Codes and Conventions

• Performance – Band / artist playing. • Narrative – Storyline involved • Cameo – Artist features in the narrative but

doesn’t perform.

• Animation – Digitally

Crane - The crane shots are able to move around the stage from many different angles to capture what is happening.

Pans - These are to move to each performer and can also be used to show the setting or location as it pans around.

Close ups – Close ups focus on the performers as their mouths move to the lyrics and sometimes shows their emotions. It can also be used to show certain props that relate to the lyrics.

Low angle shot – Low angle shots are used to give a birds eye view type of shot to show a prop or performer and can also be used to show the surrounding.

The editing involved in music videos takes a lot of time and effort and plays a major part in music videos. The lip synching certainly needs to be edited so that the musicians look as though they are actually singing the song at the exact same time as the music playing.

Jump cutting Footage used is edited to match what is said in the lyrics

of the music, as part as parallel editing. Split screens

Changes in the levels of sounds- in certain areas of the song, the music level changes for effect, narrative reasons or to suit what is going on.

Mise en scene is important in music videos as it includes props (All music videos contain props depending on the genre and type of song.)

Costume-This also depends on the lyrics of the

song as well as the genre. Certain performers will have different outfits suiting what they are representing in the video.

Location-The setting for music videos basically

sets the scene immediately and many settings used are simple settings where many people can relate to.

At the start of the video, you see a very short clip of this piece of jewellery. This shows the codes and conventions as jewellery is a regular prop for hip hop music videos. The letter `u` shown on the jewellery represents the initial of the artist `usher`

The setting of the dance floor and the laser disco lights tells us the scene is set in a nightclub. The laser disco lights also change angle in time with the beat

The lighting used here is focused on one person to make them more noticeable then the other people. In this case, it is because the person is shown to have some sort of attraction to the artist in the club.

These two shots show a sexual attraction between the two people. The shot on the right is a close up which tells us that they wanted us to know that there was a sexual attraction between the two. Then shot on the right shows more of the scenery to show they are on a crowded dance floor. This shot also shows additional lighting added to the couple to make them stand out more than the other dancers.

As you can see from this shot, the codes and conventions of an R&B music video have been followed as it is shown in the scenery as it is set in a nightclub, and the clothing and choice of jewellery are all related to the stereotypes of the R&B genre.

This shot shows a performance taking place on the nightclub dance floor. The spotlight again is on the main artist to give full attention to his actions. This music video seems to have a mixture of both narrative and performance which seems to work well.