Semiotics in music videos

Semiotics is the study of signs and meanings. 3 areas of study are :
The sign – the picture, object, sound
The system into which signs are organised
The culture within which these signs operate

Semiotics is used alot within Media, and because of my project to produce a music video I found that researching how it was important to music promotion this would help me to produce a successful music video that uses semiotics effectively.
Semiotics plays a very important part within a music video. If we were to take away the music on a music video we should still be able to figure out the genre of music by the signs within the video such as, the location, lighting camera angles and mise en scene. Different music genres use different techniques which means they would use different signifiers. For example if a music video was bright and upbeat with the artist performing choreographed routines this would portray a pop genre whereas indie music videos tell more of a story in their videos.
Also another way of using semiotics is in the culture within these signs operate, if the video was set in a dark location, with the artist in dark clothing this may signify the sad tone of the song. So using semiotics proves to be an important part of music video to get across the genre and tone of the song itself.