting the character stayed in the same location but showing a forwarding of time as the actions are skipped forward. This can be applied to music video's. The main principles of continuity are: match on action (when a shot cuts to another, showing the same action, but from a different angle to create a visual bridge), shot reverse shot and the 180 rule.