Music Video Conventions

Before beginning to plan the actual project, I feel it would be useful to research the conventions of a music video. As a group, we can use these to our advantage when creating our own music video. As well as this it will aid in my analysis of existing music videos. It is clear that music videos are used as promotional materials, therefore there is often a demand for their to be close ups of these artists to make it clear who they are and promote them. Some artists develop their own star iconography, there is also likely to be a suggestion of voyeurism created in the video.

.

Lyrics: The lyrics of any song have a mental effect on the listener and tend to establish a general feeling, mood or a sense of subject or matter. They don't always offer a coherent meaning but the lyrics are always certainly linked to everything visual thing in a music video. Some lyrics tell stories and in many music videos there is also a story being told however this is also dependant on the genre of music. Hip Hop music videos generally give off the feeling of a very short film, whereas the Rock genre might mainly be a concert or even have an abstract theme depending on the lyrics.

Camera Shots: Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist.
.
Camera Movement: The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.
.
Mise-en-scene: This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en- scene puts importance on the representation of something. An example is, ‘Mad’ by Neyo. The mise-en scene involves him walking down a road alone, being in an isolated room. This reflects the isolation from his lover. Also, the props include hats and dark clothes which represent the down mood of the song. Similarly, the lighting is kept very dark as it is black and white; this connotes the angry and depressed mood. This is just one example of the mise en scene used to give an idea of how mise-en-scene works.
Neyo - Mad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAYuOc7_TKg&feature=fvst
.
Editing: Jump cuts is the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts. Other main conventions consist of:
Lighting: Some music videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist/s in an enhanced look.
Sound: Sound is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson – Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film. Props: These are a vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular objects or people.
Costume: This goes with the scenes in the song and reflects the genre. Costume is an important factor because it has a slight influence on how the viewers will dress because they use some of the celebrities as role models.
.
Colour: Colours tend to set the mood of the song through creating an atmosphere. For example, dark colours are used more in rock songs such as Kings of Leon and bright colours are seen to be used more in hip hop and pop videos.

.

Below I have come up with some examples of music conventions for such music genres as Indie/rock and Hip-Hop.

.

.

Music Conventions in Hip Hop videos:

· Locations tends to be a party, club fancy location.
Use of alcohol.
Recognised brands and clothing.
Expensive cars and houses.
Camera shots tend to long and establishing to show the money involved. Close ups to show the jewellery and assets of the artists.
Attractive women.
Does not follow a storyline, only follows the genre.
Artist(s) tend to be involved.

Music conventions in Indie/Rock:

· Tends to be black and white.
The artist/band is shown throughout the video.
Use of extreme close ups and long shots are popular.
Dark locations.
Fast paced.
Some use of special effects.

Each particular music genre naturally has its very own music style and iconography (the art of representation by pictures, images, mise-en-scene etc). This has also had an effect on music T.V. Now there are many channels which show music videos from certain genres. Below are some examples:

.

• AKA- Grime, Hip Hop, R&B
• Kerrang- Rock
• Kiss- R&B, Hip Hop