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- The codes and conventions of a music videos are the different techniques 
used to construct meaning in them. 
- These techniques can be divided into two types, technical and symbolic. 
- Music videos contains a number of different elements and they are 
performance, narrative, thematic and symbolic. 
- Codes and conventions are a firm set of rules and a way of doing things. 
- The purpose of codes and conventions for a music video is for the 
audience to become familiar with a certain genre as they become aware to 
seeing certain things like props or artist. 
- It provides a structure that the audience can understand. 
- To ensure the lyrics of the songs fits in with the video or how the audience 
expects it to be. 
- Notions of looking – stereotyping 
- It provides a structure that the audience can understand.
Codes and conventions 
- Music videos that can be categorized in terms of style. 
- Performance – artist/band playing. 
- Narrative – which includes a story. 
- Mixture – both performance and narrative based. 
- Cameo – band/artist features in the narrative but doesn’t perform. 
- Animation – Digitally (flash) or stop frame.
0 Most common type that features a star/group singing in the 
concert to widely engage their fans. 
0 The aim is to convey a sense of the in-concert experience. 
0 Performance videos that display the star or group in the studio 
remind the viewer that sound track and album are still important. 
0 It is usually a video consisting mainly the artist with dancers 
performing in the video. 
0 These types of videos often includes close ups of the artist and 
there can be a particular visual style that does with the artist (a 
motif) such as clothing, actions, props etc. 
0 Can be the artist in ‘real life’ situations such as warming up, 
talking, stage concert.
0 A good example of a performance video is Beyoncé – Love on top. 
0 The video shows the artist continuously performing the song and there is no 
narrative or scene to the video. 
0 This style of music videos is not common, as music because target audience 
would not be able to feel a sense of engagement. However, as Beyoncé is an 
aspiration to her target audience, the video engages a wide range of 
audience due to the lighting, costume, dancing and enthusiasm to get the 
audience to dance along and get a real concert experience. 
0 This video displays the performance in a creative way of making it more 
interesting to watch. 
0 This conforms to the ‘notions of looking’ as the audience is watching the 
performer and gaining pleasure from it.
0 A music video with a narrative implies that music video that has a 
story line is consistent through the song and video. There are two 
different types of narrative, a linear and a fragmented. Linear has a 
story that starts at the beginning and finishes at the end of a music 
video, whereas a fragmented is the oppose. 
0 Videos may tell any kind of story in linear, cause effect sequencing. 
0 Love stories are the most common narrative mode in music videos 
and normally follow the pattern of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy 
wins girls heart back. 
0 It can promote a film with clips from the film included telling a story 
such as ‘Jessie J – Silver lining’. 
0 Due to the length of the video it can used very fast paces shots and 
cuts.
0 Taylor Swift – Love story is an example of a narrative music video as it 
follows the novel of Romeo and Juliet but adding own ideas of a typical love 
story where a boy meets a girl. 
0 The video is set in various locations to conform to the narrative. 
0 This video uses a main convention of pop videos- as it constantly cuts to 
Taylor singing on her own directly into the camera, whilst the narrative 
continues in the background. 
0 The lighting is quite important in this video, as it emphasizes the mood of 
the scene and therefore of the characters.
0 This is a combination of performance and narrative 
0 It is usually found in music videos as it hard to have 
a pure performance or narrative. 
0 By using both performance and narrative, the video 
can be made more interesting, engaging and 
enjoyable for the audience to watch as they are 
gaining both experiences.
0 Cameo is where a band or artist features in the narrative but does not 
perform. A suitable example for this is Rihanna and Drake – Whats my 
name. The are both artists who play apart in the narrative but do not 
perform at all.
Technical 
- How equipment and technology are used to construct 
meaning. 
- Camera – different angles and shots 
- Editing – pace, style, colour, effects etc. 
- Sound – diegetic or non-diegetic and genre. 
- Conveys using technical equipment for example various 
shots, camera angles, the used of sound and editing. 
Symbolic: 
- Meaning created beyond what is obvious to see. 
- Example, specific facial expressions. 
- Mise-en-scene 
- Showing expressions through mise-en-scene and 
poses.
0 Variety of shots depending on the style. 
0 Few CU’s (especially in performance music videos). ECU of lips, 
guitar, strings being strummed etc. 
0 Crane shots – hovering over stage. 
0 Low-angles 
0 Pans/tilts – according to different performers. 
0 The way the camera angles are used is crucial when producing a 
music video as it can create different effects and understanding the 
movements and concept of the video. Music videos use different 
variety of shots, angles and movement to create different techniques 
and to make the video different and unique to exiting videos. 
0 Camera angles are important in every type of mediated visual text but 
in music video to feel. 
0 The way the camera is positioned in a music video, it determines the 
angle of the shot. There are various camera angles used in the 
production of music videos to convey different images and meaning.
The relationship between camera and object being photographed gives emotional 
information to an audience and guides their judgment about character pr object in 
shot. The more extreme the angle, the more symbolic and heavily loaded the shot. 
Eye Level – Common view, it shows 
subjects as we would expect to see 
them in real life. It is a fairly neutral 
shot and camera positioned as a 
human is observing a scene. 
High angle- The camera shows 
the subject from above and e 
camera is angle down towards the 
subject. This has an effect of 
making them appear less powerful, 
less significant or even 
submissive. 
Low angle – The subject is 
shown from bellowing, giving 
the impression of being more 
powerful/dominant. 
Disorientation of viewer. 
Birds eye view – This shows the 
subject/scene from directly above. It 
makes the audience feel like they are 
looking down at the action. It can be 
used to crate a dramatic effect or 
show a different perspective. It can 
also show the positions and motions 
of different characters and objects, 
allowing the view to see things the 
character might not see. 
Oblique/slanted angle: it is 
used to suggest the point of 
view shots. This is a creative 
way of making interesting 
and dramatic effects. It 
suggests imbalance, 
transition and instability. 
Camera angles emphasise the artist to 
show emotions and expressions. Other 
camera angles that are simply the most 
common music videos such as close 
ups which show the artist lip synching 
and for star image. The camera never 
stays on one shot for no longer than 3-5 
seconds.
The camera moves to follow the artist or to show the performance of the artist. These camera movements include 
panning and tracking. A director of the music video may choose to move action along by telling a narrative as a 
series of cuts, going from one shot to another or they may want to move the camera with the action. 
Pans: this is where the camera scans the scene horizontally. The camera is 
placed on a tripod which is operated as a stationary on a axis point as the 
camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is in the middle of the 
frame. 
Dolly/tracking: this is where the camera is attached on a chart which 
travels along tracks for a very smooth movement. It is a good way of 
portraying movement and moves alongside the action. It allows the 
audience to focus on the object or subject. 
Hand held shots: This produces a ‘fly on wall’ effect and gives a ragged 
effect, smoothness of dolly shot. It makes the audience feel as they are 
part of the scene but also denotes a certain kid of gritty realism. 
Ariel shots: this moved in and out of a scene and is an 
exciting variation of crane shot.
0 There are various editing techniques which are 
used within a music video. 
0 Music videos tend to feature jump cutting. 
0 Footage is generally edited to match the music. 
0 Split-screens/CGI 
0 Choosing to include diegetic sound. 
0 Change in levels of sound. 
0 Sound consists of two main forms 
Sound consists of two main forms which are 
diegetic sound and non diegetic. Sound is 
essential in any music video as it is the 
audiences main focus for why people watch and 
listen to music videos in order to gain a sense 
of pleasure from it. 
Diegetic sound generates things we see in the 
picture. It begins but doesn’t end. The sound 
enhances with the sound effects as it is used to 
heighten individual sounds for a narrative effect. 
Non diegetic sound can be edited in, in the 
video. It enhances through the non-diegetic 
sound which usually forms a music or voice 
over. It creates a mood and atmosphere which 
often manipulates the emotions experienced 
while viewing. 
Editing is the process that concludes the making 
of the music video. When a video is being edited. 
Scenes are cut down and special effects are 
added to the sound track. Editing consists of: 
- Jump cutting 
- CGI effect which is the process used for 
generating animated images by the use of 
computer graphics. 
- Parallel editing which is a method of cutting 
between a coupe of scenes or narrative taking 
place at the same time.
0 The mise-en-scene for music videos focuses on the light, props, costume, hair and 
makeup, location and the colour of these elements which usually depends on the 
genre of the music video and the style. These elements are 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. 
0 Mise-en-scene can vary depending on the genre the music category falls into. 
0 Props – performance equipment, band merchandise, costume, make up etc. This 
also depends on the genre of music such as R&B audience will notice cars, 
smoking, bling, ‘gang’ signs, dark theme and usually women portrayed as sexual 
objects. 
0 Location – concert halls, venues, streets, city etc. 
0 Facial expressions 
0 Lighting – how the scene is lips, artificial lightings, side lightings or natural lighting 
0 Hair and make-up – style of the artist and they way they are represented. 
0 Colour – specific colours and theme represent a certain mood depending on style 
of music
Mise-en-scene 
0 Props is a good way to show a clear way of linking 
the lyrics with a visual and its adds entertainment to 
the video as well as engages the audience. It can 
be used in a imaginative way to foreshadow the 
video.
Mise-en-scene 
0 Costumers, make up and hair is important to create a personal background of character in the 
music video. 
0 The costume and the way they are presented is a way of portraying their role. 
0 It represents a certain character in different ways. 
0 In most videos, different artists would wear different clothes to represent what they are portraying 
in the music video. 
0 The hair and make up is done to show the characters personality and a way of attractive the 
audience such as limitation of clothing attracts a wide range of male audience and conforms to 
the male gaze theory as male audience are gazing at the artist. 
0 Star image – promotion of the star through the video using close ups and mid shots 
An example of costume, hair and make up video is 
Ariana Grande – Right there where the narrative of the 
story which follows Shakespeare’s love story Romeo and 
Juliet. In this video, Ariana Grande’s costume conforms 
to theme and narrative of the music where she is 
dressed in a ball gown with face masks and fan as a 
prop in her hand. The costumes worn by the artist are 
worn to represent a certain character in different ways.
Mise-en-scene: 
0 The location is not only to show the 
audience the scenery of the music 
video but it can also help the audience 
to recognise the genre of the music. 
0 For example ‘user: DJ got us fallin in 
love’ is a song that would be expected 
to paly in a club due to the lyrics and 
beat of the song. Whereas if the song 
was about a love relationship, the 
location would be something romantic 
and exotic to set a mood and theme to 
the video depending if it a narrative or 
performance. 
Example – Alicia Keys ft Jay Z 
empire states of mind. Location 
is set in NYC to conform to the 
lyrics. 
Bruno mars – The lazy song shows 
a relationship between the lyric and 
the performance of the video as it 
is located inside a room to imply 
the ‘laziness’.