Music videos commonly use mid-shots and close-ups of the artist to emphasize them as the focus and present their image. Artists also often sing directly to the camera to make the audience feel they are interacting with them. For dance songs, long shots are frequently used to show full dance choreography. Most music videos also cut between shots of the artist performing and a narrative storyline. The editing style is usually a montage of overlapping clips edited together to the beat of the music. Creative imagery is also included to entertain viewers and make an engaging video.

1. CONVENTIONS
OF MUSIC
VIDEOS
- What makes a music video
Laurent Azemi

2. • In music videos, there are a lot of mid –
shots and close – up shots of the
star, this is to emphasise the main focus
in the video and to present the star
image in a certain way.
Rihanna is mainly portrayed as a sex icon in music videos due to
her sex appeal through her looks and minimal clothing.
• The artist will sing/rap directly to the
camera. This appeals to the audience as
they feel like the artist is looking at
them and interacting with them
through the artist’s song.
An example of The Weeknd singing Rolling Stone directly
to the camera.

3. • For dance songs there are a lot of
long – shots used to show dance
choreographies and people dancing
in general.
In the music video What I Might Do by Ben Pearce there are lots
of shots of different people dancing. Most of them are shown
through long shots so that the body movement is seen as the
dancers dance to the beat.
• In the majority of music videos there
are cross cuts to narrative.
Rihanna’s We Found Love video shows a perfect example in this
as shots cut from her singing/ performing, to her also
participating in the narrative of the song. Sometimes
however, actors can be used for the narrative and the star only
performs.

4. • The editing style of music videos is
commonly seen as a montage, the
shots overlap and are just clips
edited one after the other.
In Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey the whole music video is
edited through short clips of different bits of narrative and
performance, although slow, the shots still move with the music.
• Most music videos include creative
imagery to keep the audience
entertained and also.
Miley Cyrus’ music video We Can’t Stop has lots of different
creative shots and imagery in general. This keeps the audience
engaged with the video and at the same time makes a good
music video