This document discusses the codes and conventions of electronic music videos. It begins with background on electronic genres like electropop and synthpop. Common conventions of electronic music videos are then outlined, including narrative or performance-based styles, depictions of party/club scenes with bright lights and smoke machines, and focusing on synthesizers. Voyeurism through minimal clothing and seductive performances is also discussed. The document then talks about how these conventions were applied and challenged in a student music video project. It aims to steer away from sexualization and focus more on the artist's music and performance. The relationship between the music, visuals, and record label demands are also addressed.

1. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF
ELECTRONIC
(ELECTRONICA AND SYNTHPOP)
MUSIC VIDEOS

2. History about the electronic genre
• ELECTROPOP AND SYNTHPOP MUSIC come under the main genre of ELECTRONIC
MUSIC. They are sub-genres of electronic primarily created with electronic musical
instruments or electronic music technology.
• From the late 1960s the availability of affordable music technology, particularly
synthesisers, meant that music produced using electronic means became
increasingly common in the popular domain of rock and pop music, resulting in
major electronically based sub-genres.
• Synthpop (also known as techno pop is a genre of popular music that first became
prominent in the 80s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical
instrument.
• Electronica encompasses styles such as drum and bass and dub step and their
music videos an increasing association with outdoor music festivals and relatively
mainstream, post-rave electro house and dub step music.

3. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF
ELECTRONIC MUSIC VIDEOS
Encompassing the relationship
between genre characteristics and the
relationship between the lyrics and the
visuals

4. Narrative or performance based.
Electronic artists such as Skrillex,
Calvin Harris and Avicii have typically
narrative based video and electro
pop artists such as Ellie Goulding
and Kimbra have performance based
videos.
-Party/dance/club life
-Bright colours/flashing lights
-Showing the synthesizer piano
-Smoke machines
Bright lights and UV pain, glitter and bubbles
Voyeurism through mise en scene for
example exposure of skin through
minimal clothing and seductive
performance.
A DJ features in the music video in a party dance
scene but this isn’t typically the DJ who has
produced the song.
Showing a crowd at a concert or party
Exposure of fashion and latest trend
for example dyed hair and piercings.
Club wear including dresses and heels.
The vocals are usually female and this is who
appears in the video if it is performance based.
Festival inspired with sparklers and bonfires
The storyline usually involves
the interaction between a
male and female paralleling
to R&B narrative based
videos.
CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF ELECTRONIC

5. CONVENTIONS WE USED
The last section of our song is
party/club inspired. We have Luna
standing against a black background
with coloured lights projected onto her.
We wanted to create the allusion that
she was at a party ‘dancing on her own’
hence the reason why you cannot see
anyone else in the frame. This section
was proposed to depict her having a
good time and the fun side to her
character. We varied between orange,
red, pink and blue lighting as if they
were club UV lights.
We also used bubbles another
dimension to the party setting and we
incorporated glitter into her makeup for
this section again signifying party/club
life.
Bright lights and UV pain, glitter and bubbles

6. Exposure of fashion and latest trend for example dyed hair and piercings.
Club wear including dresses and heels.
The dress she is wearing is a typical party outfit and we also chose it because the colours reflected off the
gold pattern and looked visually appealing. I understand that there is a strong relationship between music
and fashion and we wanted to emphasise this in our video. When we chose costume for Luna, we chose
party dresses that the audience would be able to purchase in high street stores, casual everyday outfits that
some girls may even update their own personal look to and achievable makeup that some girls may be
interested in. Even when we chose costume for T.O.M we picked out a simple deep blue cord shirt that can
be purchased from ‘Topman’ or ‘Uniqlo’.

7. We wanted to have a bonfire in our
music video , but as students it was
difficult finding somewhere to produce
one and getting permission to do so, so
we settled on using sparklers which
worked just as well and were easy to
obtain. They again looked visually
appealing against the black background
and fitted with the codes and
conventions of electronic music videos.
Festival inspired with sparklers and bonfires

8. We chose these conventions because we thought that they would highlight the genre of
electronic under a positive light and complement the representation we were attempting to
achieve.
The track we selected was a female song and it made sense to have a female
performer sing it in the music video. This is conventional in the electronic genre.
The song itself had a male section and so, we chose to have a male sing this part
because it felt natural to do so. After asking the target audience they all said
that they would expect to see a male sing this section of the song and all agreed
that they would expect to see a female singing the track.
The vocals are usually female and this is who appears in the video if it is
performance based.

9. CONVENTIONS WE CHALLENGED
Narrative Electronic artists
such as Skrillex, Calvin Harris
and Avicii have typically
narrative based video.
Voyeurism through
mise en scene for
example exposure of
skin through
minimal clothing and
seductive
performance.
A DJ features in the
music video in a
party dance scene
but this isn’t
typically the DJ
who has produced
the song.
Showing a crowd at a
concert or party
The storyline usually
involves the
interaction between
a male and female
paralleling to R&B
narrative based
videos.
We decided not to opt for a narrative based video due to our target audience research
(performance based was most popular from our research) and the fact that we were focusing
on Goodwin’s theory of having a relationship between he visuals and the beat of the song.
Through a performance based video were able to achieve this. This also allowed us to steer
away from a male and female storyline which are usually intimate and sexual. We didn’t want
to sexualise our artist and therefore chose an appropriate costume (party dress) that didn’t
reveal too much skin. We instructed her not to dance in a seductive way either. We wanted to
emphasise the fact that she is a respected artist and not a sexual object. We aimed to be
unconventional because the majority of artists nowadays are sexualised and we wanted to
show our audience that we weren’t going down that route. We chose not to feature a DJ in the
video either because we thought it wouldn't be appropriate.

10. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF
ELECTRONIC MUSIC VIDEOS
Encompassing the relationship
between music and visuals and the
demands of the record label

11. The relationship between the music and the visuals
How did we include this in our music video?
My group and I were influenced by Ellie Goulding’s performance factor after watching ‘Starry
Eyed’ and ‘Goodness gracious’. We decided to incorporate elements of her electro pop music
videos into our own. As our song is quite upbeat, we chose to visually complement the track
with a party atmosphere and this combination was used to emphasised the beats and rhythms
of the track. Just like Ellie Goulding she is performing to the fullest with conventional UV flood
lights in the background and the quick editing. This perhaps encourages the audience to want to
get up and dance with her. By choosing to cut on natural beats fulfills the audiences
expectations and again strengthens the connection with the music because they know when to
expect changes in the visuals due to these natural breaks in the song.

12. The demands of the record label
• Meeting the requirements of the record label to maintain the artists profile for example
developing motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
• The photography has been kept constant across all three products. This was in order to
maintain the representation and build an artist profile for Luna. Her visual style is sleek and
sophisticated and I believe we have achieved this throughout our products. An example is
her red lipstick.
• As I previously mentioned in the R&B evaluation we didn’t want to abide by the demands of
fragmented body parts which would objectify Luna rather than allow her to express her
music as an artist. If the record label really require a ‘visual style’ that recurs across their
work then we can produce music videos with a pattern of performance rather than a
product of voyeurism.
Music video Digipak
Website
Red lipstick:

13. The Digipak The Website
The Music Video The music video and digipak
are connected. Firstly because
we selected images for the
digipak based on the shots in
the music video.
The representation conveyed is
similar because we used the
mood board for both. But the
digipak focuses more on her
personal message to fans.
These two products are
connected because they
contain similar photography
reminding them of one
another.
However, the website reveals
more about her background in
the ‘about section’ whereas
the music video is just based
on her performance factor.
The Website These two ancillary products
have similar photography.
Both reveal more about the
artist ‘about section’ and the
panel on the digipak with the
personal message from Luna.