Codes and conventions of a music video

Camera

- Close up shots of the lead singer and their instruments such as guitar.

- Short cuts in time to the beat of the song.

- Long tracking shots of the full band.


Sound

-Fade outs/ins.

-Can use distorted effects to blur in or out some lyrics.

-Auto-tuning modern day pop songs and even
other genres now use auto-tuning.

Mise en scene

- The narrative depends on the genre.

- If pop its normally based on love, sex or break-ups.

- If rock/alternative there is usually more band shots rather than a story to the video.

- Product Placement in music videos (for example putting Redbull in a music video with a lot of dancing)



Editing

-Quick cuts and cross cutting for up-beat fast paced, mainly pop songs.

-Slow mo shots for example rock or alternative.

-Fade out's are used in slow songs.

-Sometimes certain lyrics appear on the videos.

-Cuts in time to the beat.

Theorists - Dyer, Todorov, Propp and Levi Strauss

Todorov -

The theorist who studied narratives and came up with the theory that all narratives have an equilibrium, a disruption, a quest and a return to the equilibrium.

Propp -

The theorist who identified that narratives tend to contain identifiable character roles, such as the hero, mentor, villain and a helper.

Levi Strauss -

The theorist who said all narratives are made up of binary opposites. The use of opposites offers a comparison and helps to exaggerate features, examples.. dark vs light, warmth vs cold, etc.

Dyer -

Dyer was the theorist who studied celebs and concluded that stars are an image and not a real person, a cultural construction, a commodity, both extraordinary and ordinary. An example of one of these stars would be Lady Gaga.

Audience Research (Survey)

This is the survey i have created to have a better understanding of my audience and how they feel about music videos.
This will fundamentally be my audience research for my music video. I have asked these questions in my survey to find out certain factors which will affect our music video.
These factors i have chosen to find out are How people watch music videos on? Why do they watch music videos? What is their favourite genre? Do they listen to urban music? etc...

If you could take the time to answer the questionnaire that would be a major help to me and my group, thank you.

Click here to answer the survey..

Research into record labels

A record label is a trademark which is related to the marketing of an artist or bands through the use of videos and records. 

They are involved in the production, manufacture, distribution, promotion, marketing and copyright enforcement. 

They also conduct talent scouting and development of new artists and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers.

The three big record labels since 2012 are;

• Universal Music Group 
• Sony Music Entertainment
• Warner Music Group

Also a number of artists use independent record labels. Independent record labels is a record label without the funding of a major record label. Independent record labels often release their music to a small audience of devoted fans not depending on huge sales and success therefore giving the artist more freedom and a more enjoyable life as a music artist with more time to themselves.