Codes and Conventions

James Phillips

What are codes and conventions?

• The codes and conventions of music videos are the different techniques used to construct meaning in them.

• These techniques can be divided into two types; technical and symbolic.

Technical Codes

How meaning is conveyed using technical equipment e.g the way the way camera angles are used, different types of shots, sound either diegetic and non-diegetic sound, the pace and style of editing, and the genre.

Symbolic Codes

Symbolic techniques are ways of showing meanings beyond what you can see for example through, facial expressions, gestures, poses and mis en scene.

Codes and conventions

• The conventions of a music video vary depending on genre of music. However, the general conventions include;
• The Style
• The Camera

• The Editing Techniques
• The Sound (non diegetic and diegetic)
• Mis en Scene – props, lighting, costume – hair and makeup, location/setting, and colours.

Performance vs Narrative

Performance – Performance is when the music video consists mainly of the artists performing in the video. The artist continuously performing the song and there is no narrative or any other scenes in the video. This style of music video isn’t as common, as music videos that are solely dedicated to performance are not that popular, because target audiences would not be able to engage with the song or video.

A Narrative music video follows a story line,  there are two types of narrative Linear and Fragmented A linear narrative starts a story at the beginning, goes on through the middle, and ends at the end. A fragmented narrative is one that doesn't. 

Mixture

Mixture is a combination of performance and narrative this is usually found in music videos as it is hard to have a pure performance or narrative, by using both performance and narrative the video can be made more interesting and enjoyable to watch for example In Kelly Clarkson's video - 'Since you've been gone'.

Cameo

Cameo  is  were a band or artist features in the narrative but does not perform . A good example of this is Drake and Rihanna's - 'What's My Name' were both artists in this case play apart in the narrative but do not perform. 

Camera 

The way the camera is used is crucial in producing a music video. It can have and create different effects by the different Angles, and Movements. In general every music video uses a variety of camera Shots, Angles and Movements to create different techniques and to make the video different and unique in its own way, to other music videos.

Editing

Editing is the process that concludes the making of the music video. When you edit, you cut scenes down, add special effects and add the track to the music video etc..The editing consists of the following things: -Jump Cutting -CGI effects (the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics).

Sound

Sound  consists of two main forms diegetic sound which is already present in the film and non - diegetic sound which can be edited in. Sound is absolutely essential in any music video as this is the main reason for why people watch and listen to them, to gain a sense of art via different artists’. Sound, like footage can be edited to create different effects and variations to the normal vocals that we hear.  

Sound

Sound Parallel sound is when the music matches the mood of the video. An example would be if the song was slow then the video would also be slow to go with the mood of the song. Also, if it was a sad song then the video would also be sad. Some music videos have diegetic sound, where they include sound from the surroundings, such as birds, police sirens that make the video seem more realistic. However, the music itself is non-diegetic sound. 

Mise en scene

The Mis en scene for music videos focuses on the lighting, props, costume, hair and makeup,  location, and colour  these elements usually depend on the genre of the music video and the style.  These elements are also important in contributing towards the chosen genre.  They are used to convey the importance of the people in the music videos. They are also used to represent certain characters in different ways.

Lighting –  how the scene is lit / artificial lights/ side lights

Props –  performance equipment, band merchandise

Costume  - certain outfits

Hair and makeup –  style of the artist

Location – concert halls venues, streets etc

Colour -  Specific colours representing  a mood