1. Music Video Genre Conventions
By Kristian Harrison

2. Introduction
• What is a Genre Convention?
• To put it simply, a genre convention is a typical or standard trope that is widely used
throughout various items of media, for example: In a Western movie it is traditional for the
actors to wear cowboy hats, in a horror movie it is traditional for the villain to wear dark
clothes and be accompanied with a suspenseful theme tune.
• Genre conventions are also made obvious when two different films from different genres are
compared together:
This poster for the
classic film, “JAWS” is
a typical of the
horror genre
convention, the mast
head is in bright red
font so as to signify
danger and blood,
whilst the
background behind
the shark itself is
purposefully made
dark to create a
menacing tone.
In stark comparison, this
movie poster is typical of a
children's film, unlike the
JAWS poster, this poster is full
of vibrant colours that will
appeal to a younger audience,
also, the animate characters
are all moving or posing,
showing that the film will be
fun and energetic, unlike the
JAWS poster which shows only
the shark approaching the girl,
giving it a dark, serious tone.

3. Music Video Genre Conventions
• Just as with films, there are many different genres of music, each with it’s own specific tropes
and conventions which have been established over the years.
• I will provide an overview off the different genres of music video in the following slides:
Including examples of existing music videoes.
• Because there are so many different genres within the music industry, I will focus on three
main genres, : Pop, R&B/ hip hop and Metal.

4. Genre Conventions of a Pop music
video
In general, music videos of this genre are usually performance based, meaning that they oten
focus more on the musicians singing or dancing skills, rather than giving the music video a
flowing narrative or storyline.
. It is rare for pop musicians to actually record live singing, the majority of there performances in
music videos is the performers lip-syncing the lyrics to the song. This is usually due to the fact
that it would be difficult for the performers to execute there dance routines whilst
remembering the lyrics to there songs.
. The general tone of a pop music video is usually upbeat, lively, positive and bright. This is
emphasized y the performers themselves who often were brightly coloured clothing. Pop
videos are usually aimed at a young audience, so they often are of a lively, energetic and fun
nature, and focus on the performers choreography because it is fun for young children to
imitate the dance moves and dancing generally makes people feel happy and commutates
liveliness and joy.
. Examples of pop groups are, The Saturdays, JLS and One Direction.

5. Analysis of Genre Conventions of a Pop
music video.
• Below is an image of the pop group, “The Saturdays” performing there
single, “Missing You”, I will analyse and identify an genre conventions:
All members in the
same shot
performing
choreographed dance
moves, putting
emphasis on
friendship and the
performers skills as
dancers
All members are
wearing bright,
colourful,
aesthetically
appealing colours
which give the
video a positive,
happy tone,
appealing to young
audiences
The location for
the video, by the
sea, co notates
peace and fun
times, fitting
overall tone of
the video.

6. Genre Conventions of an R/B &Hip
Hop music video
• . Generally speaking, R/B vidoes are a lot like Pop videoes in that they are often quite
positive in tone and execution. The major diffrence between the two is that R&B videoes deal
with more adult subject matter and are often aimed at an older audience than pop videoes.
• R&B videoes tend to focus mainly on the artist themselves, there may be backup dancers but
the majority of screen time is dedicated to the R&B artist themselves, generally speaking
these types of videos are often set in clubs or bars, this appeals to the older audience
because these are places that they frequent. R&B videoes may also be set in exotic locations
or in large, expensive locations, such as mansions, this is done more too show off the artists
wealth.
• A common feature of R&B videoes is to put a large amount of emphasis on the artists wealth.
This is portrayed by the artist wearing identifiable but expensive brands, as well as driving
luxury cars. This is used both as a way to signfy the artists wealt but it also serves as a
marketing tool, fans of the artist are more likely to buy imitation brands if they watch the
music videoes.

7. Analysis of Genre Conventions of an
R/B & Hip hop video
Below is an image of R&B artist Chris Brown performing in his music
video, “Turn the music up”. I will analyse the genre conventions that are used
in this scene.
Strobe lighting
and dance floor
shows that the
video is set in a
club a decidedly
adult setting.
Chris Brown is in
front of the back
up dancers,
emphasising his
importance
Young adults
wearing trendy
clothes, makes
other young
adults want to
imitate

8. Genre Conventions of a Metal music
video
• There are two major types of metal video, either the video i a flowing narrative chronicling a
story with the song as a backing track, or the video is comprised of live footage of the
members performing. Unlike Pop and R&B which are usually upbeat in both lyrics and
video, Metal is known to focus on heavier, darker and much more emotional themes and
adult content.
• No matter whether the video itself is a flowing story or live performance of the band, it is
unlikely to be in such a well lit, positive setting or tone as an R&B or Pop video, this is
because the band is dealing with much more mature and adult subject matter, often metal
videos will take place on a dimly lit stage, sometimes coloured black and white in post
production if it is a compilation video of the metal band performing live. If the music video is
a narrative it will often have the actors in back lit locations that are associated with danger or
adrenaline, such as long dark corridors, boxing rings or abandoned buildings, to reflect the
dark and hard hitting tones of the music.
• Metal music videos often make use of symbolism inn there videos, for example, the band
Salems music video “Cornucopia” simply shows the sun rising and setting, and Deftones
video for “My own Summer” is simply footage of sharks swimming, feeding and breaching.
This is a major distinction between Metal and the other two genres I’ve listed, neither of
them would sacrifice screen time for the performer in order to try and convey an artistic
narrative.

9. Analysis of Genre conventions of a
Metal music video
• The following image is taken from Metal band Disurbed’s music video for there song, “Just
Stop”. I will analyse the image to see what genre conventions are used.
Band are in the
forefront of the
picture to show
the audience
how influential
they are
Crowd are
visible to
show the
audience
what an
impact the
band are
having.
The image has
been turned
Black and white
during the
editing
process, this is
because the
unaltered
footage would
be quite bright
due to the stage
lights, the
darker colours
better suit the
tone of the
music.

10. Analysis of Genre conventions of a
Metal music video
This is a scene from Rise Againsts video, “Septembers
Children” which was an anti bullying song. This vide had
no images of the band, instead it was a narrative
following the young boy being tormented in the photos
struggle for acceptance. Showing the band performing
would have demeaned the plot of the video and made it
less engrossing for the audience.
These two screen captures taken from Deftones
“My Own Summer” and Disturbeds “Stricken”
both show the symbolic usage of animals in
metal videos, in this case to show anger,
however other uses of symbolism are employed
in metal music videos, such as in Avenged
Sevnfolds “Afterlife” a dove flying and a car
driving away in slow motion were meant to
symbolise freedom and peace.