Conventions of Music Videos

Conventions of Music Videos:
They have different storylines and meaning in music videos, this are portrayed through a range of ways:

• Performance based – this is where the band or the artist is playing the song throughout the music video.

• Narrative based – this is where the words and meaning of the song is acted out in some ways.

• Mixture – this is where the camera cross cut between the artist/band playing and the narrative storyline of the song is happening.

• Animation – this is where some music videos contain animation and this makes creativity and entertainment to the video.

Camera Shots 

They use different camera shots as it depends on what style of the music video is. However, they are mainly using longs shots, close ups and mid shots in music videos as they want to make emphasis on the artist, locations and emotions. For example, close up shots are used to portray different emotions which suit what the song is about. Also, they want it to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist. Sometimes they use close ups on the instruments and certain, significant props.  

Camera Movement

The movement of the camera such as tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots are used within the music video as they want the audience to follow and trace the artist or the band. For example, crane shot are used especially when there is a usage of stages and where the artist/band is performing. This is capable to hover around the stage from many different angles to capture what is happening. 

Mise-en-scene

This is about how they place the performers and props on stage or in a scene for production of a music video. This is very important in music video as it contains:

• Props - they are important in music videos as it helps to add the scene and create meaning on a particular objects or people. It also depends on the genre of the type of the song it is. For example, if it is performance style, there would be performance equipment, instruments, stages and lighting.

• Costumes – this is a vital aspect because it can manipulate on how the audience will address as they use some of the celebrities as role models. For example, Lady Gaga has specific clothing to show off her fashion, this is evident in her “Poker face” video. It also depends on the lyrics of the song as well as the genre. They will have different outfits on certain artist/band as they want it to reflect on what they are representing in the video. For example, in “Mad” by Neyo they have used dark clothes which represent the down mood of the song.

• Settings – this sets the scene immediately and many settings used are simple setting where many people can relate to.

Editing

The process of editing in music videos takes a lot of time and it is the essential part of music videos. This is because they need to select and put the scene at the right place. The pace of the editing is always in synch with the beat of the track. The lip synching is one of the important things that need to be edited so that the artist/band looks as they are actually singing the song at the exact same time as the music playing. The main editing technique that is used in music videos is jump cuts as this will make a sudden change from one scene to another. Fades and dissolves are the most common transitions in music videos as this creates a different effect to cuts and it also matches the mood of the song.

Lighting

Black and white is used in some of the music videos as it helps to emphasise a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist in an enhanced look.  Lighting also enhances the atmosphere as it can be used to give a bright and upbeat feel particularly in dance music videos or a dark and eerie feel which is used mostly in rock music videos.

Sound

The sound in music videos is mainly the vocals or the song but sometimes they add some sound in the background which makes the music video into a short film. Therefore in some clips there are various sounds which can be heard such as diagetic and non-diagetic sounds.

Colours

The colours are likely to set the mood of the song through constructing an atmosphere. For example, bright colours are used more in hip hop and pop videos. Also dark colours are mainly used more in rock songs.