The codes and conventions of music videos are the different techniques used to construct meaning. These techniques could be divided into 2 sections, symbolic and technical.
Technical techniques convey the meaning using different camera angles, shots, movement, sound etc.
The symbolic codes are the techniques that use facial expressions, mise-en-scene, poses etc. to show the meaning.
But there are also codes that use both techniques, like the music.
Conventions are typically what is considered the “correct way” of doing something. For example in music videos, the most common conventions are short clips, clips that match the beat, and lip-syncing. The main convention being featuring the artist in their music video. Usually people consider performance music videos as conventional. There’re 3 general types of music videos: performance, storyline/narrative, experimental/concept. I wrote a blog post about them, you can access it by clicking here.
Why do we use codes and conventions?
Codes and conventions help the audience identify the genre, they provide necessary structure to understand the meaning of the music video as well as of the lyrics.
A Level Media Studies Diary 