2. Music Videos in general
The conventions of music videos revolve around the artist or the music, for example narrative and performance based music videos revolve
around the artist and what is happening within the music video. However a concept based music video allows the audience to focus more on
the music rather than the video. This is done through various camera angles/shots and the editing involved, however they will vary depending
on the chosen genre.
Extreme close up
Close up
Medium shot
long shot
Establishing/Extreme long shot
This type of shot normally
focuses on a certain feature
of an artist face, usually the
mouth or eyes. This allows
the audience to see the
specific feature in more
detail However this varies
with different genres.
Within my chosen genre of
music (Hip-Hop/Rap)
normally an item of
jewellery or money is
shown in order to prove
they are wealthy.
Close up shots usually
are of the artist face as
it will allow the
audience to recognise
them in other music
videos, this relates to
Andrew Goodwin's
theory. Within the HipHop/Rap genre the
same conventions
apply as it will benefit
the artist if more of the
audience can recognise
his face.
A medium shot is
normally from the waist
up and allow you to
partially see the
surrounding, it is usually
followed by a long shot or
close up. To allow the
audience to fully see the
surroundings or see the
artist more clearly. The
medium shots used HipHop/Rap videos usually
feature the artist with his
group of friends.
Similar to a medium
shot which allows you to
see artist and some of
the the soundings. A
long shot allows the
audience to fully see
the artist and the
surroundings. Within
the hip-hop/Rap genre
these shots are used to
show the artist and the
wealth they have in full.
This shot is used to establish the scene,
this is usually in narrative or performance
based videos as it help set the location for
the story or performance. It could also be
used to show how small an artist is in
comparison to there money, the picture
above is an example of this as Rick Ross is
very small compared to the multi-million
dollar yacht he is standing on.
3. Editing
Fast Cuts
Slow motion
Long/Short takes
Fading
Fast cuts are quick changes
between one scene and
another. This type of
editing is normally used to
keep the audience
watching the music video
interested, for example
whist violence is
happening there will be
fast cuts in and out of the
scene. This will make the
audience feel like they are
in the music video and
experiencing the violence
themselves. Fast cuts is
very common within the
my chosen genre (HipHop/Rap) as the majority
of the time the artist are
rapping about violence and
it is being shown within
the music video, this is an
example of Andrew
Goodwin's theory.
Slow motion slows
down time time in a
shot and is used to
make the audience
focus of what's
happening within the
music video. An
example of this is whist
money or jewelry is on
screen, or when a very
dramatic thing is
happening such as
someone puling the
trigger on a gun. This
type of editing is often
used within HipHop/Rap as money,
jewelry and guns are
referenced a lot and
are shown in many
videos.
Long takes are often used
within a narrative or
concept based music video
whereas a short takes
would mainly be used in
performance based. This is
because a long take has
minimal editing done to it
(fast cuts, fading), meaning
that it is good for telling a
story as the director has
time to show what he
needs. However short
takes keep the audience
interested and excited as
they don’t know what's
next. Within Hip-Hop/Rap
videos the length of the
tapes vary but I would say
that short takes are more
often used as Hip-Hop/Rap
music videos are
performance based
Fading is when one
scene slowly changes
to another, the most
common fade is
’image to black to
second image’. Fades
are more common in
slow songs as fading
allows a smooth
transfer between 2
shots, it wouldn’t be
suitable for fast
paced songs as
cutting would more
likely be used to
keep the audience in
the action.
