Media advanced portfolio : September 2013

Andrew Goodwin
Andrew identifies 5 key aspects of music videos that the audience should look out for:
Thought beats- Seeing the sound
Firstly we must take in to account the structure of the song, then the voice singing the song as it can form identification or trademarks that work well with the star image and then we must take in to consideration the artists mode of address. Songs can be seen as stories and the artist is the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device.

Narrative and performance
Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative because it is important in their role of advertising. Narrative and performance hand in hand make it easier for the audience to watch the video over and over without loosing interest. The artist working as the narrator and participant helps to increase the authenticity. The audience needs to believe its real.

The star image
The star image is a vital aspect. Meta narrative is a big story that describes the development of the star over time, it has an important part to play in the music video production process.

Relation of visuals to song
There are three ways in which music videos work to promote a song:
Illustrate
Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre. This is most common.
Amplify
Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed in to our vision.
Disjuncture
The meaning of the song is completely ignored.

Technical aspects of music video
Technical aspects hold the music video together through the use of camera movement, angles, mise en scene, editing, sound and special effects.
Lighting and colour help set the mood and emphasise key moments of the song for dramatic effect.
The location of a music video is vital, it needs to look authentic to maintain professionalism.
Music videos have cuts to go with the beat making the video more entertaining.

Carol Vernallis
This theory centres around 4 key concepts:
-Narrative
-Editing
-Camera movement and framing
-Diegesis

Narrative

The video is a visual response to the music
There is not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance
The narrative is not always complete – it may be a partial, fragmented narrative
The structure of the video may appear disjointed
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the
music, the performance, a mixture or some other element
There may not always be a clear resolution (closure) at the end
The video may pose questions that it doesn’t actually answer
There may be a narrative or theme running through the video, but in a montage style

Editing

Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat
The video may break or disrupt many of the ‘rules’ of continuity editing – this is a clear
convention of music video editing
Editing may become ‘foregrounded – the edits may be really obvious, to draw attention
to themselves as opposed to invisible, continuity editing

For example, you may see:
Jump cuts
Breaks of the 30 degree rule
Breaks of the 180 degree rule
Cutting against the movement
Cutting within the lyrics
Fancy edits or cuts
Extreme jumps in time and space
Extreme changes in pace
Juxtaposed frames
Graphic matches
A style of editing that runs through the video and is distinctive to that video
You may not see:
Smooth transitions
Matches on action
An even pace throughout

Camera movement and framing

When it comes to shot types, extremes are very common.
The style of framing and movement may run through the video and is distinctive to that video
The camera may move in time with the music
The camera may move on the lyrics
The establishing shot and close-ups are used frequently

Diegesis

The diegesis may be revealed quite slowly
Actions are not necessarily completed – they may be disrupted or interrupted in some
way
Character or object movements may move to the music
There may be gaps in the audience’s understanding of the diegesis – in time and space,
music, performance and narrative
Some frames may be more important than others

There may be many repetitions. E.g. musical phrases, the beat, other musical elements, themes, lyrics, performance, images, colours, camera positions