Conventions Of A Music Video

Performance• A performance video will consist mainly of

the artist on either a stage or some sort of set where they are singing the song.

• This style of video is not as common as narrative based videos as it could be deemed that it is harder for the artists’ audience to relate to and understand the video.

• A good example of a performance based music video is ‘Can We Dance’ by The Vamps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqSww10eeKw

Narrative• A Narrative music video follows a story line,

there are two types of narrative: Linear and Fragmented

• A linear narrative starts a story at the beginning, goes on through the middle, and ends at the end.

• A fragmented narrative is one that doesn’t.

• An example of a linear narrative is ‘Katy Perry –’Thinking of you’ as it plays a story from the beginning to the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGZBRAwW74

Cameo• Cameo is where a band

or artist features in the narrative but does not perform.

• A good example of this is ‘Drake and Rihanna’ – ‘What’s my name’ where both artists in this case play a part in the narrative but do not perform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0CGsw6h60k

Mixture

• Some music videos have a mixture of performance and narrative as it makes it more interesting and enjoyable to watch.

• An example of this is All American Rejects – Give You Hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxUATkpMQ8A

Camera

The way the camera is used is crucial in producing a music video. It can have and create different effects by the different angles and movements. In general every music video uses a variety of camera shots, angles and movements to create different techniques and to make the video different and unique in its own way, to other music videos.

Camera Shots

Very Wide Shot- This is where the artists is shown

visible (barely) but the emphasis is still on placing the artist in the location/setting.

Wide Shot- This is where the artist is shown taking up most of the shot but the location/setting

is still focused on.

Mid Shot- This shows the artist from his/her waist to head, and focuses mainly

on the subject but still giving an impression of the location/setting.

Extreme Close Up Shot- This shows the artists face extremely close, e.g. eyes, or mouth to identify something it can have the effect of showing the audience the artists thoughts and feelings or even showing a lip sync commonly used in music videos.

Cut In Shot- This shot can be used in music

videos to show something that the

lyrics might be saying e.g. ‘I will shoot you

with my gun’ and a fun comes in. It shows the object in detail, similar to an extreme close up, but used very quickly ,

or an object that relates to the subject or

narrative.

Close Up Shot- This shot shows the artists face or can show an

object that the artist is holding, or something where the camera

focuses closely on.

Over The Shoulder Shot- This shot is good to use especially in narrative based music videos usually when the artist is acting and speaking to another person you tend to see an over the shoulder shot to display the conversation,

or to show something the character is looking at.

These shots are the basic shots you expect to see in most music videos.

Camera Angles

Eye Level- This is a very common view being the real world angle that we are all used to seeing, it shows the subject as we would expect to see them in real

life.

High Angle- This is where the camera shows the subject from above , and the camera is angled

down towards the subject, which has the effect of making them appear less powerful, less significant

and or even submissive.

Low Angle- This is where the subject is shown from below, giving the impression

of being more powerful or dominant.

Bird’s Eye- This angle is showing the subject/scene from directly above and can be from an unnatural point of view which can be used to add dramatic effect or showing a different spatial perspective. It can also show the positions and motions of different characters and objects, enabling the viewer to see things the character might not see.

Slanted- This is when the camera is slanted (also known as the Dutch angle where the camera is purposely tilted to one side so the horizon is on an angle) this is creative in making interesting

dramatic effects.

The way the camera is positioned determines the angle of the shot. Camera angles play a huge part in emphasising the artist or to show emotions and expressions. Other camera angles that are simply the most common in music videos, are close ups, showing the artist lip syncing, and extreme close ups where the lyrics can be linked to the visuals. The camera never stays on one shot for longer than 3-5 seconds.

Camera MovementsThe camera moves to follow the artist or to show the performance o the artist. These movements include panning and tracking. A director may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Some examples of camera movements are:

Pans- This is where the camera scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

Dolly/Tracking- This is where the camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks for a very smooth movement. Also known as tracking.

Editing• Editing concludes the music video. Editing

involves cutting scenes down, adding special effects and adding the track to the music video.

• Editing also consists of jump cuts, which is the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because it 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.

• CGI effects (the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics) are also used a lot.

Sound• Sound consists of two main forms: diegetic

sound which is already present in the film and non-diegetic which can be edited in.

• Sound, like footage, can be edited to create different effects and variations.

• Parallel sound is when the music matches the mood of the video. E.g. if the song was slow then the movements and action in the video would also be slow to go with the mood of the song.

• Some music videos have diegetic sound, where they include sound from the environment, such as birds, police sirens, which make the video seem more realistic. However, the music itself is non-diegetic sound.

Mise-en-scene• The mise-en-scene for music videos focuses on the

lighting, props, costume, hair and makeup, location, and colour. These elements usually depend on the genre of the music video and the style.

• These elements are used to represent certain characters in different ways

• Lighting- how the scene is lit / artificial lights / side lights

• Props- performance equipment, band merchandise

• Costume- certain outfits

• Hair and Makeup- style of the artist

• Location- concert hall venues, streets, etc.

• Colour- specific colours representing a mood

• No matter what the style or genre a music video is, there will always be props and costumes in it. The stylists and visual director will purposely choose what clothes the artist or actor would be wearing or what guitar they would be playing as they would want it to fit in with the genre of that song. Sometimes they might choose something quite simple in order to reflect the character of the artist of the video or they might decide to do something completely wacky and quirky for an artist.