Music video conventions

1. MUSIC VIDEO
CONVENTIONS.
Harriet Bibby.

2. INTRODUCTION -
Music video conventions generally tend to differ depending on the
genre of that video. However, within most music videos we can see
generic conventions across all genres. Within this presentation I will
study and analyse the different conventions within music videos and
their variation within different genres.

3. PERFORMANCE/NARRATIVE/CONCE
PT -Every music video generally contains on of the above.
Performance - Music videos will often involve a performance (through
choreography, acting etc.) throughout or during the song – this adds to the
entertainment value and can be found in most music videos. For example, Elvis
Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ includes performance value within setting (mise en
scene in general), acting and dance/choreography.
Narrative – Not all music videos contain a narrative, however, they are very
common within most videos. Having a narrative generally makes a music video
much more enjoyable to watch as they create an obvious meaning, often using an
illustrative or amplification method. Using a narrative doesn’t typically apply to
specific genres, meaning that no music video can challenge the stereotypical
conventions of their genre by including or excluding a narrative in their piece.
However, music videos can challenge the stereotype of a narrative itself, by using
a disjunctive non linear method. For example, ‘Lean on’ by Major Laser has a
disjunctive music video with no real narrative. This can be seen to meet the
stereotype of dance pop music as this genre tends to try and be more eccentric
with both their sound and visual techniques.
Concept – Songs tend to be much more memorable if they include an individual
and unique concept within their music video. Again, this isn’t typical of any
particular genres. However, some tend to be more adventurous that others as they
try to match the unique sound of the music to their visuals. For example ‘Fancy’

5. INTRO AND OUTRO -
Some music videos tend to create an introduction to their video and
finish with an outro. These aren’t specific to any particular genres,
however, they are more often found in music videos that hold a linear
narrative. An example of this would be Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew You
Were Trouble’. Within the music video this song has a long
introduction which is emotional and holds a lot of the key elements of
the song’s narrative. These prolonged, emotional introductions can
often be found within songs in the pop/indie genre along with an
outro (which can also be seen in this Taylor Swift video) as they
introduce and round off the storyline of the video.
However, within Bruno Mars’ ‘Grenade’ the video challenges the
stereotypical convention of having an intro or outro in the pop genre.
This video jumps straight into the action as the song begins however,
still maintains a functional narrative that makes sense to the

6. PROMOTING THE ARTIST -
Within almost every music video, the artist will be featured at some
point within the video – often promoting them in a positive light in
order to ‘sell’ their sound, not only for one particular song, but in all
future work they produce. For example in Olly Murs’ ‘Wrapped Up’, he
is centrally framed throughout the majority of the video. This, as well
as the choreography and mise en scene, promotes Olly as a well
rounded, idolised, respected artist.
Conversely, within ‘Lit’ by Wiz Khalifa, the artist is presented in a
negative light, meaning that although he is included in the majority of
the video (often being centrally framed), he is not promoting himself
well for the future due to drug abuse, gambling and alcoholism.
However, the negative connotations created due to the use of drugs
can be seen to be suited to the stereotype of the rap genre.

7. CHOREOGRAPHY -
Choreography will tend to be used in all music videos as even if the people
involved aren’t actually dancing, they will still be choreographed within their
movements and positions on set. This is a key element and a common
convention in any music video as the choreography can set the pace and can
often fit to the lyrics and rhythm of the song. One music video that uses
dancing as a key element of their choreography is S club 7’s ‘Don’t Stop
Moving’. This fits the stereotype for the party pop genre by including lots of
in sync dancing as a large group.
Other music videos can have no dancing involved, however, still use clearly
choreographed movement. For example Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ uses no
dance moves, however, it is clear that the movements used within the video
were thought through, planned and choreographed. This is typical of the
indie genre as they stereotypically don’t contain specific dance moves, but
have clearly choreographed movements in order to accentuate the narrative
and lyrics.
Some music videos use both naturalistic choreography and dance in an aim
to create a realistic video with a performance value added to it. An example
of this would be ‘Bad’ by Michael Jackson as they create neatly

9. EDITING How this illustrates the
genre.

10. SLOW MOTION -
Slow motion is commonly used in many music videos, whether it be a long take
or in short, snappy cross cuts. However, this editing technique is more
commonly found in slow ballads or emotional songs as it generally connotes
sadness and misery.
For example, within ‘Gone’ by Nsync, the slow motion technique has been used
to differ from past to present. Within the present, he is wearing black clothes
(creating negative connotations), using a minimalistic set (signifying that his life
is empty) and is in normal paced time. On the other hand, when the protagonist
of the video looks to the past with the girl, he is wearing white (connoting purity
and hope), with a big smile on his face, the set is filled with things (implying that
his life was then full) and appears very homely and a slow motion edit has been
used. This mixture of mise en scene and editing enforces the lyrics and
accentuates his unhappiness without the woman from his past.
However, not all music videos use slow motion to represent something that has
been lost. For example during the cross cuts in the introductory section of
‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson, slow motion is used in an attempt to make the
visuals of the video more interesting to watch. This technique is suited to the
hybrid genre of funk, disco and pop in this song as it adds another editing
technique on top of the range of technical elements and camera angles within
the video.

11. CUTS AND FADES -
Cuts and fades are not specific to any particular genre and are
commonly used within most music videos.
For example ‘All of the Lights’ by Kanye West featuring Rhianna uses
many fast paced cross cuts and rarely focuses on one shot for more
than five seconds. This is typical of the rap/pop genre and therefore
meets the stereotype for this particular artist and song.
However, in a different rap song, ‘Goin’ Crazy’ by dizzy rascal,
featuring Robbie Williams, they have challenged the stereotypical
music video conventions for their (rap) genre. They decided to film
the entirety of this video in one take, one shot instead of using many
fast paced cuts. This challenging of the typical conventions for this
genre gives the video a unique selling point and individuality.

12. PACE, TRANSITIONS AND LYRICS -
The conventional pace of a song does widely rely on what genre the song is. For
example, ballads are generally slower (e.g. Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’) , raps are
generally faster (e.g. Nicki Minaj’s ‘Superbass’) and pop music can range but often
has a steady beat (e.g. Megan Trainer’s ‘All About That Bass’).
Therefore, the genre of songs can also effect the transitions due to the pace of the
song itself and the editing. ‘Rolling in the Deep’ generally uses slow paced cross
cuts and fading transitions. This is typical of a ballad as music videos within this
genre do tend to have a slower pace and therefore fading, slow paced transitions.
However, this song also challenges the conventions of the ballad genre as they
tend to use an illustrative method, whereas in this video, amplification is used as
they have developed the video from the lyrics.
‘Superbass’ contrasts greatly to this as they have used many fast paced edits and
transitions due to the pace and lyrics of the song, meeting the conventions in the
rap genre.
‘All About That Bass’ meets the conventions of its pop genre in many ways. The
costumes are loud and bright, there is neatly choreographed dancing and it
features the artist (often being centrally framed) all the way through. This meeting
of conventions doesn’t change with the pace of edits and transitions as they are
often fast paced, however, the transitions and cross cuts are not constant but
there are an appropriate amount – this is typical of the pop genre.

14. MISE EN SCENE How this illustrates the
genre.

15. COSTUME -
Different genres tend to have specific types of clothing. For example in the
Rock genre, artists tend to wear dark colours, leather bands and tend to
have long hair. This is s stereotypical convention within the rock genre as
the artists try to present themselves as grungy, scary Goths.
However, ACDC’s costumes tend to challenge this stereotypical convention
of the Rock genre as they generally wear brighter clothing and the lead
singer’s iconic costume was similar to a schoolboy suit.
Other genres also have stereotypical costuming that the artists wear in their
music videos. For example:
In pop videos, people generally wear bright, loud clothing – this
accentuates the fun sound that pop artists tend to create. For example, Katy
Perry’s ‘TGIF’.
Within rap videos, the stereotypical costuming tends to apply to the artists
gender. If the artist is female, she will generally wear tight fitted, limited
clothing. (for example Iggy Azalea in ‘Work’). However, men in rap videos
stereotypically wear hoodies, hats/snapbacks and jewellery such as gold
chains and rings. For example

17. LIGHTING -
Lighting variation is also heavily dependant on the genre the song is
in. pop music generally uses high key lighting in an attempt to make
the video seem ‘happier’ and therefore more enjoyable to watch. We
can see this in Katy Perry’s ‘This Is How We Do’.
However, some music videos use a range of different lighting
techniques. For example Miley Cyrus’ ‘We Can’t Stop’, meets the
stereotype of inventive lighting/mise en scene of the genre pop:
dance as they have used high key lighting, low key lighting,
spotlighting and projection lighting. These fit the conventions of this
genre as pop/dance artists tend to try and be original and eccentric.
Music videos that often uses low key lighting are often in the punk
rock genre, for example, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ by Greenday.
The lighting used matched the slow paced, dismal narrative.

18. ACTORS -
Music videos which create narratives often choose to include
particular actors. For example, within ‘Lego House’ and ‘I Really Like
You’ the artists have chosen to include big name actors. These make
the music videos more realistic as audiences are used to suspending
their disbelief in these actors (as they also tend to be very realistic
and believable – much like in ‘I Really Like You’, Tom Hanks is a very
believable actor, especially in this genre, creating a comical character
who most audiences enjoy watching). This technique is not used in
every music video, generally in pop. Using big name actors also gives
the music video more of a unique concept and begins to sell the
music video to not only fans of the artists, but fans of the actors too.
For example, in ‘Lego House’ fans of Rupert Grint may be more likely
to watch the music video and/or listen to the song.

19. MAKE – UP -
Make up is fairly non-conventional, meaning that there is never a
specific type of make up worn in any specific video. However, there
tends to be some variation between different genres, meaning that
some artists stereotypically use certain make up to uphold personas in
their music genres. A good example of this would be the band ‘Kiss’.
In many of their rock music videos, including ‘Detroit Rock City’, they
wear heavy make up in order to accentuate their ‘Rock’ identities. This
is stereotypical within the rock genre as many artists attempt to pull
off a mysterious, harsh look.
This differs from lighter make up, conventionally used in the pop
genre. For example, in Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With
Somebody’, she is wearing a brighter, more colourful selection of
make up which fits with the lively sound of the song.

20. SETTING -
There is no stereotypical, conventional setting for every music video.
Although this is the case, you can find similarities in setting within
genres.
Within the genre ‘Reggae’, videos tend to be shot within the street, at
a party or in a social area. For example, in UB40’s ‘Red Red Wine’, the
setting is stereotypical of a reggae song as lots of the video is shot at
a party, with many people socialising.
This contrasts to pop songs, many of which are set in rural areas. For
example, Rhianna’s ‘Only girl (In the World)’, it is mainly set in a field,
so the full focus is on the main artist.
Within the ‘Rock’ genre, music videos are generally set in more
hidden, dark places that connote danger, however, can also be set on
stage – when artists use live performances with edits to create a music
video. For example within ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses we
see them on stage performing, however the video has been edited into
a promotional music video.

22. CAMERA How this illustrates the
genre.

23. RANGING ANGLES -
Almost every music video
will contain a selection of
camera angles. These make
the videos much more
visually interesting and more
enjoyable to watch. The
genres that tend to hold
more camera angles are
generally raps or other fast
paced music such as ‘The
Night Is Still Young’ by Nicki
Minaj. On the other hand,
slower paced, balled styled
music tend to contain more
constant camera angles. An
example of this would be
Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will
Go On’ – as the artist is often
centrally famed in a close

24. CLOSE UPS, MID SHOTS AND LONG
SHOTS -
The majority of music videos will
involve these three camera angles
as they are key to creating
variation in what the audience can
see. These shots often focus on
either the main actor in the video
or the artist (who tends to be
centrally famed). These
techniques can be seen across
many genres. For example, in
Pharell Williams’ ‘Happy’ (a
pop/funk song made in 2014) the
main artist is often centrally
framed, as well as in Duke
Elligton’s ‘Take the A Train’ (a
jazz song, released in 1930)
featuring some of the main artists
in a centre, mid long shot,

25. THANK YOU! Harriet Bibby.