MUSIC VIDEO CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Sk8ter Boi (Avril Lavigne)

1. Performance - the singer / band are seen to be playing, to provide authenticity, so that followers believe in the talent and can see their star. Record labels sign stars and promote them  to ensure sales.
2. Star - use of close-ups, sometimes direct eye contact with audience, to build relationship with audience
3. The visuals (what the star and other characters are seen doing) illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics (the 'story in the words'). Illustration = the visuals play out the story more or less literally; amplify = the words in the lyrics are only the starting point and the story develops in other directions; contradiction / disjuncture = the visuals do not interpret the words of the lyrics and may even show something contradictory.
4. The narrative usually features the performer in 'real life' situations but often with experimental types of film making such as hand-held, dramatic camera angles, symbolic codes and lighting
5. The visuals are usually cut to the beat of the music; the editing is often fast-paced; there is often use of montage, ellipsis and intercutting, stylish effects
6. Refrain - repeated chorus, sometimes with variations
7. Intertextuality - references to other media, films, performances, events

Avril Lavigne is shown throughout her video, called Sk8ter Boi, singing and drawing a huge crowd around her. She is shown playing a guitar, singing music with a mike, surrounded by adoring fans, chasing her and screaming at her. She sings with a strong passion, energy and certainty. Different hand movements and facial expressions, shown well by close-ups, give off a happy almost jeering mood and feeling about her. She is performing for her fans and singing (lip-syncing) the words perfectly and confidently.

 Her clothes and actions reflect her personality in the music video. She also makes a lot of direct eye-contact with the camera often, to show a closeness with the audience. There is a moment when there is a slightly softer bit in the song, where she looks into a camera adoringly, which her boyfriend is supposedly holding, and acts all pretty and nice for him . This is  a visual that plays  out with the lyrics, showing Avril Levigne's better relationship with 'Sk8ter Boi'. There is also quite a hard beat which reflects the punk actions and fast cuts from the video. A lot of the cuts would be in time with the music, hard, jumpy and then flicking back to similar images again.

The video ends with Avril breaking a car window, with her guitar, before a helicopter is seen hovering above. The different dramatic camera angles, show her hair flying above her and her dark make-up encasing her eyes, creased with worry. There were only two glimpses of Ballet girl, the one talked about in the song, and it was more focused on the success of Avril herself.

The chorus is different, in a way that the words are altered each time Avril sings it. Each chorus has the same tune but is reflective of the last words from the last verse.