Conventions of form and genre for A2 Media course work

1. By Mollie Allison

2. NARRATIVE
Conventions of a narrative performance
involve a structural plot of we follow the
characters through their experiences. For
example in the music video Not the only
one – by Sam Smith, the music video
follows the story of an unstable
relationship built upon lies. Usually the
music video involves a performance from
the artist to feature in the music video.
However in some music videos, the artist
can appear as the main character of the
music video, for example in Give your
heart a break, Demi Lovato plays the
female lead.

3. PERFORMANCE
Music videos that have a performance
element. This can be usually identified
through the use of lip syncing or the artist
performing the song. Most boy bands
include them performing in there music
video as it is conventional and is what you
would expect to see in a music video. For
example Only love can hurt like this by
Paloma Faith, she sings the song
throughout the music video with a few
narrative shots. Also in the music video
Summer by Calvin Harris

4. ABSTRACT
Abstract music videos often have little link to
the songs lyrics. Usually it involves a
creative element and is often seen as
being original and obscure. For example
Chandelier by Sia, has no narrative or
performance element but simply involves
a girl dancing to the song. The music video
is seen as abstract because the dancing is
unnatural and not often seen in most
videos as well as the costume and setting
of the music video being out of the norm.
Also another example would be Lotus
Flower by Radiohead because it follows
the same style as the Sia music video but
is a different style of dancing. The music
video consists of the dancer standing in
the middle of the frame dancing, strangely
to the song.

6. CONVENTIONS OF POP
Pop genre can be defined as what is current in the
charts at that specific time. However they are
patterns that can be seen throughout the years
of pop music being developed. Pop music is
mainly popular with the youth category. With
most pop music videos there is some visual
reference to the lyrics in the video, without
this link people wouldn’t associate the music
video with the song and it wouldn’t be
considered popular music. For example the
music video ‘This is how we do’ by Katy Perry,
She acts out the lyrics of the song throughout
which is done affectively because you can
associate the action with what's going on in
the music video. The characters in the music
video are often young to attract the target
audience of young people, as they can relate to
what's going on in the music video. Make up is
often used in pop music videos to make the
artist original and unique in the music video to
express there style of music.