Codes & Conventions Essay

Each type of genre of music video has different codes and conventions that makers of products from that genre should adhere to. For my project, I am doing a music video for Her Name Is Alice by Shinedown. The genre of this band is described as Alternative rock or post-grunge which have a very specific selection of codes and conventions that I must try to follow, however, I am voluntarily choosing to go against these codes and conventions in order to make my work a bit more unique to me.

After looking at previous Shinedown videos, I have found a few similarities between them all which would be considered a code or a convention which I would have had to follow if I was trying to replicate their style of creation. Most of all, I have found that within the videos there are clips of the band lip synching while looking at the camera and playing their instruments. This breaks down the 4^th wall within the shot and involves the audience within the performance. Also, the idea that the clips are used gives a break between the storyline that is within the music video. The use of close-ups on the shots are for us to be able to see their emotions towards the topics that they are talking about within their songs which is effective because we are able to see if the song has some connection to the band, also, by their expression we are able to see how we should interpret the song and what style of song it is, e.g. emotional, break-up, etc. I am choosing to ignore this convention because I think it would be difficult to embed this idea into my music video with the storyline that I am doing.

Shinedown also focus their music videos around some sort of a narrative, which always portrays the meaning of the lyrics so that we are helped to understand the meaning of the song in more depth. I will follow this convention because the music video that I am creating if following the Alice in Wonderland story, therefore, I have no choice but tell a story within the video. The narrative within Shinedown’s songs always consist of the lead singer being in it somewhere which shows that the songs have some significant meaning to the band or to the lead singer in particular because they are able to see what is happening within the video themselves and therefore are retelling the story that had happened to them.

Colour wise, Shinedown focus a lot on dark colours and keeping to the rock music video conventions which is usually dark colours and lots of shadows. This is a convention that I would like to try and put in my video because my story is meant to be crazy and a little creepy twist to a traditional children’s story. Also, they like to finish the story lines, which they incorporate within their music video, by the end of the music video, therefore creating a story throughout the entire song and so we are more likely to remember the story and more likely to watch the whole video to find out what happens at the end. This is another aspect that I will make sure that I include within my project because my storyline as a distinct beginning and therefore will need a distinct ending in order to keep the mirage up throughout the video.