Music Video Conventions

 In his book "Dancing in the distraction factory:, Andrew Goodwin theorises that there are seven key conventions to all music videos.

These are:

1. That there is a relationship between the videos visuals and its lyrics (used to show, contradict or amplify.)
2. That there is a relationship between the visuals and music (such as using the same style or things happening to the tune or beat of the music.)
3. That particular genres have their own tropes, style and iconography.
4. A large amount of focus placed on the main artist.
5. The main artist has a particular iconography and style which is shown in and out of the video.
6. References to voyeurism, i.e looking or being filmed by others.
7. References to other forms of media, either as large parodies such as of horror movies or references to specific pieces of media.

        Pop music

Pressure-Billy Joel

1. During the video, there are a few shots of the lead singer lip synching with the music in the middle of the action.
2. Many of the loud moments in the song are accompanied by large accompanying visuals, and a lot of the editing is synched with the audio, such as using freeze frames during moments when the main focus is the audio.
3. This video doesn't use much genre specific imagery, instead using imagery more unique to billy Joels music.
4. Most of the video focuses on the perspective of the main singer, and he takes part in the most impactful and eye catching scenes.
5. Billy Joel continues to follow the themes and images of everyday life being used to tell an extreme or exaggerated story, as he does in most of his videos. This also applies to how he presents himself in his videos, dressing in everyday clothes which you would expect to find on anyone.
6. A lot of the video focuses on the images of looking at people through a TV screen and being observed by others.
7. This video doesn't use many intertextual references, instead focusing on its own imagery.

Thriller- Michael Jackson

1. The early sections of the songs lyrics influence the songs horror themed imagery, whereas the speech that takes up a large chunk of the ending lyrics directly narrate the story of the music video.
2. The music focuses on trying to make a song around the horror genre, using organs and abrupt sound effects, s the video also uses many of the imagery also popular to the genre.
3. Horror has a style that uses darkness and a slow buildup towards a big finish, all things that the music video uses.
4. Michael Jackson is the focus of most of the video, leading the dance and being shown singing the lyrics.
5. Michael Jackson continues his growing personal style of using extreme costumes and dance styles to create an easily recognisable personal identity.
6. The beginning of the video focuses on looking at themselves through a movie screen, whilst the iconic end of the movie focuses more on the symbol of eyeballs being used.
7. This video contains many references to the popular subgenres of horrors, such as zombie and werewolf movies, adapting their imagery for a new medium.

                                                          Take me out- Franz Ferdinand

1. The lyrics of the video are shown written out on screen and made into a part of the animation as it begins to get more elaborate.
2. Every part of the visuals are synched with the beat of the music, from the animation to the way the camera angles change to the lyrics appearing on screen.
3. This video more chooses to focus on its own unique visual styles than any of the genres famous images or styles.
4. The intro features admittedly too many repeated images of the main artist from a repeated high angle, before transferring to the animated style.
5. The video uses many repeated images of machinery and paper cutouts, while the musicians all wear the same casual suit outfit.
6. There are multiple references to eyes and different eye-related imagery.
7. Although the band name decides to reference important events in history, the video and music itself make little reference to anything outside of itself.

Representation.

1. Pressure- This song features representations of many ages which are not often seen in music videos at the time, such as children or old age, as well as women, although only as background characters. Apart from this the video doesn't feature much representation, since it. mostly focuses on Billy Joel himself interacting with his surroundings and the videos strange scenes.

2. Thriller- This video features representations of many groups, both as main characters with Michael and his girlfriend, as well as the diverse set of background dancers in the song, with members of all races and genders represented as characters.

3. Take me out- The only people seen in the video are the band members, so there isn't any representation of groups outside of the band. Since most of the video focuses on objects instead of individual people or groups, no groups are specifically represented in the video.