Codes + conventions of a music

video
The purpose of a music video
● Promotes a single, and normally an album
● Promotes the artist or band
● Creates, adapts or feeds into a ‘star’ image
● Sets the ‘meanings’ of a song by the use of images
Basic structure
● In 3-4 minutes a typical music video either focuses on performance or combines a
mix of performance, narrative and visual image, such as computer graphics or
animation
● It does this to promote the band or artist
● They often contain elements like: performance, narrative, thematic or symbolic
● They can also have all performance, a mix, or all narrative
Performance
● Many music videos include performance of the artist as part of the music video
● They often contain shots of the artist performing
● They can be live stage performances with shots of the artist + the audience
● It can also be the artists in ‘real life’ situations, eg. Them waking up, talking and
fooling around
● They often contain lots of close ups of the artist and there can be a particular style
that goes with the artist (a motif) eg. Particular clothing, action, props and types
of images
● Often the artist can appear to perform in unusual places- all lip synced. Eg. A field
or a rooftop
Idea of a spectacle
● Music videos may be considered to be examples of a spectacle
● In this the performer is often looking directly at the viewer. This is called direct
address where they are directly interacting with the viewer
Narrative
● Often the video tells a story, either that features in the lyrics eg. Girl dumps boy
● The narrative can be like a mini film with a beginning, middle and end, or it can
suggest some links to a story
● Because it is only 3-4 minutes long it can be:
● Very fast paced, lots of shots and cuts
● Used intertextually with film, tv and other videos
● Mimic other film+tv genres eg. Horror or sci-fi
● Sometimes the artist is a part of a story, or an observer, or completely separate
Thematic
● There are lots of common themes in music videos, this depends on the genre of
music
● For example, heavy metal bands go for performance dominated clips.
● Rap includes lots of ‘street images’
● Dance routines are common for many female artist performances
Symbolic connotations
● The use of lots of symbols is to build up meaning. Eg. Graveyard…..Death
● There is lots of use of montage- lots of images to create meaning, sometimes often
contradicting
● Lighting is often used to suggest a mood
● Fast paced editing is often only used a few seconds per shot to build up meanings
● Shots can support or contradict the lyrics
Some other codes and conventions
● Visually stylish- ‘artistic’- mise-en-scene
● Cutting related to the rhythm of the music ,(editing to the beat)
● Cross Cutting between performance and images or a story
● Experimental use of camera/editing (hand held camera, distortion of colour)
● They often break the rules of continuity editing, and they can use lots of jump
cuts