Music videos follow particular narrative structures; they can either be performance like JLS’s recent debut single “beat again” (2009);
narrative like “November Rain” by Guns n’ Roses in 1992 or concept driven like "Land of Confusion" by Genesis in 1988. Saying this, in recent years a combination of two structures are popular, for example Hinders 2006 hit “lips of an angel”.Narrative driven music videos use storylines or offer complex fragments in a non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again. Love stories are common in this structure style (e.g boy meets girl, boy losesgirl, boy gets girl back). Schwichtenberg (1992) highlights that action within a story is usually dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen. Feminists would be against these types of music videos which promote a patrical society. More recent females try to challenge these conventions like Lilly Allen's debut hit "smile" (2006).
Performance based music videos on the other hand; predominantly feature the artists performing on a stage of some sort. Gow (1992) suggests "the predominance of performance indicates that music video defines itself chiefly by images of artistes singing and playing songs". This allows the audience to have more varied access to the performer than a stage performance can. The aim of performance bsed videos are to give a live show feeling, such as a concert experience. The close ups allow eye contact and close observations of facial gestures.
Concept videos are structured with the use of metaphores. Firth (1988) explains that concept videos are used to create a mood, rather then tell a story and try to create a emotional viewing for the audience. Concept videos can be interpreted in different ways and there can be mulitple meanings for the metaphores.
There are overall conventions of music videos and Andrew Goodwin (1992) identified some of them. For one, music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example heavy metal bands generally have stage performances, such as the band Judas Priest and their 1982 hit “Bloodstone”.
This is in contrast to girl bands that may have a cerographed routine; an example of this is like Girls Aloud, “Can’t speak French”. Also there is always a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (The Scripts’ video “the man that can’t be moved”, 2008). Another key convention is a lot of close-ups of the artists. This is to give the audience a feel of the emotions connected with the song. Furthermore over time, the artists begin to develop their own iconography, which over time becomes their star image. The term iconography is related to visual features that accompany performances by the star like costumes, jewellery or settings. Another noticeable convention of music videos is the references to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women; an example of this is “Destination Unknown” by Alex Gaudino in 2007. Finally another feature of music videos is that they are often intertextual references to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc. This suggests that some music videos relate the concept of video to another video for example Madonna’s music video to her song Material Girl (1985), which draws on the film “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. In this case the intertextual image is not necessarily of Monroe, but of the Hollywood stereotype of the sexy blonde who uses her looks to get what she wants. It makes sense that many music videos draw upon cinema because inspiration for music videos must come from somewhere. Saying this, not all audiences will spot a reference, which would not mean that they would not enjoy the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product.
Key elements of music videos are also how camerawork is used along with editing and the mise-en-scene. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers, but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performances, for example constantly circling the band as they perform on stage. By using close up shots to predominate the shots it provides a sense of intimacy for the viewer emphasising half of the product on sale – like the artist itself.
In terms of editing, music videos generally use fast-cut montages, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, which therefore means the audience needs to watch the video several times to notice everything. Saying this, some videos use a slow pace and gentler shot transitions to establish mood. Dido is an example of this because this style of editing appeals to many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal, another music video example is Alexandra Burkes “Halleluiah”.
Mise-en-scene varies greatly in music videos according to genre. The bigger the star, the bigger the budget, which means they can afford more exotic/ impressive locations as well as props customs and dance routines. In 1993 Michael Jackson and Janet Jacksons “Scream” was the most expensive music video produced at the time, and was set in out of space. The mise-en-scene can be effectively used to guarantee authenticity of a bands musical virtuosity, it also be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle, and as part of voyeuristic context by suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure, such as a sleazy nightclub. By Ameera Tayabali
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