This document discusses common conventions in music videos. It notes that music videos often use extreme long shots to establish the location, as well as close-ups and mid shots to convey the artist's emotions. Movement shots like panning and tracking are also frequently used. The arrangement and appearance of performers, known as mise-en-scene, aims to further represent the meaning of the song. Elements like lighting, editing techniques, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and narrative vs. performance-based structures all contribute to the overall story and mood portrayed in a music video. Gender also influences the intended perspective, with male artists often seen as directly addressing the audience and female artists sometimes portrayed as objects of desire viewed by males.

1. CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEO
VICKIE HOYLE

2. CAMERA

3. Camera was the first area I looKed at when
thinKing about the conventions of music videos.
Firstly I realised that there are lots of
extreme/long shots in order to establish where
the music video is taKing place...

4. EXAMPLES FROM TINIE TEMPAH
AND TRAIN

5. As the song develops often close ups and mid
shots are used to portray the artist’s emotions to
the audience, either facial expressions or body
language.

6. EXAMPLES FROM
RIHANNA

7. There are also lots of movement shots involved
within music videos, such as panning and
tracKing shots. These shots follow the artist or
actors through the narrative and/or
performance.

8. Another popular shot is a wide shot, where the
artist is shown to be taKing up a third of the
screen, but the emphasis is on the location and
the artist is shadowed, in a very wide shot the
artist is barely visible.

9. EXAMPLE FROM ED
SHEERAN

10. Over the shoulder shots are also used in music
videos though it is primarily in the narrative as it
highlights to the audience Key relationships
between characters and/or showing what a
character is looKing at.

11. EXAMPLE FROM ED
SHEERAN

12. MISE-EN-SCENE

13. This is the arrangement of performers/artists as
well as props in a chosen scene, the creation of
this scene further enables an artist to represent
to the audience the meaning of their song.

14. The location of the music video can often
give hints about the music genre that the
song is from, for example pop music videos
are liKely to occur on beaches or at party
scenes.

15. EXAMPLES
FROM TAYLOR
SWIFT &JASON
DERULO

16. Hair and maKe-up within a music video is very
important as often artists use extreme hair and
maKe-up in order to differentiate themselves
from other artists.

17. EXAMPLE FROM
LADY GAGA

18. LIGHTING

19. The lighting in a music video aids in depicting
the mood. For example, when depicting sadness
and sorrow you will see low lighting in the music
video.

20. I WONT GIVE UP
JASON MRAZ
Low lighting here creates a sad tone, however the
glimmers of light coming through the trees suggest a
sense of hope

21. EDITING

22. Typical editing techniques in a music video
are; jump cutting, CGI effects as well as
parallel editing. This is a method of cutting
between a couple of scenes or stories which
occur at the same time.

23. SOUND

24. There are two main forms of sound, diegetic
and non-diegetic.
There is also sound parallel which occurs in
music videos which is when the music
matches the mood of the video.

25. Although sound is mainly vocals during a song,
in some music videos there are introductions
before the song, which appear more as short
films.

26. Performance or narrative

27. Performance based music videos are where you
see the artist performing the song, although they
are not considered to be popular among
audiences as with no narrative it is harder for
audiences to identify the meaning of the song.

28. Narrative based music videos.. There are two
types of narrative; linear and fragmented.

29. A linear narrative is where the story line is
followed by the audience all the way through.
Whereas a fragmented narrative may have a
beginning middle and end, although they are
mixed up and may not appear in the right order.

30. There are also non-narrative music videos, these
are music videos which are essentially random
thoughts, they contain lots of symbolism and are
created from loose themes such as anger, love
etc.

31. IDEA OF SPECTACLE

32. Music videos are can be looKed at as examples
of spectacle. In a spectacle the artist will perform
whilst looKing at the audience so to speaK. This
is Known as direct address.

33. The idea of spectacle changes depending on
gender. When the artist is male he is considered
to be performing for you as he addresses the
audiences directly. When the artist is female they
are often seen as an object of male desire, this is
Known as voyeuristic gaze.