Music Video Glossary

Intertextuality The process of creating meaning through reference to other media texts.

Lip-synch The process by which mimed performances of songs are matched up to the original soundtracks in editing.

Mise-en-scène The combined effect of a series of visual elements within the frame of a visual text, such as costume, props, decor, figure placement.

Montage editing A style of editing in which the juxtaposition of different elements creates impact and meaning.

Niche marketing Where a small specific audience is targeted, not a mass one.

Ofcom The Office of Communications, the UK organisation now charged, under the 2003 Communications Act, with responsibility to oversee issues of regulation in all electronic media. Its predecessors for TV were the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Broadcasting Standards Council (BSC).

Offline edit The basic edit to be viewed by the artist and record company prior to any effects being added.

Online edit The final edit where effects are added and the tape produced to broadcast standard.

Overages Costs which were not in the original project budget but which have been agreed by the client while the video was in production.

Panarom Early American video jukebox.

Pitch To present ideas for a creative project to producers in order to secure funding.

Post-modern An aesthetic category, often applied to MTV, which can mean a mixture of an abandonment of linear ways of telling stories and the eclectic ‘stealing’ of ideas and images from other sources.

Post-production The stage where effects are added.