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.

EDITING

PREP Analyse how editing is used in the extract from Cuffs to create meaning. Refer to at least two examples from the extract in your answer. (This means that a good candidate will write fully and freely, covering more than just 2 examples, as we practised in class).
Worth 5 marks: write half a side of A4 and post on your blog tonight. If you have DoE, take an extra 24 hours.

In the first episode of Cuffs, we understand that Jake and his leading officer don't get on too well. However, during a scene in the changing room the editors use a shot reverse shot to signal the sensitive moment between the two. During that moment the shot reverse shot helps the watcher see that they are starting to bond and the fact the leading officer is offering for him to join them with their training is big step for their relationship, as at first it is extremely rocky.

Another example of editing in Cuffs is when the four police officers are training together. There is a dissolve transition used as we see that they do multiple laps and so the characters begin to fade over one another. It starts off where all of them are running from cone to cone before a time laps occurs, showing a more sweaty, tired version of them, over top of the more confident version.

Mise-En-Scene

During the nudist beach scene, at the beginning of the first episode of Cuffs, we experience two nudists and five stag men having a fight. It is made clear to the watchers that the stag men were the instigators  as we can see the nudists are, almost shamefully, covering their dignity with a towel. The antagonists also hold props to show their thought of their own authority in the situation, the props consist of: A human sized play doll (which they could have just to make fun of the nudists), swords and viking helmets. Once the policeman came along, we could see who actually was in authority. we know this because of his formal uniform, having equipment at his hand and how he is telling everyone what to do.

Another example would be when we see Nathan in his house, after cutting his wrists. We see that he has some control of the situation as he is the one who is being asked whether he would open the door. However, we know that he is under an influence of possibly drugs and he doesn't seem emotionally stable, therefore it seems more likely that the policemen are going to get what they ask for.

EXAM Q1 (camera angle)

In cuffs, the camera angle is used to create emotion and meaning within the different scenes. The first episode of Cuffs begins with an establishing shot. This is used to show the audience where the action is taking place, what the type of scene we are in and in addition what the weather is like. It is usually a very wide shot or an extreme wide shot. In a lot of the chase scene a high angle shot is used as a cinematic technique to give more clarity as to what is going on. It also gives a more dramatic sense to a scene and so, during the fight scenes or tense scenes, the high angle shot is used a lot  during Cuffs.

There are also a lot of sensitive and vulnerable moments in Cuffs, such as when the dad almost commit suicide, or when the mum got her child back and when another officer slipped his number into Jake's pockets. In each of these scenes the camera angle used is a close-up. It gives a show of feelings and gives more detail to the smaller actions. A tilt pan shot is also sued quite often. Between the father and child there is a tilt pan shot used where it shows that they are somehow linked together in the story. At that point we don't know how they are linked but we do see that the girl knows this man and the man knows the girl, because of the tilt pan shot. It does this by showing the girl and then fading the camera outwards so that we see the guy staring back at the girl.

There is also the use of extreme close-ups. This is a shot that is so tight that only very certain details are shown. For example, in Cuffs, we get a close-up of Nathan's wrists (a drug addict) which have been badly slit. Another example used in Cuffs, as an extreme close-up, is when an Indian boy gets stabbed and all we can see is his head hitting the floor and blood leaking out from his body. It was such a tight close-up that we couldn't see anything more gory than the blood.

EXAM Q5

Social context influences television programmes a lot these days. Language is a big part of what defines what the TV show is like, when it was made or when it was set. In the Avengers, social context is a big clue as to what the year is (1961). The setting also gives us some clue as to the context. In the Avengers we see a squadron bunker (air force crew) which has no walls, rusted beds and scraps of photos and paperwork on the floor. This shows that the war passed a while ago during the time of this programme.

Old fashioned language is also used throughout the episodes, showing that it had to of been set somewhere between the war and a couple of decades ago. Language examples include 'old boy' and 'sugar or lemon'.

Actions are also hints at the time zone. In the Avengers there are countless actions that show the time zone without obviously saying it. The first action I noticed was that they boarded a steam train, a train that they would use in olden days before more modern technology was created. Then, whilst on the train, they had 'afternoon tea' which is something our grandparents may have but it is not common in the modern times. Another example would be Emma Peel's outfits. Whilst she is exploring the school she is wearing a shiny, black, leather bodysuit, along with a head-Shaw, she collorates it in classic black and white.

EXAM Q2

In the first scene there are three very different groups: the nudists, the criminals and the single policeman. The criminals are committing crimes by making fun of the nudists and eventually punching the policeman in the face. The group of criminals must just have seen the nudists and thought it was hilarious that people would live in that way. So, therefore, they videoed them and made fun of the nudists, showing off the bad side of them. The nudists would have seen this in a completely different way.

Following their own beliefs as nudists, the fact that they are getting insulted and practically attacked is probably very hurtful to them, however the fact that they get annoyed with the policeman for not being efficient enough, shows that they may of deserved the taunting and that they are not respectful people. The policeman, on the other hand, is the one who is really put in the light of the victim. He arrives to help a bunch of naked people, then no-one really takes much attention in him and then the criminals physically attack him before running away and then the nudists insult the policeman. It was a very strange scenario for an audience member, however it is likely that the policeman has been in stranger situations so he may not have been so surprised. However he must have been irritated that no-one seemed to car he was there and that he got punched for trying to break up a fight.

The close-up from the camera shows clear expressions of irritation and frustration from the policeman, taunting, jeering and an almost look of excitement from the criminals and a look of pure anger and slight embarrassment from the nudists. The close-ups are a good way to identify different emotions in detail.

The reason this scene depicts the police's point of view more than the criminals point of view is because we see the policeman driving in his car and then walking down the beach, proceeding to struggle with the situation. The voice-over in the background is also talking about a policeman's duties and struggles and so we look for the struggles of the policeman. Also, we can relate more to the policeman as we can understand his struggle more than the nudists and the criminals because we are, generally, more like him than the other groups. 

EXAM Q1

During a television program or a movie, sound is used to create either emotion, tension or fear for an audience member. Different types of music are used for different types of feelings, for example slow music (either low or high) would be used to create tension in a certain scene, fast, high-pitched music might be used to create terror or a nice, tuneful song might be used to show romance.

Sound is an invisible but powerful tool for generating meaning. Sight is a very powerful thing to create emotion and so the fact that we can watch things to create feelings is excellent. However, sound is also very great in creating emotion. The fact that we can combine, both audibly and visibly. our emotions is amazing.

For example, in the Avengers they use steam trains noises to keep indicating that they are on a train and headed somewhere. For the chase scene there is a racing squeaky tune that repeats itself over and over to create panic and tension.