This document discusses common conventions in R&B music videos. Locations vary depending on the artist and song but commonly include bedrooms, houses, clubs, and urban streets. Lighting depends on the mood of the song and can include low light, nighttime lighting, bright studio lighting or natural daylight. Female artists typically wear minimal clothing to attract male attention while males often appear topless to appeal to female viewers. Camera work uses close-ups and wide shots to tell the story and heavily employs quick cuts known as "MTV Editing" to engage audiences.

1. GENRE ANALYSIS
R&B

2. R&B VIDEOS
Whilst there are common conventions within the R&B
genre, the type of video will depend on the individual
artist, and how they want to present themselves to the
world. Each aspect would differ with each artist, so it’s
difficult to create a set list of codes and conventions,
because each artist is so different.

3. LOCATIONS
Locations in R&B music videos vary, it can range from bedrooms and
inside large houses, to studios and elaborate, purposely built sets. It
depends on the artist, and the individual song, as the set for one
song, probably wouldn’t go with another. It is also affected by the
budget of the music video, and also the lyrics of the song, for
example, the video for Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’, is shown in a
purpose built jungle set, as this amplifies the lyrics, but the same set
could not be used for the video of a Kanye West song, as the lyrics
and artist would be completely different.

4. LOCATIONS
More common locations include, bedrooms, houses,
clubs, or outside in the streets, as this adds an urban feel
to the video, which fits the genre of the video.

5. LIGHTING
Depending on the mood of the song the lighting setting’s
vary; the lighting can be set low, but not necessarily dark,
night-time, bright studio lighting, or natural daylight if the
artist is filming outside.

6. LIGHTING
Flashing or strobe lights could also be used if the video is
filmed inside of a club, or is a performance style video,
and it’s set at a concert, giving the audience they’re
feeling they’re at a concert.

7. FEMALE COSTUME AND
MAKEUP
Female R&B artists tend to wear minimal clothing; mainly
to attract the attention of males. They would typically
wear high heels unless they’re dancing. The amount of
makeup a female artist wears can vary, but it’s typically
used to make them look flawless, and present them in the
most idealistic way.

8. MALE COSTUME
Males tend to appear topless in many of their videos, to
appeal to female viewers. Tattoos are extremely common
on male R&B artist, subsequently they’re portrayed as
being very cool. Other than that, they’re always well
dressed, and always have the newest expensive watch or
shoes.

9. CAMERA WORK AND EDITING
R&B videos use a variety of shots, such as close up’s of the artist, to
present the artist to the audience, and wide angle and panning shots,
to narrate the video, and show the storyline
R&B videos also heavily use ‘MTV Editing’ because it makes the
video more interesting for the audience to watch. It also involves
using quicker cuts, which may mean the viewer may want to watch it
more times to see everything, resulting in more views for the artist.