3. 1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups
of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work
(a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within
screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music
videos etc).
4. Performance, Narrative or
Conceptual?
Performance videos, the most common type (Firth 1988) feature the
star or group singing in concert to wildly enthusiastic fans.
The goal is to convey a sense of the in-concert experience.
Gow (1992) suggests "the predominance of performance as a formal
system in the popular clips indicates that music video defines itself
chiefly by communicating images of artists singing and playing songs"
(pp. 48-49). Performance videos, especially those that display the star
or group in the studio, remind the viewer that the soundtrack is still
important.
"Performance oriented visuals cue viewers that, indeed, the recording
of the music is the most significant element" (Gow, 1992, p. 45).
5. A narrative video presents a sequence of events.
A video may tell any kind of story in linear, cause-effect sequencing.
Love stories, however, are the most common narrative mode in music
video.
The narrative pattern is one of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets
girl back. Action in the story is dominated by males who do things and
females who passively react or wait for something to happen
(Schwichtenberg, 1992).Conceptual videos rely on poetic
form, primarily metaphor (Firth, 1988). The conceptual video can be
metaphysical poetry articulated through visual and verbal elements.
"These videos make significant use of the visual element, presenting to
the eye as well as the ear, and in doing so, conveying truths
inexpressible discursively" (Lorch, 1988, p. 143). Conceptual videos do
not tell a story in linear fashion, but rather create a mood, a feeling to
be evoked in the experience of viewing (Firth, 1988).
6. Conventions of my genre: (which is a bit of a
mix - alternative acoustic/folk/instrumental)
Nicely dressed, attractive artist
Artist using a band name instead of his name
– for example dashboard confessional
Simplistic and artistic digipaks and cd cases
Unique music videos
Surreal/dreamy
Motif throughout album
Variety of tracks on album
