Music Video Production - The Crookes (8)

Music videos are generally made up of a key set of conventions; things that you are most likely to see in music videos, or stereotypically. Generally codes and conventions change according to the genre of the band/artist, however common aspects usually appear.

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.- there are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.

I like Andrew Goodwings theory as i love the connection between the visuals and lyrics.
Our track 'Chorus Of Fools' is about a relationship that is dying out and being reformed again; due to this we obviously wanted to portray this as our main theme and by doing this we wanted to use our photographs and animation to tell the story. Todorov is a Bulgarian structuralist, mainly concerned with linguistic who began to produce influential work on narrative from the 1960s onwards. I believe that his theory relates greatly to my video, Chorus of Fools by The Crookes. His theory consists of three parts Equilibrium, Dis-Equilibrium and New-Equilibrium. The Equilibrium is the normal state of the beginning of the text. My video has a clear beginning; the couple are introduced, their love for each other is made very clear by animations such as love hearts and doves. However, as we reach the middle of the song we see the ‘Dis-Equilibrium’ this is when we see a break up in the happy couples relationship. We made this clear by having animation of pictures torn up, rain and clouds (pathetic phallacy) and sad faces. There is then a clear ending ‘New-Equilibrium’ this is when the couple resolve their conflict and their love for each other is rekindled. This is again clearly reinforced by the animations that we used. I believe for these reasons Todorov narrative theory relates greatly to my video.

Music videos have the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the lead artists face. Visual references in music videos come from a range of sources, although the 3 most frequent are cinema, fashion and art photography. The music video is “incorporating, raiding and reconstructing”, essentially the essence of intertextuality, taking what the audience may find familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings. The music video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. In particular the mise-en-scene, can be used to emphasise and create an aspirational lifestyle.

Illustrated music videos usually include performance or narration and generally illustrate lyrics and visualise the music. This type of music video is quite simple and is also known as ‘denotation’ of the song, it communicates the idea behind the song and the visuals and lyrics are usually closely related. In our video although we used animation we have a clear narrative which is shown by visuals and imagery. Alot of our animation/ visuals illustraste the lyrics and enhance the mood and feeling of the track.
Amplification- the conventions of this type of music video combine both music performance and narrative, they tend to amplify the idea behind the music and lyrics and go toward a creative interpretation, not always so simplistic. This type of video generally include unique ideas, often with a sense of surrealism or make-believe, however always have a direct to the song, also known as connotative, usually linking to the song, title or artist.
Disjuncture- this video type usually concludes of rather abstract ideas, with no true link to the music, title, lyrics or artist. In general these videos are very disjointed from the nature of the song and can have quite a strong effect, if done in an effective manner. I believe that this type of video would not work for our band The Crookes. Although this type can have a very strong effect i believe it does not relate well to our band. Our video shows a clear relationship between the band, the visuals and the lyrics. We choose to relate all of these things as we see the band as a more loveable and freindly one oppossed to them being disjointed and apart.

The audience is active rather than passive. The audience uses the media for thier own gratification, rather than being used by the media, the audience has the power to make their own decisions about a music video and why. The video offers escapism, but also reality allowing the target audience to identify with the video.

This does fit into our music video, the video offers escapism, but also touches ground with reality allowing the target audience to identify with the video. The audience can easily relate to our video. It covers the conventional family traditions (marriage/children/house/job etc.)