Music Video - Codes + Conventions

Usually a music video is either a form of performance, narrative and abstract. This portrays the music video as a certain style. The genre of music I have chosen for my music video is country, this is often styled in the form of narrative for example Taylor Swift is a very well-known country singer and her music videos tell the story of her songs, an example of this could be ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ telling the story of a recent break up. I will be using this form of narrative in my music video. Generally, in narrative videos, there is a lot of emotion behind the story and the artists will bring meaning to the lyrics to make it so much easier for their audience to empathise with the general feel to the music.

Country music is one of the oldest genres of music to date. It originated in the 1920s in Southern parts of the US, and it has slowly spread to all parts of the world. Country music is the most popular genre throughout the United States and often wins Grammy awards over the majority of other genres that we would consider 'mainstream'. The defining characteristic of country music is an acoustic guitar, with just the vocals of the singer to accompany it. Country music has changed over the years, adopting a more modern style, mixing with other genres in order to attract a larger and more diverse audience.

Many country music videos tend to have a strong narrative aspect and the artist will more than not always feature within the video.  It is generally set in very stereotypical locations such as rural areas which help to create the effect of emotions and the mise-en-scene tends to be very tradition or set in an elder generation. A lot of music videos are being influence by other types of genre, the song ‘Need You Now’ by Lady Antebellum, is the song I have chosen for my music video and has been influence by the genre of pop.

Cinematography:

Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This creates emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Close ups are also used to reflect the words of the song showing the movement of the lips of the artist.

The movement of the camera is used to follow the artist. They include tilts, pans and tracking. Low angles are used to make the single appear powerful as the main focus has to be the singer. Reverse zooms of the singers are used so that they appear visible to the audience.

Mise-en-scene:

Props are used to help tell the story, as a music video is very similar to being a short film. Different clothes and costumes are used to portray the character and it reflects the genre as it can connect to the theme of the video. Costume is really important as it can have a slight influence on how the viewers will dress because they will use their role models as inspiration. The lighting is a big part of the mise-en-scene as this creates the mood or atmosphere to the video. Depending on the mood, whether it be a happy cheery song, the lighting is more than likely going to be bright however if the song is bleak and sad the lighting with be dark and grungy. However some videos have artificial lighting which puts the artists in an enhanced look.

Editing:

Montage and continuity editing is often used for music videos. This appears when the singer appears singing the song however there are odd bits of montages within the music video fading in and out at different times to help the audience understand the whole story behind the music. Jump cuts are a frequently used technique used in music videos as this allows a sudden change from one scene to the next. Also, fade and dissolve are very common too as they create different effects within the video.

Sound:

The sound used in the music videos is sometimes going to be diegetic and sometimes non-diegetic.