Codes and conventions of a music video

Codes and conventions of a Music Video

Lyrics – it goes without saying that the main convention of a music video is the lyrics. The lyrics are the reason behind the music video, and they establish the whole theme for the video.  Key lines in the lyrics will affect what is visually involved in the video.  But it is very rare that the video will just simply portray the lyrics, there will be a twist on the lyrics.

Music – a music video tends to make use of the tempo (speed) of the track, this will influence the editing of the song, and the video will emphasise particular parts of the song where the speed is faster or slower. For example, when there is a drop in the music, there will be a dramatic change in scene or shot.

Genre – some music videos show a clear genre through the images.  For example in the Katy Perry – California Girls video you can clearly see it’s a pop video.

The mise en scene in the picture below shows that this clearly is a pop video, due to the bright colours and high key lighting. The fancy costume that Katy is wearing also works on the pop genre, the multi colours and ‘Barbie’ like look develops more on the pop style video.

Editing – the most common type of editing in a music video is rapid editing and the use of a fast cut montage of images, the shots must be cut to the beat of the music. Although in certain genre's a different approach the editing may be taken

Narrative/Performance – Narrative in songs is rarely complete and often in fragments.  Often some videos will be in a nonlinear order to be more interesting.

Intertexuality – intertexuality refers to how music videos draw on other music videos (or media texts) to spark recognition from their audience. For example Madonna's video for 'Material Girl' took inspiration from a film released in the 1950's, 'Men Prefer Blondes' which stars Maralynn Monroe.  Both the video and the movie are trying to portay the 'Hollywood Sexy Blonde' stereotypical image.  Aspects of the mise-en-scene, choreography and colour scheme, all follow the same conventions. 

Voyeurism – in music video's voyeurism is used to attract audiences, it works off the idea that a person will be sexual attracted to an errotic image without being aware.  The music industry uses voyeurism throughout videos to attract an audience and make sales.