Question 1 – In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products? PART 1 – GENERIC CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS HAFSAH ZAMAN

What are codes and conventions?

Different techniques to construct the meaning behind a music video or specific parts within a music video

They tend to be split into two partsTechnical Symbolic

Technical

How the meaning and message is put across using technical equipment.

Examples of this include the camera shots, angles and movement, sound which could either be diegetic or non-diegetic, the pace and the style of editing and the genre

Symbolic

The meanings behind what you can see e.g. mise en scene, facial expressions, gestures and poses.

Research and Development

During the process of putting together our final product me and my group have analysed a variety of different music videos which will be useful in helping to unpack and answer this question. This is because we are able to compare and analyse if our music video has used, developed or gone against typical features of a music video. While doing this we are also able to incorporate theories that were put forward by Andrew Goodwin and Sven E Carrlsson and see if our music video uses, develops or goes against typical features that these two theorists have put forward.

From the beginning of our coursework we knew we wanted to do the pop genre for our music video as me and my group decided it was the genre we knew most about thus making it easier for us to create a music video that was suitable for the pop genre.

While answering this question I am going to talk about specific parts of a music video such as: camera shot/movement, mise en scene, editing, sound, narrative/performance, special effects etc.., and I am going to compare our music video (based on the featured listed) with the conventions of real music videos that we have analysed throughout this process. However, this part of the question is going to be analysis of the general and genre specific codes and conventions of a music video and the second part is going to be analysis and comparison of my our music video with real music videos.

Codes and Conventions

They all tend to vary depending on the genre however throughout the process of constructing our research we have identified the general conventions of a music video which are based around:

The style The cameraEditing Sound Mise en scene – Costume, lighting, actors, makeup and hair, props and setting Stereotyping

THE STYLE

Performance This when the music video is made up of just the artist performing in the video e.g.

Beyonce – Love On Top. This video shows that artist continuously dancing, singing and performing the song and the scenes tend to be similar and in some cases the same. It is known that these types of music videos are not as common as artist most of the time tend to use a mixture of both narrative and performance to make the music video more interesting to watch and make the artist look more appealing. If artist do go down the route of just having a performance based video it can be harder to capture the audiences attention however in this example it is made more interesting with the changes of costume that Beyonce undertakes.

Narrative Narrative – Where the music video tells a story that the artist is or isn’t part of. An

example of a narrative music video that the artist isn’t part of is Jess Glynne – Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself, which is also a music video that I analysed. It is said there are two types of narrative music videos and they are known as linear narrative and fragmented narrative a linear narrative is one where the story carries on throughout the whole of the music video and a fragmented narrative is where parts of the story are shown in fragments throughout the music video.

Mixture Where a music video is a performance style music video and a narrative style music video

mixed together an example of this is Adele – Hello. This is the most common type of music video as said before it is hard to make a pure performance/narrative music video that is appealing and attracts the audience.

Cameo Where there are people present in the music video that are not the artist/s but the artists

appears right at the end of the music video a good example of this is Taylor Swift ft Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed.

THE CAMERAShots, Angles and Movement

Camera Shots Music videos have a variety of different camera shots to reflect and put across a different

effects and moods throughout the music video, the most common camera shots used in music videos are:

Extreme Establishing shot – This is shot that is usually featured a the beginning of a music video and it is usually there to set the scene and give the audience an idea about where the artist is.

Wide shot – where the artist/s is present in the shot but the main focus is still the setting in which they are in

Camera Shots…Medium close up – These are common shots within videos and it shows the artist from chest to head usually used to hone in on facial expressions and when the artist is lip-synching.

Close up – the focus of this shot is the artist which again is a shot which is very common within music videos and again is usually used to show facial expressions or lip-synching.

Extreme close up – this is when a certain part of the artist face is the focus and the whole face isn’t in shot, this is usually used for effect or to create a mood

Camera Angles The way the camera is placed in a music video results in a variety of different angles to be created and these are the most

common angles we would see in a music video…

Eye-level – this the most common angle as it is what the human eye does so it is replicated in music videos to make them see more realistic and true

Low angle shots – when the camera is placed below the artist to make them seem superior and someone who is of authority, this is a shot that is played around with in quite a few music videos

Camera Angles…High angle – this is the opposite of the low angle shot and is when the camera is placed above the artist or characters within the music video to make them look small and inferior, this is used particular in music videos that portray a sad narrative and the victim is usually in a shot with a high camera angle or can be used to show a room full of people in a party scene which is also very common

Birds eye angle – this angle shows the artist or subject from directly above them it is consider an unnatural point of view which means it can be used to add dramatic effect an can be altered to portray different moods. It can also be used to set the scene much like the establishing shot.

Camera Movements This is when the camera moves to show the movement of the artist or an object within

the music video the two most common movements that are present within a music video include panning and tracking. Some examples of camera movements…

Panning – this when the camera moves horizontally and it is usually when the camera is mounted on a tripod which helps to move the camera horizontally without getting shaky footage. This is most commonly used to capture moving objects such as cars etc.… or the artist running if that is present within the music video.

Dolly/tracking – this is when the camera is mounted on a track on a tripod which allows the camera to move smoothly and designed to capture shots in music videos which are similar to panning shots.

Editing and Special Effects There are many different approaches to editing that could be put forward, the general editing

process that occurs is cutting out parts that don’t quite fit in the music video. The software we used for editing our music video was Adobe Premiere. Different techniques that could be used are..

CGI – there are many parts of CGI such as green screen and other editing techniques. One example of a music video that uses CGI is Beyonce – Sweet Dreams

Green screen – this is also a common CGI and editing technique used in music videos. It is used to create interesting images to capture the audiences attention and promote the artist in unique way

Sound Sound - Sound normally consists of two types known as diegetic and non-diegetic,

diegetic sounds being those which are already present in the film, not many music videos have this, it is a rare feature but some do take this convention on board and there tends to be scenes of when the music is cut and dialogue is exchanged an example if this could be Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean? Or it could even occur at the beginning of a music video. Diegetic sounds are sounds that are editing in and are not part of the music video such as the music which in most cases is added on top and the artist in the music video is lip-synching to the song.

MISE EN SCENE

C – Costume The costume of the artist or band plays a big part in a music video as it is used as a representation

of what type of artist the person is and what image they are trying to create for themselves. An example of this is Lady Gaga – Bad Romance she is always dramatic and extravagant with her choice of outfits and it shows what her character is like and what she is like as a person, she is also successful at showing what type of artist she is, someone who is not afraid to express herself through her music and the way she looks. Costumes for girls within music videos especially within the pop genre tend to be very revealing and they are presented as an object for men too look at a prime example of this is Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines as the women are dancing around Robin Thicke who is the artist and looking at the women up and down(who are also naked) to show that it has an interest in them and the women are just there for the pleasure of the men. Men on the other hand in most cases are presented much more laid back and casual, they tend to wear casual clothes such as jeans and t-shirts but sometimes the roles are reversed and men are presented as objects for women too.

Lighting The lighting in a music video can create and distort different images depending on how the

light hits an object. It can also be used to create a setting and make the music video look more interesting, bright and alive. It can also allow the audience to recognise the genre of the music video e.g. pop music videos tend to be really bright and colourful if they are about a positive topic however there are sad pop songs which can then be reflected in the music video through the use of dark lighting which is what happens in Jess Glynne’s music video, the scenes of the little boy who is struggling have dark lighting however when he becomes successful at what he wanted to the lighting becomes brighter. This is a common theme within music videos the fact that the lighting creates a mood for the audience as brighter colours have connotations of happiness and darker colours have connotation of sadness. The pictures show how the lighting progresses as the mood of the little boy changes throughout the music video.

Makeup and Hair Hair and makeup has the same effect costumes have as it enables the artist to create their own

image about who they as an artist and what they bring in order to attract audiences and make the promotion of the their music video successful. Makeup and hair for girls especially in the pop genre as the same connotations that were explained for costume, they tend to have dramatic makeup as they are meant to be presented as objects that are there just for men to look at an example of this is the makeup and that Jessie J has in her Do it Like Dude music video, it is dramatic along with her outfit which follows along with the stereotype that girls are just objects within music videos. However, it does solely depend on the genre as it Jess Glynne’s other music video for her song Take Me Home she is shown wearing very little makeup and isn’t wearing any clothes, this can be taken two ways as the genre of the song is Ballard and one way it could be seen as is the fact she is showing herself in her raw state, stripped back and is letting her feelings out through the song lyrics another way it can be seen is that she is stereotyping herself with the idea that she is an object for men to look at because she is naked but her mannerisms in the music video don’t give this impression.

Props The main reason for props is to help illustrate the narrative within music and help to tell

the story that the artist is trying to tell, they can be used in a fun imaginative way to make the music video more interesting. One music video which uses props in fun and imaginative way is Katy Perry – California Girls.

Setting/location The obvious reason for a showing the location in a music video is to show the audience

where the artist is but it can also reveal the genre of the music to the audience. Examples of this are, pop/dance videos are usually set in clubs, on beaches, in cars etc… If the music video is on the street or in a big house it is most likely hip hop/grime/R&B. An example of this is Young Money – Bed Rock, it is set in a big house and, the genre is hip hop/R&B. If you compare this to Jennifer Lopez – I’m In To You which is pop/dance and is set on a beach.