Styles, Conventions and Techniques Of A Music Video

What Are The Styles and Conventions?

In music video production, there are eight different styles that contain different conventions, and these are:

• Popular Music Genre
• In-Concert and 'as live' footage
• Narrative and interpretive
• Surrealist/absurdist
• Impressionist
• Influence Of Commercial
• Intertexual
• Animation

Popular Music Genre - In some music videos, the song and the images on-screen may reflect the genre of music as well as the artist. For example in Trey Songz's '2 Reasons' the video contains a lot of glamorization on alcohol, partying and style, quite popular in the genre of hip-hop / hi-NRG (high energy). It shows the artist performing to the camera, like it is an audience.

In-Concert and 'as live' footage - These music video consist of bands or an artists performing their music live. One example of this would be Michael Jackson's 'Another Part Of Me' which shows Michael performing his song on stage with some shots showing the audience's reaction to his performance, simple but effective. The video also shows a montage of some of Michael's moments in life before moving onto the live footage.

- Michael with Princess Diana.

Narrative and interpretive - These music videos contain conventions of an narrative, a story that the audience can follow whilst listening to the song. In some cases the lyrics of the song would contradict or ignore what is shown on screen and may not fit. However some narrative and interpretive music videos may have some lyric interpretation to it, linking the song to the images on-screen.

One example of this is Lawson's 'Taking Over Me' - The song is about loving a girl and how it makes the guy feel, which is beyond amazing. This is a song about a positive, passionate love. The video depicts a group of people who are in relationships going  on a road trip, enjoying life.

This gives off the feel of happiness and love and fits well with the song lyric "love is taking over me". It promotes a literal expression of passionate love or lovers. The video begins with a road trip and ends at a generic american motel.

Surrealist / absurdist - The conventions for these kinds of music videos surprise and sometimes confuse the spectator by adding things that are unconventional and bear not relation to the lyrics. One example of this is Fall Out Boy's 'Where Did The Party Go' -  The song speaks about a party and the question to where it has gone and speaks about the enjoyment of the party. However the video shows a group of people running from a dangerous threat in a hospital, with a few references to parties. The weirdest of the video conveys a hidden message and is shown through different features in the video.

Impressionist - These music videos try to capture the emotional tone rather than the literal meaning to the lyrics. However they could extend or consolidate a song's meaning. They contain common conventions that are seen as 'artistic' such as soft lighting, flowing and intermingling colours and soft edges. One example of this is Kelly Clarkson's 'Dark Side'. This video uses a lot of montages of different people's 'dark side', the things they see as a problem in their life. It uses a lot of slow moving shots of different objects and people to convey the message of being proud of your 'dark side'. The artistic shots of different locations also connotes the 'dark' side to the song.

Influence Of Commercial - Some videos may glamorize or reference a certain way of life like being rich, or being working class etc. For example 50 Cent's 'Window Shopper' shows the artist in the high life of being rich, visiting loads of stores which have ridiculous prices, however he continues to buy. This shows that to him, money isn't an object.

Intertexual: Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody, Homage and Referencing - When a music video is made, it may include references to other texts or subjects. Synergy in music videos is when a music video references a film or even has clips from the film in the video. Synergy may also promote a film by using footage from the film in the music video. Allusion is when a music video 'allude' to another piece of text, historical / cultural event or person. Music videos may also imitate another artist or their style in a light hearted way, this is called pastiche. This is different to parody, as they purposely make fun out of the artist, song or video. Homage is when an artist makes a video that respects the artist as a way of saying thank you.

One example of an Synergy is 2-Chainz's 'We Own It' - This music video was a promotional music video for the feature film Fast Furious 6. This video contains footage from the film throughout and was the official video and song for the movie.

Pictures that shows the music video promoting the film - It shows no footage of the artist singing the song just the footage from the movie.

One example for Allusion is Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Care About Us' - This video shows Michael within a prison performing his song surrounded by different historical events from the past. It also makes references to different people and cultures.

The picture shows a picture of Michael and the famous Franklin D. Roosevelt.

One example for a pastiche is Christina Aguilera's 'Lady Marmalade' - This music video is an imitation and a reference of the film 'Moulin Rouge'. It imitates without mocking the film or other references to the song.

The first picture is from the music video. The second picture below that is the film poster. This shows that the music video is clearly imitating the film due to the similar cabaret theme.

One example for a parody is Fall Out Boy's 'Beat It' (originally by Michael Jackson) - This video shows the band Fall Out Boy wondering through a world where there are numerous amounts of references to Michael Jackson, with some mocking his dance moves. For example in the video there is a martial arts class where people learn Michael Jackson dance moves. In a way this video could also be a homage as it is paying respect to Michael's song 'Beat It' and his iconic moments in life.

Here is the martial arts class scene:

Animation (stop-motion and digital) - Some music videos also implement animation weather it be stop-motion or digital. An example of this is a-ha's 'Take On Me'. This video uses stop-motion / comic-book like animation to create their narrative with some real life footage. The video is about a man in a comic-book who meets a girl in real life and is about how their worlds intertwine with one another.

Techniques In A Music Video

Lip-Sync, miming and playback - For a music video to flow coherently, lip-syncing the song correctly is required. Some music videos go without lip-syncing, so is not compulsory, however if it is included it needs to look like the artist is actually singing the song in that moment in time. They are more common in music videos that contain a narrative. To have a slow-motion effect or sped-up effect and still have a coherent lip-sync requires the original song to be slowed down or sped up first before filming. This then can be fixed in post-production. When filming the artist lip-syncing, the song itself can be played in the background (playback) and then be added on in post-production, removing the camera audio.

An example of a video that does this is Chris Brown's 'Don't Judge Me' - This music video starts off with Chris performing his song in slow-motion as he starts to walk down a long and lonely road.

Editing - Editing in music videos is referring to the way the music video is edited as some are done so in interesting way. In some instances they break some music video conventions.

An example of this is Green Day's 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams' - This music video has a very interesting super-8 film effect put on it as well as a constant green screen effect which gives the illusion that the band are walking through different locations when they are actually in one spot (assuming on treadmills).

Cutting To The Beat / Multi - Image Effect - To get a clear understanding to what the music video's rhythm is, having shots that cut to the beat could help. It adds some coherency to the video. The multi-image effect is also a common convention in music videos which can add an interesting look to it. It shows more than one piece of action on screen. One example that uses both of these is R.Kelly's 'Same Girl'.
  

Post-Production Effects / Chroma Key - Adding special effects to a music video could really help in creating an interesting and attracting music video. Depending on the genre of music only some will use special effects. It can mostly be seen in popular music genres where the budget is a lot bigger. It may help in attracting a different target audience. Chroma key is when a blue or green screen is replaced with an image, moving or still.

One example that has special effects in it is Bad Meets Evil's 'Fast Lane' - This music video incorporates special effect text with the movement of the artists on screen.

One example for Chroma Key is Kanye West's 'Bound 2' - This video shows Kanye West and his girlfriend riding on a bike against a green screen.

 

Camera Movements, Angles and Shot Types - Pans, tilts, crabs and tracking shots can add excitement to a music video. Various shot types could also create a meaning or tone for the audience. An example for camera movements / shot types is Nelly's 'Hey Porsche'. This video contains a lot of helicopter shots / high angle of the car driving down the road. This creates a tone of excitement for the audience.

Mise-en-scene - This is crucial when creating a music video with a desire to create a certain mood, weather it's glamour, passion, anger etc. One example for this is Michael Jackson's 'You Rock My World' - This video makes sure that it sticks to the 1930 - 50's theme by using the correct costumes and setting for that time period.


Examples of Mise-En-Scene in the video:

This shot in the music video could indicate that the music video is set in the 1920's / 1930's as the 'Broadway' font was created in 1927 and was popular in places like Chicago.

This scene from the music video shows a little bit of the decor of the location as well as a wall phone. The wall phone was popular in the 1930's and is a great mise-en-scene feature.

In the 1930's the Zippo lighters were created and the style of those lighters are seen in this segment of the video.

Cocktails, specifically martinis, were popular in the 1930's and are briefly shown in this segment of the video.

Fans like this were seen a lot in the 1930's and are seen behind the bar when Michael jumps onto bar and starts dancing.

References

Michael Jackson, Another Part Of Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vwHQNQ88cM

Lawson, Taking Over Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqsSKINniQQ
Fall Out Boy, Where Did The Party Go Information - http://shmelley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/fall-out-boy-where-did-party-go_3.html
Fall Out Boy, Where Did The Party Go - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9hESWfeXG0
Kelly Clarkson, Dark Side - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ArpRWcGe0
2-Chainz, We Own It - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ba4okDgx0
Michael Jackson, They Don't Care About Us - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97nAvTVeR6o
Christina Aguilera, Lady Marmalade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk
Fall Out Boy, Beat It - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk8Pb17pcQI
a-ha, Take On Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914
Chris Brown, Don't Judge Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29nI8RQV0U
Green Day, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soa3gO7tL-c
MTV Awards For Best Editing Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV_Video_Music_Award_for_Best_Editing
R.Kelly, Same Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFnKgIptbq0
Bad Meets Evil, Fast Lane - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOsjP33nF4
Kanye West, Bound 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBAtAM7vtgc
Nelly, Porsche - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh1ZFNoREjg
Michael Jackson, You Rock My World - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-7ABIM2qjU
Hi-NRG Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-NRG
'2 Reasons', Trey Songz Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Reasons
The Purpose Of Music Videos SlideShare - http://www.slideshare.net/MsJMcLeod/the-purpose-of-music-videos
Trey Songz, 2 Reasons - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itnvwZ4Z1Hc
Music Videos - Styles, Conventions and Techniques PowerPoint - http://www.scribd.com/doc/150378840/Music-Videos-%E2%80%93-Styles-Conventions-and-Techniques-2
50 Cent, Window Shopper - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFLow5StvvU
'Moulin Rouge!' Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulin_Rouge!
'Moulin Rouge!' Poster Picture - http://www.imdb.com/media/rm773693184/tt0203009?ref_=tt_ov_i
Broadway Font Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(typeface)
Martini Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini_(cocktail)
Timeline Of Organized Crime In Chicago - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_organized_crime_in_Chicago
Zippo Information - http://www.zippo.com/about/article.aspx?id=1574