Unit 4: Critical and Contextual Awareness in Creative Media Production - Task 1A: Music Video

Music Video Theory (Styles, Codes and Conventions)

Before we started our music video project, we first needed to understand how music videos are created and how they market an artist or group of a particular genre. In lesson, our tutor Danniella showed us a presentation about the brief history of where music videos originate from and how they have evolved throughout the years, as well as the different elements (styles, codes and conventions) that are included within different music videos, usually link to genre or lyrics of a song. 


Brief History of Music Videos:

1920s - Short films created by Jazz musicians, such as Bessie Smith, were made to accompany their music.

1965 - One of the first modern music videos, or promotional film clips, that was created and released is Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". This type of music video now would be known as a lyric video, where an artist releases a music video that mainly focuses on the lyrics of the song, showing the lyrics throughout the video, rather than an actual storyline or the artist themselves. 

1970 - The record industry discovered that television shows were a great opportunity to promote and market artists. For example, Top of the Pops (1964-2006) was a popular weekly music show that had artists perform, usually songs/artists that were in the music charts, and also gave a run-down of the single's charts in that week.




1975 - Queen's music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was broadcast on Top of the Pops in November 1975. After the success of this video, record companies would produce music videos to promote artists single releases. 

The video is directed by Bruce Gowers (who also directed Queen's 1974 performance at The Rainbow Theatre, London). The video is also recorded/filmed by Barry Dodd and assistant director/floor manager Jim McCutcheon. The video was recorded in just four hours on 10th November 1975 at the cost of £4,500. 

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is considered one of the most advanced videos of its time due to its use of special effects. The special effects were created during the recording, instead of in the editing process.

For example, the visual effect when the whole of Queen's heads duplicates and become different colours, as well as one of Freddie Mercury on his own, was accomplished by having the camera point at a monitor, which then gave visual feedback (this is because a camera points at a monitor that is playing back a piece of footage that has already been filmed, causing the video to loop and continuously play that piece of footage. It is slightly delayed as there is a lot in the footage to try and process for the loop).

Also, the type of honeycomb effect that is used to duplicate the footage of the band was achieved by using a shaped lens.

The whole video was edited in just five hours, this was because the video was being broadcast in the exact same week it was filmed. So, as soon as the video had been completed it was sent to the BBC and aired for the first time on Top of the Pops. 

Codes and Conventions:

After we had learnt a brief history of where music videos originate from and are a popular to promote and sell an artist, we then started to have a look at the codes and conventions of music videos. Codes and conventions is a system of signs to create meaning in a music video.

There are two different types of codes known as symbolic and technical codes.

Symbolic Codes:

Symbolic codes are finding meaning beneath the surface of what we see, trying to figure out the meaning of a story in more depth. This is done through Mise-en-Scene, setting, acting and colour.

• Mise-en-Scene - This is the use of design within a story for audiences to understand the setting. This is through design of the set (the way it is arranged and looks), props, costume, lighting and actors. 

• Setting - This is to present the time and place a story is set. Mise-en-Scene links into this as it gives context into the situations of (if there is any) the characters in the story and understand their personalities and life. 

• Acting - This is important to a story as audiences can understand the feelings of characters through movement, facial expressions, possibly their language and dialogue and their body language, how they come across to an audience. 

• Colour - These are used to represent certain moods, feelings and atmospheres within a story. Colours can also be symbolic to a certain meaning that a music video is trying to bring across to an audience. 

Technical Codes:

Technical codes are the way technical equipment, camera work (angles, camera movement and shots) and editing (fast cut montage or slow editing, split screens, chroma-key, colouristaions and CGI) is used to tell a story. 

After looking through the codes and conventions of music videos, we were also shown Andrew Goodwin's six rules to making a music video from his book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" (1992):


1. Music Videos demonstrate characteristics of a particular genre

In a music video of the rock genre, for example, there is usually a stage performance, from a band or artist, throughout the duration of the video. The image on the right shows the music video to Nirvana's 1991 song "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the video is simplistic as it only shows the band performing their song. The video also shows an audiences watching their performance but this still makes the band the main focus as the audience members are only paying attention to the band.

2. Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

Ed Sheeran's 2017 song "Castle on the Hill" is about Sheeran reminiscing about his life as a teenager back in his home-town. So, in Sheeran's video, it links back to the lyrics of his song as it follows a group of teenagers in a coming of age story about them growing up in their home-town. For example, the graphic on the left links back to Sheeran's lyrics saying "Driving at ninety down those country lanes". This makes the story more personal towards audiences as it is based off of Sheeran's personal life and audiences get to have glimpse into his adolescence. 

3. Relationship between the music and the visuals

Foster the People's 2011 song "Pumped Up Kicks" is written from the perspective a teenager who is struggling to keep sane and his thoughts of homicide start to increase rapidly. Although the message and themes of the song are violent and upsetting, the melody itself is very cheerful and upbeat. So, in the music video for the song, it shows the band performing around America and having fun whilst on tour linking the video to the music rather than its lyrics.

4. Record labels will always demand that their artists videos need to include many close ups of their artist, and that the artist might want to bring forward their own ideas, visual styles and designs that will recur across their work.

It is now a time where an artist is able to create their own music videos and putting in their own visions and ideas for selling their own song. For example, the last few music videos Foster the People have released, "Style", "Imagination" and "Pick U Up", have been directed Mark Foster who is the front-man of the band (Foster directed "Worst Nites" along with actor Josh Hutcherson ("Hunger Games" series, the "Journey" series and "Bridge to Terabithia")). For the music video for the 2019 song "Style", Foster has included many close ups of himself, and his band, to remind audiences that the band is the artist they are trying to sell to people and that Foster is the face of the band.

As Foster directed the music video, as an artist, he brings his own style to the visuals and creates ideas to bring across the meaning of his song to an audience. The song "Style" is about him struggling in his challenge to keep his freedom for the future as an American, as America keeps declining and it's becoming much harder to keep peace in the country. He also states if he is going to be killed, then it should be in style and the video focuses on this as he struts through many supporting artists in a stylish fashion. Foster also symbolises the force of the media as, in the video, there are men walking around in business suits and have many piles of newspapers on their heads covering up their faces. The businessmen symbolise how the media is a powerful business that is rapidly increasing in power and status, and in Foster's perspective the media is one of the factors for America's decline in keeping peace and causing violence and negativity throughout the country.


5. Frequently reference to the conception of looking and sight (e.g. screen within screens and telescopes) and particularly the objectification of the female body.

A music video that includes the concept of vision and sight is James Arthur's video for the song "Empty Space". The main character, played by Tom Felton ("Harry Potter" series), has a camera with him throughout the video. When going into the flashbacks of the story, Felton's character is filming his then girlfriend and also looking back at them with her. There are also scenes in the present where he is only looking at her through the camera from a distance, as they have both split up and she has been seen with another man. In the present time when he is lonely and upset, he looks back at all of the footage and is pained but also cheered up by the memories of her.

When a woman is featured in a music video they are usually used or seen to be an object and to be voyeuristic to viewers, particularly to men. For example, in Ariana Grande's music video for "God is a Woman", she is seen to be in no clothing and only has paint to cover up part of her body. This is also known as the male gaze which is a theory that a camera depicts the perspective of a man and only views women to be objectified for their own gratification, Grande's video also adds to this theory as the video was directed by Dave Meyers.

6. Intertextual references (to films, TV shows, maybe other music videos).

Panic! At the Disco's music video for their 2018 song "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" has an intertextual reference to the film "Back to the Future" (1985). A scene where the burglars that have intruded Brendon Urie's, the front-man of the band, home are now in his living room. Urie turns on a massive amplifier in the room, puts on some sunglasses, and picks up a yellow guitar. As he powerfully strums the guitar, the amp explodes and sends the burglars flying across the room. This links to the scene from the beginning of "Back to the Future" when Marty McFly visits Doc Brown's home, turning on a huge amplifier in Doc's home and putting it to its highest power. Marty then proceeds to playing the guitar, but after the first strum the AMP explodes and sends him flying across the room. There are a few other intertextual references in the music video, the main reference being from "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2013) as the music video is meant to look like it is all filmed in one shot and includes a large fight scene, just like the famous fight scene from the film. 

After looking through all of the music video theory with Danniella, it was then much easier to get a sense of the type of music videos we would be making, once we got onto the project. This also helped me to then move onto my first task of being able to compare music videos and understand the certain elements involved in them to make them a music video. 

Comparison and Analysis of Two Music Videos

The two music videos I have chosen and compared are Panic! At the Disco's "This is Gospel", released 12th August 2013, and The 1975's "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", released 3rd December 2018. 

(Left, "This is Gospel" & Right, "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)")

"This is Gospel" - Panic! At the Disco

"It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" - The 1975

The two music videos are very different to each other but the subject matters and themes of the songs are both very similar, especially for this particular genre of music being alternative rock and pop. 

"This is Gospel" was written by Brendon Urie (on the right), front-man of Panic! At the Disco and the only remaining original member, about his fear and frustration over his friend Spencer Smith (on the left), former drummer of the band, who was battling and struggling with a drug addiction. The song is about Urie being angry at both his friend and himself that he was never able to prevent his best friend from taking drugs and questioning what was wrong with the both of them for this situation to happen and not being able to stop it. 




As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", the song was written by the whole of The 1975 but the lyrics were mostly Matty Healy's, front-man of the band, as the song discusses Healy's own struggle with battling his addiction to heroin and trying to get clean after five years. The song is from Healy's perspective as he keeps referring to a fictional friend of his, called 'Danny', and trying to mask his own addiction after he found it hard to be able to cope after a relationship of his had ended, and as Healy didn't want to speak about himself and tried to keep his addiction hidden, he still wanted to be able to reach out to someone about his struggle and declining health. Healy also mentions the themes of living in a dystopian world and that we could all actually be living in a simulation, which also links back to his time with addiction as he started to have many absurd ideas about the world and if reality is existent or not, Healy also referring to this time and his way of thinking being a nightmare.



Both of the songs bring forward upsetting and harsh themes of drug use and their honest opinions and thoughts about trying to get help and clean, but both songs also have upbeat and cheerful melodies which cause these troublesome themes to be glossed-over with a catchy beat and don't let listeners recognise the painful and serious issues being brought to light. 

Though both songs present very serious issues about the battle of drug addiction from personal perspectives, but both music videos don't actually link to the themes of drugs and addiction. 

The music video for "This is Gospel" (directed by Daniel "Cloud Campos) could possibly link back to the lyrics as the video starts with Urie in hospital, for an unknown reason, who is about to go under a surgical procedure but, before the surgeons are able to operate, he tries to get out and free himself from being saved. Urie is then seen on his feet again, having people putting a black suit jacket and tie and makeup on him making audiences think he is getting ready to perform, this is until many people come behind him and close his eyes and cross his arms over his chest, only to pull him down into a large wooden box. The box is then nailed shut, leaving Urie trapped and in the darkness, this implies that audiences are watching the process of Urie's death and his being burial at his funeral as he is dressed very formal and is placed in a box that is now being flooded with water. As the water then reaches the top of the box, Urie awaits his burial to then him powerfully moving up and coming out of the box, water spraying everywhere. The video now becomes fast-paced and displays shots rapidly, showing Urie breaking through obstacles/walls and struggling to escape from his restraints as he is held back from his freedom by having many ropes tying him up and pulling him back. There are also shots of Urie back on the operating table, being held down by surgeons and restraints on the bed. The video then ends with him breaking from his restraints and running into a white light and Urie closing his eyes on the table. This can relate back to the lyrics of the song as Urie reminisces of the trouble and struggle that his friend was going through with his drug addiction and how he wanted his friend to be free from all of the pain that this addiction has caused him. The video is a performance piece as Urie, being the only original remaining member of the band is singing throughout the whole of the video. The video is also itself is a concept and metaphor about a struggling man trying to break free from the burdens that weighs him down and about being taken away from someone (Urie and Smith's friendship) or something (drugs) they love, and breaking free from all of this is trying to fight for what you love (staging an intervention). As Campos has stated about the video, it is showing Urie having an outer body experience as he is heading to his death, showing the process of him dying and then having his funeral and finally heading into the white light. 

The music video for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" (directed by Warren Fu) is also like the "This is Gospel" video, being both a performance and concept. The concept throughout is Healy's distortion of reality as he goes from dream to dream, or for Healy nightmare to nightmare, as he tries to get through his performance with his band. In the beginning of the video, it shows Healy asleep in his bedroom to then suddenly wake up and go to the bathroom. As he reaches the sink, he starts to wash his face and his reflection in the mirror coughs, then scaring Healy and causing him to scream. It is then that we realise he was having a nightmare as the video cuts to him sleeping on a sofa in his dressing room, possibly before a concert. As an audience, and Healy himself, think that he is now in the real world getting ready to go and perform onstage, it is only once he gets onstage that we are all wrong as many obstacles start to get in his way of trying to finish his concert with his band. These obstacles and distortion of reality makes audiences realise that he is most likely still sleeping and in a reoccurring nightmare that is also a metaphor for his fear of performance and trying to be his true self onstage, as he is now sober and isn't dependent on drugs. This is also a concept that links back to the lyrics of the song as he states "And Danny says we're living in a simulation", as what Healy believes to be is real in the video is definitely not and this could also link back to what his thoughts and feelings were like when he was still battling his addiction. The obstacles throughout the video, from one of his backup dancers duplicating; everyone apart from Healy playing and dancing in slow-motion; Healy setting on fire; Healy's mouth disappearing; Healy being replaced onstage by a duplicate of himself; sinking through the floor of the stage, etc, could all link back to how hard a journey it was for Healy to be so dependent on drugs and to be able to let them all go and get help by telling someone or going to rehab. It is after a while of the performance becoming more and more wild and absurd that it stops and we see Healy in the same dressing room on the same sofa, waking up from this hellish performance. He then goes onstage with the rest of his band and is able to finally finish the concert with no distractions or strange events occurring. This could be metaphorical to Healy finally getting help to get clean and having a clearer mind when performing and being himself in front of his fans and fellow band members. 

*WARNING - This video does contain some strong language* - Healy starts to talk about the "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" video at the timeframe of 9:01

Both music videos don't link back to the song exactly to its lyrics but rather to its music, as well as the messages and meanings behind the songs, as both of the videos are concepts to the serious themes that are being brought to light in the both artists lyrics. They are both very personal videos as they show the artists performing throughout them and audiences get to watch and hear these artists personal perspectives and the painful topics they are raising awareness to. 

Both artists and their music or songs link to the genre of alternative, this is a categorisation of rock music that emerged in the '70s but became very popularised in the '80s. The meaning of the word 'alternative' is derived from the mainstream rock or pop music and is much more independent. They are both also put under the genre of Indie, also known as Independent music, meaning that their music is produced independently from large record labels and is usually produced by themselves. Both artists also have sub-genres in their music as Panic! At the Disco is a mixture of alternative rock, pop punk, pop rock, punk rock, emo (rock genre but goes into more depth and emphasises emotional expression, usually very personal from artists and for listeners), etc. As for The 1975, their mixture of genres and sub-genres are Britpop, pop rock, electro (mixes both electronic music and pop music together, more emphasis on the electronic part) or synth-pop (new wave music that emerged in the '70s that uses the synthesiser as the main musical instrument), etc. So, with both Panic! At the Disco and The 1975 being categorised in the same genre, and similar sub-genres, the codes and conventions of their videos feature similar styles and certain aspects of the genre.   


The first link from the two videos to the alternative rock genre is that the styles of these videos are heavily performance based. For "This is Gospel", Urie is the main focus of the video and sings the sone throughout the whole of the video, singing directly to the camera as well which makes the performance even more personal and directed to audiences. There are many closeups and extreme closeups of Urie to make the performance even more personal for audiences. As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", the main focus is Healy, as well as the whole band, putting on a concert and performing to an unknown audience (the audience mainly being the viewers of the video). Healy sings a lot to the camera as well, also creating his performance to be much more personal to audiences. There are also many closeups of both Healy and the band with their instruments as well as extreme close ups to also make their performance more personal to an audience. The closeups of the artists are important as audiences watching the video will feel as if the artists are singing directly to them and bringing their personal message across to viewers. This is a big part of alternative rock and indie music videos as, again, it makes the song more personal to a viewer and also to present that the artists featured in the video are the selling point and creates a fame-like image of the artist. Music videos of this genre are usually performance or concept based rather than a narrative or story as it brings forward the band as well as their style and music, making the video more natural as it shows the artists in their natural state of being a musician and performing (whether that is in front of an audience or not). Both videos are also conceptual pieces that don't exactly link to the genre of alternative rock and indie, but music videos don't have a set structure or style when it comes to genre as music videos now mainly focus on the image and visual aesthetic of an artist and the way they want to be portrayed to their audience. 

Of course, in a music video, to make it entertaining for audiences and create a visual style for an artist, there is a large variety of shot types from different angles. Music videos are very freeing when it comes to creativity and don't keep to an exact structure, so directors and artists are able to experiment and be imaginative as possible when it comes to creating a video that audiences will enjoy watching, as well as creating a certain image for an artist that audiences will recognise is theirs.

In the video for "This is Gospel", the camera mainly focuses on Urie, this also presenting that he is the key figure of the video as an artist. Audiences understand that Urie is the main focus of the video as the camera constantly keeps on him, showing mid-shots of him from various angles as well as closeups of his face. The cameras movement is also a big part of the video as it constantly stays on Urie, whether it be his face or another part of his body, as the camera both pans and tracks Urie in different shots and scenes. The choreography of the dancers/actors to connect and link with the camera was achieved by choreographer Tamara Levinson Campos, who is the wife of the director, Daniel "Cloud" Campos, and works on many projects with him. Tamara's work of choreography helps "Cloud" dictate the way the camera is going to move around the dancers but also having Urie in almost every frame and shot simultaneously. 

The beginning shots of Urie laying on the operating table, or standing up against it as they

shot this in two different ways, the camera quickly pans up Urie's body and starts to sing. After a lines from the verse, surgeons start to come around Urie and do tests on him before, what the audiences suppose is, his operation. The camera then starts to move to wherever the dancers are around a certain part of his body, for example, after checking that Urie is definitely out from the anaesthetic, a surgical blanket is put over him and the camera moves down to his torso, doctors are checking his pulse, and then the camera goes quickly back up to his face to see a breathing mask being put on him. The camera then goes all the way down to his legs and feet and see them check his tendon reflex, as well as seeing another surgeon checking off something on their clipboard. The camera then tracks back to his torso, showing the surgeons checking his breathing and figuring out where he needs to be operated, until it gets to the chorus and the camera goes back up to Urie's face, showing him singing and scared for the operation. The quick tracking up and down Urie's body to watch the process before his operation happens keeps the audiences wondering what is wrong with Urie and what is actually going to happen to him, as well as keeping the camera on his body and watching the surgeons working on him keeps audiences interested and entertained. As well as the speed of the camera, keeping in beat and time with the song, creates a dramatic atmosphere throughout as the surgeons are working around Urie quickly and that could mean that he is in a critical state and needs to be operated on immediately. 

After the doctors are trying to commence with the surgery and Urie has awoken from the anaesthesia, Urie gets up and tries to get out of the restraints from the surgeons. This is seen from a variety of angles, the first being when Urie gets up and the camera shows the right-side of him trying to get out of their grasp. We then see the surgeons push Urie down, going back to a bird's eye view of Urie trying to get away from the surgeons on the table, the camera starts to follow Urie's arm movements as he tries to get their hands off of him and desperately wants to break free. Again, following Urie, the surgeons turn Urie's whole body around so that he is upside down and extremely close up to the camera, this makes audiences feel conflicted as they can see the pain on Urie's face as he wants to break away from the surgeons, but also the audience want him to get the help he needs as the condition he is in is obviously critical and life threatening. 

From the beginning of the video, we can see that a lot of the video is meant to look as if it has been taken in one-shot, as the camera stays focused on Urie continuously throughout and watches him go through this nightmare inducing situation. As I said before, there is the sequence at the beginning where the doctors are working on Urie and checking he is asleep before they start to operate on him, and the camera keeps panning up and down his body without even cutting off. At the point where the surgical blanket is covering Urie, the camera tracks down from his head to his torso and the camera makes a quick cut at this point just before we see the doctors show Urie's arm. The cut may have been used as they filmed this scene in the video in two different ways, one where Urie is standing in front of the surgical table, making it look as if he is laying down on it and making it easier to move the camera up and down him as well as having the actors around him, and the other way was Urie laying on the surgical table and having a camera above him to give a bird's eye view of him and the doctors working around him. So, Urie may have been standing up first and being filmed on and once they brought the surgical blanket, they were then able to cutaway and then have all of the shots where Urie is then laying on the table and having more tests taken out on him. Are are many other cuts throughout the video, still creating this effect of one-shot sequences in the video. For example, there is the scene after what we think has been a successful operation where many people are helping Urie get ready, what we think might be a performance, and a woman stands in front of him and is helping him with his tie. This is then that someone walks infant of the two of them, covering the camera completely, to then show them back in the same position but the camera being a little closer up to Urie as we now see the woman walk away and many come around him to help him with makeup. 

Many of these scenes when there are many actors around Urie are very quick-paced and are taken as wide-shots, so that it is easier for audiences to understand the setting they are in but also for audiences to see what their job role is in the music video, whether they are doctors or helping him get ready for his funeral. The camera also stays remains on Urie as actors come around him, for example, the scene when actors are preparing him for is funeral. When actors come in to work on him, either doing his hair, putting makeup on him or helping him with his clothes, the camera slightly pans across or tracks up to follow where the actor is, still staying on Urie, and watching them get Urie ready. 

At the end of the video, the amount of shots that are appear are mostly of Urie, still trying to get free from everything that is holding him back. There are many shots of Urie running in an unknown setting, taken from many different angles and a variety of shot types, as ropes are flying all around him trying to tie him down and the doctors are also still trying to hold him back. This is very intense as just before there were some very slow-paced shots of Urie in a box, the camera panning from the left of his body and then extremely closing up on his face whilst water filled his coffin. Urie then escapes from the box and tries to break free until all the surgeons and ropes come in. The number of angles and shots used at the end compared to the previous scene before it shows the dramatic change in atmosphere as we believe Urie is at peace and has found his freedom, until he escapes the box and is still trying to break free then causing the atmosphere to intensify and leaving audiences to wonder if he will ever find whatever freedom is for him. 

The video for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" is very different compare to "This is Gospel" as it contains a very large variety of shot types and angles to keep the concept and performance of The 1975 interesting to a viewer, as well as focusing the camera on many other aspects on the video other than just the front-man, Matty Healy, especially as the video is just over seven minutes long.

Most of the shots throughout the video do tend to stay on Healy, as he is the main focus of the video as it follows him and what is happening in his own dreams. The amount of camera angles and shot types on Healy is staggering as there are many in the video. Though the camera does keep its perspective on Healy, many shots onstage of him performing also show his band and backup dancers through a wide shot. This is to show viewers that they are very much a band and put on a grand performance for their audience, and showing the entirety of the concert and creating these wide shots is so audiences can take in everything that is happening onstage and watch it as if it was a real performance. 

There are many angles and shot types on this particular setting, of the stage, as this is the main narrative of Healy's dream, trying to get through this nightmarish concert the best he can. With many of these shots coming away from focusing on Healy and focusing on the rest of the band members or the dancers onstage, this is so audiences can see every aspect of the bands performance and that it isn't only Healy that contributes to the success and style of what The 1975 is. 

There are also many shots where the camera acts as Healy's point-of-view, as he looks at something abnormal that happens on, or off, stage. For example, the part where Healy has comes back onto the side of the stage, after he was set on fire and jumped offstage into a pool of water, he tries to go back to where he left the performance and then sees he has been replaced by a duplicate of himself. We don't get to see Healy's reaction as the camera acts as the perspective of Healy and allows the audience to react themselves, probably the same exact reaction that Healy will have when seeing another version of himself steal his place. As well as the scene where Healy has been transported into another music video's of theirs, the "Sincerity is Scary" video, and watches himself dancing with another person on a filmset and seeing the many cameras and technical equipment capturing the dance. This causes audiences to be as confused as Healy probably is and also become aware of what is happening as this is an intertextual reference to another video of theirs that had been released a few weeks prior to this video. 


Camerawork and movement are one of the most important aspects to a music video as artists are able to create a visual style for themselves and for audiences to be entertained and understand their meaning that bring across. 


Editing is key when it comes to presenting a video for audiences as this will determine and create the final product of the music video. Editing also helps increase the quality of the video (lighting, brightness, colourisation) and add in special effects (if it's needed) to enhance the professionalism of the video and also to enhance the enjoyment of the audiences viewing. 

Lighting in both of the music videos is made to look natural, as well as being low-key and minimal, as it allows the settings of scenes to be in a natural space, and these spaces are usually dark. For example, in the beginning of "This is Gospel", Urie is inside of a box and water starts to flood inside of it, the lighting is very minimal and dark as Urie is covered by the lid of the box. The natural lighting on him is from the outside of the box as the box is more crate-like and has cracks between the panels of the wood, causing the light from outside to light Urie up inside, but he is not lit up too much. As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", when Healy runs backstage, as the camera pans along to follow him, to look in a mirror and see why his mouth has disappeared, it is very dark and is dimly lit on Healy, as backstage of a concert venue will be much darker and the lighting from onstage will only have lit up the backstage area a tiny bit. 


Although, the lighting is mostly minimal and natural in both of the videos, at some points there is brighter and more high-key lighting to be able to emphasise what is happening in a certain setting and location, as well as emphasising the features and actions of certain people included in the video. The bright lights are still used to create a natural setting as, for example, in the video for "This is Gospel", after Urie has been seen laying down in an unknown setting, at the beginning of the video, a bright white light then lights up the room and takes Urie out of the darkness, then seeing surgeons come around him. This gives audiences the impression that Urie has been left waiting in an operating room, until the surgeons come in and are ready to move on with the procedure as the intense white light is now on Urie, whilst also creating an intense and dramatic atmosphere. As for the video "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", the bright lights pointing on Healy on stage still show that his location is onstage, and for Healy that is natural as he is a performer. The lighting on Healy though is very white and intense, showing the amount of exposure he has onstage and having the fright of being his true self onstage as he can't hideaway from being seen, a metaphor about his fame and success and literally as he is onstage and has to perform. Another reason the lighting is bright in The 1975's video is because the video is set in Healy's dreams, and the distortion of reality creates the lights to be much brighter but also that he is unaware that he is in a dream, the lighting is still seen to be very natural as he, and the audience, don't realise that he is only asleep and dreaming about all of this. 


The transitions in both of the videos both link to the mood and atmosphere of the music, as well as the timing and beat of the song and what is actually happening in the visuals of the video.

In "This is Gospel", the pace of the video continuously goes from slow to fast and vice versa as the song starts slow and then builds up in speed and repeating this speed a few more times, until the end of the song when it stays at a fast-pace. So, the way the video is pieced together goes along with the timing of the song. Scenes in the video will start slow as well, creating suspense as audiences try to figure out what has happened to Urie and then building up as we get to the answers that he needs to be operated on, causing the reveal to become very dramatic and fast-paced. I mentioned previously about the some sequences meaning to look as though they have been taken in one-shot, so in the editing process, the editors have pieced together cuts to make it look one-shot, although some of the cuts may look noticeable the video defiantly achieved this style very well as the shots have been seamed together very well.

As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", it is similar in terms of "This is Gospel" where the song, at times, can be slow and then build up once it gets to the end or the chorus. So, the video is worked around this pace of the song. As there are many angles and shot types in the video, they are seen very quickly in the video but still go against the beat of the music.  The shots become very fast-paced when Healy's dream has become out of control and starts to intensify as audiences become uneasy of what his fate will be. The shots when Healy has sunk through the bottom of the stage and we know see a duplicate of him hanging from the top of the venue, the shots are become quick-paced as we keep seeing Healy and his duplicate back and forth, wondering if something will happen to the both of them and if it will be fatal. As the camera is now the perspective of the Healy duplicate and falls to the ground, the camera fades to black for a split second and shows Healy waking up in his dressing room again, causing the atmosphere to become relaxed again as the shots follow the original slow-pace of the video again, and also give the audience a chance to breathe again as Healy is now out of harms way. 

Special effects are a big part of "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", as Healy is only dreaming, and anything that is dangerous or augmented happens to him is mostly down to the special effects. A lot of the special effects seen in the video were done during production, for example, when Healy starts to sink through the bottom of the stage. One of the special effects that was achieved in post-production is when Healy's legs set on fire. He then runs and jumps off the front of the stage, with the fire still burning his legs and smoke rising from them. This is to, again, show that this is a dream and that the more and more the dream goes on, the more Healy's life is in danger. 


Other effects in the video is the title and band logo at the beginning of the video, as well as the end-credits with names of everyone in the video appearing underneath them and the credits, of everyone who worked on the video, made to look like credits from the '30s-'70s. 


In music videos, the main sound that is heard throughout the whole of the video is the song itself (as the song is the selling point) but sometimes (mainly in conceptual or narrative based videos) sound effects are heard, whether they are diegetic (sound that is coming from something onscreen, e.g. a TV or the radio, that hasn't been edited in) or non-diegetic (is not coming from something on screen and is placed in the video), to make a video seem more natural and realistic. 

The video for "This is Gospel" only has one sound effect placed into the video, this is only heard until the very end of the video. The sound effect is of a life-support machine that starts flatlining, one long beep, as Urie is seen to be dying on the operating table, this then transitioning into the shot of him running into a white light. This is significant as it indicates that Urie has passed away and is now free as he runs into the white light. 

Though "This is Gospel" only has one sound effect throughout the whole of it's video, "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" has included many sound effects in its video, whether they are natural or exaggerate something in a scene as Healy is in a dream/nightmare. Most of the sounds are diegetic as audiences are able to see the items and products that noise might be coming from. For example, the scene when Healy comes back into the venue after being outside and seeing the set of his other music video, the doors leads back onto the stage as he goes back to the original position he was in when he first started performing. There is no music and all that is heard is the dancing of the dancers onstage, hearing clicking, clapping, footsteps and the squeaking of their shows. This makes the scene much more natural as audiences are able to hear the actual sounds that dancers would make onstage if there was no music being played in the background. Although a lot of the sounds are diegetic, most are non-diegetic to understand the location of the band. For example, when Healy wakes up from his nightmare at the beginning of the video, he is in his dressing room and he can hear many crew members setting up the stage and checking that everything is ready for the concert. This makes audiences believe that Healy is about to perform onstage as there are many people rushing around and getting everything sorted for the concert. 


Mise-en-Scene is very important in a music video so that audiences understand the setting and context of the characters in the videos. 

Props are objects that are used or seen within a frame of a shot, these will be important to understand the setting and the significance of there use. 

For example, in "This is Gospel", surgical equipment is seen so audiences can understand that Urie is about to be operated on. As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" there are many props seen throughout the video, the main props that are mostly seen is the instruments of the band members onstage, this signifies that they are performing onstage as they are playing them live. 


Costume, as well as hair and makeup, is used to understand the style of the artist in the video and can match situations that the characters are in or their profession. 

For example, in "This is Gospel", Urie starts of by wearing very plain clothes that he would probably wear in his everyday life (white shirt, black jeans and converse). The only thing that is off about his natural clothing is that they are quite dirty, it is only until the surgeons enter the room that we understand that he is in a critical state, probably as to why his clothes are dirty. We can also understand that the people who come in the room are surgeons is because they are wearing gloves, blue surgical gowns, caps and surgical masks. We later see that Urie is being dressed in a formal black suit, this makes audiences think that he might be performing or going to an awards show, something formal that fits to his profession of a musician. His hair is also styled and makeup has been put on his face, it is only until the next sequence that we see he is placed in a box, acting as his coffin, and that he has actually been getting ready for his funeral. 

As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", the costumes that the band and the backup dancers are wearing are to replicate the outfits of the band Talking Heads from their 1984 concert film "Stop Making Sense". This is an intertextual reference to Talking Heads and their film, as well as transforming The 1975 into Talking Heads. But, at the beginning of the video, Healy is first seen wearing dark coloured pyjamas, as we see he has just been asleep in his bedroom and is wearing more natural clothing when he is not seen in public or onstage. 



Locations are able to help audiences understand what the setting of the video is meant to be and to also to give context as to why these characters are here in the first place. 

For example, in "This is Gospel", the whole of the video is filmed in a warehouse but small sets were created to either make the location of the video be unknown to both audiences and Urie, or the sets would transport audiences to somewhere that would be more familiar to them, like the operating table. Though a lot of the locations are presented more through the costume and props rather than the physical features of a location so that the location doesn't distract from Urie himself. 

As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", there are various locations seen throughout the video, the main being the stage where the concert takes place. The dressing room, backstage of the venue, is seen to give context that Healy is about to perform a concert for people. The dressing room is only seen after the previous location, which was Healy's bedroom and bathroom at his home, and is seen to let audiences understand that Healy was only having a nightmare about those previous locations and settings and is actually, in reality, backstage before his concert. The venue and the stage are the main locations as the video is all about The 1975's performance and them trying to give a great show.  


Colours are able to create a certain mood and atmosphere within the video, whether to understand the seriousness or enjoyment of a scene.

In "This is Gospel", the main colours that are seen throughout the video is:

• Black - presents death, fear, mystery, rebellion, aggression and strength. Also gives the connotation of evil (this could foreshadow towards the prequel and sequel of the music video).
• White - presents light, good and innocence, this is because we believe something terrible has happened to Urie and only see the good in him, especially as an artist.
• Light Blue - this is related mostly to the surgeons as blue gives the connotations of trust, wisdom, intelligence, health, healing and even heaven (the place we believe Urie will go to as we know he dies in the video).

As for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", the main colours that are presented in the video are:

• Pink - is only presented in the Healy's dressing room and relates back to the bands previous era, from their last album, and also gives the connotations of friendship, affection and inner peace.
• White - cleanliness (after Healy has sobered up from his addiction), spirituality, sincerity, humility (after announcing is addiction and trying to be his true self onstage) and mental clarity.
• Black - Strength, mystery, serious and emptiness. 

Intertextual references are also used in both music videos, mostly in "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", to reference either their own music videos or to reference other artists, film or any other piece of media that may have influenced or inspired them in some way.

In the video for "This is Gospel" there are two intertextual references, both at the very beginning and very end of the music video. The first, being at the beginning of the video, is when the music starts (symbolising the sound of a life-support machine) and the video fades from black to show the camera tracking up Urie's body, showing his white shirt is dirty and that he is injured as he is on an operating table. This is a reference to Panic! At the Disco's music video to "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" (also directed by Campos) that was released March 21st 2018, which was released five years after "This is Gospel". "Say Amen" is the prequel video to "This is Gospel" and explains why Urie is on the operating table in the first place. The ending of "Say Amen" shows that Urie was beaten up by a woman that he thought was his partner and who was innocent but actually wanted to take a very valuable possession from him. The beginning of the song, sounding like a life-support machine, is heard when we see Urie on the floor unconscious the sound signifying that he might be dead. Though fans of the band will understand that this leads into the music video for "This is Gospel" and allows them to understand why Urie was about to be operated on and explains how he died. 

The second intertextual reference is at the very end of the music video. The whole fast-paced cutting together of shots showing Urie trying to escape the restraints of the ropes, as well as the doctors restraining him from leaving and then finally running into the white light. This references another Panic! At the Disco music video, that being "Emperor's New Clothes" (also directed by Campos) which was released October 22nd 2015, this was released two years after "This is Gospel". This video is a sequel to "This is Gospel" as it then follows into where the white light leads Urie after he died. The video starts playing an acapella version of "This is Gospel" and showing many of the shots from the ending of the previous video. We then see Urie come out from the white light and stopping in his tracks, looking at what might be Heaven. Then after a few seconds, a trapdoor is heard and Urie follows through it, the screen going darker and an evil laugh is heard as Urie falls into darkness, screaming, then landing into what would be Hell. Fans again will understand that the beginning of the "Emperor's New Clothes" music video is a continuation from where "This is Gospel" left off from and shows what happens to Urie once he has died and has set himself free when running into the white light. 

The 1975's "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" has a few intertextual references within the video, the biggest one being that the concert that Healy and his band are performing in the dream is based off of Talking Heads' 1984 concert film "Stop Making Sense". The band replicate all of the costumes and the choreography from the video. Healy said he wanted this concert film to be presented throughout the video as one of his biggest inspirations for his music is Talking Heads and David Byrne (the front-man of Talking Heads) is someone that Healy has dreamed to be, so in the video, Healy dreams he is Byrne from Talking Heads.

Another reference is to one of The 1975's other music videos called "Sincerity is Scary" (also directed by Fu) which was released November 21st 2018, a few weeks before the releases of "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)". In the video for "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", the scene after Healy goes backstage because he has been replaced by a duplicate of himself, he then exits the venue. As he exits through the door, he is then wearing different clothes and hears the song "Sincerity is Scary" playing in the distance. He then goes up a set of stairs to then see he is behind the scenes of his previous video, "Sincerity is Scary", watching another duplicate of himself and another man dancing together on a filmset. 

The last reference is a reference to what is known as one of the greatest opening sequences in film history, this is the dream sequence from the beginning of the 1963 film "8 1/2" by Federico Fellini. As the music video is all about Healy's dreams, or nightmares, he references one of the most famous dream sequences in a film. In the scene, Healy has now sunken through the bottom of the stage, leaving his clothes to be left sprawled out onstage. The camera then shows yet another duplicate of Healy hanging from the ceiling of the venue, who is now in a formal black suit with a black hat on. We then see a bird's eye view of the stage with Healy's abandoned clothes and the dancers still performing, the camera acts as the perspective of the Healy duplicate as he looks down and we see his leg with a hanging rope attached around his ankle. Healy's hand then comes out from under the stage and through his clothes, reaching out towards the rope then seeing him trying to pull it, as ht duplicate of himself now looks scared and shakes his head not to. Healy then pulls the rope and the camera shifts back to the perspective of the Healy duplicate, now falling down and heading quickly towards the abandoned clothes of Healy. As the camera has gotten close to Healy's clothes, it quickly fades to black and we then see Healy in his dressing room, waking up from that nightmare. This is very much the same as the ending to the opening sequence to Fellini's film as the main character in the movie goes through the very same situation. 

These intertextual references are very clever in the way they are used, whether to link to stories they are telling or to simply show their love for another media text, and familiarises audiences with other media works, whether they already know what they are and enjoy their involvement and recognition within the video or be able to look into the reference and look at where it's come from for themselves. 

After analysing and comparing these two music videos, I can now see how important music videos are in media and in the culture of music as they display an artistic style and visualise music to sell an artist to listeners and viewers. Music videos are a way for artists to put forward their music and bring forward their own ideologies and creative vision to shape their image and aesthetic towards and audience. They can also be even more important than the actual artwork of a single or song, as this new visual image is embedded into a viewer's mind after they have listened to the song and watched the video to accompany it together. Music videos are also very important as many people now consume their music on platforms (Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, etc), so having videos online for an artist's music connects the artist to the listener even more, especially when the artist is seen for the majority of the music video. Music videos are very important for directors to show off their artistic and creative talents and allowing them to exceed in their jobs in the film industry, this also allows directors to become more of a visionary allowing them to connect cinematography and music together. The creativity of music videos is very important because, as I said above, there are no boundaries and music videos don't have a set structure or guideline that they have to stick by, allowing both the artists and the production team to push their limits when it comes to their imaginative skills and also being able to sell an artist by their visual style and how their music is presented in a video.