Music Video Formats

1. Music Video Formats And starting the coursework blog

2. LQ: What are the different formats found in music video Lesson Aims • Where the unit fits into the exam • Consider the 3 main types of formats that music video use • Take notes on 3 music videos and then add these notes to the coursework blog

3. The exam Questions on Music Video will come in Paper 1, Section B. You will b expected to write an essay in 20-25 minutes. Section B will have 2 questions. There are 3 areas so 1 area will not have a question. The other 2 areas are Advertising and Magazine (The Big Issue) – both these 2 areas will have an unseen text but with music video you will use examples form a set list in your answer. You must choose 1 text from List A and 1 text from List B – we will study all 4 videos so the choice is yours. Notes that you make for the exam you can also transer to your coursework blog for Research.

4. Different formats for music video Fundamentally there are 3 formats for music video to take – narrative, performance and a mixture of the 2 (narrative/performance – perhaps the most common type). We are going to look at 3 videos: Skrillex – Bangarang - Take notes on the type of narrative and what happens. Is it connected to the lyrics? Do you know the intertextual reference – it comes from the title of the song. Also note that narrative videos are very popular for dance music. How does it promote Mr Skrillex? Gotye– Somebody That I used to know - what sort of shots are used ? Why would an artist want to do a performance video - sometimes concerts are used ? How is Gotyepromoted by the video ? Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – FancyHow are narrative and performance mixed together ? What film is the story based on ? What is the story ? When do the performances take place ?

5. Andrew Goodwin and Illustration/ Amplification/ Disjuncture Andrew Goodwin, who wrote a very influential book on music video in the 1990s called Dancing in the Distraction Factory, said there the relationship between lyrics and music video can be put into 3 categories  • Illustration – This is when a music video can use a set of images in order to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics. This is commonly used and Ed Sheeran’sA Team is a good example – though worth noting it does NOT mean every word/lyric is included. • Amplification – Goodwin stated that this is when an idea in the lyrics is represented in the video even if the video main theme might be appear to be different from the lyrics. Fancy and Sia’sChandelier are examples of this and this is a common format. • Disjuncture - Goodwin identified that in some music videos the meaning of the song is completely ignored and there is no reference to the lyrics - is this the Skrillex video or does the 1 line (Shout to all my lost boys, sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shouts to all my lost boys we rowdy) reflect the video?

6. Are Narrative videos also examples of Disjuncture ? We will watch the A Team as an example of Illustration but also consider Whether Fancy is an example of Amplfication And Mr Skrillexcan be considered as an example of Disjunture • When you write to your blog add a comment about whether there is a relationship between Illustration/Amplification/Disjuncture and Narrative/Performance/ Narrative-Performance ? • For instance – are videos that are classified as disjuncture also narrative based and those that are amplification a mixture of narrative and performance. Or does it just depend ? • Make a note in your books so you remember to add this to your blogs – it shows that the research you’re doing has an impact on your work