POST 3: CODES AND CONVENTIONS

There are various codes and conventions that three minute dance music videos and dance artist's website's homepages and linked web pages follow that I will also follow in order for my music video to be a complete part of this genre. In a similar way, there are conventions for websites that I will follow for my homepage and one other page. Both will be influenced by my research and inform my planning. The brief's requirements will also heavily influence all of my planning for both products and therefore I will quote it directly, whenever applicable (below), to ensure I fulfill its requirements.


MUSIC VIDEO CODES & CONVENTIONS:

1. Variation of camera framing, angles and movement
"Range of camera shots, including shot distances, angles and movement as appropriate to a music video"

When analysing other inspirational dance music videos, I found certain types of shots generic to the genre with specific purposes.

For example, CUs of the artist are often used as beauty shots, to display their hair and make-up, or for a close shot of them lip synching, using direct address to engage the audience. These shots have different variations, Anne Marie's CU is on a dutch angle while Sigrid's shot is filmed on a dolly, slowly panning right as she sings to create a less static shot. These choices often depends on where in the video the CU is and therefore what point the song is at, both in terms of lyrics and beat of the song itself.

Conversely, LSs are often used to frame the artist and other characters together in the same shot. I was inspired by two types of shot, the first is from the Britney Spears video for 'Baby One More Time' where a dance sequence is framed in the long shot with various women, dressed in school uniforms. This type of dance sequence is very conventional for the dance music genre, particularly my genre of dance-pop and Britney's video has been inspirational for many contemporary artists and established the genre of dance from the late 90s. This type of shot is often static as there is already a lot of movement from the dancers.

The other is from Anne Marie's video for 'Ciao Adios' where the artist is sat in the middle of a sofa, surrounded by other characters. All the characters are posing and looking straight into the camera, establishing them as an aspirational group. To incorporate some movement into the shot, the camera tracks in towards the sofa to draws the audience into both the new setting and set-up but also the new characters, who represent the multi-ethnic society that I will go on to discuss in post 4.

2. Structure conventional to three-minute music videos, featuring both performance and narrative
"The music video must feature a narrative appropriate to a music video (e.g. a performance montage, a linear narrative illustrating or commenting on the song, or a mix of performance montage and other narrative elements)"

Below is my analysis of the structure of Anne-Marie's 2002:

The letters, symbolising locations, are introduced in most verses although the CUs, particularly B, are used throughout with the artist lip synching.

The narrative also progresses through the verses, which are often slower than the choruses, which are instead comprised of quick cuts between different locations with various group dance sequences with the artist lip synching the, often catchy, lyrics.

I will utilise a similar three-part structure in the narrative with new locations introduced in each verse/pre-chorus as I see necessary. Quick cuts will also be used between all my set-ups in my choruses to portray the lively beat of the song and keep my audience engaged and entertained.



3. Quick, irregular cuts in editing, with rapid changing mise-en-scene
"Editing of footage appropriate to the genre of the music video audio track"

To combine the narrative and performance elements described above in point 2, there is often fast-paced cutting between these shots and different set-ups, often creating large differences in mise-en-scene (framing or movement in the shot, colour scheme for costume or lighting or setting). This is seen in most of the music videos in the dance genre, particularly where there are quick cuts from a LS to a CU or similar. These have many functions as theorised by Carol Vernallis:

• Partial or fragmented narrative
• Editing may be foregrounded (made obvious), breaking may of the rules of continuity editing that are strictly followed in other media forms such as the Hollywood narrative
• Jumps between extremes in camera framing or movement
• Elements of narrative and performance revealed quite slowly
• Many repetitions of shots, gifting the audience with a false sense of predictability

4. Various settings, often recognisable or aspirational for the TA

"At least two different settings (this may be the same location with a significantly different use of mise-en-scene and/or lighting or two different locations)

Many music videos' performance sections often take place in studio settings with various lighting or background set-ups, often using bright colours to add an interesting element to the otherwise plain setting. In these settings, conventional props are also used to signify the fact that the artist is performing, these often include microphone stands.

However, depending on the narrative of the video, there is often other internal and external settings. For example, Anne Marie's '2002' and Little Mix's 'Black Magic' as well as Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time' all have narratives based in the school environment, which would also be recognisable to the young adult target audience. Despite the one setting of the school, various areas of the school are featured including libraries, classrooms and corridors filled with lockers, which the screenshot from 'Fancy' below demonstrates.

 In order to fulfill the requirements of the brief and make my performance and narrative sections distinct, I plan to have both studio and internal school settings in my music video.

5. Other characters in the narrative or performance (dance) sections
"At least two characters representing at least two different social groups"

Although the artist is often the only character featured in lip-synching CUs, other characters are often featured in the dance or narrative sections to help portray the narrative or be a part of the dance routines. Their costume depends on the narrative explored and the 'world' that the video takes place in but in more contemporary videos, the other characters are dressed in unique looks to demonstrate their own originality. As I will go on to discuss on my representation post, it is very important for me to portray different social groups, to ensure that ethnic minorities are included in the video and this will be through my casting of characters in the narrative or dance sequences.

6. Intertextuality

I have noticed a great deal of intertextuality in my research, both in dance music videos and others by other female artists. This can be in many forms at different extremities.

For example, Iggy Azalea's video for 'Fancy' references the chick-flick film 'Clueless' by references full set-ups from the 1995 classic high school film. I found the short video below on YouTube (not made by me) that demonstrates the extent of the intertextuality, with full scenes acted out by the artists and characters, the only difference being the lip-synching the artists are doing to their song. Although I do not plan on doing a full homage, as done in 'Fancy,' this video was very inspirational as it gave me the idea to reference a chick-flick film as intertextuality, as these films are coming back into mainstream culture, decades later.

Other music videos use intertexuality in a similar but often more subtle way through their choices of  mise-en-scene as displayed in Anne Marie's '2002' (right) that references Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time' (left). Although the same framing is not used, it is clearly referencing back due to both the shots being at the beginning of the songs and having similar colour schemes and use of props, the small individual table. However, the differences between them, including the shoes worn by the protagonist and the metallic blue bag used in the more contemporary video allow the differences in era to be displayed while providing a homage to the classic.

I definitely plan to incorporate subtle elements of intertextuality into my video, with my research
making me aware of how popular culture from previous decades, particularly the 80s, 90s and 00s are coming back into trend. Therefore I plan to reference a film from those decades in similar ways to those seen above, including through graphics/titles at the beginning of the video and through the inclusion of similar shots/set-ups to the media I am providing a homage to.

Goodwin theorises that intertextuality particularly aids the audience's understanding of the music video by establishing the relationship between the lyrics, music and visuals. For example, in the second chorus of 'Fancy' (click for the video) the lyric "I'm so fancy" is paired with an establishing shot of the lavish house where a house party is being held. This works to amplify the meaning of the lyrics themselves as the setting would also be familiar to fans of the film prior to seeing the video so they would understand how fancy the characters being portrayed truly are.


7. Stylistic experimentation with effects in editing
"Editing of footage appropriate to the genre of the music video audio track"

When researching, I notice the dance genre often encouraged experimentation with speed, colour and repetition in the edit to create an engaging video with a sense of unpredictability and freedom that is encouraged by the flexibility of music video structures. Dua Lipa's 'Be The One' has many of these effects including a 'bounce' effect that repeats a shot in reverse and slightly faster to create a more interesting shot that draws attention to the artist.

I plan to experiment with such effects to make my music video engaging and interesting for the full three minute duration and to make it conform to the dance genre.




8. Graphics at the beginning of the video to introduce the artist and song
"Graphics/titles to include the name of the track and the name of the band artist"

The titles necessary to introduce the song and artist(s) in a music video are always at the beginning although sometimes there is one title card with all the information on it while other times, there are two separate title cards.

In the example from 'Friends' (right) the title card has all the information needed and is also used to intertextually reference the fiercely popular Netflix TV Drama 'Stranger Things.' This is achieved through the font and colour of the word 'Friends' with the background of the house, reminiscent of the Byers house in the show. This would immediately be recognised by the TA, who are likely to be fans of the show as well.


In other dance music videos I have researched, the title of the song and name of the artist are separate to allow the artist's brand to be promoted, which would encourage digital convergence, as the same branding would be seen on the artist's website and social media pages. This can be seen from examples from Dua Lipa and Anne Marie below, promoting the artist's synergistic brands.

WEB PAGE CODES & CONVENTIONS

My main inspirations for my website design are Dua Lipa and Anne-Marie's websites (their names are hyperlinked to their websites). As stated in the brief, I plan on creating a homepage and one other webpage for my artist as well as a landing page. The codes & conventions for these are below.


1. Many images of the artist, reflecting the artist's brand identity
"A minimum of two original images, (with at least one different original image on each of the two pages) that promotes and reinforces the brand identity of the band/artist (for example these might feature the band/artist with fans)"

=These images feature large on the landing page with one other large image on the homepage and multiple others across the website.Rather than linking to the music video or single itself, the photography links to their main brand identity and therefore they are wearing different costumes in the different shots.


2. Other audio-visual content not found elsewhere (e.g. behind the scenes videos)
"Original audio or audio-visual content appropriate to the band/artist's webpage"

=I was inspired to incorporate this into my website after seeing the series of 'Dua Diary' videos, short two minute montage-style vlogs, on her YouTube channel, also advertised on her website. These are behind the scenes looks behind events she attends and various rehearsals or photoshoots that she does. These would be relatively easy for me to produce and would allow my TA to see the artist in a less fabricated environment.


3. A menu bar on every page, featuring the artist's logo on the top left with other pages linked on the right
"Appropriate conventions of website design, including an original title and logo for the band/artist's webpage and a menu bar" & "A range of appropriate media language techniques (typography, images, fonts, backgrounds, logos etc) as appropriate to the purpose of the website"

=The other pages often include About, Music, Live, News and Video pages and although I will only fill one of these pages, I plan to include most of them on my menu bar, with my only "working link from the homepage to the other page."


4. Social media & streaming platform links

=Social media pages (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook) and streaming platforms (Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music etc) are often promoted to the TA to encourage them to interact with the artist and be engaged by their content. This also encourages them to buy into the brand with single covers, merch and tour tickets.


5. Introductory paragraph for the artist
"Text introducing the band/artist"

=This would introduce the artist's genre and latest hits in a few sentences for TA members that wouldn't be aware of the artist yet.


BOTH MUSIC VIDEO & WEBSITE CONVENTIONS
=The music video and website would digitally converge through the use of repeated logos and branding of the artist as well as repeated colours and fonts
=Despite this, the website would display the artist's more general brand identity rather than the specific narrative and costumes explored in the music video

Following my research, I plan on following many of the conventions explored above for both my music video and website, particularly where the brief specifies a minimum number of characters or locations. In order to portray a clear sense of branding between the two elements of cross-media production, I will use consistent fonts and logos for my artist and production company.