Music Video

What Music Video covers

Music Video is examined in Component 01, Media messages. It covers music video as a form, whether performance, narrative or concept; promotion, platforms and the star image; media language in music video, from camera and mise-en-scène to editing and sound; representation through stereotypes, countertypes and self-representation; and the difference between artist-present and artist-absent videos. It also covers the set videos one by one: Corinne Bailey Rae – Stop Where You Are, Lil Nas X – SUN GOES DOWN, Emeli Sandé – Heaven, Sufjan Stevens – Sugar, Radiohead – Burn the Witch and David Guetta ft. Sia – Titanium.

The 11 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Music video as a form: performance, narrative and conceptRecall questions on performance, narrative and concept music videos and why most are hybrids, lip sync, Goodwin's account of lyrics, visuals and the form, cutting to the beat, elliptical editing, withheld closure, direct address, intertextuality and animation.Open →
• Promotion, platforms and the star imageRecall questions on the music video as a marketing text, releasing videos before albums, free online hosting and low-budget reach, the star image, debut and relaunch videos, actors in dance-track videos, controversy as promotion, intertextual relay and audience comments.Open →
• Media language in music video: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and soundRecall questions on low angles, close-ups and long shots, overcranking and slow motion, colour grading, mise-en-scène, costume and motifs, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, fades to black, juxtaposition in montage, and practical versus computer-generated effects.Open →
• Representation in music video: stereotypes, countertypes and self-representationRecall questions on representation as selection and combination, self-representation, stereotypes and countertypes, absence, claims to realism and verisimilitude, magical realism, audience sympathy, social context, ideology, and performers standing in for an absent artist.Open →
• Artist-present and artist-absent music videoRecall questions on artist-present and artist-absent music videos, why an artist stays off screen, maintaining a star image in absence, postmodern visual signification, pastiche and parody, everyday settings, choreography in place of performance, and self-representation in co-directed videos.Open →
• Corinne Bailey Rae – Stop Where You AreRecall questions on Corinne Bailey Rae's Stop Where You Are: its director and Southbank Centre location, performance and vignettes, the red dress, its characters, slow motion and editing, the singer's role and image, stereotypes, binary oppositions, social context and magical realism.Open →
• Lil Nas X – SUN GOES DOWNRecall questions on Lil Nas X's SUN GOES DOWN: its direction, fantastical opening and memory structure, American locations, themes of growing up closeted, its two versions of the artist and self-representation, the father scene, intertextuality, genre hybridity, social context and closing shot.Open →
• Emeli Sandé – HeavenRecall questions on Emeli Sandé's Heaven: Jake Nava's direction in Bethnal Green, its conceptual montage and aged-film grading, religious iconography and the wing motif, the sky, the singer's styling, the people and place represented, its closing shot, and its place in her career.Open →
• Sufjan Stevens – SugarRecall questions on the video's director and choreographer, how an unseen artist is still present, its four characters, its narrative shape and its recurring motifs.Open →
• Radiohead – Burn the WitchRecall questions on Radiohead's Burn the Witch: Chris Hopewell's stop-motion animation, its Trumptonshire and The Wicker Man references, narrative and disturbing details, bookending birdsong, 4:3 grain, the lyric's origin, political readings, the village's representation and the objection from the series creator's family.Open →
• David Guetta ft. Sia – TitaniumRecall questions on David Guetta and Sia's Titanium: David Wilson's direction, Sia's absence, its narrative and three-part structure, the opening enigma, the teacher's silent plea, practical effects, the police and the boy's house, its film references, uncertain period, and why it is unconventional for a dance track.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Music Video further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Performance video vs Concept video

  Performance video: one built around footage of the artist delivering the track, using staging, lighting and camerawork to sell the singer rather than to tell a story. Concept video: one organised around a visual idea, aesthetic or metaphor, in which imagery, choreography or effects carry the meaning, often with no story and no artist on screen.

• Countertype vs Misrepresentation

  Countertype: a deliberately contradictory image of a group, built to unsettle what audiences have been taught to expect of them. Misrepresentation: a portrayal a group holds to be unfair or inaccurate, whether or not it follows a familiar pattern.

• Magical realism vs Fantasy

  Magical realism: an otherwise ordinary world that admits impossible events without explanation, so the miraculous is treated as part of everyday life. Fantasy: a genre set in an invented world with rules of its own, where the impossible is expected rather than surprising.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is a performance music video?

   Model answer

   One built around footage of the artist delivering the track, using staging, lighting and camerawork to sell the performance and the performer rather than to tell a story.

2. 2

   What is a narrative music video?

   Model answer

   One that tells a story in images alongside or instead of performance, so the audience follows characters and events across the length of the track.

3. 3

   Define the concept music video.

   Model answer

   One organised around a visual idea, aesthetic or metaphor rather than a story or a performance, in which imagery, choreography or effects carry the meaning.

4. 4

   Why are most music videos hybrids of more than one of these approaches?

   Model answer

   Performance sells the artist while narrative or concept holds attention, so producers combine them to do both within the running time of a single track.

5. 5

   Explain what lip sync contributes to a music video.

   Model answer

   Miming the vocal ties the artist's body to the sound, confirms ownership of the track, and gives the editor a fixed point to cut around.

6. 6

   What did Andrew Goodwin argue about the relationship between a song's lyrics and a video's images?

   Model answer

   He argued that visuals can illustrate the lyrics, amplify them by adding meaning, or contradict them, and that a video normally does one of the three.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Music Video revision questions

What does Music Video cover in OCR A-Level Media Studies?

11 subtopics: music video as a form: performance, narrative and concept, promotion, platforms and the star image, media language in music video: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and sound, representation in music video: stereotypes, countertypes and self-representation, artist-present and artist-absent music video, corinne bailey rae – stop where you are, lil nas x – sun goes down, emeli sandé – heaven, sufjan stevens – sugar, radiohead – burn the witch and david guetta ft. sia – titanium. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Music Video organised?

By the OCR H409 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.