Analysing Similar Artists

Codes and conventions of music videos

They can be divided into two separate categories:

Technical:

-          How equipment and technology are used to construct meaning

-          Camera – angles and shots

-          Editing techniques

-          Music style, genre and digetic sounds

Symbolic:

-          Meaning created beyond what is obvious to see

-          Mise en-scene

-          Facial expressions

Codes and conventions help the audience to become more familiar with a certain genre as they become accustomed to seeing certain things. Also it ensures that the style of the production created fits the genre of the song.

Style:

A short action story with characters running a group of people and fights when encountered by the group. The contrast of being safe to fearing the group and encountering them.

Camera:

A mixture of extreme close ups and medium close ups allow the viewer to both see the expressions on characters face but also to show the fighting scene, and allow the audience to understand what is going on. The use of a tracking system during running scenes and panning a tilts at different angles to show clear to the audience what’s going on.

Editing and Sound:

The editing has been mainly supported by the song; when the beat per second increase, more cuts are made and more shots are used to make the scene more intense and more exciting for the audience. Supported again by longer shots when the two characters are safe from the bad group of people to contrast the difference between the rhythm and a drop. This creates a build up for the fighting scenes supported by the music.

Mise-en-scene:

Location:

In the United States of America in a neighbourhood, a home, under a bridge, shop, small baseball park and surrounding areas and streets.

Costume:

Male Character – Wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans and black jacket

Female Character (girlfriend) – a black dress with stripes on the front and a leather jacket
The chasing group – All wearing dark black colours

This creates a clear contrast between both the good guys and the bad guys in this video.
Extreme close-ups are used regularly to show facial expressions of fear from the two main characters. Overall I believe that its hard to make a relation between the song and video. I believe that the contrast between the two characters being safe and away from danger and then a twist to them running and finally a main fighting scene with relation to ‘kick-starts again’ meaning the action starts again.