This document discusses conventions commonly found in pop music videos. It notes that pop music videos often feature attractive boy bands or girl bands to appeal to teenage audiences. Love interests and relationships are also frequently depicted. In terms of production elements, pop music videos usually have upbeat sounds, high key lighting, fashionable clothing worn by artists, and glamorous locations like mansions and beaches. The document then analyzes clips from several pop music videos like Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and Taylor Swift's "Blank Space", pointing out how they employ conventions like lighting, locations, costumes, and narratives focused on relationships.

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 ‘perfect’ scene for
people to aspire to live up to,
which brings in the fans and
audiences.
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
filmed the video in.

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 shows Katy wearing casual, popular,
normal clothing – nothing too outgoing or

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 personalities and how they want to
be seen as a whole for the band.
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 house. We can tell
that this is a typical pop music video because of the
conventions involved.
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 interests is something
that appears in most common pop music videos.
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 the frames
throughout aren’t bright, they are
dull suggesting the difference.