Adelaide Atomey

Pop Music Conventions

• The video can often be concept-

based, exploring the realms of

fantasy.

• Narrative videos are also common.

Pop Music Conventions

Video

• In this case, the video will tend to

focus on an ordinary setting.

• Since many modern pop artists

are young, the setting of

narratives often cover an aspect

of teenage/young adult life, such

as love interests and parties.

The main artist is always featured

heavily in the video, if not the main

character in it. The video always puts

a lot of focus on them when they’re

present, using a lot of close-up shots

to show off their appearance.

Pop Music Conventions

Main Artist

The artist’s star image is often a

popular young person (typically

female) that is hanging out with her

friends and having fun. If they aren’t

wearing fashionable clothes, they’re

wearing vibrant costumes inspired by

catwalk fashion.

High-key lighting is common in pop

music videos. This is often

accompanied by vibrant colours.

Pop Music Conventions

Camerawork and Editing

Backgrounds added in during post-

production are also frequent, among

other special affects.

Dance Music Conventions

The video are often concept-

based. If there is a narrative,

it is often a loose and surreal

one.

Dance Music Conventions

Video

An example of this is the

Rather Be Video, in which the

main character hallucinates

seeing the band everywhere.

The main artists are rarely featured in

their own videos, and if they are

they’re never the main focus. In many

videos, the artists are never seen.

Dance Music Conventions

Main Artist

If they are shown, they’re often

shown performing their music. This

gives the videos aspects of a

performance-based one. The

performance is very rarely the basis

of the video, however.

High-key lighting is common in pop

music videos, like in pop videos.

Neon colours are the ones that are

seen most often, although other

lively colours can also be seen.

Dance Music Conventions

Camerawork and Editing

Post-production special effects aren’t

as frequently seen as they are in pop

videos, although they’re still

sometimes used.

Dance music videos often tend to reference other media, to

the point that the entire video works as a homage or

parody to a certain work. An example of this is David

Guetta’s Lovers On The Sun, which references spaghetti

western films.

Dance Music Conventions

Intertextual References

Rap/Hip-Hop Music Conventions

Rap and hip-hop videos are

almost always performance-

based. The artist(s) will be

seen singing as the video

goes on around them.

Rap/Hip-Hop Music Conventions

Video

The videos are more likely to

have an ordinary an ordinary

setting, and are often shot

on-location.

The artists are always the main focus

in these videos. This goes especially

in rap videos, where there are often

scenes comprised solely of the artist

rapping.

Rap/Hip-Hop Music Conventions

Main Artist

They are often seen wearing clothes

that are typical of young ‘gangsters’

– hoodies and t-shirts, with jeans or

tracksuit bottoms.

The lighting tends to be more natural

in rap videos, and definitely not as

bright as pop/dance videos.

Dark/black colours are often used as

backgrounds in these videos, which

can also make the artist stand out.

In hip-hop videos, however, you may

see brighter colours, if the artist is

female.

Rap/Hip-Hop Music Conventions

Camerawork and Editing

The pace of the editing tends to

speed up as the intensity of the

rapping does, if it does. Otherwise,

the pace is quite slow for a music

video.