Grade Booster: Discuss the role redundancy and entropy

play in music videosVictoria Norton

Definitions of redundancy and entropy

Entropy:- Entropy is the unpredictable. So when an artist challenges common conventions of the genre or by using a shot in their music video which hasn’t been done before, is classed as entropy.

Redundancy:- Redundancy is the predictable. So common conventions of a genre such as bright colours being used in pop music video is classed as redundancy. However it is needed in order to clearly communicate with the audience.

Three music videos I have chosen to analyse…

I have chosen three music videos from the indie rock genre as this is the genre my group is going to be using…

Arctic Monkeys – Black Treacle

Arcade Fire - Reflektor

Imagine Dragons – Shots

Evidence of entropy in Arctic Monkey’s music video…

Evidence of redundancy in Arctic Monkey’s music video…

Why the artist uses redundancy and entropy in their music video

Arctic monkeys has a verity of redundancy shots in their music video. This is used to make the video’s narrative slightly more clearer to the audience. A few examples of redundancy styled shots would be when they used lots of shots of locations, when they used bright soft colours and when they went handheld to follow the escaped prisoner. The music video also contains a lot of close-ups of the lead singer which creates star image. This is again redundancy as it is a common convention of the genre.

Entropy is also another common convention of the indie rock genre as indie rock artists are always trying to be non-mainstream as their audience hates mainstream products. In the music video the artist uses shots of items falling in slow motion, blurry shots of people and even a shot of a dead lion. The shot of the dead lion gives off a shock factor which again is slightly challenging the conventions of the indie rock genre. Indie rock artists use entropy to make their products stand out from existing products – making them non-mainstream which again fits in with their audience’s needs.

Evidence of entropy in Arcade Fire’s music video…

Evidence of redundancy in Arcade Fire’s music video…

Why the artist uses redundancy and entropy in their music video

Arcade Fire uses loads of entropic shots in their music video. This could be to again be non-mainstream by creating an original product in order to please their audience. They challenged common conventions of the genre by making their music video black and white. This is challenging the conventions because indie rock music videos are usually shot with bright soft colours. This is what makes he music video more entropic then redundant. The members of the band also wear giant masks to cover their faces in a majority of the video which is again challenging the conventions of the genre as in most indie rock music videos we are shown the artist’s faces in order to create star image.

However, they don’t use many redundant shots in their music video. They follow the conventions of the genre slightly by having close-ups of the band performing, shots of the scenery and casual shots of the band. They used these redundant shots in order to keep the audience slightly on track with the narrative.

Evidence of entropy in Imagine Dragon’s music video…

Evidence of redundancy in Imagine Dragon’s music video…

Why the artist uses redundancy and entropy in their music video

Imagine Dragons use more entropic shots then redundant shots. This is because in the beginning of their music video they say that their video is inspired by paintings created by Tim Cantor which explains why all of their shots contain entropic elements. Their entire music video challenged common conventions of the indie rock genre. For example, their music video doesn’t have a narrative and indie rock music videos always have some narrative.

However, the shots they use of the band performing and close-ups of the lead singer suggest that they are following some common conventions of the genre. The shots of the band and instruments creates star image for the band which is again a common convention of the genre.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory• All three music videos have close-ups of the artists in order to create star

image. This fits in with Andrew Goodwin’s theory of star image.• All three music videos include shots which link the lyrics to the visuals

which again fits in with Andrew Goodwin’s theory that “Visuals can amplify, illustrate or contradict the lyrics.”

• Arctic Monkey’s music video has shots which link in with Andrew Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism.

Shots taken from: Arctic Monkey’s song “Treacle”