ANDREW GOODWIN

5 KEY ASPECTS OF MUSIC VIDEOS:

1.‘Thoughts Beats’ – seeing the sound in your head

2.Narrative and performance3.The star image4.Technical aspects5.Narrative types

‘THOUGHT BEATS’The basis for visualising images comes from a psychological process called synaesthesia, where you picture sounds in your mind. This idea is absolutely central to understanding music video as they build on the soundtrack’s visual associations in order to connect with the audience and provide that additional pleasure. To begin, lyrics don’t need to be analysed word for word like a poem but rather considered for the way they introduce a general feeling or mood. Very rarely do song lyrics have a coherent meaning that can be simply read off; but they are important in at least creating a sense of subject matter. So key phrases or lines (and especially those repeated in the chorus) will have a part to play in the kind of associated visuals with the song.Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ is relevant – this sees the singing voice more as an expressive instrument, personal, even unique and therefore able to create associations in itself. The voice of a song may even possess trademarks that work hand-in-hand with the star image.Finally, if songs are stories, then the singer is the storyteller and this obviously makes music videos stand out on TV, as they feature a first person mode of address rather than the invisible ‘forth wall’ of television narration. The music – or arrangement of the song, including instrumentation, the mix and effects work well with the lyrics and grain of voice. Generally we can look at key sounds, like the tempo and structure of the song in terms of verse and chorus. We all share a memory bank of popular culture imagery (intertextuality), a sense of shared cultural history without which these references would make no sense. Places, people, feelings, situations leading to mini-narratives – all these can be summoned from the sounds of popular music.

NARRATIVE & PERFORMANCESongs rarely tell the complete narrative. The narrative in songs affect the way stories are used in music video representations of a song’s meaning. The role of advertising is an important reason as to why music videos should avoid a classic realistic narrative. Music videos need to have a repeatability where the audience can watch the video repeatedly in a casual way. Often music videos cut between narrative and a performance of the song by the band Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artists performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-sync close-up and the mimed playing of instruments that remains at the heart of music videos.

THE STAR IMAGEThe music business relies on the relatively few big name stars to fund its activities as only about one in ten acts put out by the industry actually makes any money. Therefore, the meta-narrative of the star image will have an important part to play in the music video production process. Meta-narrative is a term that describes the development of the star image over time, the stories that surround a particular artist, for example Michael Jackson.

NARRATIVE TYPES1. Illustration: Music videos can illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, providing

a sometimes over literal set of images. Here, then, is the most straight forward technique and the classic example of visualisation, with everything in the music video based in the source of the piece of music.

2. Amplification: news layers of meaning added to the song - what separates it from disjuncture, is the fact that amplification music videos retain a link with the song and work to enhance or develop ideas, rather than fundamentally changing them.

3. Disjuncture: contradiction between lyrics and image - seem to work by ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings. This is quite a radical technique and used often by bands/artists who want to assert their difference and originality. Usually, disjuncture videos of this type don’t make a lot of sense and may be based on abstract imagery.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS 1. Speed - visualised by camera movement, fast editing (montage) and digital effects.• Camera movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers.• Fast-cutting and montage editing creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption, with the images occasionally moving so fast that they are impossible to understand on first viewing and thus need to be viewed several times.• Post-production digital effects – a staple of music video where images can be colorized, multiple split screens appear, and so on, all to complicate and intrigue, providing pleasure again and again.• Some use of slow pace through dissolves or static shots.

2. Meat - the meat of most music videos is the cut to the close-up of the singer’s face. This is because the voice is seen as the most important part of pop music.3. Beats - the video will try and represent the music through the use of the cut to go with the beat or key rhythm.4. Lighting and colour may also be used to emphasise key moments in the song, using methods from lighting live performances for dramatic effect. Colour may be used to show a development in the song, going from colour to black and white or vice-versa when then chorus comes in. Equally, any change in the mise-en-scene or camerawork can signal the same type of thing.5. Mise-en-scene – the setting for music videos is important, often to guarantee the authenticity of the clip rather than anything else. So mise-en-scene for many videos is the concert hall or rehearsal room to emphasise the realness of the performance or the grit and practice that goes into attaining star quality.

CONVENTIONS Structure:They follow the verse/chorus structure of songs, there is lots of repetition of the same images or shots, they provide a visual link for the sound, the beat and lyric and they often have a 'closure' at the end by the tempo building to a climax and then fading away.

Role of the artist:The singer can be the performer, narrator and character of the music video and the singer will look directly at the camera - addressing the audience and breaking the 4th wall.

EXAMPLES

THE STREETS – FIT BUT YOU KNOW IT

In this video the artist breaks the 4th wall by participating and narrating the song to the audience. There was also a clear distinction between the verse and the chorus as the verses were shots of him walking down the street and the chorus were shots of the person singing the chorus on the beach. This video is an example of the key narrative illustration as the video relates to the lyrics as he artist is singing to the girl that is in the video.

AMY WINEHOUSE – BACK TO BLACK

In this video the artist rarely breaks the 4th wall suggesting to the audience she feels alone. The artist again was the participant and narrator and there was a clear distinction between verse and chorus as the chorus had an increased tempo and repeated the title of the song. This video is an example of the key narrative amplification as the artist is singing about heartbreak but the video is of the artist going a funeral, therefore suggesting something deeper.

BAT FOR LASHES – “WHAT’S A GIRL TO DO?”

In this video the artist breaks the 4th wall throughout the whole video which gives the audience a sense of connection with her. The artist participates however the key narrative shown here is disjuncture therefore the video does not relate to the lyrics as she is singing about being in love but the video is fixated on the artist riding a bike. There is a distinction between chorus and verse because when the chorus is being sung other people with animal masks come out from behind the artist on bikes and start riding beside her.