Codes and Conventions (Key features

of the music video)

Observations: Did you follow,
develop or challenge? f so, how?
llustrative e!amples from the
video with time codes
Other e!amples to compare
and contrast
"arrative
#isual $esponse
%ac& of 'alance
(artial of )ragmented "arrative
Dis*ointed +tructure
,hat Drives the #ideo )orward?
-heme or .ontage?
We are given a partial narrative
because several things arent
placed into context for us.
Firstly, we are not told why
there appears to be a state of
martial law, with army platoons
circulating the streets. The
music very much drives the
narrative forward, as the song
climaxes so does the video with
a quick tempo scene of one of
the friends being beaten up.
t !"#$, when the mischievous
kids are about to load their %%
guns they are shown behind a
fence that seems to circle
around their neighborhood. t
#"&& we are shown the army
patrolling the streets stopping
anyone who may be walking or
driving, telling us there is a
state of martial law or that the
neighborhood is unsafe.
'n this video, we are not
shown the artists of the
song but instead the actors
that make the narrative.
This is uncommon in most
genres of music but is
something we see in
lternative rock music
videos on occasion like
'magine (ragons
)adioactive. (i**ee
)ascals +ove this Town is
also very narrative heavy.
/diting
Does it .atch the 'eat of the .usic?
0se or gnorance of Continuity /diting
)ast (ace of /diting
0se of lac& of 0se of -ransitions
/diting .ay 'ecome 1)oregrounded2
The editing doesnt match the
beat of the music perfectly, but
transitions indicating a time
leap are made on a beat. The
video uses invisible editing and
doesnt really draw our
attention to it. The focus is on
the narrative.
n example of the
continuity,invisible editing is at
!"#- till !"&.. 'nvisible editing
like this is intended not to
draw our attention and thus
the editing is not
foregrounded. t /"## an
important transition indicating
a 0ump in time, is made to a
beat.
The invisible editing in this
video is similar to that in
1ohn +egends ll of 2e,
where the editing isnt
suppose to take away from
the narrative. 'ts important
because the narrative and
song go hand in hand.
#ernallis 3nalysis Chart
Camera .ovement 4 )raming
/!treme +hots
5ow /ach +hot is )ramed
Does the Camera .ove in time to the music?
Does the Camera .ove in time to the lyrics?
$e6occurring +hots
.aster +hots are )re7uently Close6ups
3amera movement matches the
music and nearer to the end, as
the music speeds up, the
camera movement becomes
somewhat pedantic. shot that
reoccurs is the one showing the
teenager with the long hair with
his girlfriend, 4rmly establishing
the relationship between them.
lso, there are frequent close
ups of the
t ."!5 we are shown a close
up of one of the boys faces
6something that is quite
frequent in the video7. t !".$
we are shown the close up of
the couple which is a shot that
reoccurs,8we see them
together several times. The
camera does move in time
with the music, when the kids
are running at /"#& the
camera movement quickens.
The close ups in this music
video follow the standard
music video convention.
lmost every music video
has a close up of the artist.
'n this case, we have a
close up of the actors like
that in )adioactive by
'magine (ragons.
Diegesis
.ay be $evealed +lowly
3ctions are "ot "ecessarily Completed
Characters .ay .ove to the .usic
-here .ay be .any $epetitions
+ome )rames .ay be .ore mportant -han
Others
The diegesis is revealed slowly.
We start o9 with a bunch of
teenagers being mischievous in
a typical suburban setting. The
video ends with one of the
friends being beaten up for
engaging in a relationship he
perhaps shouldnt have.
There is a lovely shot near the
end at /".- where the friends
are at the diner, and we see an
eye line match accompanied
with a look of trepidation
suggesting to us that
something big is about to
happen.
This video contradicts a lot
of :ernalliss points. ;aty
<errys )oar ,for example,
the video is very much a
visual response to the
music, a key idea in
:ernallis theory.
#ernallis 3nalysis Chart