Key Features of Music Videos

Key Features of Music Videos

• Music videos are created around three codes - Music, Lyrics and Iconography. The relationship between these codes is key to understanding how music videos work.
• They are designed to provide entertainment in order to keep the viewer watching, and to encourage repeat viewings.
• The starting point for analysis is to explore whether the video is primarily performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based and how elements of each are used.

Questions worth asking for Music Videos -

Do the visuals illustrate, amplify or offer disjuncture with the lyrics?
Do the visuals illustrate, amplify or offer disjuncture with the music?

Terms

Illustrate - Not always literal

Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, this is the most common.

Amplification - New layers of meaning added to the song

This is similar to repeatability. Meaning and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision.

Disjuncture - Contradiction between lyrics and image

This is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored.