Download to read offline
More Related Content
Similar to Styles, Conventions and Techniques
Styles, Conventions and Techniques
- 1. Styles, Conventions andTechniques within Music Videos. In-concert and ‘as live’ footage (plus cutting to the beat): These musicvideoswillshowthe band/musiciansplaying the music on stage, at a concert or at another type of real live event.These music videos can show the band/musicians playing the music at any time throughoutthe musicvideo.In the musicvideobelow the bandColdplay are playing their song without an audience so this is an ‘as live’ music video. The music video shows the various band members one at a time playingtheir instruments/singing along with the whole music video’sstopmotioneffect. It shows them all one at a time as seen below. The stop motion effect is a achieved by using hundreds of very small video clips ranging from roughly half a second to a few seconds to achieve all of the cuts to give a stop motion effect. In the background and sometimes the foreground in this video there are various bright images, shapes, text and patterns the appearinthe style you’dexpectfromastop motionvideo.The musicvideo’sshotsalso transition to the beats of a particular insturment rather than every beat that you’d find in a full stop motion music video. This is known as cutting to the beat with the
- 2. In-Concertmusicvideosshowsthe band/musiciansperforming thesong live to an audience whether it be at a small gig, festival, on tour or any other performance centered event. Anexampleforain- concert music video is Coldplay’smusic video for Fix You which was released on YouTube in 2005. The musicvideowas directed by Sophie Muller who had previously directedone of Coldplay’s other music videos. This song follows the lead singer/vocalist Chris Martin as he singsthe song on hiswayto the ReebokStadiuminBolton.As the beat picks up within the music video Chris begins to run after which he reaches the stadium and joins the band in paying the second half of the song on stage during Coldplays first stage performances. Below are screenshots of Chris running as well as him appearing onstage (Highlighted on red). This music video was shot overtwo days with the participationof the audience for extras as well as joiningthe bandon singingthe final line of the song. Chris’ssinginginthismusic video isn’t fully synced to the audio which was studiorecordeduntil he reaches the Reebok Stadium. The footage that was shot has been slowed down slightly until the beat and tempo picks up to which the footage returns to normal speed. This effect gives helps the visual video to keep in tone with the slow music and lyrics.
- 3. Narrative + Interpretive: Anarrative (+Interpretive) driven/basedmusicvideohasanarrative forthe audience to follow that has links/follows the narrative suggested/told by the lyrics. An example of a narrative driven/based musicvideoisthe music video for Run Devil Run by Crowder. This narrative follows the lead singe as the primary actor who is driving a white vintage car. In this video he is chasing a metaphorical devil/sins. The devil in this is portrayedbyCrowderhimself which suggests that he’s chasing himself. The devil version of himself is driving a black vintage car. The chase between the two begins with the ‘angel’ Crowder chasing the ‘devil’Crowderbutaftersome manueveringina abandoned carpark/industrial site the ‘devil’ Crowder gainsthe upperhand andchasesthe ‘angel’Crowderdown. Thisswitchesagainandthe ‘angel’Crowder starts chasing his ‘devil’ counterpart. After they both races down some dirt tracks they both come to a sudden halt with about 25-30m between the two cars. The ‘devil’ Crowder leaves his car and investigates the counterparts car which has the door left opened. After finding that the ‘angel’ Crowder has abandoned the car he leaves and wanders through the over ground land to the side of the road and realises that the ‘angel’ Crowder has used a hovercraftto getaway.The ‘devil’ Crowder speeds the hovercraft around the swampland and finds an abandoned hovercraft in the dark with nothing left apart from a smouldering cigarette. Surrealist/Absurdist (with embedded lip sync): Surreal andAbsurdmusicvideosoftenhave rather differentandunusual visualsthat often show very little narrative which also has very little relationship to the lyrics. The visuals could have loadsof special effectsthatwere createdon-set or inpost production.Some videoshowevercouldbe filmed differently or the singers/actors present could be causing the unstereotypical visuals. An
- 4. example of amusic video that is rather surreal yet simple isthe videoforColdplay’ssongThe Scientistthat was filmed fully then reversed to have everything happening backwards. However… The twist in this videoisthat Chris Martin the lead singer of the band is the mainsingerand actor inthe video and he is singing the song in the correct order. So when they were filmingthisvideo he had to sing the song backwards to make it look correct after the video was reversed. This is an exceptiional use of lip syncing that works very well throguhout the video and brings some normallitytothe reversedvisual throguhout. Variousscenesthatare rathersurreal are a car crash down a hill where the passengerflysthroughthe frontwindow.Christhrowshisjacket away (quite far) and in the videoitfliesbackintohishand.Anothersurreal scene iswhere Chris throws a stick but in the video isfliesbackintohishand.The final andmostimpressive example of the reversing of the video is leaves falling off trees however in the final product they are flying up from the ground into the tree tops. Impressionist: Intertextual (Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody and Homage): A synergystyle musicvideowill have referencesandlinkstodifferentformatsof complementingmedia. An example of a music video that features good use of synergy in the use animation and film clip overlays.The songisIridicientbyLinkinParkanditwas featuredin the 3rd live action transformers film. The music video itself is rather photographic with the most work being done in post production. Above are the two opening shots. The use of both close ups/ECU links both different mediums. The videoshowsboththe transformers,some castaswell asthe band inthe sameshot.Thuslinking the two in some good synergy.
- 5. (Chroma Key: UsingGreen/Blue Screens) This music video was shot using chroma key effects to separate the cast from the background to allow the easy layering of the special effects. In this video in particular the background was mostly hidden from the lighting angles as well as the camera angles. An Allusionstyle music video will reference, hint and sometimes directly include information about a real life event.Anexample of a music video that refers to a real life event is the music video for Some Nights by Fun which is follows the struggles of two soliders during the American Civil war. An Pastiche music video has a very similar art style to another one. The music video could also aim to mimicthe othervideohowever if it’s intention if to be funny or to defame something then it could be considered more of a parody rather than a Pastiche style music video. Having said this Parody music videosoftenhave the lyricsheavilyalteredtotalkabouta differentsubject matter or might take the art style of the original video and twist it out of proportion to defame it and make it funny.
- 6. An Homage Stylemusicvideooftenpaysrespecttoothermusicartistsor rarelyotherinfluential people outside of the music industry. An example of a music video that pays homage to an Artist is Justin Timberlake’smusicvideoforTake Backthe Night that pays homage to Michael Jackson. It pays homage to one song in particular which is Billie Jean. Through Justin’s music video various dance moves and other choreography (performed on the sidewalk in Chine Town, New York) is similar to those in Billie Jean. As well as the shoes the Justin wears throughout the music video and the shoes her wore at his concert that is also features in this homage music video.
- 7. Impressionist Music Video: Animpressionistmusicvideo is used to capture the emotion throughout the song. This will often over look the literal meaning and purpose of the lyrics but can often make the video more artistic. The varioustechniquesthatcanbe usedthroughoutthese videos are lighting effects such as soft light, soft edges, smooth transitions as well as pull focuses with montages also being included in rare circumstances. An example of an Impressionist music video is Wings performed by Birdy. This music videowasreleasedinAugust 2013. The music video shows a casual style masquerade party at an outta the way private estate like housethat features its own athletics space (for the fencing and madminton seen in the video). (Post Production Effects) Post Production effects is the maniulation of footage to give ita differentaetheticto the original. This music video has also been altered in Post-Production to improve the lightingforthe impressionisttone andfeel of the video. The Synergy music video example alsorequiredalot of postproductioneffects to merge the various snippets of footage from the film to the music video.
- 8. Animation (Stop Motion): AnAnimated music video can be fully made using stop motion, CGI or a mixtures of the two. Both techniques can take days worth of production work to achieve the end result. Stop motion oreintated music videos will often use only one fixed camera angle that is large enough to show the narrative clearly in the shot. CGI based music videos however will often use many camera angles with some warped perspectives. An example of a stop motion music video is Strawberry Swing by Coldplay. The firstfewsecondsof the videofeaturesthe artistsbehindthe drawingwithinthe video,whilst the rest of it featuresChrisMartinas the Hero inthe unusually artistic narrative. Most shots were done with Chris lyngdownon hisside whilstsome othershotswere achieved standing up giving the impession that his feet are on the ground whilst never on the ground in the narrative (E.g. when he’s flying).
- 9. Camera Angles andMovements The various camera angles and movements seen through-out the music video examples were each chosenandusedfor the desiredeffect.The cameraanglesusedin the first example ranged from close - ups to mid shots to show case each of the band members one at a time with the stop motion effect goingon behindthem.After each band member was showcased large establishing shots were used to showthe band playingthe songtogether.Throughoutthe use of the same cameraangle the bandwould suddenly jump spaces and move around in frame. However they always remained in camera shot to keep the music appearing digeticly. The camera shots used in the concert style music video mid shots were used throughout which included panning and tracking shots whilst Chris Martin was walking. Before thishe walkedintoframe andat the endof the sequence that focused on him he ran away from the camera. Followingonfromthisthe concert shots/scene were taken from loads of various angles to capture the upbeat section of the song. In the thrd example of coldplay (The Scientist. The Surrealist Type of musicvideo) prettymucheverytype of cameraangle is used. Establishing shots are used when Chris moves into a new location or when a important action is seen. E.g. the car crash. During other shots where the focus is on other people during the reversal of the footage various shots are used to capture the surreal aspect of everything in reverse. In addition to this these shots they were slowed down to capture the specific spin of the basketball for example. In the final example that features a coldplay song only one camera angle is used. This is a top-down shot focused on a road. This stop- motion video uses Chris’s positioning as describe early to give the impression of a different camera angle.Thisisalsocomplementedbythe use of the art work changingto be a suitable background.Inthe other music videos camera movements are used quite a lot. In the Some Nights music video loads of trackingshots(Side onto the soliders) are usedtofollow theircharge towardsthe enemywhilst circualr panningshotsfocussingonthe leadsingerare usedtogive himan Inspiringpressence/speech effect. In the BirdyWingsmusic videocameramovementsare used to show the extreme amounts of movement or the lack of it.For example the openingshotisof the cameramanwalkingintothe roomwithall of the masquerade/party goers. Mise-En-Scene The Mise-En-Scne isimportantinmusicvideosinaspecificway.The costumesandmake-upin the Birdy Wings music video shows of the diveristy of characters and makes them stand out from one-and- another.Birdyherself inthe videoiswearingareddresswhichmakesherstand outfrom everyone else evenwhenshe isn’tinthe centerof frame.Whereasthe costumesandmake upinthe StrawberrySwing music video was the same throughout however for professional purposes it would’ve had to be maintained constantly to avoid smudging of the background as well as keeping the chalk powder of it which in turn would give a hue alteration effect. The various special effects have been discussed howeverthe simpleeffectscanstill create the biggest metaphorical boom. For example the use of just reversingthe footage forColdplayThe Scientistcreatesaunique anddiverse narrative for the viewer to follow.Whereasthe special effectsusedinthe LinkinParkvideocangive itall a samey look which could leave the viewergettingboardhalf-waythroughespeciallyif theyhave recentlyseen the synergy based film.