Post Punk & Codes and Conventions of Post Punk

Post Punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental. Post-punk laid the groundwork for alternative rock by broadening the range of punk and underground music, incorporating elements of Krautrock (particularly the use of synthesizers and extensive repetition), Jamaican dub music (specifically in bass guitar), American funk, studio experimentation, and even punk's traditional polar opposite, disco, into the genre.



I will look a range of Post Punk band's music videos and look at the different codes and conventions.

Fellow group member Jonny has also looked at a few other videos on his C+C post 

Joy Divison - Love Will Tear Us Apart



Performance Video

• Starts off with a POV shot of someone walking up some stairs. Some cutting of footage on the beat.
• Once in the room the rest of the video is your average performance video with close ups on equipment and that.

Echo & The Bunnyman - Under The Killing Moon

• Performance video with hints of concept
• Imagery of moons and stars and different planets
• Recurring shot of cloth blowing in the wind.
• Performance mainly focus on lead singer for most of song of him performing, framing of just his face with a constant swinging light bulb lighting up his face.
• Dark mood and setting

The Human League - Don't You Want Me?

• Narrative / Performance
• Story follows a male and female character who are starring in a film, preferred reading i believe is that the male character likes the female character but not visa vera and he is singing "Don't you want me baby"
• Shots at start make you think that the music video is the film being filmed in the video (thet's being filmed in the music video) Confusing? Yeah i know. But after a while it zooms out to reveal that its just a film set.
• All set at night to create a atmosphere.

New Model Army - 51st State

• Performance video
• Shots of singer with guitar playing and singing
• Then shots from a concert of a audience dancing around.
• Simples

Sonic Youth - The Empty Page

• A variety of shots from around a gig, such as the audience, band meeting fans, signing goods and playing at the show
• Some shots recorded away from show and added
• Some titles flash up of the name of the song at parts of the song.

ConclusionHaving looked at videos of the post-punk genre, I can begin to suggest certain codes and conventions that most of the videos include. So far I have found:
- A lot of the videos are performance or concept based. Many combine the two in some manner.
- There is a lot of use of flashing imagery.
- Multi-layering is also used very often as is cross-fade transitions.
- Whilst the videos often use slow paced imagery, quick cutaways to close ups are used to keep the video flowing.
- Locations used are generally run-down or urban.
- Use of colour filters, especially black and white.
- Lots of camera movement to help keep the visuals interesting.
- Some sort of motif or theme is repeated through the video. This can sometimes link to the lyrics.
- An emphasise on the cold and dark to signify the mood of the band. Characters often seem very deadpan.