My music video follows similar conventions of other rock videos. It does this by the location it is filmed in and the mise en scène. The location to where the band are playing is in a garage/warehouse, which is a typical place for bands to perform, for that ‘underground’ vibe.
Three types of Video:
Narrative - A video that has a narrative is one that tells any kind of story in linear, cause-effect sequencing. Love stories are the most common narrative mode in music video, especially love songs. E.g. The narrative pattern is one of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.
Performance - The most common type of music video with most genres of music. Often it will be mixed with the other two types (narrative and concept) for variety. It usually consists of the star or group singing in concert to wildly enthusiastic fans or just playing by themselves. The goal is to establish their identity and show off their skills. [Applies to my music video - mixed with conceptual]
Concept - Conceptual videos rely on poetic form and primarily metaphor. They don't tell a story in linear fashion, but rather create a mood, a feeling to be evoked in the experience of viewing. Conceptual videos contain the possibility for multiple meanings interpreted by the viewer. A successful concept video will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what is happening. There is no particular genre of music is more likely to use concept videos, in fact a range of artists covering all genres have used concept/ art based videos.
General Music Video Conventions:
Camera Shots:
Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist.
Examples from my video:
Camera Movement:
The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.
Example from my video: (Panning)
Mise-en-scene:
This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en-scene puts importance on the representation of something.
Examples from my video:
Editing:
Jump cuts is
the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this
allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such
as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different
effect to cuts.
Examples from my video:
Cross Fade, Additive Fade, Cross Fade, Fade to Black
Other main conventions
consist of:
Lighting:
Some music
videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood and some
videos have artificial lighting which put the artist/s in an enhanced
look.
Sound:
Sound is mainly
the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson – Thriller,
the producers can make the music video into a short film.
Props:
These are a
vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular
objects or people.
Costume:
This goes
with the scenes in the song and reflects the genre. Costume is an important
factor because it has a slight influence on how the viewers will dress because
they use some of the celebrities as role models - it also becomes part of their commercial image.
Applying Goodwin's theory to my music video:
1) Lyrics and visuals - Enigma is self titled. The song that promotes them, the meaning behind the name, 'love is like a crossword...an enigma made with words'
2) Music and visuals - The music and visuals link, because it's performance based. The concept section of the powder paint was used because it suited the guitar solo. The slow motion effect really enhanced the music in that segment.
3) Close up and star image motifs - Close ups are used to identify the band members. There aren't any motifs evident apart from their attire being very conventional the the genre of music and their age range.
4) Notion of looking - There is no real notion of looking in the video, except the high angle shot which is shot from a window - looking down on them.
5) Intextual References - There aren't any intextual references, because it is predominantly performance based, which is similar to other rock music video (as listed above).
6) What 'base' is the music video? - It is predominantly performance based with concept based filming used at the guitar solo to the end. The main purpose of it to be performance based is so the band can be established 'putting a face to the name' as well as following other conventions.
Music Video Comparison 1 - All American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret
The location of using a space with an warehouse type feel with connotations of isolation and focusing on the performance aspect, is often used in music videos. The difference here, however, is that All American Rejects are on a bigger budget and have it personalised to their song. When applying Goodwin's theory, both 'Dirty Little Secret' and my music video shows a relationship between the visual and the lyrics.
Enigma is self titled and the song promotes them and the meaning of their name, 'love is a crossword...like an enigma made with words'. 'Dirty Little Secret' is similarly linked, however,it uses cut scenes which relate to the lyrics of the song and puts a further emphasis on what the song is about.
The camera angles are similar to my video. The camera shots range from close ups, mid shots to pans. Both videos share similar camera work qualities. I think the camera angles are one of the strongest features in the video.
Music Video Comparison 2 - Nickelback - This Means War
The Mise en scène follows the same warehouse idea and with the lights being behind the band, which I have done in my video. However, in this video there is only main light, whereas I have some either side. The angles are similar to ones in my video, but many for of them. The pace of editing follows the tempo and beat of the music, which I have tried to do also in my music video. The song is fast pace so the transitions between shots are also fast. My music video isn't as fast paced, but it fulfil it's purpose.
Other examples:
‘Shocker in gloomtown’ by the breeders
‘1985’ by Bowling for Soup
‘The Pretender’ by Foo Fighters
Music Video Comparison 3 - ‘Now’ by Paramore
This video has similarities to my video with the powder paint concept. The paint is slowed down for it to be used effectively. The difference between my video and this one is that it is powder paint all the way and follows a vague narrative and the scale is larger. The camera angles captured are also similar such as, close ups, wide and mid shots.
Digipak Cover & Magazine Advertisement Conventions
Common features found on advertisements are: [examples: Paramore, Foofighters]
Band Name
Dates
Essential Information
Links
Image – embedded as the background
Logos/Record label
Similar font style
Image of album
Shows where it is available to buy - HMV
Consistent 'limited' colour scheme
My advertisement follows several conventional features from the list above, however, it challenges conventions with the use of colours for that particular genre. Due to my advertisement being focused on the powder paint there is a lot of colour, which you would probably see more in a pop advertisement/album for example, Mika.
Conventional Features Of My Advertisement
The same can be said for the digipak, because both ancillary texts are closely linked [See Eval. 2 for more detail].
Like the advertisement the digipak follows the conventional structure and pattern, but also challenges the conventional colour scheme of a rock genre band. The examples shown above show a limited usage of colour, where as my digipak is full of colour, but it does follow the same structure of where certain features go, such as the barcode, logo's, song list, titles etc.
Conventional Features Of My Digipak
