An Introduction to Redundancy and Entropy

Redundancy:

"...is that which is predictable or conventional in a message. Redundancy is the result of high predictability."

If something is utterly redundant, then it will be predictable, though not very informative. Though in excess this makes the product it is applied to boring, a degree of this is necessary in order for something to be understood.

Entropy:

"...unpredictability."

If something is entropic, it is portrayed in an unexpected and unfamiliar way. Whilst in small amounts it adds interest to a subject to to its unexpected nature, in larger degrees it renders a subject incomprehensible

Redundacy and entropy are utilised to achieve two things in music videos: to secure an audience and their understanding, and to confront the audience with the unexpected in order for a video to appear original and interesting.

An Introduction to Redundancy and Entropy in Music Videos

In order to confirm my understanding of redundancy and entropy in music videos, I then watched Lady Gaga's video "Telephone", taking notes as it played before forming a rough analysis on the redundant and entropic aspects of the video.

Redundant elements:

• The prison is stereotypically prison-like - heavily fenced, with barbed wire and a dull grey colour scheme. The movie-expectations of a prison are met: the guards are rough and fights break out
• Women prisoners are mostly represented as tattooed/muscled/masculine
• The police's retaliation to events is a normal reaction
• The presence of the sexualised representation of women, a common theme for music videos
• Contains normal "performance" scenes with artist and backing dancers
• Surroundings link up: drive into the western desert, encounter normal American diner

Entropic elements:

• The video opens in the manner of a movie, with titles, credits and scene subtitles, rather than a normal music video which would usually plunge straight into the video content
• Whilst the guards are uniformed in a normal, redundant fashion, Gaga and the other prison inmates don't wear prison uniforms, instead wearing a range of own outfits. Gaga in particular indulges in her entropic fashions: the wearing of chains and cigarette glasses, for instance
• The presence of acting scenes to build the narrative, but breaking up the music video
• During one of the acting scenes, characters began to communicate in subtitles, appearing in the language of the characters
• During one of the acting scenes, the video skips genre and apparently purpose, the scene in the kitchen evolving into a cooking programme