Codes and Conventions Essay

Codes and conventions essay

Codes and conventions are used as a way of constructing a media text, these codes and convention can either be technical or symbolic. The differences between the two are that; technical includes aspects such as how the technology is used to create the text, and also how the use of camera, editing and sound influences the text itself with features such as different camera angles, different shots, the pace and style of editing, and the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound.

Whereas symbolic is focused more upon the meaning past what the video is obviously displaying, this can be portrayed through the use of different facial expressions, symbolic codes and conventions also use the mise-en-scene of the video to send some messages to the audience to discover what the video is attempting to represent.

There are different types of styles of music videos, these styles are: performance, narrative, animation, mixture and cameo. All of these styles are used to show the differences that are meant to be portrayed in the video compared to other videos, for example you may use narrative for one genre and performance for another. Performance style videos are when the video is based around the band or artist, narrative is when the video tells a story, animation is done digitally or stop frame, mixture is both performance and narrative together and cameo is when the band or artist is in the narrative but doesn’t perform in the video.

The use of the camera will depend on the type of music video, for example if the video was a performance video you may see more close ups and extreme close ups to capture the artists/bands faces for promotional purposes and the lips, guitar strings, drums being banged as this shows the performance of the video. There will also be the use of shots such as crane shots, low/high angle shots, long and extreme long shots, establishing shots to show the location of the video, pans/tilts and tracking shots. All of these will sent messages to the audience and may give clues to the genre of the video such as the establishing shot as if the location was in a flashy mansion with lots of girls and cars, this would give the conventions of an R&B/rap genre.

There are many different editing techniques used in music videos but editing is mainly used to make the video look believable and make it flow. Most people will use jump cuts from one shot to another to keep the continuity. The footage will often match the music as this continues with the fluidity of the video. Depending on what style and genre the music video is, it may add in some split screen effects and CGI.

The sound of the video will include choosing diegetic sounds and changes in levels of sound; this can also make the video more believable.

The mise-en-scene can vary depending on the genre and style of the music videos; they would focus on certain costumes/outfits, props such as performance equipment, the location and the different facial expressions that the band/artists use.