Codes and Conventions

In terms of using and developing conventions, I used a range of key conventions and features to make my work look as professional as possible. From previous research on existing music videos, I found that there always seems to be a connection and relation between the lyrics of the song and the visuals within the video. This is a key convention to use as it helps the progression of the narrative. With the link between the lyric and visuals, a link is also formed with the artist/band as they usually perform within the video or have an actor play the role for them and this sells the artist to the audience as well as the product. Common features that I have noticed within music videos include; close ups of the artist/band, editing to the beat and lip-syncing. I have found these conventions to be used the most throughout existing videos. As well as key conventions used throughout all music videos, the genre of music in which my video belongs to follows various different conventions. For example as my video belongs to the indie/pop genre, conventions that tend to be in these videos are lip-syncing, narrative storyline, low budget locations and simple mise en scene such natural make and costume.

Throughout the presentation I am going to take screen shots from my video and explain how I have used, developed or challenged the conventions I have mentioned above.

At the beginning of my music video I set the scene, by taking a long shot of the train station. It was important to show the train station at the beginning of the video as the video ends at the same location this shows continuity of the video. Also as there is an instrumental introduction to the song, I took inspiration from an existing artists video and displayed the artists name and title of the song just before the song starts, it is also displayed with the artist in view so they are recognizable to the audience.

Shots of location at the beginning of the video

My own music video

My inspiration – ‘Hana – I don’t want to’

There is a clear link between the visuals and the lyrics within this shot as the my actor is clearly drinking alcohol to forget about his love for the girl that is on his mind, also the smashing of the glass against the wall shows his anger and frustration. The lyrics to witch the visuals match are ‘drinking to suppress devotion’ this simply means he is drinking to put back the feelings and love he has towards that one person. By showing my audience the link between the lyrics and visuals this helps them understand that my video will have narrative rather than being abstract.

Lyrics – ‘all of my hopes all of my words, are all over written on the signs’

This is a clear connection with the lyrics as well as the location and setting, as at the beginning of the video I made it clear that the setting was in a train station, and therefore have shown a typical train sign, to match the lyrics ‘written on the signs’ as I want the audience to believe that the place shown on the sign ‘Doncaster’ is the place he is heading to, where the girl on his mind lives.

Lyrics - When you're my road walking me homeHome, home, home, home

For these lyrics I wanted the audience to see the couple walking down the same road together, then over the top of that shot, an image of Dan walking alone down the same road which is the actual reality. By creating this visual it creates a solid narrative as you can see the difference between reality and past events in the same shot.

The use of the two effects I have used on different shots helps the audience distinguish present tense and back flashes of memories. As shown above the screen shot showing the couple together is in a faded sun effect this creates the illusion that the shot is a memory because the other shots which are reality are shown in black and white, this also connotes good and bad. From previous research I have found that this is a key convention used in music videos, especially the black and white effect is used in low budget indie music videos.

Low budget Locations

As mentioned before, especially in indie/pop music videos, low budget locations are used because they are usually signed to independent record labels. As the artist in which song I have used is part of the indie/pop genre I have used and developed this convention as I wanted my video to look realistic and believable rather than shot in a studio to make it look high end on the budget scale, so therefore the locations in which I used where very rural and easy access such as a train station, town center and built up housing estate.

Another key convention in which I used was lip- syncing, typically used in the majority of music videos this convention helps the audience see the connection between the artist/band and the song. Adding to this shown in the screen shots above I have also used a typical medium shot of my artist to show emotion and feeling from the artist.