Codes and Conventions

There are certain codes and conventions in music videos. From watching music videos in class we have noticed repeated ideas, which are the typical codes and conventions of music videos. The following are codes and conventions that we have noticed.

• The star, band, or artists are normally in the video at some point, in some shape or form;
• The lyrics are normally amplified by the visuals;
• It is common for videos to be either linear or non-linear;
• A lot of music videos are narrative based;
• The camera movement matches the beat of the song;
• Visuals use iconography that are reminiscent of the genre;
• There are usually some aspects of performance, whether they be direct or indirect;
• Range of closeups of the band, star, or artist;
• Range of camera angles throughout the video;
• The image of the star is amplified through the genre;
• Special effects are usually simple and sparsly placed;
• Locations are different - there is usually more than one location used in the video, and these locations are usually realistic so the audience can relate to them;
• Videos usually contain lipsynching, and the synch is usually enough so the audience don't think they are lipsynching;
• More than one character is present in the video or narrative other than the band;
• Characters don't seem to interact a lot with each other, if several are present;
• There is usually a closed narrative at the end of the video.