Codes and Conventions of Music Videos

Codes and conventions of music videos establishes the different techniques used to construct meaning. The purpose of a music video is to do the following:

·       Set the meaning of the song by the use of image.

·       Entertain

·       Promote the artist/band and their music.

 A basic structure of a music video is a 3-4 minute video with either a narrative, a live performance or another form of visual imagery such as animation. Videos are often performance, narrative, thematic or symbolic based.

Performance

Music videos developed from clips of artists performances. The majority of music videos include the artist performing as part of the visual. Depending on the nature of the video will often contain shots or the artist performing live with images of the audience, shots of the artist lip syncing in a set location or potentially day to day activities of the artists life such as sound check etc. Often the performers look directly at the camera making it look like they are looking at the viewer. This is called direct address and is an idea of spectacle. An example of a performance based music video is 'Wherever I Go' by One Republic, the video was released as an additional video to the original. We only see the band performing throughout the video in a gold, black and white themed room.

Narrative

When music videos follow the narrative element the visual often tells a story that is either told or suggested in the lyrics. This narrative represents a short film with a beginning, middle and end. Due to the short duration of music videos the story can be very fast paced. The artists can be an observer or part of the story however it is common that the production involves external cast members to tell the story. In some cases the artist is not seen in the video at all. An example of a narrative based music video is 'Everytime' by Britney Spears, it shows the story of a star and the price of fame. The video develops the story of a star and how she ends her life after a series of incidents occur.

Cameo

A cameo requires another famous person or the artist or band to feature in the video but they do not perform. This is a clever marketing tool as it creates a hype and gets the public talking about the video, especially if the cast consists of A List celebrities with a large fan base. A recent example of a cameo music video is 'Boys' by Charli XCX, it is a self directed music video that features a variety of male celebrities challenging gender stereotypes. The video includes Joe Jonas, Caspar Lee, G-Eazy, Stormzy, The Vamps and a variety of other males in the public eye.

Concept

 Concept videos are based around one idea, the idea of a successful concept video is to keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what and who is on the screen. Symbolic videos use a lot of symbols and montages to build up the meaning of the video. They are often fast paced due to building up meaning by lots of quick shots. Thematic styled videos take the theme of the song and relate it throughout the visual. An example of this is many rap videos are located in urban areas, many female artists are performance related as well as heavy metal bands. An example of a thematic styled video is 'Shutdown' by Skepta, this video is based in the streets of London where the grime originated from.

Abstract / Artistic 

A creative and imaginative music video that uses animation or surreal and innovative art forms, they usually require a lot editing. An example of a music video of this kind is 'Good Morning' by Kanye West, the video is all animated with the main character being the graduation bear that features on the front of the his album 'Graduation'.