This document discusses conventions commonly found in pop music videos. It provides examples from several pop artists' music videos to illustrate these conventions. Some conventions discussed include the presence of attractive boy bands or girl bands appealing to teenage audiences, a focus on romantic relationships, upbeat and fun sounds, high-key lighting, and lavish locations like mansions and beaches. Specific videos analyzed include Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," One Direction's "Steal My Girl," and Taylor Swift's "Blank Space," noting how elements like costumes, lighting, locations, and relationships fit pop music conventions.

1. Analysis of Music Genres: Pop

2. Pop
Genre
Commonly, in pop music videos we
see a reoccurring theme throughout.
Most themes follow each pop music
video, but sometimes we see
exceptions. The genre of pop means
‘popular music’ but has been
shortened down to ‘pop’.
One aspect we often see in pop music
genres is a lot of boy bands –One
Direction and The Vamps are well
known example of pop musicians.
They are big boy bands who create
pop music, and are becoming
increasingly well known. Boy Bands
are often categorised under the pop
genre due to the idea of them being
attractive, which is sometimes why
they get all of their popularity, mainly
from teenagers.
Most of the time in pop music videos
we see a love interest.
We also see a lot of girl bands in the genre category
of pop music. Again the girl band will appeal to
more of an audience because of their looks and
their upbeat music. Some examples of girl bands
are; Girls Aloud and the Pussy Cat Dolls – both in
which use specific conventions to fulfil their
category of pop music.
In terms of Mise-en-scene we see
the conventions of a pop music
genre coming through.
- Clothing
- Sound
- Lighting
- Locations
- Lyrics
Clothing –
Most of the time when identifying a
musician as being in the pop genre
we can tell by their clothing, which
is most of the time the ‘in’ fashion
and what people like teenagers
want to see.
Sound –
The sound when looking at a pop
music genre is often very up beat,
and fun and entertaining to listen
to.
Lighting –
We see a lot of high key lighting throughout the
music video to suggest entertainment and
enjoyment.
Locations –
Locations are very important when
it comes to pop music, as most of
the time we see the musicians in
mansions, and beaches.

3. Katy Perry – Teenage Dream Analysis
This print screen shows one of
the key conventions Pop music
videos contain; a relationship
forming/or continuing. We can
see that Katy is the main
character in the narrative and
an attractive young male –
bringing in the audiences of
teenagers, and mainly teenager
girls. In this shot we can see
the high angle shot showing
the relationship of the two
people.
High key lighting is
another convention of a
pop music video we
would see often. The
lighting shows and
suggests the excitement
and joy we should get
from the artists. In this
case we are sensing
the happiness coming
from Katy because of
her relationship she is
having with another boy.
The lighting sets the
This print screen again
shows the high key lighting
suggesting the enjoyment
that the two characters in
the picture. We can also
see the locations they have

4. The print screen of
the ‘Teenage Dream’
music video shows the
locations and settings
the video has been
set in. This suggests
that they are on a
motorway – getting
away to somewhere –
reflecting on the type
of things teenagers do,
which again brings in
the audience it does.
We can see that it is
set in the mountains –
with big hills and a
lot of greenery,
suggesting where in
America it could have
been set. We also get
a sense of the
characters and
personalities.
One of the key conventions of the
pop genre music video is the
clothing that the main artist is
wearing. We can normally tell if it is
a pop video because of the fashion
they are wearing – because if the
artist is wearing fashionable clothing
we know that they are interested in
being main stream, and wearing
popular clothing. This print screen

5. One Direction – Steal My Girl Analysis
After analysing this music video, I can see some key
conventions involved. This print screen is showing the
location – which looks like it is in a wide open space,
with mountains and hills, suggesting the area it could be
set in. This print screen also shows the high key lighting
involved from the blue skies – this suggests how the boy
band could be very keen, excitable and joyful when they
perform and also tells us a little bit about their
This print screen of a part of the music video
suggests the importance of one of the band
members, as the composition of the frame shows
this – the two men on the side frame bring
attention to Zayn.
This print screen shows the
bold colours of the outfits –
again showing and bringing
out their personalities and the
bands persona. They seem
lively, and outgoing character.

6. Taylor Swift – Blank Space Analysis
This video of Taylor Swift is a popular
song, which has been in the charts for
a while. This print screen of the
establishing shot shows the location and
setting of the music video. Because we
can see a mansion or big house we
know that the narrative will be based
around this location, because of it being
the establishing shot. One of the key
conventions of pop music videos is the
location being in a mansion or big
The typical love interest appears again
in this music video. This print screen
shows the two ‘characters’ who is
Taylor Swift and another male, who are
sitting either end of a long table. The
long table with food in the middle
suggests and connotes ides of love and
relationships, as does the two sitting
either end of the table. This is a
typical convention of a pop music video
because we know that the love
This print screen shows
again one of the typical
conventions of a pop
music video; which is the
costumes and outfits the
characters wear. The
Taylor Swift character is
wearing a diamante dress,
which is one of the more
popular fashions to wear.
Although the lighting in