Conventions of Music Videos

Camera Angles• Camera Angles vary depending on the type of

music video that is being created.

• Lots of close up and mid-shots are used to get closer to the artist, and make the audience feel as if the artist is actually talking and involving them, rather than speaking to a large audience.

• Long shots are used predominantly for performance scenes where one artist can be performing by themselves, or lots of people performing, like in the chorus of ‘Gangnam Style’.

Examples

Mise En Scene• Mise en scene covers costume, props, colours,

lighting, and anything that effects the look of the footage in production (Not post-production)

• Mise en scene is used to create conventions of music videos. For example, if you watched an R&B music video, you would expect to see an African American man, in a modern house, with an attractive girlfriend, you wouldn’t expect this in an indie/Alternative song, where the conventions of that would be much more underground and urban, instead of the big houses and luxury cars of the R&B genre.

Pop

R&B

IndieExample

s

Editing• Editing plays a huge roll in making the final video

what it is, as without it, jump cuts, different angles of the same scene, and special effects wouldn’t be possible.

• Editing again is different for each genre, is its a fast, upbeat Hip Hop song, editing will be very fast, usually cutting different angles of one dance. If you compare the editing from ‘Chris Brown - Turn Up the Music’ to ‘Adele - Someone Like You’. You will see the difference in the speed and type of cuts, and how they fit with the music and genre they represent.

Chris Brown - Turn Up the Music

Shot length - 1 Second

Adele - Someone Like You

Shot Length - 1 Minute +

Comparison in Genre Editing

Costume

• Costumes help the audience identify what genre the artist is wanting to fit into + what type of music they are trying to put out.

• Over the years, artists can change their image to suit the image they are trying to get across

Artist Image Change

Colour• Colours can help the artist establish their own

image, and then allow continuity for their future albums+merchandise.

• Each well established artist will usually have their own colour scheme that they frequently use in their marketing campaigns and their image in general.

• Each genre has their own set of colours that helps group artists and styles together

Artist Colour + Image Continuity

Narrative

• Narrative is including a storyline that runs throughout the music video. Todorov used the theory of Equilibrium > Disequilibrium > New equilibrium to describe how story lines played out in any form of media, whether that be films or music videos.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Performance

• A performance style video is where the artists themselves are performing their music to either a crowd of people, or alone. These types of videos are usually seen in electronic/dance/pop songs, and some alternative and rock videos too.

Example - Afrojack - Rock the House

Concept/Thematic

• A concept/Thematic music video is where the video shows subjects and objects with different theoretical meanings behind the physical look. Artists such as Lady Gaga and some electronic dance artists use this type of music video to get the audience to think about the meaning of what is actually in the video.

Major Lazer - Get Free

Conclusion

Overall, the look and style of music videos, and the connotations within them, all

depending on the artist and how the record label want them to look to the public and to the media. Music videos help record labels get the artists image across, and can then use the image continuously across other

forms of media, from videos, pictures, social media and text, and many more.