Codes and Conventions

CODES AND CONVENTIONS:
Codes and convention are used as a way of constructing meaning into forms of media, in this case music video, but can be split into two different catergories (codes, conventions). These vary throughout each genre of music and many people use the codes and conventions because they are a way of doing things successfully. However, there are some people that do the excact opposite of their genres codes and conventions as a way of being different:

Editing:
The editing process in music videos take alot of time and are the most crucial part.
Commonly used editing in music videos is:
-screen splitting (seeing 2 scenes/characters at once)
-Lypsyncing (matching the mouth movement of the character/s to the lyrics of the song)
-Jump cutting

Camera:

Close up: focus on the musician or the most famous person in the music video

pan shots: showing the surrounding of the music video and the whole of the main character/band.

Mise en scene:
PROPS: the props that are used in a music video have to be relevant to the storyline or the lyrics of the song.
COSTUME: this could be actual costumes
LOCATION:

Mise en scene in different genres:
There are loads of different genres of music and they all have their own codes and conventions which has sunconsciously developed over the years. Some examples are:
Pop: These videos tend to involve lots of bright colours, flashing lights, fashionable costumes, 'nice' locations and happy characters. They also tend to have a dance routing which involves characters which look like the are 'loving life'. (a good example of this type of music video is 'With Ur Love' performed by Cher Lloyd which involves lots of teenagers and balloons floating around a city in broad daylight). Pop videos also tend to mainly focus on th one person and like to create a star persona in the music video.

This is a screen shot of artist Rick Ross
sitting on a gold throne wearing lots
of jewellery. (not a good example of
a well crafted body)

Hip-hop: These music videos tend to all include portrayals of women showing their sexuality. This is either expressed through the artist having an 'attractive' woman by their side of a number of women dancing provocatively in little clothing. They also include darker colours and lighting and lots of jewelry and expensive possessions (emphasising their personal wealth even though its probably rented). They also like to wear little clothing themselves to show their well 'crafted bodies' (e.g. 50 cent)
Rock: This genre of music tends to involve alot of dark colours, instruments, stages in their music videos. Doesn't tend to involve a story line but it more based on performance of the band (sometimes including their audiences-live show). One of the main camera angles they tend to use in rock videos is extreme close ups of the singer face/lips but also extreme close ups on the instruments being played aswell. They also use the tempo of the song to compliment the editing. A good example of this is all my life by the Foo Fighters who usea very simple location but make it just as interesting as a hip hop video in a club by using quick editing to the beats and good mise en scene.

EXTRA CODES AND CONVENTIONS:
Music videos (based on genre) always contain different meanings and sometimes storylines; which are shown in many various ways:
Performance:
When the artist/band is performing the song throughout the music video. (e.g. 'always like this' performed by Bombay Bicycle Club is purely performance based and only includes the band themselves but is made interesting with the use of different effects)
Narrative:
When the song involves a narrative which is then acted out in some way throughout the music video (e.g. Taylor Swift's new song 'we are never ever getting back together' demonstrates a type of narrative throughout the music video)
Mixture:  

Animation:'Californication' showing the

animation involved but also the

performance aswell (top left corner).

When the musician is performing the song meanwhile, a narrative storyline is occurring which is shown through the cross cutting of the camera shots. (e.g. 'right by my side' performed by Nicki Minaj involves performance and a storyline)
Animation:Some music videos have a mixture involving animation that is edited in, this creates creativity and entertainment to the video. (e.g. 'Californiacation' performed by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers consists of the band being made into video game characters running around different places)
Cameo:
When the main artist/musician is featuring in the narrative but is not part of the storyline and does not perform in it. (E.g. 'Chasing Pavements' performed by Adele has a storyline throughout the whole music video but Adele is only shown a few times in the background)
CODES AND CONVENTION OF INDIE MUSIC VIDEOS:
Mise en scene:It have come to my attention that the majority of indie music videos consists of pretty much the same mise en scene. These mainly consist of the following things:
-Costumes: scruffy hair, average 'indie' clothing (checked shirts, skinny jeans, vans etc.)
-Props: instruments (guitars, bass guitars, drums, keyboard etc),
-Locations: simple locations with not much surrounding (they tend to use the simple space they have a make it interesting through there performance)

Performance:
Indie music videos are massively performance based. Even if there is the odd video which consists of an elaborate stotyline, there always appear to be some sort of performance involved this could be:
-A performance from the band themselves (either performing alone or infront of a large audience on stage)
- A performance from one of the characters involved

Editing:
-'old', bad quality camera effect
-The tempo of the song often determines the amount of cuts made between clips
- the paces of the cuts in the videos could also be determined by the song.
-Jump cut edits from one shot to another
-Most fast paced videos have a lot of cuts and quicker cuts
-A slow tempo song would have less cuts because the shots last longer.
-Fast forwarding/rewinding effects

Cameo:
-If there is a story line, the main character/characters make appearances
-There are not however, mainly involved in the story
-Sometimes pop in at the end of the story
-Very rare that a member of an indie band would 'star' in a storyline music video

Narrative:
-If there is a story line, the lyrics are involved in the acting
-Band performs the lyrics (lip syncing)

Camera:
-Close up of the singer
-Close ups of the instruments being played
-Establishing shots of the whole performance

I have learnt that even though the indie genre do use many specific conventions, they are much less noticable than in a genre like pop. Therefore, it gives me the freedom to choose what I want to do. It is obvous that they do like to focus on their music more then having an expensive, 'flashy' video. This is beneficially for me because I can get away with having a more 'home video' look.