AVRIL LAVIGNE - CODES AND CONVECTIONS

PREP MUSIC VIDEO CODES AND CONVENTIONS 
To prepare for the exam, we look at the media language of music videos, such as their codes and conventions below. For prep, copy the points in colour then add your own points in black.

1. Performance - the singer / band are seen to be singing and playing (including lip synching), 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. Avril Lavigne sings throughout the video using a mike and draws a huge crowd of fans around her when she jumps onto a car roof in the street. She sings with great passion, energy and conviction, holding the mike close to her mouth. Close-ups show her every word (lip synching is a feature of music videos.) She performs for her fans and for her 'boyfriend' the sk8er boi who features in the narrative. Screens often feature in music video and the sk8er boi is videoing Avril Lavigne as he gazes adoringly up at her. She returns his gaze as she sings about 'we rock each other's world'. The performance element creates authenticity (fans have proof of her talent) because we see her sing.
2. Star - use of close-ups, sometimes direct eye contact with audience, to build relationship with audience  the close ups really show Avril's attitude which is cocky and as if she doesn't care. She also keeps eye contact getting us the audience on board with what she is saying. Through the close ups Avril invites us into her life to see what is happening and it makes it more personal, giving us a look into her life. There is a close up between skater boy and Avril's faces showing the love and how they both are so proud of each other.
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. They spray paint a star and the 7th street & spring to show that is their area and that they are in charge and the are leaders. As Avril's gang mark there territory. Its clear that they are planning on having a concert their. There are a few bits in the music video when the star is everywhere and that everyone knows. It was on leaflets which where being thrown around, and when they went into a coffee shop it was on the coffee cup. It represents Avril and her gang , showing that they are leaders. You get the story of Avril and how she is feeling and what she is doing and not what the other girl is doing even though that its about the other girl and what her life is now. She does air punches which match with the music and link with it making it look really good.
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. There is a bit with Avril and her gang in the back of the car showing a real life situation, crowded with friend being driven and the camera is almost slanted a bit giving it a different , edger, angle
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 - The editing is fast paced this really sets the scene of where they are and what is going on. This shows us that the rest of the song is going to be fast paced, the rest of the song is fast and so is the video so they fit well together. It is hand held and being jolted around the car making us the audience feel like we are in the car with her.
6. Refrain - repeated chorus, sometimes with variations during the chorus - The visuals intensify the pace, we see a montage of different shots of Avril and her gang setting up the gig very quickly and rushing about, the crowd quickly joining in. The refrain helps tie it all together. At the end she changes the chorus so its about herself and how she met the skater boy instead how the other girl met the skater boy in the past. she makes it about the present and what is happening now.