Many music videos use multiple styles and conventions within them, one of the most common types is a in-concert or 'as live' footage used in a music video. As live footage does what it says, it shows the band or artist playing their instruments along to the song as if it were live a good example of this would be the music video for Metallica's cover of Whiskey In a Jar.
In the Metallica's music video for Whiskey in a Jar although it has the as live element to it there is also some sort of narrative to it which brings me onto the next type of music video. A narrative and interpretive music video is probably the most common convention for a music video and can be found in most. It tells a story for the audience to follow which can follow the lyrics, have a literal approach to them, contradict them, extended them with a interpretative approach or sometimes just ignore them completely. A good example for a music video with a narrative for the audience to follow would be Learn To Fly by the Foo Fighters as not only does it have a narrative that loosely follows the lyrics but it is also rather entertaining with guest stars from Jack Black and Kyle Gas.
The next convention for music videos is surreal or absurd videos, the last video briefly touched on this with aspects such as the baby's head being that of a fully grown man and someone's head changing into a burger and also the flight attendant flying alongside the plane however surreal music videos are more surprising and unconventional with a narrative that can bear little relationship to the lyrics. An example of a surreal and absurd music video would be Low Hanging Fruit by Tenacious D, although it links closely with the lyrics it is still very surreal and you end up questioning what you're watching so it's still very absurd and random, even if you know what is going on you can't quite work out how or why.
From the surreal to the emotional, impressionist music videos often try to capture the emotion of the song rather than the literal meaning of the lyrics themselves. During the 19th century there was an art movement called impressionism which the artist try to record how the world made them feel rather than how the world was so due to this impressionist music videos are often considered more artistic and will often use effects such as soft light, soft edges with flowing and intermingling colors. A good example of this would be Take That's Back For Good as the whole video is in black and white with lots of soft edges and rain giving it this sad romantic feel to the song.
Intertextuality is something that is commonly used in music videos with styles such as Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody or even a Homage. Synergy can often be seen in soundtrack videos where there are references to the films or can even use footage from the film in the music video. One example of this is Ellie Goulding Beating Heart as it's the soundtrack for the new film out Divergent and this uses footage from the film itself.
Some music videos can allude to another media text, event, person or even a historical or cultural reference. Ellie Goulding's video Beating Heart briefly touches upon this as it does allude to the narrative of the film somewhat using the tattoos and how they're very similar to those of the leading male character. A Pastiche can be very similar to a Parody however there are some slight differences, a pastiche is a light hearted imitation of another artists style where as a parody is simply making fun of it. There are many examples of each however a fantastic example of a parody is "Weird Al'" Yankovic's Smells Like Nirvana as the song is making fun of the band and Kurt Cobain as when Al asked Kurt to parody his video Kurt simply asked "Urmm... It's not going to be about food, is it?" To which Al responded with "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics" so it really is having fun with the band and artist.
Animation can be used in music videos and this can vary between stop motion animation or digital animation. Some videos have animation used at certain parts of the video others might use it all the way through, a good example of animation used in a music video would be Passion by Utada Hikaru, the video starts off with animation but eventually comes in to live action but we then see some animation used again towards the end.
There are many different techniques that can be used in a music video one of which is lip syncing and miming. Performance videos will often require an artist to lip sync a track but it is also common in narrative-based videos. A good example for a video that uses a lot of lip syncing would be Michael Buble - It's a Beautiful Day.
Another technique often used in music videos is cutting to the beat, by doing this it helps establish a rhythm to the edits and can make a video fit the song more if it's correctly cut to the beat. A good example for this technique is Linkin Park Numb, the transitions fit extremely well with the beat making the song seem more effective.
Post Production effects are used for many reasons, one of which being you may want to enchant and impress an audience into watching if the effects are good enough. You can also attract a different type of audience with visual effects depending how interesting, mesmerizing or complex the effects are. A good example of a music video using post production effects would be Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication as the entire video is using visual effects as if it were a video game.
Split screen is an interesting editing technique as multiple images of different events are shown on the screen at the same time. The old practice of projecting multiple images onto the screen and changing them frequently proved to give interesting results. Split Screen is different to multi-imaging but is the modern equivalent as non-linear editing makes it easier to do. A good example of this technique used in a music video would be Mumford and Sons Whispers In The Dark as the video follows the journey of each band member to a live gig.
Using a green or blue screen when recording can be helpful if you wish to remove the unwanted background (Chroma Key) and then place an image behind that so it will then become visible. A good example of chroma key would be Ed Sheeran Sing and it uses the chroma key effect several times, once when the puppet version of Ed Sheeran is in the china town part of town and again when all 3 of them are in the car near the end of the video.
Camera movements can make a video more interesting to watch, by using pans, tracking shots, tilts and crabs it can create flow and excitement for the audience, a good example of this would be Smash Mouth All Star. There's a lot of movement in this video and it works really well for both the song and video, creating a surreal sense to it but also making it very interesting to watch.
Different shot angles and types can be used to create a different tone to a video, it can also work well if you want to show of different parts of the mise-en-scene. A good video for this is Go With The Flow by Queens Of The Stone Age as it use fast shots and close ups to reinforce the surreal and fast paced feel of the rest of the song.
Mise-en-scene can be crucial for a music video as the lighting, objects and setting can work with the music and reinforce the mood of the song to create different emotions. A song I feel does this brilliantly is High school Never Ends by Bowling For Soup
Another good one for the use of Mise-en-scene would be Passenger Scare Away The Dark as the lyrics and video sync together really well and the use of the mise-en-scene reinforces this well as well whilst creating a slightly surreal feel to the video but it works well together.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic#Positive
The next convention for music videos is surreal or absurd videos, the last video briefly touched on this with aspects such as the baby's head being that of a fully grown man and someone's head changing into a burger and also the flight attendant flying alongside the plane however surreal music videos are more surprising and unconventional with a narrative that can bear little relationship to the lyrics. An example of a surreal and absurd music video would be Low Hanging Fruit by Tenacious D, although it links closely with the lyrics it is still very surreal and you end up questioning what you're watching so it's still very absurd and random, even if you know what is going on you can't quite work out how or why.
From the surreal to the emotional, impressionist music videos often try to capture the emotion of the song rather than the literal meaning of the lyrics themselves. During the 19th century there was an art movement called impressionism which the artist try to record how the world made them feel rather than how the world was so due to this impressionist music videos are often considered more artistic and will often use effects such as soft light, soft edges with flowing and intermingling colors. A good example of this would be Take That's Back For Good as the whole video is in black and white with lots of soft edges and rain giving it this sad romantic feel to the song.
Intertextuality is something that is commonly used in music videos with styles such as Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody or even a Homage. Synergy can often be seen in soundtrack videos where there are references to the films or can even use footage from the film in the music video. One example of this is Ellie Goulding Beating Heart as it's the soundtrack for the new film out Divergent and this uses footage from the film itself.
Some music videos can allude to another media text, event, person or even a historical or cultural reference. Ellie Goulding's video Beating Heart briefly touches upon this as it does allude to the narrative of the film somewhat using the tattoos and how they're very similar to those of the leading male character. A Pastiche can be very similar to a Parody however there are some slight differences, a pastiche is a light hearted imitation of another artists style where as a parody is simply making fun of it. There are many examples of each however a fantastic example of a parody is "Weird Al'" Yankovic's Smells Like Nirvana as the song is making fun of the band and Kurt Cobain as when Al asked Kurt to parody his video Kurt simply asked "Urmm... It's not going to be about food, is it?" To which Al responded with "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics" so it really is having fun with the band and artist.
Animation can be used in music videos and this can vary between stop motion animation or digital animation. Some videos have animation used at certain parts of the video others might use it all the way through, a good example of animation used in a music video would be Passion by Utada Hikaru, the video starts off with animation but eventually comes in to live action but we then see some animation used again towards the end.
There are many different techniques that can be used in a music video one of which is lip syncing and miming. Performance videos will often require an artist to lip sync a track but it is also common in narrative-based videos. A good example for a video that uses a lot of lip syncing would be Michael Buble - It's a Beautiful Day.
Another technique often used in music videos is cutting to the beat, by doing this it helps establish a rhythm to the edits and can make a video fit the song more if it's correctly cut to the beat. A good example for this technique is Linkin Park Numb, the transitions fit extremely well with the beat making the song seem more effective.
Post Production effects are used for many reasons, one of which being you may want to enchant and impress an audience into watching if the effects are good enough. You can also attract a different type of audience with visual effects depending how interesting, mesmerizing or complex the effects are. A good example of a music video using post production effects would be Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication as the entire video is using visual effects as if it were a video game.
Split screen is an interesting editing technique as multiple images of different events are shown on the screen at the same time. The old practice of projecting multiple images onto the screen and changing them frequently proved to give interesting results. Split Screen is different to multi-imaging but is the modern equivalent as non-linear editing makes it easier to do. A good example of this technique used in a music video would be Mumford and Sons Whispers In The Dark as the video follows the journey of each band member to a live gig.
Using a green or blue screen when recording can be helpful if you wish to remove the unwanted background (Chroma Key) and then place an image behind that so it will then become visible. A good example of chroma key would be Ed Sheeran Sing and it uses the chroma key effect several times, once when the puppet version of Ed Sheeran is in the china town part of town and again when all 3 of them are in the car near the end of the video.
Camera movements can make a video more interesting to watch, by using pans, tracking shots, tilts and crabs it can create flow and excitement for the audience, a good example of this would be Smash Mouth All Star. There's a lot of movement in this video and it works really well for both the song and video, creating a surreal sense to it but also making it very interesting to watch.
Different shot angles and types can be used to create a different tone to a video, it can also work well if you want to show of different parts of the mise-en-scene. A good video for this is Go With The Flow by Queens Of The Stone Age as it use fast shots and close ups to reinforce the surreal and fast paced feel of the rest of the song.
Mise-en-scene can be crucial for a music video as the lighting, objects and setting can work with the music and reinforce the mood of the song to create different emotions. A song I feel does this brilliantly is High school Never Ends by Bowling For Soup
Another good one for the use of Mise-en-scene would be Passenger Scare Away The Dark as the lyrics and video sync together really well and the use of the mise-en-scene reinforces this well as well whilst creating a slightly surreal feel to the video but it works well together.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic#Positive
Very good work Jack - high Merit and already nearly a Distinction. For Distinction make sure you explain everything (eg all the sub-categories listed under intertextuality) and try to use specific stills to illustarte your points more specifically with close analysis.
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