Music Video analyses

Music Video Analyses

The two music videos I will be analysing are:My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black ParadeGreen Day - American Idiot This slide set will break down the music videos in terms of the connotations and denotations and the codes and conventions of music videos and rock music videos in general.

American Idiot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI (Embed)

To the right of the following stars the music video will be available and specific reference points will be marked to provide evidence for my statements. Firstly, the music video follows Lynch's structure theory. This theory states there are 3 basic structures of music videos; Narratives, Performance and Concept. This video is a performance structure as there is no narrative and clearly shows the band performing throughout, as can be seen. This structure of music video is very common amongst the rock genre and was used to connote the genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI (Embed)

A second theorist that can be applied is Goodwin's codes and conventions theory. This music video clearly shows a relationship between the music and visuals (being a performance based video), a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (seen as lip syncing), Particular music video style (as stated before being a performance based video, commonly used in the rock genre), Iconography (seen in the logo on the drum kit) and voyeurism. This was used to give the music video to give the audience the feeling of being recorded and streamed live to their fans, thereby adding to the performance based structure, which is typical of the rock genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI (Embed)

A third theorist that can be applied to this music video is Gow's theory of central genres of music videos, specifically for this music video, it would be a hybrid of a song and dance number and the enhanced performance,in that it focuses on the performance, especially lip syncing and is blended with other visual elements, in this case practical effects. this is done alongside the performance based piece to enhance the video and is also a typical technique used in rock music videos,so is more suitable for that genre, but may not quite suit a pop song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI (Embed)

The use of colour in the rock genre is also key. some of the main colours used in the genre are black, red and dark shades of other colours. This can be seen in this music video with the way the band is dressed, being mainly black with splashes of red. this is typical of the rock genre in giving off a "grungy" vibe and are colours also associated with depression and anger, which are negatively stereotyped with the rock genre. similarly, the background and setting throughout the music video are also "grungy" which adds to the stereotype and typical codes and conventions of rock music videos. These elements make this music video successful in the rock genre, the audience will easily be able to identify these elements as being associated with the rock genre.

Welcome To The Black Parade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRKJiM9Njr8 (Embed)

This video also uses Goodwin's theory of codes and conventions. The video shows voyeurism in the form a screens within screens, this is done to give the music video a feeling of being like real life.another aspect of Goodwin's theory that can be applied is the use of star "iconography". This is done with the Mise-en-scene. particularly in the form of costumes, background and make-up. The audience of My Chemical Romance will easily identify this music video by cues from the costume and background because it is very similar for this music videos "era". there is also a link between the music and visuals and lyrics and visuals. This is done by being a performance based music video, including the instruments being played and lip syncing to lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRKJiM9Njr8 (Embed)

This music video is performance based (Lynch) which is typical of the rock genre. However, the inclusion of a narrative makes this a hybrid structure, which is becoming more common amongst all genres of music video. This is done to engage the audience with more than just a performance piece, while switching with a performance so show "star power". The mise en scene uses a post apocalyptic setting, giving a darker, grungy and somewhat almost depressing feel to the world state at the time of this video. This fits the stereotype of the rock genre being "grungy", dark and somewhat depressing.

Conclusion

Both music videos pull on the stereotypes associated with the rock genre, in darker colour schemes, grungy backgrounds and performance based structures. This makes both effective in the rock genre as the audience can easily identify these cues and therefore will attract that specific audience.