Conventions of a music video

1. Music Video conventions
Jack Cox
Research & Planning

2. Reasons for Conventions
• Conventions are seen as a small set of rules to
follow in order to create a ‘typical’ product.
Typical meaning the first thoughts that come to
mind when presented with an idea or thought.
• Can be challenged but not to be challenged too
much as people will be confused
• They allow the audience to become familiar with
the genre of music without listening to the actual
song
• It ensures that a certain media text fits well into a
genre.

3. Music video Conventions
• Styles of music video
• Camera
• Editing and Sound
• Mise en Scene

4. Styles of Music video
• Some music videos are categorized into
certain styles and can be categorized from
those styles. These are:
– Performance
– Narrative
– Mixture - Includes both performance and
narrative
– Cameo - Has the Artist/Band In the video but not
performing

5. Camera
• The camera in a music video is varied
depending on the style and genre of the
video.
– Close ups (especially in performances ) and also
Extreme close ups of instruments and singing.
– Crane shots – hovering over the stage
– Low angles from audience
– Long shot and extreme long shots can be used for
narrative to set the scene
– Tracking

6. Mise en Scene
• The Mise en Scene can vary on the style of
music video and genre.
– Props - Instruments
– Costume – Relating to the style of the genre
– Location – Determines on the style of the video as
some are narrative and performance

7. Editing and sound
• There are many different editing techniques
used in music videos
– Music videos feature a lot of jump cutting
– Footage is edited to match the music video
– CGI and green screens are sometimes used in
music videos
– The sound of the music video is the music itself
however sound can play a part in intros and
endings