2. Music Video Conventions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visuals matching lyrics
Visuals matching music
Genre – Narrative, Performance, Conceptual
Artist close-ups
Star Iconography
Goodwin’s
Voyeurism
Analysis!!!
Inter-texuality
3. Music Video Conventions I Have Used
• Visuals matching lyrics:
- Fool – The lead actor is making a fool of
himself by dancing in the middle of the street
in front of a complete stranger.
• Visuals matching music:
- The editing cuts are in time to the beat of the
music.
- The dancing of the lead actor is in time to the
music.
4. Music Video Conventions I Have Used
• Genre:
- Narrative – the focus of my music video is on the
narrative of a teenage nerd trying to impress a
popular teenage girl with his dancing and
resulting in making a fool of himself.
- Alongside this there is the narrative dream
sequence which is from the teenage boy who
dreams that that the girl and him are in a
relationship.
5. Music Video Conventions I Have Used
• Genre:
- Performance – The dancing of the lead actor in my music video is
the main focus of my music video as it is how he results in making a
fool of himself.
• Artist Close ups:
- Within my music video I have included a number of close ups of
both the lead actor (Teenage Boy) and the supporting actor
(Teenage Girl).
- This is seen especially at the beginning of my music video in order
for the audience to build a relationship with the teenage boy and
relate to him.
- Artist close ups are continued through the rest of my music video so
that by the end of the video the audience feel emotionally
connected to the character in this case sympathetic as he is
rejected by the girl due to social conventions.
6. Music Video Conventions I Have Used
• Voyeurism
- In my music video I have incorporated the voyeurism in the
dream world sequence.
- The audience are shown an exclusive preview of the
teenage boy’s dream about him being in love with the girl.
- In reality the audience would not have seen this as it is a
private affair, for instance the other characters in the music
video are not shown this.
- The reason behind this is to create an emotional
connection between the teenage boy character and the
audience as they can associate with similar feelings/views
due to the demographic of the audience.
7. Music Video Conventions I Don’t Use
• Star Iconography:
- As my music video is mainly a narrative music
video, the only people included are the actors
who tell the narrative rather than the actual
artist.
- Therefore in my music video I have not
focused on star iconography and branding.
8. Music Video Conventions I Don’t Use
• Inter – texuality:
- In my music video I haven’t used any intertexuality as I didn't’t feel it would add anything
to my music video in particular due to the genre
I had chosen and the narrative.
9. Music Genre Conventions
The music genre of my music video is DANCE:
- Dance routines
- Male and Female gaze depending on target
audience.
- Strong bright lighting, very colorful scenes
- Variation in camera shot/angles
- Hand held camerawork
- Night club/Disco Scenes
- Summary scenes
10. Music Genre Conventions I Use
• Dance Routines:
The lead actor of my music video performs a dance
routine. This is the main focal point of the video as
it is what makes him look like a fool in front of the
girl he likes.
• Male gaze
As the target audience for my music video is male
then there is a male gaze seen through the main
character (teenage boy). The representation of the
teenage girl is according to male gaze, the
stereotypical ‘perfectly beautiful’ girl to fall for.
11. Music Genre Conventions I Use
• Variation in camera shots and angles
Throughout my music video I have used a wide variety of
camera shots and angles in order to keep the audience
engaged with the narrative as being a dance track the
lyrics aren’t enough to hold the target audience by
themselves as with other music genres.
• Handheld camerawork
I use handheld camera work during the dream world
sequence to give the idea that the audience are the third
person in the scene. This is typical of dance music videos
as they want the audience to ‘feel the scene’ or become
involved in the ‘party’ etc.
12. Music Genre Conventions I Use
• Modern Teenage Stereotypes
Within dance music videos the stereotypes
commonly associated with modern teenagers
such as drugs, sex, partying etc. are present. In
my music video I portray two stereotypical
teenagers; the geek and the popular girl.
13. Music Genre Conventions I Don’t Use
• Typical Dance Music Video Locations
A stereotypical dance music video would feature a
location such as a nightclub, party or beach. My music
video doesn’t follow this convention as I am
concentrating on the narrative structure of the music
video rather than the performance element. Therefore I
chose locations which would allow me to tell the
narrative.
• Strong Bright Lighting and Bright Colors
In the production of my music video I didn’t use any
artificial lighting whilst filming. Any lighting effect was
added in post production.
14. Stereotypes and Representation
• Men engaged in significantly more aggressive dominant
behavior
• Men represented as independent, adventurous and
unemotional
• Presence of women solely for the purpose of display
(Rather than a narrative function)
• Messages about dancing, love etc.
• Themed around partying and clubbing scenes
• Behavior of people – Jumping, dancing, drinking
• Basic structure of the storyline at the beginning creating a
link to the characters going to a club/party which is where
the dancing is going to happen.
15. Stereotypes I follow
• Stereotypical gendered occupations.
Within my music video the girl is represented as the
popular, top of the social ladder teenager whilst the
boy is represented as the geek or fool, at the
bottom of the social ladder.
• Women engaged in passive behavior
Within my music video the teenage girl is the one
being admired and the one who doesn’t do the
most chasing instead is the one being chased after.
16. Stereotypes I follow
• Women more likely to be presented in
provocative or revealing clothing.
Initially I would have liked the teenage girl to
wear more provocative clothing in the music
video but due to circumstances such as weather
that was not possible. However the short dress
worn in the dream world sequence of the music
video is provocative in terms of showing a lot of
leg.
17. Stereotypes I follow
• Messages about dancing, love etc.
Within my music video there is a message about
love being restricted by social conventions.
Because the teenage boy is a geek the dream
world is only a dream so when the audience are
revisited to reality at the end of the music video
they are lead to believe that the two people will
meet/be together however they don’t.
18. Stereotypes I Don’t Follow
• Men engaged in significantly more aggressive
and dominant behavior.
In my music video the teenage geek is not
presented as dominant over the female
character as she is independent in terms of
walking away after he makes a fool of himself.
As well at the end of the music video the
teenage geek does not force her to be with him.
19. Stereotypes I Don’t Follow
• Men represented as independent,
adventurous and unemotional.
In my music video, although the teenage geek is
adventurous in the dream world, he is
represented as emotional in terms of revealing
his feelings for this girl and taking a risk to
impress her ‘putting his heart on the line’. Also
he is not shy in showing his disappointment
after making a fool of himself.
20. Stereotypes I Don’t Follow
• Presence of women solely for the purpose of
display (rather than a narrative function).
In my music video the teenage girl plays a
significant role especially in the dream world as
she represents the top of the social ladder and is
represented as chasing the teenage geek so is
seen in control has power and independence
rather than an object.
21. Stereotypes I Don’t Follow
• Themed around partying and clubbing scenes
In my music video the two locations which
would be linked to dance videos parties and
clubs are not present as my focus was on the
narrative style rather than the performance.
This is influenced from similar music videos such
as David Guetta – Titanium.
22. Summary
• I follow the majority of the conventions of
music videos.
• My music video fits into the genre of dance
music videos
• I have incorporated general stereotypes of
music videos and stereotypes common of
dance music videos.