Analysis of ‘Wizard’ by Martin Garrix & Jay Hardway

Genre elements ConventionsCharacters – representations, stereotypes, behaviour, body language, specific actors/stars

There are two main characters in this video which are the two contributing artists to the track, Martin Garrix and Jay Hardway. They are represented as typical young EDM artists with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.All other characters in this video serve as the ‘audience’ and represent this particular genre of music as very lively. They also seem to be very involved which can be seen when they are jumping in time with the music and performing artist.

Narrative events –how is the narrative ordered and structured? Can character types or other narrative elements such as opposites/ stages of equilibrium/disequilibrium be applied to photos/video?

Throughout this video the vast majority of cuts are from a live performance making this mainly a performance video, although there is a short scene near the beginning that has an element of narrative to it when both artists are pictured in an aeroplane perhaps flying to the venue.

Iconography – props, symbolic codes/fonts/colour schemes

The very first piece of iconography I see in this video and perhaps the most iconic and common piece of iconography in all Electronic Dance Music is the use of Flashing/Strobe Lights. This is an extreme convention used in nearly all EDM music videos.

Setting- mise en scene in moving image/photos

Practically all the scenes are shot from within a live music venue and so the mise en scene is very low key with bright flashes of lights and a lot of lasers shining through the air.

Technical and audio codes – camera use, editing, lighting, diegetic/non diegetic sound, sfx/page layout: the Guttenberg principle/rule of thirds

All sound in the video although being non-diegetic because it will have been edited in, actually comes from the track itself and the clips will have been taken from live performances by the artists including some from a performance of ‘Wizard’.