Cooler Than Me - Mike Posner

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• "Live" performance from the band
• Faded corners
• Artist featured
• Singing into camera
• Blurred, revolving effects
• Jump cuts
• Camera in the video
• Variety of locations
• Grayscale effect, black and white effect, coloured effect, added red effect
• Addresses a universal issue - materialism and alcoholism

Wicked Heart - Diana Vickers

Breif List of Conventions Used:

• Artist sings into the camera
• Variety of locations
• Heavy makeup
• Bright colours
• Quick cuts
• Static camera at times (broken convention)
• Zooms in and out
• All settings flash by quickly at the end
• Fade to black

I Believe In A Thing Called Love - Darkness

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Artist+band performance
• Camera consistently moving - dolly work
• Musicality emphasised
• Begins in the same way that it ends - spaceship
• Added to song
• Nudity, erotic
• Match on lyrics and actions
• In sync
• One real location (broken convention)
• Multiple settings
• Original costume (broken convention)
• Camera moves side to side
• Rate of convergence matches song



Grace Kelly - Mika

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Bright primary colours
• Slow camera movement (broken convention)
• Band performance
• Slower cuts (broken convention)
• Artist featured
• Iconic prop - umbrella
• Dancing involved
• One location, different rooms (unique)
• Sings into camera
• Temporal flow through lighting - ie. begins well lit - daylight, ends up dark with artificial lighting
• Fade to black

Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Opens with dialogue
• Sound bridge
• Extreme close up
• In and out of focus
• Contrapuntal (content codes, emotive music)
• Some diegetic sound
• Silhouettes
• Narrative and singer interlude
• Montage
• Chronological
• In sync
• "Live" performance
• Cinematic
• Realistic mise-en-scene
• Ideology: negative view on war- destroys relationships
• Intimate camera work

Before The Lights Go Out - Artcic Monkeys

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Narrative
• Geographically ends where it begins
• Establishing shots
• Realistic
• Emotive, connection with characters
• 180 degree rule broken
• No dialogue
• Tracking
• Rapid cuts
• Variety of angles



Love The Way You Lie - Eminem ft Rihanna

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• In sync
• Montage used in replacement to dialogue
• Flashbacks (not chronological, no temporal continuity)
• Artists featured
• Narrative
• Extreme close ups - intimite camera work
• Sense of realism
• In and out of focus - spontaneous implied
• No stage/sense of performance (broken convention)
• Two worlds collide - artists and actors join
• Actors mime "I'm leaving you" "No you ain't!" (broken convention)
• Fire (also code for passion, love, desire, pain, destruction, anger)
• Addresses the issue of violence/abusive relationships
• Tittilation - actors become arroused by violence
• Point of view shots
• Rihanna sings looking into the camera
• Tilting
• Panning
• Iconic costume (Eminem)
• Tracking

Every single frame of a piece of media has to be constructed in a way that forms the mise-en-scene can be decoded as the preferred reading every time - without no audio narrative featured in almost all music videos, the construction of each shot is perhaps even more important.

So what codes and conventions are there? What do they all represent?

Film Still Analysis

Film directors construct every single detail for every frame of a film, focusing on media language from; props, to costume, facial expressions to lighting, camera angles and colour tints. This analysis will focus in on the latter three.

The most obvious of the three in this case has to be the camera angle. A central high angle shot allows the audience to envisage the majority of the bedroom. The two men are placed either side of the centre with an even distance between, suggesting an impression of them being equals. By watching the film this is confirmed, as the two males are in a balanced argument from both sides, the director has deliberately constructed this frame so that the audience can decode the preferred reading.

The lighting in this image compliments the colour. There is only filter lighting from the audience’s left giving the impression of the window being there. This of course forms shadows across the floor, once again highlighting the idea that it’s during the day as oppose to night. Also, each actor’s face is half covered by shadow, which should be primarily decoded as them being equals in their argument, with the audience able to decode their feel of anger towards each other.

The frame has a blue tint to it, which highlights the fact that it is set in the evening; however, the audience are likely to subconsciously decode the fact that it is not really dark enough to be night time, reinforcing the film’s storyline of the men being treated like young children. The strong use of blues and bold reds implies that the men still have a children’s bedroom, as young boys tend to have blue forced upon them. Primary colours are the most dominant in this frame to confirm the childlike vibe, which also follows a convention of comedy. The wall paper is primarily white, with thin, faint black doodles. This, decoded hints at the men’s innocence. Although, if the audience absorb the entire frame, they’re able to see that the sector of the scene the men are in is covered in shadow and darkness. This is a: juxtaposition. Their bad behaviour is exaggerated by displaying the contrast between how they could be and how they are. They are choosing at argue and behave badly.

Every aspect of media language is considered carefully in order to construct an overall mise-en-scene that can only be decoded as the intended preferred reading, ninety-nine per cent of the time. This particular frame from the comedy film Step Brothers does this well, as the audience should be able to decode the preferred reading from this image without having seen the film or knowing the plot.

Music Video Analysis'

Which conventions work with which genres?

Nickelback - Far Away

       Far Away begins with an establishing shot of a house, straight away introducing the fact that it is a narrative video. The camera is moving most likely by the use of a dolly, and the mise-en-scene is realistic though featuring dominantly grey and dead-looking greenery - which is code for sadness and depression. This results in an obvious preferred reading, ie. something isn’t right; and it consequently builds the atmosphere for an emotive storyline.
       Next, a hand held, blurred low angle shot is revealed, slowly moving upward and focusing on a stereotypically attractive male, who appears to be at about the same age as members of a conventional rock band, such as Nickelback. The facial expression the man conveys is in fact a gentle smile, which juxtaposes the original establishing shot as well as the present mise-en-scene – similar colour use to the previous shot, though with a noticeable deep blue shape on the man’s sleeveless top which is generally decoded as sadness. This shot could be a point of view shot from the female’s perspective who is in bed opposite the male character – the blurred vision could be a code for her having just woken up, however the audience do not know that there is another character involved yet.
       The camera then cuts to a hand-held camera, held by the male character, though it is once more out of focus. As it begins to focus, it can be noticed that the screen is in fact the same blue colour as the man’s top, and the moving image is of the female in bed. The female’s body language here – sprawled under a duvet covering her face; can be read in two ways. The preferred reading is that she is curled up laughing at something her apparent partner has said or done, conversely the negotiated reading could be that she is curled up in bed crying; and through the colour use the negotiated reading is in fact slightly more dominant than the preferred reading. This could have been deliberately constructed by the video director, as due to the obviousness of the next shot the audience would feel a sense of shock as they discover that they were wrong, and the likely reaction would to be for the audience to then pay closer attention to the video – and become more engaged. Gaining the audience’s deep attention in a matter of just four shots is an extremely positive thing for any piece of media.
       In the next shot the female is very clearly laughing. The mise-en-scene is a bright white, with very little shadow visible. This can be decoded as not only happiness and innocence but a juxtaposition of how things really are. The duvet covers wrapped around her can be decoded as a comfort, implying that there’s something to need comforting about. The fact that the previous shot displayed the same vision in darker more blue colours, it shows that there are two ways to look at the situation though the audience still don’t fully know what’s going on yet – again making them want to concentrate on every little detail constructed in the video.
       The juxtaposed colour use conveys the ‘ups and downs’ of relationships. It’s as if the colours are almost speeding up the temporal flow of their relationship, which can be decoded as; their situation (still unknown to the audience), is: ongoing.
       As the camera on a dolly zooms in on the female is veers gently from side to side, where a playful atmosphere can be decoded. The happy, bubbly seeming female then extends her arm towards the camera lens; obscuring the view. As this happens, the shot does a rounded fade to black, exactly on the first drumbeat of the song.
       The next shot fades up to reveal a long shot of a new setting; a mock-up stage with a dominant use of black and red – conventions of rock and indie, and a performance taking place, which is also a convention; of any genre of music video. The camera starts from the audience’s right and gently moves across to the left, either via a low crane or dolly. The shot could in fact be a point of view shot from the audience’s perspective, is a low angle shot as if they’re watching a live performance. The camera is looking up at Nickelback, raising their profile and level of importance in the video. As the camera moves further left, bright yellow stage lighting can be seen fanning upwards behind the singer, again, highlighting his importance. With reds and yellows shining onto the stage and blending a firey atmosphere is created.
       After four syllables the camera cuts to a medium close up of the singer, for the next four syllables as the camera slowly rotates around his front towards the right – back the way it came, possibly so as not to break the 180 degree rule. The change of direction could have been disorientating but as the transition is at such a slow pace it’s easy for the audience to comprehend. The fact that the camera doesn’t jump around reinforces the realism of the music video. As the artist mimes, he nods his head in time, for example, on “misused, mistakes” he nods his head both times on “mis”. Although it is a seemingly live performance, it does highlight that the actions are in sync with the audio track. His facial expression is serious, as if he shares a personal connection with the song, and he looks into the camera lens, revealing the sense that he’s performing to us individually – the audience.
       The artist is wearing a white t-shirt which could have been encoded to imply innocence, and he has long, messy hair – though it is not too unkept. If his attire were to be darker and hair less tidy he would have clearly represented rock, however he’s less dark, suggesting he performs lighter rock. It is important to remember that even small parts of media language such as costume and hair, could mean the difference between a preferred reading and an alternative one.
       After the medium close up, the screen once more fades to black, on the drumbeat. The image of the bedroom reappears from around 30 degrees more to the left, but still featuring the use of a dolly. The mise-en-scene involves: a stripy duvet cover, stereotypical bedroom clutter and dull green wallpaper. The curtains are open to let in the light; most likely metaphorically too, and the headboard of the bed is a series of bars, which decoded can represent prison; being trapped, not in control of their own lives, an urge to break free from their current situation but unable to. Conversely, the couple are sharing a newspaper together, laughing and joking – juxtaposition to the mise-en-scene as well as the music and lyrics.
       The camera then cuts to a high angled medium close up of a mobile phone placed realistically, diagonally on a bedside table, as the lyrics sound “too”, then the screen lights up on “late”. This is a little bit overly in sync, which with further reading could represent the time the couple have just spent together – too perfect to be true. The mobile itself is surrounded quite heavily by shadow, which decoded suggests that the call is not a positive thing.
       Next: a close up of the couple’s expressions as they react to the call. The male character looks left to the phone, back at the newspaper then breathes deeply in as he sits up in time to the music. He is dressed in black and has a serious expression which is obvious enough for the audience to pick up on. This can easily be subconsciously decoded by the audience to portray that he is reluctant to answer, again implying that the phone call isn’t a good thing. The female’s reaction confirms this as she shakes her head in disbelief, which leads us, the audience, to believe that it is a regular occurrence and not a one off. The drum sounds again and the scene fades to black. The fades to black could almost represent heavy eyelids; the characters are tired of their lifestyle and trying to block it out by closing their eyes, but it just carries on.
       As the audience are shown back to the band, there is a mid/high angle dolly shot of the singer, still moving, with the singer being surrounded by red lights; this time with the yellow lighting to his right side, hinting at the fact that time is progressing, though it’s subtle and cohesive. The 180 degree rule still hasn’t been broken.
       The next shot comes into place with another drumbeat and features a band member, again encircled by red backlighting but this time making the artist a silhouette. It is likely that the director chose this lighting as the band member is unimportant to the storyline or video, but the guitar and microphone in the silhouette expand on Nickelback’s passion for musicality, as well as the song in particular.
       Once more there is a drumbeat and the setting returns to the bedroom, this time with a long shot of the male climbing out of bed whilst on the phone, and the female sat up making her appear attentive. The camera moves gradually leftwards with a plant obscuring part of the view on the right side of the screen near the male character. This could be an extremely subtle code for him getting hit by a tree towards the middle/end of the video, as could the green wall paper, and colour theme in the narrative throughout.
       On yet another drumbeat the scene cuts to a medium close up from behind the male character as he hangs up the phone. There is a contrast of his black t-shirt over the pale wall, which can be decoded as the role reversal of now the dark aspect of their life is dominating the good once more; though the audience still remain clueless as to what this is. There is another plant and green shadow on the wall, subtly reinforcing the idea of a tree collapsing onto the male character in the future. The fact that he has his back to the camera and also to his girlfriend implies that he becomes distant and shuts his girlfriend out through the hard times.

An Introduction to Music Videos

"They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art." - Charlie Parker

Very few music videos are entirely original, as to be unique music video producers would have to dare to break as many conventions as possible, consequently risking failure in the hope that their production would boom into the charts, and the chance of this succeeding is: very slim. This is why the conventions of music video do appear consistently, resulting in each video becoming recognisable as belonging to a certain genre, however; music videos would all be the same if they were to purely rely on this so it is down to producers to encode subtle media language to mark their individuality and be a cut above the rest, to primarily make it; on a big scale.

Conventions make the audience feel accustomed to certain genres and comfortable with what they’re watching. If conventions are challenged too far it is likely that the audience wouldn’t know how to react, resulting in them deciding to not react or even react in a negative way, which would make the targeted audience disconnect with the artist. Conventions are all about engaging and building a connection between artist and audience, so as to provoke preferred readings rather than negotiated ones.

The conventions of music video gently vary depending on the genre of music and consistently adapt with technological advances, however, some general conventions can be depicted and categorised into two types: technical and symbolic conventions.

Technical

Camera Angles – in current music videos, a large range of different shots and camera techniques are used in order to create a sense of temporal flow, primarily at a fast and exciting pace to suit the current, twenty-first century lifestyle.

"...moving; it starts almost invariably as soon as the video begins and only ceases towards the end" - Carol Vernallis

Music production artists are creative and unique by using camera techniques that can disorientate the audience and keep them highly engaged. The use of: high angle shots, mid shots, low angle shots, close ups, medium close ups, point of view shots, long shots and extreme close ups, are all used in music video production. Processes such as: tracking, panning, rolling, tilting, crane shots and the use of a dolly are also heavily featured, to add to the variation and ‘attention-seeking’ effect portrayed in today's music videos.

Editing - music video producers consciously make their editing really obvious and not at all seamless, in order to be instantly recognised as being from the music video genre, and not from a film or television programme. Some technological decisions can seem odd and unprofessional, although they are all deliberate and there to cause a desired impact. The most common edits involved in the music production process include: straight cuts, jump cuts, cross dissolve effects, fade up/out, matches on action, insert shots and wipes.

Sound - sound, though often discrete in music video, can still feature. Diegetic sounds can play as an introduction, during or even after a music video. Certain sounds are sometimes intensified to emphasise events or actions - this is not just a convention of music videos; it is found in films and television drama.

Symbolic

Facial expressions - conventional facial expressions differ with genre so it is hard to universalise them. There are a few however; in the majority of music videos, the band, artist or actors/actresses will look into the camera at some point during the video. This expresses a personal performance as the audience feel that these people are looking at them individually. The facial expressions need to express emotion with the assistance of intimate camera work, pop for example would featured animated expressions whereas rap would display more angry, agressive ones. Facial expressions help to highlight the genre of a music video.

Mise-en-scene - mise-en-scene also varies from genre to genre. Rap music videos would be situated conventionally in urban surroundings or club environments for example

Costume -

Types of Music Video

There are four main styles of music video although with current music artists facing the largest competition for success - ever - these types are more often than not merged together in an attempt to seem original.

Performance Video: purely focuses on the band or artist performing their music –Tiao Cruz – Dynamite

Narrative Video: features a storyline with actors, sometimes involving dialogue, and usually cuts to the band performing at regular intervals eg. Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends

Cameo Video: has the band or artist featured heavily in the storyline, usually a musical performance isn’t involved eg. Avril Lavigne – When You’re Gone

Animation Video: digitally created, sometimes cartoon eg. The Gorillaz