Codes & Conventions

Music videos are short films which accompany music (usually a song).

The most typical conventions that transcend genre include:

• The artist who made the song is featured in the video.

• The lyrics influence what is shown in the video. They create a mood rather than a meaning (which is shown through the video)

• The editing goes with the pace of the music/tempo

The codes are everything that gives meaning to the video:

• Style

• Camera

• Editing

• Sound

• Mise en Scene

• Representation

There are 3 styles of music video:

• Narrative (a story)

• Performance (band/artist performing (playing instruments and singing). Almost every video includes some aspect of performance (like lip syncing), but this “style” mainly refers to live playing. This can be in a concert setting, a studio, outdoors…)

• Concept (abstract. The images are based off the mood of the song and the message of its lyrics. Use of visual motifs)

It's also usual for music videos to mix styles.

The Mise en Scene includes everything that is seen on the screen (props, costumes & makeup, location, framing, lighting, facial expressions…)

Theories:

I explained ANDREW GOODWIN and LAURA MULVEY’s theories in THIS previous post.

JOHN STEWART

• MVs have the aesthetics of TV commercials: lots of closeups and a focus on the star’s face.

• Music videos “incorporate, raid, and reconstruct”, which suggests there is always intertextuality.

• Visual references in MVs come most commonly from cinema, fashion and art photography.

• Videos offer more intimacy with the audience than a performance. Especially mise en scene can show their lifestyle.

This diagram shows more conventions:

As my song doesn’t fit into exactly one genre, I created a venn diagram with the different conventions of the styles/genres that fit the song and my initial vision:

I will use this as an aid in the development of my idea.

Why Follow the Codes & Conventions?

• The audience becomes familiar with a particular genre. If they enjoy it, they will look for more similar content

• Provides a structure which the audience can understand. You don’t want to confuse your audience with too many unexpected things. However it is good to include a couple of new elements in each music video to maintain a sense of novelty and excitement.

• Lyrics of the song fit with the video: allows the artist to expand on the meaning of their song.