Ghetto Gospel - 2pac

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Point of view shot, sirens, helicopters
• Conventional image and costume - baseball cap, hood up
• Establishing shot, urban
• Defocussing effect
• Hand held camera, realism
• Montage to build a character's profile - no dialogue
• No artist featured (Tupac is dead, Elton John not featured)
• Drugs
• Time continuem - starts and ends in the same place/time
• Temporal leaps - jumps around in time
• Graphic match - face to sun
• Pathetic fallacy - rain, dark
• Fade to black
• Series of establishing shots - church juxtaposes city
• Intimite camera work
• Serious issues addressed - poverty, gangs, drug abuse, death, religion peer pressure, crime

Not Afraid - Eminem

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Sings (raps) into camera lens
• Artist featured
• Iconic costume
• Angry facial expressions and body language - suits genre
• Zooms in and out
• Intertextuality
• Urban surroundings
• Camera wobbles - disorientating
• Returns to first setting at the end

Telephone - Lady Gaga & Beyonce

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Intertextuality - Thelma and Louise and Kill Bill
• Narrative - though not main focus, main focus is on effects
• Establishing shot - prison
• Low angle shot - makes prison fence appear more domineering, unescapable
• Font - 70s graphics - old style, yellow and pink, feminine, strong and bold, 'girl power'
• High angle shot - CCTV narrative
• Tittilation - lesbian erotic
• Iconic costume - old fashioned prisoner costume
• Point of view shots
• Breaks 30 degree rule
• Temporal spurts
• Realistic mise-en-scene - juxtaposes ellaborate costumes
• Phallic symbols (represents male genitalia)
• Breaks 180 degree rule
• Product placement
• Unrealistic camera work - visual trickery
• Close up emotion - more obvious moods displayed - there's no dialogue like in films
• Intimate/erotic camera work - high angle-cleavage, low angle-crotch
• Sense of performance
• Dancing
• Stills - fast jump cuts, like photographs
• Split screen
• Narrative characters join artists

In order to accumulate the best ideas of conventions to follow for my music video, I decided to analyse two more dated music videos and see which conventions are not used and the impact this has when watching the videos from the twenty-first century's perspective.

Stay - Shakespear's Sister

Breif List of Conventions Used:

• Never static, constant panning
• Looks into camera lens
• Slower cuts
• Two locations, though mostly in one
• Builds up speed with temporal flow
• Both narratives join
• Features artists
• Realistic
• Fades to black to end

Ironic - Alanis Morissette

Breif List of Conventions Used:

• Realistic
• Fast cuts (at beginning)
• Temporal relationship
• Diegetic sounds (cars)

From analysing the conventions used in this video the popular ones that are missing are apparent. It is clear to see why certain conventions have been introduced since the production of  Stay and Ironic. Using this, I must think to:

• Not make my music video so realistic that it becomes boring or too similar to film production
• Vary the length of cuts and vary the pace, preferably keeping it much faster then Stay or Ironic
• Use a variety of locations - focusing solely or mainly on one becomes boring and too realistic
• Make sure that each character is clearly defined to avoid confusion - the characters in Ironic's narrative are all very similar looking, this is best avoided

Toxicity - System of a Down
Brief List of Conventions:

• Features the band
• Performance on stage
• Breaks 180 degree rule
• In sync
• Black and white theme
• High angle shot of drums
• Never static, constant dolly use
• Some defocusing
• Variety of settings
• Close ups on instruments and artists
• Focus on musicality
• Low angle shots from audience/crowd
• Iconic costumes
• Zooms in and out
• Note: no narrative

When You're Gone - Avril Lavigne

Brief List of Conventions Used:

• Fade in from black
• Multiple narratives
• Musicality focus (piano)
• Artist featured
• Short, quick cuts
• Serious issue addressed - army theme
• Extreme close-ups
• Intimate camera work
• Performing into the camera
• Realistic
• Grey, brown, green colour scheme (army)
• Emotive body language
• Emotive facial expressions
• Artist joins the narrative's location (forest)
• Camera within the video

Album Cover Art Research

Cover Art Must:

• Establish the genre of music, the identity of the artists and credibility of the artist and the album itself.
• Involve striking imagery as a persuasive device to draw the targeted audience in, and strong codes and conventions in order to communicate with the audience.

Cover art can either be innovative or conventional depending on the genre involved.

Conventions of Cover Art

• Artist's name
• Album name
• Popular featured song tracks
• Artist/band
• Striking image
• Explicit sticker
• Barcode

Historical Context

• Prior to the 1950s album covers consisted of: landscapes, or serious images. The covers were functional rather than creative.
• During the 1950's Pop Art (-popular culture and high art) was introduced to album covers, originally by The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, with Peter Blake as the artist.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album Cover Art Analysis

Codes Decoded:
Flowers in the foreground - hippy, spirit- peace and love, drugs, nature, beauty.
Drum - reinforces seriousness of their musicality. Circus font and styling- fun, performance, entertainment, vibrant.
Costume - Performers, striking(note colours)- juxtaposes the military jackets- undermines. New, less serious than any previous cover album. Shocking.
Facial expressions - serious. Serious about their music.
Location - includes: palm tree, blue sky - happy, free, summer of love, hope, exotic, different - new. The iconic images of other artists are below the blue sky - they appear to be on the island - all in their own league.
The band - are central and in the foreground. They are infront of a large range of the biggest iconic singers ever recorded, placing their status before theirs - trying to subtley raise the audience's opinions of their popularity and status in the music league.

Nirvana - Nevermind

Codes Decoded:
Money on a hook - society taught to set out to achieve and recieve money from a young age - the baby is following the money blindly(can't see properly under water) - suggesting that society aren't seeing things clearly.
Water - can move any direction in water, nothing in sight to stop the baby/society but the baby still swims towards the money - follwing like sheep. Corrupting baby - Nirvana corrupting us? Revealing the truth?
Baby - new album, fresh, innocence, unique, undiscovered, under-developed - like Nirvana. New.
Money+Baby - Ideological album cover - juxtaposition - innocence and corrupt American(dollar bill) society. Materialistic, money-driven, political statement- serious band, unnatural.
Font - now iconic - black, bold, underlined, capitals - all make it striking. Simple - not superficial, sophisticated, serious(about their music). Tall font - proud. Same size - equality in society.

Rage Against the Machine

Codes Decoded:
Lingustics - Rage Against" - protest. "The Machine" - society - protest against society. Rebellious. (also tried (and succeeded) to take over Simon Cowell's almost guaranteed number one spot).
Context - Man coated himself in petrol and set himself on fire in a busy American street in protest to the Vietnamise war. Died. - If pragmatics are understood - instant impact. If not, the imagery does this anyway.
Colours - black, grey and white - newspaper print - serious, shock, impact, importance, realism.
Title - bold, cut-out-paper effect - again strengthening the newspaper code.
Self-titled band - serious about these specific issues.
Band doesn't feature - breaks convention. Not interested in the personal publicity, purely that of the cause. Serious artist. Serious on musicality.

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.

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