1. Lyrics establish the general mood of the video, where as the shots used are the implied meaning, which will either relate or contradict the lyrics, or use a vague concept related to the style of music.
2. Tempo of the music often dictates the rate of the editing.
3. Genre is frequently reflected in the types of mise-en-scene used, common themes, style of performance, use of the camera and the way in which it’s edited.
4. Depending on how the camera is used, will impact the connotations associated with the band. More often than not, close up’s will dominate the majority of the video.
5. Editing is generally done in fast successions, to try and make it difficult for the audience to grasp what is fully going on in the video, meaning they will have to watch the video multiple times.
6. Digital effects will be used to enhance the editing, to either add to style or the audience’s experience.
7. Intertextuality is often present. This is to create pleasure in the audience, as they will be able to connect to the video and feel a sense of fulfillment at the ability to pick up on the references. An example of this is Lady Gaga- Telephone that has clear references to Kill Bill through the scene in the diner and the car used, other references include Chicago as she is walking into the prison and the style of dancing used.
8. Exhibitionism is the exposure of some form of nudity, this is common in music videos, more often than not, they show some form a nudity,(even if it’s mild) to make the artist more desirable. Either through showing the female artist themselves, or male artists surrounded by half naked women to imply that if you buy into their image and style you will be like them. This stems from the Male Gaze Theory
Male Gaze Theory
Proposed by Laura Mulvey, a British feminist film theorist, who used Freud’s psychodynamic theory and applied it to cinema to use it as a psychoanalytic theory in the study of cinematic spectatorship. She claimed that women are seen as two types of women portrayed in cinema, either voyeuristic (sex objects) or fetishistic look (exaggerating a woman’s features). This is to make women as sex objects for either passive or active viewing, this means that women are either seen as a sexual in nature or actively there to give pleasure to males. Freud referred to this as scopophilia, which is to look at other people bodies in an erotic manner for pleasure.
This is especially seen in music videos; women are actively providing pleasure to men in the film through kissing or erotic dancing (which in turn provides pleasure to the audience), or as objects for men to stare at. A lot of the time the women are seen as the spectacle and men are the viewer.
This theory is proved particularly in what is classed as pop music videos, such as Katy Perry’s – California Girls. Here the women involved are seen in evocative clothes, and dance in a sexual nature, showing the women as sex objects.
Goodwin’s Theory
Andrew Goodwin stated that there are 7 key features in a music video, the majority of which will be included into a successful music video.
1. Visuals will either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music
2. Different types of music will have their own style of music video, which is tailored to the type of music they produce.
3. No matter what type of music video close ups must be included.
4. The artist/band might want to develop their own star iconography, which becomes their signature image that the audience will be able to identify with automatically.
5. Voyeurism (someone watching someone else in a sexual nature, usually in secret, to gain some form of pleasurable experience) is often incorporated in the majority of music videos.
6. Inter-textual references are usually incorporated, usually in relation to the type of music produced and the audiences popular associations
7. Female artist or performers are often viewed as objects, and often the camera shots and angles used are to emphasis the star being treated in a sexual manner
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