Codes and Conventions Of Music Videos

Saeed Moulai

History Of Music Videos

• Music videos have been a common theme for videos for a long time, the first recorded music video was in fact shot in 1920.

• Originally, all music videos were narrative and they would tell a story. It was only in the 50s that performance music videos were created.

• Since music videos started, there have been many different theories to the purpose of music videos, including Goodwin, Mulvey, Hall and Todorov.

• MTV helped bring up and really promote music videos, and the first ever music video aired on MTV was “video killed the radio star”, which is quite fitting because the video era did actually kill off the worth and popularity of radio media.

There are 3 types of music videos

• Narrative• Performance • Conceptual• Some music videos have a mix of two or even

three of them though

And there are 2 technique types• Music videos always have a meaning, and the techniques

for these videos are one of either symbolic or technical• Symbolic techniques are ways of showing meaning beyond

what you can see, for example facial expressions, gestures and mise en scene

• Technical techniques are a way in which the information is conveyed using technical equipment including the way the camera is positioned and moved, different types of shot, different types of sound (diegetic and non diegetic), the pace of the type of editing as well as the genre.

Reasons for codes and conventions

• So the audience can become familiar with a particular genre and know its characteristics

• So it provides a structure that the audience can understand

• So the lyrics of the song fit in with the visuals, leading it to make sense and so the end product is how we expect it to be

Although due to genres codes and conventions can vary, most of them include

• The style• The camera• The editing techniques• The sound• Mise-en-scene• Notions of looking• Stereotyping

Main types of shots

Technical Codes - Camerawork

• How the camera is used and how images are sequenced will have a big impact on what meaning the music video gives off

• Camera movement, shot and angle distance all need to be analysed and looked at

• Camera movement may accompany movement of performers, but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance by constantly circling the band as they perform on the stage

Technical Codes - Editing

• The most common form of editing associated with music videos are fast cut montages

• There are also videos which use slow pace and gentler and transitions to establish a mood

• This is particularly apparent for the work of many female solo artists with a broad appeal, such as Mariah Carey

Mise En Scene

Props

• In most music videos props are used as either a symbolic item or something to help tell the story of the narrative

• One music video that uses props to make it more entertaining is Telephone by Lady Gaga

Costume

• Costume is used to assist and represent certain characters different ways, different artists would also wear different clothes to represent what they are trying to get across in the music video.

• An example of this is in the Rizzle Kicks song “when I was a youngster”

Hair and make up• Everything in music videos are done for a

reason, so hair and make up in music videos are always done to convey an idea or portray something.

• An example of this is Katy Perry’s California girls where in a part of the song she describes her exact hair and make up