Codes And Conventions Of Music Videos 15466j

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos By Jessica Peaty

What are codes and conventions? Codes: Are a system of technical or symbolic signs that create meaning. Conventions: The accepted way of doing something.

Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre, to discuss a technical code used (e.g camerawork) and saying how it is conventionally used in genre. By using the correct signs, a person is able to shape a product into a genre by using the system of signs that are iconography/ indefinable to that certain genre.

Types of codes: There are two types of codes: 1. Technical: Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text. For example, the way camera shots/angles/movement are used. 2. Symbolic: Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character’s actions show how the character is feeling.

Impacts codes and conventions have • The audience start to recognise a particular genre, as they are used to denoting the continuing theme of conventions within that genre. • Allows the audience to understand through a structure. • Ensures the lyrics fit with the video (of how the target audience expect it to do). • Depending on the genre, codes and conventions create different atmospheric relationships between the genre and audience.

Examples of codes and conventions: Codes and conventions differ depending on the genre of the music video, however the basic overall codes and conventions for all genres include: 1. The style of the music video 2. The camera shots, movement and angles. 3. The sound (Non-diegetic and diegetic) 4. Editing 5. Mise-en-scene (this includes; Props, lighting, costumes, hair and makeup, location/setting, colours).

1. Style of Music Videos The style of the music video is used to present an interpretation (whether that’s the dominant, oppositional or negotiated readings) these styles are the following: • Performance • Narrative • Combined • Cameo • Animated • Abstract

Performance: System of a Down

Performance music videos are when the artist appears only to perform the song, this certain style benefits from a lower budget. An good example of a performance based video is, ‘Chop Suey’ by System of a Down. Throughout the entirety of the video the band are on the certain of a stage performing around an fiery and ionate crowd. The energy of the crowd radiates a positive and exciting atmosphere that the demographic feel through the video. Various camera angles, movements and shots (technical codes) have been used presented in the form of quick jump shots edits, this keeps the video interesting and unique, keeping the audience engaged throughout the video, the fast pace of the jump cuts are parallel to the non-diegetic soundtrack, as it creates a fast moving and energising atmosphere for the audience to endure. The images of the lead singer singing, are parallel to the non-diegetic soundtrack connoted through the lack of diegetic sound contrapuntal to the images of the screaming crowd.

Performance: Beyoncé Beyoncé’s Love on top music video also takes the style of performance, where the video continuously presents the artist performing without taking an narrative or any other scenes. As performance is mainly targeted for lower budgeted artists and don’t produce best or popularity, therefore Beyoncé is challenging this in a creative way with costume changes throughout the video. The white open studio location adds to the lack of narrative and causes the target audience to focus on the performance and non-diegetic soundtrack. The video opens, as if it was concert -dancing with backups, signifying and giving the demographic the impression of they are watching a rehearsal for one of Beyoncé's show. Enigma (Barthe’s theory) is connoted through the ideology that the audience are never shown whom or what the artist and her dancers are facing.

Performance: Green Day Green Day, ‘American Idiot’ is a third example of a performance styled music video. Throughout the video the band are performing their song denoted within various camera shots, angles, movements and lighting techniques to keep the audience interest and to conform and become parallel to music itself. Even though the location is a very a basic and empty warehouse that doesn’t change the music video holds symbolic codes (links) that don’t portray an narrative but do give an iconic impression of the band- linking their song to their band. The green and white American flag behind them symbolic of the song, ‘American Idiot’ with the green slime that merges from all directions (connoting their name, ‘Green day’) allowing the audiences to connote and signify the colour green to the band- which slow motion shots are used to emphasize. The fact their music video is performance based signifies their personality and maybe even past, as a band self formed as teenagers, through the style the performance is presented.

Overall summary on Performance Overall, taking in consideration of the three performance based style music video I have analysed, codes and conventions of performance can be determination (with the odd expectation of the genre of the music video), these codes and conventions of performance include: 1. The lack of location: The lack of location is evident in all three of the music videos I have analysed, System of a Down used a stage, Beyoncé's video featured a empty studio, and Green day performed in a an empty warehouse. The lack of location restricts a narrative allowing the audience to focus their full attention on the artist and their performance. 2. Various camera shots, angles and movement and costume/ makeup change: Due to the lack of a narrative or change of setting, performance video can tend to bore their target audiences, therefore using jump cuts of different shots and costume changes keeps the performance looking fresh where the audience expect more changes and creative effects to interest them throughout.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Performance Advantages: • Allowing audience to see the band/artist’s typical concert performance giving them the feeling of having watched their concert, when they may not have the chance to see them in person.

Disadvantages: • Purely performance threefour minute music video would bore and lose interest of the audience. • Mediation would influence certain shots of the artist or band in the final product, possibly portraying them a way the industry want them to, in order to boost profits.

Narrative: Katy Perry •

Narrative styled music videos follow a story line ( this can relate to Todorov’s narrative theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium). Narrative consists of two types; • Linear: A linear narrative tells a story from beginning to end, with all the events happening in the order they occurred. E.g from beginning, middle to end. • Fragmented: Fragmented narrative is a narrative that is non-linear, portraying events occurring but not in the correct order they happened. An music video example presenting a fragmented narrative is Katy Perry’s, ‘Thinking of You’, as it portrays a story from beginning to end. Narrative (both linear and fragmented), is used to express a dominant reading or interpretation to the demographic as they as the producers have control over what the audience visually sees on the screen allowing that to interpret a story in their minds. Hegemonic reading of music video, ‘Thinking of You’ connotes as a love story where the artist is ing flash backs and having illusions of her late boyfriend whom died at war. Throughout the music video you can signify time moving in and out of flashbacks due to the costumes, lighting and props used to denote the time period.

Narrative: Mike Posner Music video, ‘I took a pill in Ibiza’ by Mike Posner portrays a strictly narrative music video, where the artist isn’t connoted g throughout the song. The video relies on the narrative of visual aids to express the artist’s interpretation on the lyrics. Throughout Mise Posner, ‘I took a pill in Ibiza’ the narrative consists in a life club, documenting a male whom has just consumed drugs and the demographic are viewing his experience. The music video relies editing techniques such as slow motion and technical codes of camerawork (shots, angles and movements) to produce creative effects expressing the side affects of drugs. The lighting change symbolic of the emotions the character is experiencing throughout his encounter with drugs. Where the de-saturated yellow tones connote a sadness lonesome atmosphere and the desaturated colours of red and blues symbolise the heat of the club and the fun his experiencing. Overall the music video shreds positive light over the abuse and intake of drugs.

Narrative: Eminem Music Video, ‘Stan’ by Eminem starts as a movie, with the diegetic soundtrack and narrative lasting for 1:30 minutes into the movie. The ideology behind starting a the music video as a movie acts as a psychological trick to break down the target audience where the narrative and lyrics of the song that’s about to start will be more effective on their emotions. The lyrics and song of, ‘Stan’ give the impression of a sad and twisted mind of the protagonist. The desaturated lighting adds to this affect by casting dull green and dusty yellow tones, colours scientifically proven to depress and suppress people. The desaturated lighting also produces the effects of being life-like, where no studio lighting is used to contrast from reality. The way in which the narrative is structured portrays the artist’s mind set and their views and interpretations on the lyrics. Taking in the plot of the mentally ill crazed fan trying to Eminem portrays a sense of his past or a tragic encounter with a fan.

Overall summary on Narrative As an overall summary of the music video style; narrative, it is evident that narrative is a why for the artist to visually express their views and interpretations of their lyrics- how the artist intended their music to be. However the three narratives I have analysed all portray a restricted narrative to an extent, this allows to demographic to add and make their own interpretations of the music. Some other codes and conventions of narrative include; 1. Use of characters: Narrative based music videos, both linear and fragmented, use the performance of an actor/actress to express their story creating the idea of the everyman and how the situation expressed in the lyrics effects or is relatable to everyone. 2. Use of acting themselves: Again both linear and fragmented narrative music videos can use the artist to act in their narrative, this makes the narrative more personal to the artist, as if the lyrics portray a moment in their life they have experienced.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Narrative Advantages: A good technique to engage audiences, as it enhances the viewing experience by allowing the audience to see the artist’s visual interpretation of the lyrics. Encourages the audience to interpret their own view of the storyline. It allows the audience to interact and discuss the meaning of the video.

Disadvantages: The storyline is typically limited to the lyrics of the song Many themes such as love songs, are highly populated it would be difficult to differ and create a unique interpretation to stand out from the rest.

Combined: Selena Gomez Combined (also known as mixture) music videos is a combination of the two styles; performance and narrative, this is the most popular style used for music videos. An example of a combined and mixture styled music video, is Selena Gomez’s, ‘Can’t keep my hands to myself’. The music video starts with a close up of the artist, singing, portraying a performance theme. However then is followed by the use of location shots and the introduction of an male character, identifying the music video with narrative themes as well. As the music video ends, the non-diegetic soundtrack fades out (connoting reality settling in) and the diegetic sound of the police sirens can be denotedagain signifying the use of a narrative. As the artist, Selena Gomez, Is portraying the character whom is obsessed with the male character, makes the lyrics and narrative more relatable and identifiable to her, the fact that she looks different from with the audience expect of her, connotes the character as an alter ego of hers which she’s using to express herself.

Combined: Jess Glynee Jess Glynee’s, ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself’ presents the style of combined through switching from performance of the artist to scenes of an conflicted character. The performance scenes are used to show the audience the artists ion and her own relations to the story behind lyrics. The scenes of the character struggling expresses the artist’s interpretations of the lyrics through the idea of the everyman and how everyone is related to the topic she is expressing. Between the two different types of scenes the lighting dramatically changes to portray two different emotions at the same time. Where the scenes of the character is connoted in desaturated lighting and denoted wearing dull dark colours, to signify his mood as sad. Whereas on the other hand, the performance scenes the artists is wearing bright colours in high key saturated lighting to express her inspiration and motivation.

Combined: Nick Jonas A third music video presented in a combined style is, ‘Levels’ by Nick Jonas. The high key saturated lighting connote the lyrics and the music video in a positive atmosphere. To add to this representation the bright colour of the props and costumes used throughout conforms the hegemonic reading of ‘Levels’ by Nick Jonas being a happy song. The fast pace jump cuts and large variety of different shots, angles and movements also conform to the dominant reading. The majority of music videos, use the combined style. Therefore to make it unique and stand out Nick Jonas, ‘Levels’ is full of various angles, shots and camera movements, through different techniques of editing, such as split screens to engage the audience and to set a positive vibe, signifying and reflecting the vibe and meaning of the lyrics.

Overall summary on Combined Overall, combined is highly dominated in the music industry, this acts as a negative as it causes music videos to become expected where they lack creative felicity. Certain codes and conventions become expected of combined music videos, these include: 1. Background dancers: During performance scenes the majority of artists are seen performing with their background dancers. This creates more visuals on screen to engage and interest the target audiences. 2. The switch between scenes: Throughout most (if not all) combined music videos, there is a continuous switch between performance and narrative scenes, this leaves polysemic views or interpretations of the music video, where the demographic begin to relate and connote symbolic links between the two scenes. Also the continuous switching between types of scenes, keeps the music video’s narrative in an interesting way, rather than having two separate sections exploring two different styles.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Combined Advantages: Allows the artist to mix the two styles (performance and narrative) in one video. Creates more content where the audience have more to analyse, watch and enjoy- giving them voyeuristic pleasure.

Disadvantages: The combined style of music videos is highly dominated in the music industry, where the music videos become expected lacking creative felicity.

Cameo: Tyga and Kylie Cameo styled music videos are when the band or artist features in the narrative but doesn’t perform. For example, in Tyga’s music video, ‘Stimulated’ Tyga performs his song, however celebrity guest Kylie Jenner, doesn’t perform in the entire song, but is part of the narrative- resulting in a cameo styled music video. Not only is Tyga performing his song, he is also part of the narrative making the music video also combined. The three different styles are used cleverly in the music video, as Tyga performs in the form of a narrative as well as a performance separately. As the music video, as a lot going on due the mixture of styles, only two characters are portrayed and denoted throughout the entire video. The lack surrounding characters and settings, with a basic narrative allowing the audiences to focus on the placement and reason for casting the two actors, and their relationship outside the music video. Cameo is also a effective way to gain popularity by using wellknown and popular celebrities such as, ‘Kylie Jenner’.

Cameo: Ed Sheeran Ed sheeran is another artist who uses the style, cameo, in his music video, ‘Logo House’. By using actor Rupert Grint, best known for his role in Harry Potter, as the protagonist and crazed fan in the narrative, all scenes and shots surround around him and the artist himself, is only denoted for a short period of time in the video. By using a well known actor to play the role in the music video brings comedic value to the video. Where it signifies their personality and friendship outside the work area. The fact that Ed Sheeran and Rupert Grint share the same hair colour and style, the comedic value is conformed. By having Ed Sheeran rarely in the music video, expresses the ideology of the message of the lyrics is important and the artist doesn’t want to distract the audience by his performance therefore a cameo of an character is needed.

Cameo: Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler Music Video, ‘Elastic Heart’ by Sia stars Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler in a mixture of cameo and performance. Cameo styled music videos are common for Sia, due to her mysterious in her appearance. The music video places an actor and dancer to work together and share their qualities, to create a performance styled narrative. The use of a cameo styled music video expresses an message behind the lyrics, abstractly being expressed by the characters on screen. The contrast of over exposed surroundings makes their location mysterious, conforming to Barthe’s theory of the Enigma code. The abstract way in which the artists perform Sia’s song, portrays and connotes her interpretations of her own music, by using a creative way of facial expresses and body language, the audience are kept interested and entertained throughout the music video.

Overall summary on Cameo As an overall summary, Cameo is rarely used in the music industry, as actors (such as Johnny Depp) would only star in other well-known artist’s work, as it is a win-win viral marketing situation. Where both artists are able to gain and promote themselves and their own work of each other, this is also known as synergy. Some codes and conventions of cameo music videos in general include: 1. Valuable message: In all the music videos I have analysed the use of a valuable message as been used in absence of the artist on screen. This suggests that cameo is used purely for the ideology of spreading a message, where the lack of artist’s screen time ( if any) is used to focus the demographic on the message, rather than gaining voyeuristic pleasure from watching the artist in a typical music video. 2. Well-known artists: The use of synergy is used in order to promote each other, therefore only wellknown artists work with other actors – as well as creating an message this can be an marketing technique, for viral success.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Cameo Advantages:

Cameo is hardly used in the music industry, this leaves a wide space for ideas of creative ways in order to present the music video that hasn’t been used before. Cameo is also mainly used in mixture with another themes, making the cameo style a good cross-over theme in order to use more techniques (styles) in one production. The use of an well-known artist in the narrative of the music video, acts as an marketing technique, advertising their production to a new audience, boosting profits.

Disadvantages:

As the style is rarely used, the response of the target audience is unexpected, leaving a higher percentage of a failure than other styles, such as combined or narrative would. Where cameo styled music videos use artists that don’t perform however are part of the narrative, synergy is used. Where a well-known artist is more likely to use cameo and smaller artists would have an disadvantage as the actor used in the narrative wouldn’t benefit from it.

Abstract: Rodriguez An abstract music video’s main purpose is to create a feeling or mood in an artistic way. An exclusively abstract video would have no performance or narrative within it, however some abstract music videos do include performance and/or an narrative although is more common for them to include a performance rather than narrative. Abstract videos usually require a lot of editing. An example of an strictly abstract music video is Rodriquez’s, ‘Sugar Man’ where for the entire music video the demographic witness and denote different colours paints dripping down a white background. The lack of movement and change visually in the music video, allows the audience to focus fully on the lyrics and statement of the song, while allowing them to infer their own interpretations of the abstract scene. The different colours portray different emotions are the song progresses. Where in the beginning light yellows, greens and pinks are used, they slowly turn to dirty oranges, and purples.

Abstract: Tame Impala Unlike Rodriguez’s abstract music video for, ‘ Sugar Man’ where there is only one aspect to focus on for the duration of the music video, Tame Impala’s, ‘Feels like we only go backwards’ is jam packed with different shapes and colours in a Kaleidoscope famous. In the video there is no story or performance, it is very artistic and specifically created to appeal visually to it’s target audience and create a certain mood or feeling. The music video gives the impression of a homemade kaleidoscope, where the shapes and movements of the video plays mind and visually games on the audience. The colours used are also specifically chosen to control the demographic to feel different emotions, parallel to the emotions expressed throughout the lyrics. Bottom right is an image of a Kaleidoscope to compare to the music video.

Abstract: Home and Dry Unlike the previous two music videos that relies on the use of shape movement to create a artistic music video. Home and dry, ‘Ghosts are dancing’ uses the movements and colours of lines and continuous line drawing. The music video begins with continuous line drawing of a figure, connoted to symbolise and take form of the artist. Not until 1 minute into the music does the line drawings start to develop colour. The colours of that develop during the music video, can symbolise that inciting moment that occurs in the lyrics changing the perspective of the song. Just like, cameo styled music videos, the three abstract music videos that I have analysed lack their artist, this could signify the importance to the lyrics, where the absence of the artist allows the message and the artistic value to be appreciated.

Overall summary on Abstract The idea behind using an abstract style for music videos, is to allow the audience to appreciate the artistic creation and the deeper meaning into or behind the lyrics. From the music videos I have analysed common codes and conventions can include: 1. Use of shapes, lines and movements: Two out of three of the abstract music videos I have analysed used shapes and their movements to create their music videos, the other one used the movement of continuous drawings and lines. 2. Use of colour: In all of the abstract music videos, colours plays an important part. The develop of colour throughout the music videos portray and symbolise the emotions and feelings the artists intend their target audience to feel. For the certain abstract music videos I have analysed, the use of colours are used to symbolise and portray happy and positive vibes, through the bright and vibrant colours used.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Abstract Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Abstract music videos allows the artists’ to get creative in the way their portray and denote their music video and the idea behind their lyrics. It allows the artist to subvert from common expectations of their music videos and work on creating something new and different. Small budget to make an abstract music video in comparison to other styles.

Well-known artists don’t use this style, therefore it become unpopular, and only mainly used by smaller and more independent artists. As abstract music videos are creative the message (dominant reading) the artist wants their target audience to decode, may be difficult to the point where many polysemic views are casted.

Animated: Arctic Monkey’s A surprising number of musicians have managed to see past the animation age Ghetto, and released music videos composed mostly or entirely of animation. Animated music videos can range from traditional cel animation or CGI or stop-motion. An example of an animated music video is Arctic Monkey’s, ‘Do I wanna know?’ Throughout the majority music video the audience denote a white line on a black background which moves in schyronchous famous with the lyrics This form of animation is very simple and basic, and can be created with ease and quickly. For the remaining music video animated images appear in an abstract fashion. The lack of an artist being present in the music video, again just like cameo and abstract, allows the audience to focus on the lyrics and the animations and how they link, or even the Enigma of the animations in comparison to the lyrics.

Animated: Megan Trainor, Ariana Grande and Who Is Fancy Another animated music video is, ‘Boy’s like you’ by Megan Trainor, Ariana Grande and Who is Fancy. However unlike the previous animated music video by Arctic Monkey’s where the animations aren’t identifiable to the band, ‘Boy’s like you’ as animated characters to symbolise the three artists that worked on the song together. Not only are there animated characters identical to the artists, the music video has a narrative. By the animations being identifiable to the artists it creates a unique form of music video, keeping their demographic engaged and eager for the music video. The animations are the parallel to the non-diegetic soundtrack. A benefit of creating a animated music video is that money is saved from paying for costume changes, settings, props etc, instead the money goes times a network/program to edit the footage and create the animations on.

Animated: We The Kings ‘Stone Walls’ by We The Kings is another example of an animated music video, however unlike the previous two, this video includes lyrics that last throughout the music video. Also unlike, ‘Do I wanna know?’ and, ‘boys like you’ this music video, is an animation taken in the form of stop motion. The lack of the band expresses the seriousness of the message of sacrifice of life for love, connoted through the sad lyrics connoted through the tone and pitch of the band. The lack of colours used throughout the music video also conforms this ideology. Where black, white and greys are used to colour the world in this animated music video, expressing the mood and emotions the audience should be going through, and help control their feelings to feel sympathy for the animated character. The only colour comes from the pink heart he cut out of himself in order to give to a loved one, signifies the pureness and love and hope, he is giving to her, and the lack of regret he has for that regardless of the fact that it will cost him his life.

Overall summary on Animated There are many versions and techniques used to create animated music videos, from stop motion to CGI animated music videos can casts polysemic views and express very different emotions to their audiences. Some common similarity in animated music videos that I found were; 1. Colour: Colours were used as a primary source of connecting with their target audience, and ing through emotions for the audience to receive and feel. This works for both happy with the denotation of bright vibrant colours, and sad with the lack of colour. 2. Shapes: Shapes were used in order to portray the animated character, this works for both to make the character identifiable to the artist or not. The use of the shapes to form the character restricts realistic values, making it redeem animated.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Animated Advantages: Animated music videos can save profits for the artist’s, as where money would have been spent on costume changes, props, location etc. The only money on animation goes on the software to create the animations. If mistakes are made and noticed later on in the production of the music video, it is easier to edit and change, rather than with an nonanimated video which will take re-filming.

Disadvantages: The animated music video might not appeal to their target audience for various reasons. One, because it’s not the artist’s usual style or two, it doesn’t meet the demographic expectations. Animations are very difficult to make and can be very time consuming, therefore the artist’s need skilled and knowledgeable editors and animators in order to achieve the highest possible quality.

2. The Camera Shots The way the camera is used plays a very important part in producing a music video, it can have and produce different effect simply by changing the shot type, angle or movement of the camera. There are many different shot types that music videos use in order for their audiences to encode different views or emotions. Here are a few examples; Close up/ head shot: The close up shot consists of the artists head, this allows the audience’s full focus and attention to be on the artist.

Wide shot: This shot is used to introduce characters and/or the artist as well as sending information about them and their surroundings- allowing audience to connect with who is on screen.

Over the shoulder shot: This shot allows the audience to see a conversation or connection between the character and the artist, by sharing this inciting moment with the audience they also feel connected.

The Camera Movements The camera moves to follow a certain character or artist, or even to denote more in the frame. These movements can include panning and tracking. Some reasons a director may choose with action to use include; • Telling the story as series of cuts • Transitions from one shot to another • Follow actions with the camera Pans: A pan is when the camera is stationery but follows the scene horizontally or vertically. The camera is placed on a tripod , which operates as an stationary axis point as the camera is turned allowing smooth movement. Dolly/Tracking: This is when the camera is placed and secured on a cart which travels along a track keeping up with the artists or character.

The Camera Angles The way the camera is positions the frame determines how the angle of the shot will look like. There are various ways in which the production of music video convey and connote different images, and messages through angles. Examples of camera angles include; High Angle: The high angle is when the camera is above the subject angling down towards them/it. It is used to create the effect of making them look and appear less powerful and less significant.

Eye level angle: This is a very common and basic view, being the real world angle that the demographic are used to seeing, denoting the artist in a life of how the audience would expect to see them in real life. Low Angle: A low angle does the opposite of a high angle. The subject is shown from below, giving the impression of them being more dominant and powerful.

3. Soundtrack There are two types of soundtracks used in music videos: Non-diegetic soundtracks: Non-diegetic soundtracks are sounds that the audience hear but the characters or the artists in the music video don’t Diegetic Soundtrack: Diegetic soundtrack is the sounds that the audience and the character and/or artists hear in the music video. There are different effects the editor can make with the soundtrack in order to produce different reactions and emotions from the demographic. Parallel: The soundtrack can be parallel to the images on the screen meaning that the sound fits in and relates with what is being seen Contrapuntal: Contrapuntal is the opposite of parallel and is when sound does not fit in with the images. E.g images of kittens would be contrapuntal to the sound of horrified screaming. Aschyronhous: Aschyronhous sound is when the soundtrack (whether non-diegetic or diegetic) isn’t in time with the images. Occasionally the artists would have aschyronhous sound to create a weary emotion and feel to the production. Schyronhous: Schryonhous sound is the opposite and is when the sound is in fit with the images.

4. Editing Techniques There are many different editing softwares avabile to create productions, however the most common and popular software is Final Cut Pro X; • Final Cut Pro allows editor, to add different effects to different shots • To sync the soundtracks to the images making them parallel and/or scynchrous. • Cut down footage and place footage with other footage. Editing is the final stage in the process of making an music video. Within editing you have the ability to cut down scenes, add special effects and add the nondiegetic and diegetic soundtracks over the images. The transitions from one cut to another in music videos , and the jump cuts between shots are all caused by editing. For example, the image to the left shows a cut in the music video , ‘Cake by the ocean’ by DNCE the scene in action, shows jump cuts between random shots, this is done in the editing stages.

4. Mise-en-scene The mise-en-scene for music video focuses on the following key elements: • Lighting • Props • Costume • Hair and Makeup • Location • Colour The elements above usually depend on the genre of the music video and the style, they are also very important in contributing towards the chosen genre. They are used to allow the audiences to connote importance's’ and connections on screen, in different ways.

Lighting The lighting of a music video can create different views by the way the scene is lit, it allows and encourages the audience to recognise the genre and the style of the music video. There are four main key lighting techniques to cast different views, they include; High Key lighting: The high Key lighting, brightens the scene with a range of white and vibrant tones, lacking in black or mid-tones. High key lighting is used to make the scene upbeat, optimistic and youthful. Low Key lighting: The low key lighting, is the opposite to high key lighting and relies on shadows, deep blacks and darker tones, with very few whites and middle tones. The mood portrays as mysterious and moody, dramatic and even ominous depending on the subject

Saturated Lighting; The saturation of a colour is determined by a combination of light intensity and how much it is distributed across the spectrum of wavelengths. Saturated lighting is used in music videos to portray and connote the atmosphere of a party vibe.

De-saturated Lighting: De-saturated lighting is the opposite of saturated lighting and is when the saturation of the colour used in the scene is weak on the spectrum of wavelengths, and is typically used to contrast the emotions and atmosphere of depression and sadness.

Props Most if not all music videos use props to illustrate the narrative, and when linking the lyrics with visuals, props are commonly used. The props in a music video add to the entertainment side, and can be used in a fun imaginative way. One music video that uses props to make the video more entertaining is in DNCE, ‘Cake by the Ocean’. The use of cake brings comedic value linking the visual of the cake to the name of the song, ‘Cake by the Ocean’.

The pills in, ‘I took a pill in ibiza’ creates links with the name of the song as well as the narrative in the lyrics and song.

Costume The costume is normally used to represent certain characters in different ways. Different artists would also wear different clothes throughout their music video, to represent what there are portraying in the music video. Lady Gaga is a good example with her costumes, connoting her personality throughout her music videos and personal life.

The detached-able head in, ‘I took a pill Ibiza’ allows audience to relate the narrative to the idea of the everyman.

Hair and makeup Everything a music video from the mise-en-scene to the camera movement and shots is done for a purpose ,it can also show a characters personality, or done as a way of attracting the audience. Depending on the target audience, hair and makeup is really just about style, and fashion and what’s in. It is important for the actor/artist has the best quality costumes and the latest styles. Hair and makeup can be displayed in many ways for many different reasons. Here are a few examples of how makeup and hair can give an impression. Bold and bright makeup, and big hair can be used to show a person is fun and the artist stand out and is ed by their demographic. Lady Gaga’s and Nicki Minaj have been iconic artists whom push the boundaries with their crazy costumes, this in facts aids their performances and acts as a marketing technique where their crazy costumes stick in their audiences brains and gets them publicity in celebrity news, widening there target audience.

Location/ Setting The location, and setting of a music video doesn’t only show the audience were the artist is, but also determines the genre. For example locations of a beach, sports car, or even a party etc. would usually be ionic of the genre pop or dance music videos- due to the happy and lively vibe it radiates. If the music video was filmed on a street, it’s a typical location where you would find a gang, and develop connotations that the genre is rap or hiphop. The location influence the genre, but also be chosen purposely to relate to the lyrics of the song. For example, DNCE, ‘Cake by the Ocean’ music video is entirely shot on a beach, where the title (Cake by the Ocean) is able to be linked.

Colour The use or the lack of colour in music videos are very important and allows the demographic to encode a lot about the production and the artist. Colours are shown through everything in a music video, lighting, costumes, hair, makeup and location, the way the camera is angled also plays a part in positioning the colours we see in music videos. Colour can also be interpreted to express and represent a feeling or mood or to signify a certain thing. For example some scenes in black and white showing no colours, can be a representation or symbolising the sense of time ed, e.g a flashback. It can also be done to show an emotional scenario for example, Beyoncé, ‘If I were a boy’, the lack of colour shows the relationship between two people.