Conventions of Music Videos

Conventions of existing Music Videos of a similar genre to my selected song 'Primadonna' by Marina & The Diamonds

Mise-en-Scene The video for 'Primadonna'by Marina and The Diamonds only features Marina as a 60's/70's chic (which is also part of her recent initial style). The only other 'characters' featured in the video is a Great Dane dog and a tortoise. The video's settings is what seems to be an old mansion/Country house&garden, which is 60's/70's decor (busily patterned wallpaper,curtains, chandeliers,frayed lampshades,old-dial telephones,velour bed-throws etc.)There is also the setting of Marina in a vintage car being driven round and also in a car-wash. Marina is in 60's/70's clothing, such as pastel pink and white pinafore dresses, metallic ballgown and cream fur shawl,a blue v neck 70's dress and a vintage nightie,she also styles pinned up 'rollers', and 60's 'flick' hairstyles with pastel make up in contribution to the style. She also sports a love heart 'beauty-spot'which is very Marilyn Monroe-esque (movie star of around that era). The lighting for most the video,although in a house is dark, aside the spotlight which is featured on Marina. The only other lighting shown is when she is outside in the garden in the daytime,and when the chandeliers gradually light up one of the rooms halfway through the video. Props used in the video is when she is holding a vase of plants, pedaling on a dated exercise bike with a drink, reading a book, climbing a ladder to get to pick fruit off a tree,using a video camera,picking up slices of pizza,bunches of grapes and playing on an old grande piano. Marina uses 'personal'body language for the majority of the video, staring into the camera singing and also sometimes just facial expressions,as if to connect with the viewer. Marina's expressions also seem happy throughout the video, aside when she is in the car she looks sad. Marina also dances round the camera and does various activities in some shots as if she doesn't know the audience 'is there'. Cinematography Many of the scenes in the video Marina is shot in a close-up,and also medium close-ups. In the majority of close-ups Marina is in front of a white wall, and medium close-ups is when she is on the bed, but some of these are also close-ups. Medium shots are when she is pedaling on the exercise bike, dancing in a room full of chandeliers,eating an apple on the step-ladder and also in other bed scenes. There is also some long shots of her dancing in the chandelier room,in the garden/on the step ladder and holding a plant in one of the rooms and on the exercise bike. There is also close-ups of the dog,tortoise and her lips as she sings. There is a medium shot of her sat in the back seat of a vintage car and also close-ups (some extreme close-ups) of the water droplets on the car window and screen wipers as she goes through the car-wash, and also of some of the car furnishings. There is also a close-up of Marina in the car over the headrest. There is medium close ups of her next to the dog,tortoise and 'answering'the phone. There is also some slightly high angles of Marina on the double-bed. Editing The video uses many jump cuts for Marina in scenes. There is also some cross cutting in scenes such as when she is picking fruit off the trees in the garden and then focusing on eating the fruit, and also playing around in the garden. Special effects used are particularly focused on the whole 'vintage-esque' setting, as Marina is filmed in different 'old tv' settings, such as grainy, scan lines,'Polaroid' film,blue red and green tones and also mild Sepia colours. A close-up of a vintage tv showing the same type of effects on the screen shows relevance. When in all the car/car wash scenes this is all filmed in black and white. A lot of the video is continuity editing,the only transitions made are when the actual screen of the video is made to look like a tv losing ariel and picture, and changing to a different scene.The opening scene is also a title sequence, first showing 'Marina and The Diamonds' and then the song title 'Primadonna'on a purple and black backdrop,in black font (the signature font on the album). There is also a light relflection of the blue/red/green tv tones shown in the music video. Sound and Form In the scenes Marina is 'singing' the song she is lipsyncing. The song is also a voiceover for many of the scenes as Marina is not always lipsyncing but is doing other actions for the video. The song is diegetic sound. In the beginning title sequence there is also the asynchronous non-diegetic sound of an old camera 'rolling'. The form is performance, there is not really a clear narrative to the video.