Codes and Conventions of Music Video - Peter Fraser

Camerawork

Fraser said that camerawork has a direct impact on meaning. He said that camera movement, angle and shot distance all must be carefully analysed. For example camera movement may follow the movements of the performers, or be used to create a more dynamic, artistic feel to the video by using concepts like continuously circling a band while they perform.

He states that the close up predominates. This is partly because of the screen size and also partly to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. John Stewart of Oil Factory said that he sees the music video as being like a TV commercial, with close ups advertising the artist's face.

Editing

Music videos most commonly use a fast cut montage form of editing, but there are some videos which are exceptions to this as they use very slow pace cuts and transitions to set the mood. This type of editing is prominently present in big female artists with a broad audience, such as Dido.

Digital effects are often used in music videos to offer different kinds of pleasure to the audience. Effects such as CGI, colourisation and split screens.

Star Image

Like Dyer, Fraser also speaks about star image, which I mention in the post I did about Dyer.


Voyeurism

Voyeurism broadly is the idea of looking to gain sexual pleasure and was put forward by Freud. It has been argued that the males gaze at the screen is geared toward voyeurism. Goodwin argues that females will often be objectified in music videos through camerawork and close ups of the female body.

Although it raises the question of female artists using male dancers in their videos, and how females might respond

Narrative and Performance

There are rarely songs that have a beginning, middle and end. This is the same for (most) music videos, which often just suggest storylines or offer complex fragments of them in a non linear order. This cause the viewer to want to watch the video again in order to catch the fragments missed on the first viewing.

A narrative within a music video allows the viewer access to the artist in much greater ways than a stage performance, as they would be presented in a much more different way than in a live concert.