M3- Codes and Conventions of My Music Video

How My music video fits the codes and conventions of its genre and style.

My Video

The video that I have created is for the song "soft fuzzy man" by the band Lemon demon. To match with the usual style of this bands songs I have tried to create a video that fits in with the sci-fi and supernatural/horror genres of film.To fit I with these ideas I created a narrative/concept style video, which could both tell a story with the telltale themes and ideas of this genre, as well as using conceptual elements for some of the shots to help build that supernatural and unusual feeling and look of the video. The videos basic narrative is about a researcher investigating a haunted building and interacting with the supernatural force which has taken residence there. The video is purposely light on complex story and an intricate narrative, focusing mostly on how two wildly different characters interact with each other and try to escape and foil the other. Most of the character and story comes through in the music and lyrics, as I hoped to create a diegetic sound which can explore the supernatural characters own mind and thoughts. The video doesn't give much context or resolution to the narrative, and is instead meant to capture one specific and strange moment in time.

Genre conventions

When working in the supernatural/sci-fi genre, there are many different tropes and conventions which I used to inform my video, such as using special effects to sell the impossible things happening in the story, the use of stylised and broad characters who fill certain archetypical roles, and certain stories which are used and reimagined in different ways. To help create this I first focused on visual effects heavily in both the filming and editing of my video. when filming I created several striking effects using props and lighting, creating words several times using glow in the dark paint and tape, as well as using light and dark lighting to create flickering lights and a silhouette effect in one of the shots.

 For editing effects, I took care to create many green screen shots in the original video and to play with including many different filters and transition effects throughout the. editing process. By using these I was able to create the air and theme of the supernatural throughout the video, whilst making the entire thing visually striking and full of appealing iconography. 

I also took this same care when writing the video and its storyline, focusing on the idea and basic story of a haunted house which I believe has a lot of room for interesting and creative ideas and scenes, while also having the strong pre-existing characters of the ghost and the person they are haunting. When creating these characters, I tried to tailor make them to be fully opposing, and to both have established visual styles which can clash throughout the video. As with many stories in these genres, the characters are mainly cartoonish and more thematic rather than deep and realistic people, with the scientist representing the boringness and mundanity of everyday life, being represented with monochromatic colours and representing a clearly very methodical and bureaucratic organisation, where the supernatural force is bright, colourful and full of energy, representing the unknown and valuing creativity.  This binary opposition of the natural vs the supernatural is at the core of this story, and is one of the most basic conflicts of the supernatural genre.

This left brain/right brain style dynamic presents the bulk of the videos conflict, whilst also presenting an opportunity to infuse the video with a unique visual style. This also helped my video to fit into the uses and gratification purpose of entertainment and escapism, as if I wish to fulfil this need I should focus on making the video as fun and engaging to watch as I can, which I feel like this style helped me to do.

Style conventions

There are multiple conventions of the narrative video and conceptual video genres which I needed to acknowledge and choose how to use when creating my video as well. When working on the conceptual elements I first looked towards the other videos by this artist, which are almost all conceptual. I very quickly found a pattern in the videos, which almost all involve the usage of the lyrics on screen in some capacity. I decided to also include this for several shots in my video, more specifically the hallway shot with words on the walls, and the “makes you see spots” shot with the wall decoration.

I then tried to include further conceptual and unusual elements to the video, such as playing with light and shadow by using silhouette shots and try to use more unusual or rarely seen effects. For the videos more narrative focused elements, I needed to make sure to keep it simple and easy to understand, since a more complicated video and plot can overshadow the song, which should be the main draw of the video. Since most music video stories are completely silent, visual storytelling is always key in making sure the narrative remains cohesive, which is why I chose to make sure each scene matched one to one with a lyric of the song, as well as using large gestures and actions which can easily be read. When looking at it through the lens of Stuart Halls representation theory, I tried to use the videos stylistic element to try and present the world of the video as being heightened, unusual and mysterious, trying to avoid realism in favour of a more colourful and cartoonish view of reality.