CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS

A music video is a short film, video or montage of footage that accompanies a piece

of a music.

THERE ARE 3 GENERAL TYPES OF MUSIC VIDEOS: Narrative: These are music videos which tell a story with

lyrics, this is almost like a short film but with music. This type of music video can be made up of a beginning, middle and end. An example of this type of music video is

Conceptual: These are music videos based around a single concept or idea. They can be filmed or edited in an unusual way. This type of music video is not very common as it is fairly hard to come up with a concept idea.

Performance: These are music videos which consist of the artist performing live throughout most of the video or with parts of the music video showing live performances. This type of music video can be of the artist singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument. This is a good way for the artist to promote their music to their target audience as it shows and highlights there ability to perform and entertain the audience.

CAMERA ANGLES/MOVEMENTS Music videos use a range of shots to emphasise

the artist in the video. Close-up shot is used if the director wants to focus the

audiences attention on one particular thing. This is often an artists facial expression.

Extreme close-up shot focuses the audiences attention on even smaller details.

Long shot shows us the whole of the artist, thus drawing attention to the artists costume and body language. Also it gives us more background to look at (setting).

Mid shot allows us to see the artist from the waist up. Tracking shots are used to follow the artists. High angle shot is taken from above, this makes it look

smaller. Low angle shot is taken from below, making it look bigger.

SOUND

o The sound in the music video is usually the soundtrack and the artists voices. However in some music videos there is also dialogue at the beginning or during the music video. Example: Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A

o Sound Parallel is when the music matches the mood of the video. For example if the music video was sad then the music would also be sad. Again this would be the same for a happy music video.

o Diegetic sound is also included in many music videos. This sometimes includes surrounding in the background such as birds tweeting, police sirens etc. These diegetic sounds makes the music video appear more realistic.

EDITING

o Editing also known as post production is crucial in a music video, as this is what brings the music video together. Editing consists of jump cuts and CGI effects. CGI effects is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. For example adding different background to the music videos.

o Parallel editing is when there are cuts with many scenes happening at the same time.

o Jumps cuts are mostly common in music videos as it brings the target audience in to keep watching as they are shown many different cuts. This is common in a narrative music videos.

MISE-EN-SCENEo Mise-en-Scene highlight costumes, lighting, props and setting.

Mise-en-Scene is important in the success of a music video as this will depend on whether the music video is liked by the target audience.

o Depending on the genre of the music video, different mise-en-scene will be shown. For example in a rock music video you will see guitars and drums.

o Props in a music video become iconic. For example Beyonce – Single Ladies, her hand or Michael Jackson and his glove. These items become well known to the target audience.

o Costume and Makeup depends on the type of music video. In a rock music video, you usually see dark and heavy makeup and costumes tend to have spikes and also dark.

o Setting can be on location or green screened. However not always does green screen work with music videos as they sometimes tend to look unrealistic.

CONVENTIONS OF POP VIDEOS

o Pop music videos are usually very bright and colourful with a good atmosphere. These are usually songs that people listen to when they are at a party to set a good atmosphere. Pop videos usually consist of many dance performances with many different types of camera shots such as close ups and long shots.

o Carly Rae Jepson – Call me maybe o Katy Perry – Teenage Dream o Cheryl Cole – Fight for this Love

CONVENTIONS OF INDIE/ROCK VIDEOS o Indie/Rock music videos tend to follow a dark colour

scheme with lots of blacks, greys and whites. This type of music genre tends to just be performance based with the use of many instruments as props. Many close ups are used to highlight the facial expression of the artist when they are singing very heavily.

o Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire o Kings of Leon – Use Somebody

CONVENTIONS OF DANCE VIDEOS o Dance music videos are usually bright and happy

with a theme of a huge party. This type of music video uses camera shots of the party and all the dancers and sometimes the DJ. Lots of different effects are used in these music videos to make them appear more energetic and interesting.

o Katy B – Lights On o Jennifer Lopez – On The Floor ft. Pitbull