1. Music videos use various styles, conventions, and techniques to convey meaning and tell stories. These include using live concert footage, narratives, surrealism, impressionism, and animation. 2. Common techniques in music videos are lip syncing, editing with jump cuts and cutting to the beat, using post-production effects, split screens, chroma keying, camera movements, varied camera angles/shots, and mise-en-scene. 3. Examples described include videos by Robots in Disguise, Alice Cooper, Slaves, Kings of Leon, Pussy Riot, Kasabian, Dead Pretties, Adore Delano, Cabbage, KISS, Lady Bird,

1. Styles, Conventions and Techniques
In- Concert and ‘as live’ Footage
In whicha bandis showntobe playingthe songlive.Videosshotduringaconcertnotonlyshow the
viewerswhatitislike towatchthe bandperforminfrontof a live audience,butare alsouseful for
fansof the band whoare unable tosee themlive foranarray of reasons.Bandsthat use instruments
duringtheirvideosshowtheirskillsasmusiciansandthattheyhave thatability.Anexampleof this
wouldbe the musicvideoforthe song‘Turn it Up’ bythe twopiece electro-punkbandRobotsin
Disguise,inwhichthe majorityof the videoshowsthe bandperforminglive atagig whilstalso
playingthe instruments.Unfortunatelythe qualityof the videoisnotthatgreatand so itis quite
blurry.
Narrative and Interpretive
Music videosthattendtotake a narrative route tendto have a storythat the audience canfollow.
Much like Cabbage ‘DinnerLady’,sometimesnarrative videoscanhave a literal explanationof the
songlyrics.Interpretivevideostendtotake anideathat ismentionedinthe lyricsand developfrom
there.Thiscan be seeninthe musicvideofor‘Bedof Nails’byAlice Cooperwhere the video
constantlychangestothe image of a nail bedwithnumerouswomenlayingonitas well as
performinghalf the songinfrontof it.

2. Surrealist/absurdist
Videosthattake a surrealistapproachtendtohave verylittle todowiththe lyricsthemselves,
possiblyonlybaringasmall relationshipwiththem.Inthe case of ‘FeedThe Mantaray’ bythe punk
bandSlaves,the musicvideosisextremelybrightandvery90’s-esque withthe visual effects.The
onlythingthe videohasincommonwiththe lyricsis the fact that there issomeone dressedasa
man eatingmantaraywhichchasesthe twoband members;Laurie andIsaac,and eventuallyeats
themboth.
Impressionist
Videosthattake an impressionistroute attempttocapture the emotional aspectof the music,
rather thanthe lyricsthemselves.Thisinturnmakesthe videosseemmuchmore artistic.Elements
that are commonlyrelatedto impressionistvideosincludesoftlighting,interminglingcolours anda
consistentflowing.Anexamplesof thiswouldbe the video forthe song‘Walls’bythe indie band
Kingsof Leon.The videofeaturesaslowzoomontothe leadsingerCalebplayingthe guitarbefore it
pans tohim outside showingasoftsunsetasa background.

3. Intertextual
Allusioninmusicvideosiswhenthere isareference made tosomethingthathashappenedoutside
the universe of the musicvideo.Thiscanbe useda way toshow an artist’sopinionona
controversial topicwithoutexplicitlymentioningit.Anexampleof thisisthe musicvideoStraight
Outta Vaginabythe female Russianpost-punkbandknownasPussyRiot.The songisa response to
DonaldTrumpsdisgustingcomment about‘grabbingwomenbythe pussy’andthe songresponds
back withan empoweringvisual of the powerof women’ssexuality.
Animation
Animatedmusicvideos are a wayfor the bandscreativitytoshow through withthe use of colours
and the actual style of the animations.Theyessentiallyconsistof a short-animatedfilmfollowing
withthe music,sometimeswiththe bandanimatedaswell.Anexampleof thisisthe musicvideofor
the song Shootthe Runnerby the bandKasabian.The entire videoisanimatedwiththe band
constantlychangingcolouraswell aspaintsplatsappearingthroughoutthe song,mainlytothe
actual beat.

4. Techniques
Lip Synch
The majority of music videos contain the artist(s) lip syncing along with their song, although
there some artists who prefer to have actors take their place and lip sync the song instead.
An example of this is the video for the song Blue Song by Mint Royale. The video was
directed by Edgar Wright and was the main inspiration for his film Baby Driver which was
released in 2017. The video contains famous actors such as Julian Barratt, Nick Frost,
Michael Smiley who are partaking in a heist whilst their driver, played by Noel Fielding,
waits for them in the getaway car listening to the song and lip syncing to it.
Editing
The most commonformof editinginmusicvideosisthe jumpcutwhichallowsforthe quickjourney
betweenone scene andthe next.Editingisimportantinmusicvideosbecause itgivesthe video
more character and can be adaptedto suitthe style of the artist(s) andthe songitself.Anexampleof
thisisthe songConfidence bythe bandDeadPretties.Duringthe first20secondsof the videothere
are extremelyfastpacedflickingjumpcutsthatshow the whole bandtogetherandthe leadmember
separately.Ataround30 seconds,the videoiseditedtoshow eachbandmemberindividually
appearinganddisappearing.The trippyof the editingisadirectedreflectionof the bandsaesthetics
and the songitself.

5. Cutting to Beat
Cutting to the beat is when the video cuts to a different shot or angle to the actual rhythm
for the song. An example of this is for the video of the song Negative Nancy by Adore
Delano. The video consists of multiple moments where it cuts to the beat of the song to
speed up the pace and convey across the emotion of the song (which is mostly anger). In
certain scenes Adore is shown climbing wire fences and so cutting to the beat is used here
to show them at different positions on the fence before eventually jumping off.
Post Production Effects
Postproductioneffectsare away to enhance the actual videoandmake itmore interestingaswell
as makingthe actual videomore inline withwhatthe artistsaysthe songisabout. The visuals keep
the audience entertainedwhilstaddingmore tothe story.Anexample of thisisthe videoforthe
songUber CapitalistDeathTrade bythe bandCabbage. The videocontainsnumerous90’s-esque
effectsthatchange throughouttothe beat of the songwhilstalsocuttingtoshow clipstakenfrom
possiblypropagandavideosaswell asothermedia.

6. Split Screen
Split screencan be usedto showa story inthe musicvideofromtwoor more differentperspectives
or views.Itcan alsobe usedas a wayto show the firstand thirdpersonview of the mainactor. This
isthe case for the musicvideoforthe song AlorsonDanse for the artist Stromae. The videoshows
the journeyof Stromae infirstand thirdpersononthe wayto the pub where he isdraggedto start
dancingwithstrangers.Thiscan be usedas a way to show the audience differentPOV’saswell to
introduce differentcharactersintothe ‘story’
Chroma Key
Chromakeyis whenfootage isshotcommonlyinfrontof a greenscreenandin post-production,any
visual canbe substitutedinsteadof the green.Thisis quite acommoneffectwhenlookingat20th
Centuryvideosasvisual effectswere notasenhancedastheyare nowadays.Anexample of thisis
fromthe musicvideoforPsychoCircusbythe bandKISS.The band are knownfortheir incredibly
costumesandonstage personas (The Demon,The Catman,The SpacemanandThe Starchild) andso
theirmusicvideosreflectthisalmost entirely.The videoconsistsof individual andgroupshotsof the
bandperformingagainstdifferentmovingbackgrounds(forexample:fire) as theyperformwiththeir
instruments.

7. Camera Movement
Cameramovementscanbe usedas a way to give a betterunderstandingof atmosphere and
emotionwhilstalsobe a wayto followthe bandastheyperformthe song. Commonmovementsin
musicvideosinvolve panninginwhichthe camerasimplymovesfromone place toanotherwithout
any breaksin-betweentoshowoff the scenariotothe audience.Examplesof cameramovements
can be seeninthe musicvideoSpoonsforthe bandLady Bird.The videomainlyshowsthe journeyof
the leadactor movingarounda pub,whilstcuttingnow andthento show the band performing the
song with their instruments or out in the beer garden.
Camera Angles and Shot Types
Cameraanglesandshot typescan be usedas a way to conveyacrossto the audience how the
artist(s) wantstobe viewedsimplybywherethe cameraisplaced.Theycan alsobe a way to show
the locationinwhichthe shotis takenas well asgivingthe audience differentviewpointstothe
actionthat is takingplace.Anexample of thisisthe musicvideoTinPanBoyby YUNGBLUD. The
videoitself isveryfastpacedandcontainsa multitude of different shottypessuchasextreme close
upsas well asdifferentcameraangles.One scene inparticularshowsYUNGBLUD beingshoved
againsta wire fence bya police officerandjustasquicklyasit happens,the angle changestoshow
that itis himdressedasa police officer.

8. Mise-en-scene
Videosthatuse mise-en-scenerelyonthe representationof certainscenesandhow the audience
will viewthis. Usually,the storyof the videoisnotentirelyclearandsomise-en-sceneisusedasa
wayto get the message acrossof whatthe song isabout withoutbeingtoovertaboutit.Anexample
of thisthe musicvideoforthe songBow bythe bandKasabian.The videoshowsthe leadguitarist
and jointleadsingerSergioPizzornointhree scenarios;lipsyncingdirectlytothe camera,puttingon
motorcycle leathersandalsoridingamotorcycle. The lyricsspeakof gettingoverabreakup and the
use of the motorcycle isa wayto showexcitementinrelationships,howeverwhenhe fallsitisaway
to showhowdefeatedhe isfromthe relationship(shownwhenhe says“It'sall overnow”).Itis also
notedthat the onlyscenesthatare incolourare whenhe isridingthe motorcycle sothiscouldbe
subtextforthe fact that the relationshipbrightenedeverythingupandbroughthimout of the dark.