How to study music videos

The five think to look for when studying a music video:

1. 'Thought Beats' or seeing the sounds in your head:

• The process of visualising images is a psychological process know as synaesthesia, the idea is that music videos use visual associations to connect with the audience and provide additional pleasure to viewers
• If songs are stories then the singer is the storyteller, they are the focus of the video and the lyrics and grain of voice are usually in time with the sounds and tempo

2. Narrative and performance:

• Songs rarely tell complete narratives but rather hint at an unfolding drama, they avoid telling the complete story as it effects their role in advertising, the videos have repeatability built into them, the performance is a more important aspect than the narrative, but generally music videos cut between the narrative and the performance

3. The star image:

• The star of the video is telling a story and showcasing their development as an artist over time also known as a meta-narrative which tells the stories surrounding a particular artist

4. Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song:

• There are 3 ways in which the music videos support or promote the song: illustration, amplification and disjuncture and these are useful in attempting to generalise the effects of individual music videos
• Music videos can illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre
• The most persistent type of music video adds to the value of the song. Amplification is seen as the mark of a true music video and shows the director as an artist, amplification is different from disjuncture as amplification music videos retain a link to the song and work to enhance or develop, rather than fundamentally changing them
• Disjuncture is a term used to describe music videos that intentionally ignore the original song and create a whole new set of meanings

5. Technical aspects of music videos:

• This includes camerawork, movement and angle, mise-en-scène, editing and sound.
• The technical conventions can be summed up as speed, camera movement, fast-cutting and montage editing, post-production digital effects, meat, beats, lighting and colour and mise-en-scène
• Speed is visualised by camera movement, fast editing and digital effects
• Camera movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers
• Fast-cutting and montage editing cause the videos repeatability as as it is difficult to understand the fast moving images and action without viewing the video more than once
• Post-production digital effects provide pleasure again and again as the videos are colourised and effects are added to complicate and intrigue viewers, not all camera movement is fast as some videos use slow pace through dissolves and static shots, this kind of editing is striking and effective in setting the song apart from the hustle and bustle of pop activity
• Meat refers to the cuts to close-ups of the singer's face, this is because the voice is seen as being the most important part of pop music
• Beats - often the video attempts to represent the music through the use of the cut to go with the beat or rhythm
• Lighting and colour are used to emphasise key moments of the song, different techniques emphasise different aspects such as colour emphasising a development in the song by going from black to white or vice versa when the chorus comes in
• Mise-en-scène - the setting is clearly important as it often guarantees the authenticity of the clip, so when concert halls or rehearsal rooms are used it emphasises the realness of the video, CGI is increasing used as it means the stars are not relying on realness but rather special effects