Codes and Conventions

Conventions are the social expectation of something, for example you expect a rapper be rapping in front of the camera with lots of girls around him, and you expect a punk band to have lots of shots of the band playing their instruments.

Codes are more specific. They relate exactly to the music video itself

Technical Codes - They focus on the camera movement, Lighting and camera angles

Verbal Codes - These are to do with anything written or spoken, e.g. font used, how the words are said.

Symbolic Codes - These can be anything from the misc en scene, colour, object, costume, etc.

I have chosen two band's music videos:

August Burns Red - Empire

As you can see It shows the Band playing the song making it a performance music video which is the convention for this type of genre. their is very minimal narrative apart from the lyrics being said. The camera work is fast paced and shaky, to emphasise the power of the instruments and voice. The colour is quite grey there aren't really any bright colours, showing the brutality of the riff. The macro image of the rocks shaking is a code as we relate rocks shaking with an earthquake, I believe it is the band's way of suggesting that their music is so powerful it can cause earthquake's. There is some choreography as the 2 guitarists and bass guitar come into synch at one point, this is to symbolize their bond and that they will face anything together.

Suicide Silence - You Only Live Once

Compared to the previous video their are some obvious similarities, again the band plays the song while a short narrative is also presented to the viewer. their is a lot of energy going through the video with the fast paced shots and the shaking of the camera. Again the video is mostly colourless with the acceptation of the dark red of the blood. The idea of the shooting range and them being the target ties in with the lyrics "you only live once".

This type of genre I think uses this style of music videos to credit the whole band on the song, whereas pop stars usually don't show themselves playing any instrument, or credit the composer of the song.