This document provides a codal analysis of three music videos: 1) "Storm" by Tim Minchin - An animated short film that depicts an argument at a dinner party through exaggerated animation. 2) "High Voltage" cover by Your Favourite Martian - An animated cover of the Linkin Park song featuring a post-apocalyptic narrative. 3) An unnamed non-animated video. The analysis examines the videos' visual, audio, action, technical, and narrative codes and how they establish genre, mood, and expectations. Barthes' enigma code and Todorov's narrative theory are also referenced in relation to the videos.

1. Codal Analysis
& Detailed
Research
By Luke Sams

2. Detail
ed
Resear
ch

3. ‘Storm’ the
animated
movie

4. Identify the institution for this video
and the institutional codes
employed by the institution: This video was directed by Dan Charles Turner (DC Turner) and produced by Tracy
King who are the founder and co-founder for an animation and game development
company called KerShoot.
This company is based in London and was founded in 2011 after the success of the
short film/music video of Tim Minchin’s beat poem ‘Storm’.
They have the aim to ‘create beautiful artwork, animation, code and music for a range
of clients and in-house productions.’ spanning several creative industries.
Their clients include Tim Minchin, Honeyslug (game developer), Nature magazine,
Dreamworks and EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites.

5. Identify the institution for this video
and the institutional codes
employed by the institution:Being a relatively small independent UK
based company they do not have a very
large portfolio of work but it is
impressive and spans a broad range of
subject and has a rather consistent style
throughout their work.
Most of Kershoot’s work share the
same unique and semi-realistic art style
whether it be for a book, game or film.
Although working for several different
clients the overall finish including the
feel and effect of each piece is
different. (different colour palettes,
techniques or angles)

6. What are the key selling points of
this video?
The video is of an entirely animated nature which is a fairly unique concept for music
videos and I think would definitely help to sell the song and video to a range of
different audience demographics as it would stand out a lot from other music videos.
The content of the poem contains some controversial issues about industrialisation
and alternative solutions in a society where science and reason are portrayed as the
enemy of belief but it is adapted to have comical value. This could help people relate
to the story and increase sales.
The content is also quite personal to the performer Tim Minchin as it portrays some
of his views and has him and his wife animated as two of the characters within the
story. The video supposedly depicts a night that Tim and his wife spent around a
friends for dinner during which Tim has a confrontation with a hippy named Storm.
This could be a very appealing point of sale for any avid fan of the comedian.

7. How does the video establish genre,
mood and expectation of the CD?
Genre: The song/poem is a Tim Minchin original and is described as musical comedy
which is portrayed through the clever word play and the out of proportion section of
the video and in some cases the way in which the words themselves are animated.
This could also be indicated by the dramatic transitions between some of the scene or
‘camera’ angles.
Mood: The general mood of the song is humorous while at the same time being quite
dark and mysterious which is clearly depicted through the animated visuals and the
interactions between the ‘characters’. Because the song is essentially a comical beat
poem the mood is primarily brought through with the clever word play but also by
some of the animated actions and the way that they are extremely exaggerated.

8. How does the video establish genre,
mood and expectation of the CD?
Expectations of the CD: I think that this music video really compliments the album
and does give an accurate expectation to the target audience as the album is defined
as being comedy and all of the songs are of a similar comical style, although they do
vary in song format from beat poems to really upbeat musical songs featuring 66
piece orchestras. It could mislead some peoples expectations of the album as some
people who don’t know Tim Minchin and his work very well may be expecting that
the rest of the album would be constructed from other beat poems.

9. How successful is this video?
Identify which elements work and
which do not work for you?I personally really like this video and think that it is was
amazing successful – I think that the animation style used is
really unique and fits the song fantastically. The animation
was BAFTA-longlisted and premiered at Bristol's Animated
Encounters, and in 2015 was reimagined as an illustrated
book which kind of proves its successfulness.
However I think that there are some parts that an animated
visual using the characters would have been a lot better and
helped explain the ‘story’ more especially in some key points
of the poem (like at 5:45) but the animators decided to go
with stylised animated words instead.
I do however think that the mix of animated narrative along
side the use of stylised text animation works amazingly well
and the effects and transitions used are really effective and
really help to keep the audiences attention focused. The
colour palette used and the use of ‘setting’ so to speak works
really well in relation to the song and its genre and accurately
reflects what the song is trying to portray.

10. What appears to be the target
audience for the music video?
Scientists?
Religious
People? (not so
much)
Target Audience
Ages 16 - 28 Mainly
students
Mostly Males
Fans of Tim
MinchinPeople who like
stand up comedy
People interested in
the debate between
religion and science
Dark sense of humour

11. How is the audience specifically
targeted in the video?
There are specific characteristics of the target audience
represented through both the video in order to make it more
targeted towards them and more relatable. For example the large
majority of the target audience is likely to have a dark and slightly
twisted sense of humour, and this segment is targeted through the
use of the dark and mysterious animated sections – some things
are considered as a taboo area for comedy to touch on but if they
are approached correctly are likely to make this audience laugh.
I think that this video also targets the age section of the target
audience as it visualises concepts and contains content the I feel is
more relevant to the younger generations as we are the ones that
tend to push boundaries and challenge traditional concepts more
often – the age is likely to be older teenagers (about 16) to
university age perhaps slightly older (around 24-28). The content
links almost directly to these people as the main concept is the
battle between beliefs and the ‘industrial monster’ that is science,
which is something I think young people are often caught up in.

12. HIGH VOLTAGE
(Linkin Park
cover)

13. Identify the institution for this video
and the institutional codes
employed by the institution:This video was created by a company called cosmic toast studios, with animation
producers Kenny Gage and Andy Pagana, producer Phil Haney and director Edward
Tran. With the music cover created by you tubers Ray William Johnson and
McSwagger.
Cosmic toast studios is based in America, Sherman Oaks
They are a fully in-house, state-of-the-art production facility specializing in everything
needed to bring animated, live-action or puppetry projects from concept to
completion.
There clients include Hasbro, MGA Entertainment, Maker Studios, Zynga, Fishbowl
Media and Your Favourite Martian.

14. Identify the institution for this video
and the institutional codes
employed by the institution: This is a page from there portfolio and
contains snap shots of all the work they have
done for ‘Your Favourite Martian’ with links
to watch each video.
They are a relatively small but independent
American company, but still have a fairly
large portfolio of work
Most of their work has a fairly consistent
style – the ones that differ I believe that they
are client specific styles, and despite working
for a long list of clients the overall finish and
feel is pretty consistent.

15. What are the key selling points of
this video?
The video is entirely animated which is a fairly unique concept for music videos
(although hybrids are starting to become more common) and I think would definitely
help to sell the song and video to a range of different audience demographics as it
would stand out a lot from other music videos.
It is a cover of a song by a pretty well known and liked band ‘Linkin Park’ so this would
have a good chance of attracting some of Linkin Park’s fan base as they know that it
will be similar to what they like.
The content of the video itself contains zombies and cyborgs which is likely to appeal
to a large portion of younger generations.

16. How does the video establish genre,
mood and expectation of the CD?
Genre: The song is a cover version of Linkin Park’s ‘High Voltage’ (2000) from their first album
‘Hybrid Theory’ and is described as alternative rock, which I think is shown by the fast pace
cuts between different ‘shots’/angles. The genre is also shown through the characters as they
are depicted as a typical looking rock band all be it in a stylised futuristic way. I think the
interesting narrative used, being apocalyptic themed also helps show its alternative nature.
Mood: The general mood of the song is quite fast and upbeat, but the visual element depicts
a darker more depressing plot which compliments the lyrics and meaning of the song.
Expectation of the CD: This music video gives perfect representation of the CD as this was
only released as a single by Your Favourite Martian and so is the only song but to compare it
to Linkin Park’s original album it gives an accurate expectation of the genre as it is fairly
monotone in this respect but everything else is ‘false’ so to say, due to the fact that none of
Linkin Park’s music has animated videos and parts of the song have been stylised to make
them sound robotic which doesn’t fit in with Linkin Park’s style.

17. How successful is this video?
Identify which elements work and
which do not work for you?Again I think that the animation is a really great idea and
the way it has been done fits this genre of music,
although I think a ‘live action’ music video has the
potential to be better for this genre.
I especially like the way that the animated characters are
not only there to play out the narrative but they are also
depicted playing the music creating a performance
element to the video. I also like the angles that are used
and the regular close-ups of different characters
emphasising different actions within the narrative.
I didn’t really like the robotic parts that they added to
the song I feel that it didn’t properly fit in with the rest
of the song or the genre of music and subtracted from
the original.

18. What appears to be the target
audience for the music video?
Target Audience
Ages 16 - 28 Mainly students
Mostly Males
Fans of Linkin
ParkPeople who like
alternative rock
Fans of Your
Favourite Martian

19. How is the audience specifically
targeted in the video?
One way in which the target audience has been targeted is
through the content of the video itself as it contains zombies
and cyborg like stuff which is most commonly associate with
and liked by males specifically those of the younger
generations.
The fans of Linkin Park are targeted through the use of Linkin
Park’s song, although it may be slightly different to what they
are expecting or what they have previously listened to.
Also all of the ‘characters’ at least the main ones are males
which could make the music video more relatable to them.

20. Codal
Analys
is

21. Codal Analysis
In the following codal analyses I will take three music videos of two
genres, as I am still unsure as to whether I would be capable of creating
a full length animated music video, and look at the different codes and
conventions for music videos.
Visual
Audio
Action
Technical
Narrative
Enigma
For animated videos I have chosen:
Tim Minchin’s ‘Storm’ the animated movie
High Voltage (Linkin Park cover) by Your Favourite Martian
And for a non-animated video I have chosen:

22. Barthe’s Enigma Code
This is the theory that suggests a text (whether
that is television, film, a poster etc..) portrays a
mystery to draw the audience in, pose questions
and become intrigued in the text. For instance a
murder mystery would not reveal the killer at
the start of the story otherwise there is no
mystery to keep the audiences attention until
the end of the story.

23. Todorov’s narrative theory
Todorov’s theory is that the majority of stories or plots follow the same pattern from start to
end. These 5 steps are:
Equilibrium – The first part of the story, this would depict the ordinary life of the characters
where they are usually happy and content with everything as it should be in its place.
A disruption – The second stage will feature the problem or something that disrupts the
norm.
Realisation – This is the part in the story where everyone realises the problem and chaos
generally follows.
Restored order – The fourth part of the plot is when the characters attempt to restore the
norm by removing or solving the problem.
Equilibrium again – This is the final stage of the story where the problem is resolved and
normality is restored and resumed.

24. ‘Storm’ the
animated
movie

25. ‘Storm’ The animated
Movie
- Tim Minchin

26. Audio
Code
Some music videos like this one might include other audio codes such as dialogue and
diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, this video contains the actual poem/song
accompanied by an instrumental track throughout most of the video although there
are also some added in sound effect to help retain audience attention and give it a sort
of movie like feel to it as it is ten minute long.
Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to this music video to an extent and in a
fairly general sense as at the start everything is good but when ‘Storm’ shows up
things start to become disrupted. Tim Minchin being the main character then realises
this and takes steps to remove the problem, and by the end of the video equilibrium is
as restored as it can be.
Narrative
Code

27. Action
CodeThe action codes within this video are fairly basic and help to reflect a lot of the
comical value of the video while keeping the dark undertone. The basic action is
the ‘dinner party’ that the song is supposed to tell the story of, with the start of the
video showing all of the guest arriving. The only other actions shown are the
depictions of the argument between Tim and ‘Storm’ at the dinner party.
Enigma
codeWith this video there aren’t really any enigma codes as the setting is laid out pretty
clearly through both the words and the visuals and the question about ‘what are
they arguing about?’ has a pretty obvious answer and is pretty much answered for
us. The downside is that there isn’t much of a hook to draw in the audience and
retain their interest.

28. Technical Code
Technical codes include the editing (pace, special effects,…), camerawork and shot
types used within the video. Given the animated nature of Tim Minchin’s ‘Storm’
there isn’t really any camerawork to comment on but there are different shot types in
a way and plenty of special effects. The video includes a lot of ‘camera’ movement
and techniques such as pans, tilts, zooms and tracking shot to enhance the action of
the characters and add to the overall feel of the video.
The entire video could technically be classified as a collection of special effects that
have been bolted together to form a video, although it does translate quite well into
‘normal’ shots and ‘special effects’ and ‘transition’. The transitional parts are all done
in an interesting way that flows well helping to keep the audience entertained and
focused on the video.

29. HIGH VOLTAGE
(Linkin Park cover)
- Your Favourite
Martian

30. Visual Code
The video begins with a montage of shots showing the characters doing various things
with a strange looking object. Alternative rock songs often have the focus of the
video at the start on either something other than the performers or a hybrid between
a narrative act and a performance sequence – High Voltage (Linkin Park cover)
conforms to this.
Rock and Alternative rock can be about a whole range of different things from
breakups to Nazi invasions with no real focus on any particular topic and have had a
variety of different settings from plain black backdrops to open fields and circuses,
although a large part of the video often focuses on the band/performance and
whatever they are doing. This music video conforms to these parts as most of the
shots include the characters generally in hybrid performance/narrative shots.

31. Audio
Code
 This video only includes the actual song as its audio the narrative is merely a muted
visual tool to depict the story while the song plays over the top. Where the two merge
they are synced together to give the illusion that the characters are playing the song.
I would say that this video does not conform to Todorov’s narrative theory as his
theory begins and ends with equilibrium which doesn’t feature at all throughout the
video, at the start it has already been disrupted and it is not restore by the end of the
video.
Narrative
Code

32. Action
Code There is not really any kind of action element to this video that changes the
direction of the narrative and that there are not really any key action points that
are vital to the understanding of the meaning behind the lyrics. The actions are
independent of the song and are not entirely necessary but provide something to
retain the audiences attention and keep them watching until the end of the video.
Enigma
code There aren’t really any enigma codes within this video the only real questions are
‘what are the characters doing?’ and ‘what is the strange device that they have?’
both of which have not been answered in any real way by the end of the video and
don’t seem to have any correlation with song.

33. Technical Code
Given the animated nature of video the creator did a good job of simulated
professional camerawork with it using a variety of different shot types and camera
angles as well as different camera movements and techniques like pans, tilts and
zooms to emulate the music video feel and keep the attention of the audience
The animation does translate really well into ‘traditional/normal’ film and music video
techniques and could most likely work as a ‘live action’ music video as well, as it does
follow the same style of other narrative music videos in terms of camerawork, editing
and to an limited extent things like props/costumes/setting.