Conventions of Music Videos

As part of my research into music videos, i looked at Andrew Goodwins 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' to help me analyse music videos and see what makes a successful and unsuccessful music video.




One of the main reason for the production of music videos is to promote and increase the sales of the track itself, this means there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, the visuals are either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the relationship between the music and the visuals.
In Eminems 'Stan' when the line 'but your picture on my wall' the camera shows many newspaper cut outs and pictures of Eminem. This can be seen in the video from (2.00-2.05)




 A particular music genre will have there own music video style and iconography, there is also a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist vocalist, this is because the artist may develop their own style iconography in and out of there videos which in time becomes part of their star image. With the rock music genre, the videos will mainly be performance based this is the same as indie/math rock/metal all sub genres of rock itself. A band that will always have lots of close ups of their lead singer is the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters lead) has created such an icon of himself as soon as you see his face you will think Foo Fighters, there quirky performance based music videos also help iconise him.



Intertextual references of music videos, films or TV tend to help a general feeling/mood rather than offer a coherent meaning. Key lines may play a part in the visuals but very rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics.
A music video tends to make use of the tempo, the tempo of the take drives the editing and may emphasise particular sounds from the track by for-grounding instruments such as a guitar, keyboard or drum solo, when there is a solo you expect to see the instrument. The tempo and BPM will also have an effect on the type of editing, if its a fast passed dance song with a high BPM and fast tempo there will be fast cut transitions used we can see this in Geri Halliwells 'Raining Men' but on the other hand if its a slow meaningful ballad with a low BPM and a slow tempo the the clips will be prolonged and there will be fewer cuts.



Genre
Some but not all music channels concentrate on particular music genres, within the music videos there are distinctive themes and performances. Music channels like MTV are split into different genres over 6 different channels, theres MTV Music, MTV Rocks, MTV Base, MTV Hits, MTV Dance and MTV Classic, all over which play different types over music 24 hours a day. Other not so successful music channels such as Viva, Smash Hits and The Box play chart music and mainly what is hot currently as they only have one channel.
As with any image moving text how the camera is used and how the images are sequenced has a significant impact on meaning.




Star image

Slipknot have created a great image of themselves that represents who they are and what their like, they always wear masks on stage and during interviews to create a star image for themselves, its also to keep their personal lives private as no one knows what they look like. Another person who has created the same sort of image is Lada Gaga, over the years she has had many ridiculous and outrageous outfits like the meat dress that she wore to the MTV VMA's in 2010.






Goodwin also makes reference to voyeurism in the book, voyeurism has been used in music videos to sell an artist to a wider audience, this is also another way of creating an artists new image through sexually temptations form the opposite sex. In the video, 'Antidote' by Swedish House Mafia vs Knife Party you see a lot of voyeuristic shots of women, the video is strongly connected to that of The Prodigy 'Smack my B*itch Up'


Camera Movement

Camera movement may accompany the movement of performers (walking, dancing etc) but it may also be used to create a move dynamic feel to stage performance e.g. circling the band before they perform.

The close up pre dominates mainly because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer it also emphasizes half of the commodity on sale. A demand from the record company also plays a large part in the camera shots, they ask for lots of close ups, here are close ups form some of Kanye Wests videos.


Editing
Although the most common form of editing is fast cut montage rendering most of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing. Some videos use slow pace and gentler shot to help emphasise emotions and moods. This can be done for slower BPM songs to fit with the beat and the tempo of the song.