Codes and convention : key features

of a music video
Narrative
Visual response
Lack of balance
Partial/fragmented narrative
Disjointed structure
What drives the video forward?
(theme? Resolution? Poses
questions?)

Editing
May match musical phrases or
beat
Video breaks rules of continuity
editing
Editing becomes foregrounded

Camera Movement and Framing

Extremes are common
Style of framing and movement
is consistent and distinctive to
that video
Camera may move in time with
the track
Camera may move on the lyrics
A master shot is used
frequently as are close ups

Diegesis
May be revealed quite slowly
Actions are not necessarily
completed
Characters may move to the
music

Observations: does this follow,

develop or challenge?
In this music video, there is lack of
balance of the performance narrative
to camera time on the band. The
whole music video follows a story of a
character that is odd looking and is
looked at for being the odd one in
life, when all hes trying to do is fall in
love. This emotive theme drives the
music video forward as the audience
will follow his story by visual response
and be intrigued as to what happens
next. There is elements of disjointed
structure when the character is being
targeted at and is looking helpless.
The narrative does not feature the
band.
The editing matches the pace of the
music track. When the tempo of the
music is slower, the music video has
soft transactions. The soft nature
editing drives the song forward
through the visuals as it matches the
tranquillity of the music. The vocals
are mellow and the editing parallel to
the theme of this tone, which makes it
easy to view and embrace.
Camera movement for this video, like
the editing, matches the timing of the
track as movements are soft and slow.
However when the music tempo
increases slightly with the drums, so
does the positioning of the camera
work; using more dynamic shots such
as canted angles to match the tempo.
The camera does move on the lyrics in
order to focus on the narrative that
follows the video. The character
embraces many close ups frequently,
but none of the band themselves. The
style is very consistent and this
creates a great emotive to the music
video.
In this music video because the
narrative is so strong and the story is
ongoing the music video is not
repetitive. This makes it easy for the
audience to understand throughout
what is going on and wanting to know

May be gaps in the audiences

understanding of the diegesis
Some frames may be more
important than others
May be many repetitions

more. Some frames are more

important than others to remember to
refer back to when understanding the
plot, but it is very clear throughout.
Some frames show greater emotion
towards the lyrics of the song and
characters move to the lyrics.