The document discusses various conventions used in music videos and how the creator of a music video both conformed to and challenged some of these conventions in their own video. Specifically: - They conformed to using low angle shots, eye contact, medium shots, lip syncing, use of a microphone, and a color scheme with bright colors. - They challenged conventions around high angle shots, use of crane/wide shots, how long shots are typically used, revealing clothes, and location choices. - Locations like a brick wall and woods were chosen both to conform to and challenge conventions regarding background settings in music videos.

1. MusicVideo and Genre Conventions

2. I conformed to the use of low angle shots within my
music video. Using a low angle shot makes the artist the
biggest and most important thing in the frame, which
shows how the artists has dominance over their
audience and how they are within the frame to be
looked upon.
Slow songs are more likely to have high angle shots to
show the artist vulnerability through the camera
dominating them, contrasting the use of the low angle.
As the tone of my chosen song was quite slow I chose to
conform to this and use a high angle shot.
I used different angles within my video as varied angles are conventions of music videos and
including them aids the narrative of my video.
Angles

3. Eye Contact
I have conformed to the music video convention of
having the singer look directly into the camera
while in a close up as a way to create a direct link
with the audience. I did also challenge this
convention because while I did use eye contact in
close up, most of the eye contact is in during a
medium shot. I chose to do this as I wanted the
singer to be connected to the audience through the
eye contact but as I used it in a medium shot it
creates some distance. I added this distance so that
when the close up eye contact comes in then it
feels like the audience are closer with the artist.

4. Crane andWide Shot
I have chose to challenge the typical music video conventions of using a crane shot or a
wide shot within my video. Crane shots are often used on live performances (such as
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody) or in much larger locations than the ones that I have used. I
feel the use of a crane shot within my video would ruin the intimate feel of the video by
putting the camera at a large distance. I chose not to use a wide shot (like in Foo Fighter’s
The Pretender) as wide shots are most seen in a fast song, and as my video does not
feature narrative and has a slow pace then I chose not to use one.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody Foo Fighters –The Pretender

5. Medium Shot
I conformed to the pop convention of using a medium
shot within my music video.They are used within pop to
show the background as well as the artist, like in Carly
Rae Jepson’sCall Me Maybe as she uses the medium shot
to show that she is on the ground and not stood. I used
these throughout my video as I wanted the lip syncing
and the movements of the artist to be obvious but I
wanted to show the different backgrounds and what
they mean within the video.
My video
Carly Rae Jepson – Call Me Maybe

6. Long Shot
I have conformed to the pop convention of having a
long shot within my music video but challenged the way
it is typically used. Conventionally, a long shot within
pop music videos is used during the narrative to show a
party.The long shot allows for all of the characters at
the party to be seen together to prove that it is a party
environment, like in Katy Perry’sT.G.I.F.Where I
challenged the convention is making my long shot just
show the single singer and the brick wall. I have used it
for performance and removed the party as this was not
part of my idea.
My video
Katy Perry –T.G.I.F

7. Instruments
I have conformed to the music video convention
of using instrument within a video. I chose to
use a microphone, in a similar way to Carley Rae
Jepson in Call Me Maybe. I chose just a
microphone as the song I have chosen is pop
which usually means not instrumental in the
sense of guitars and drums but it about the
lyrics and the voice, so I used a microphone as a
way to enhance the performance, putting
emphasis on the singer’s voice and words.
My video
Carly Rae Jepson – Call Me Maybe

8. Lip syncing
A convention of music videos, that have
performance elements, is to have the
artist lip syncing to the song, such as
DNCE’s Cake ByThe Ocean. As my video
is completely performance I made sure
that the artist was lip syncing to all of
the words as her mouth could always be
seen.
My video
DNCE – Cake ByThe Ocean

9. Clothes
Within my video I conformed to the pop conventions about
clothes.As my artist is female it is stereotypical to see them
in a dress that is often revealing as a way to sexualise and
femininize the singer. I broke this convention slightly by
having my artist in a crop top and matching skirt.The use of
a crop top reveals more skin on the stomach where as a
dress wouldn’t, but the crop top covers other areas, such as
arms, that wouldn’t normally be covered. As a way to
challenge the femininity I made the outfit blue break the
stereotype of blue being for boys, with the blue making her
look more elegant.

10. Clothes
I conformed to the pop performance convention
of having the female artist wearing a dress.
While she is wearing a dress, which is quite short
and with a low-cut neck line to conform to the
sexualised image of the artist, the dress is
covered by quite a large coat and she is wearing
tights.The coat is could be seen as fashionable,
due to the fur, and would conform to that
convention as well. I chose to make the dress
black to follow to the idea of a ‘little black dress’
that is very common in fashion culture.

11. Make-up
The singer is wearing make up in all of the different
scene within the video, as make up is conventionally
used within music videos to enhance a person’s
beauty. In the studio I had her wear brighter and more
noticeable pink make up to match the location she
was in and to conform to the pop convention of
wearing make up to further the message of the song,
the connotations of pink being the same as the song
which is why it is both her make up and the
background. In the other locations her make up is a
lot less noticeable, but still present. I had her wear
natural make up as a way to further the natural
beauty look I wanted to achieve, which is also why I
chose outdoor locations.

12. Clothes
I chose to challenge the pop music convention of
having a female singer wearing a dress during the
performance aspects of the video. But I slightly
conformed by having her wear popular clothing,
such as skinny jeans and heeled boots. I was
mainly challenging the clothing convention as she
is not wearing any revealing clothing as it
matches the tone of the song, which is not overly
sexualised like a lot of pop music. However,
skinny jeans are used to be form fitting, so her
figure can still be seen, which conforms to Laura
Mulvey’s idea of the ‘male gaze’.

13. Colour scheme
It is convention for pop music colours to have
bright colours within the music video, which is
why I choose locations where this could be
possible. For the outdoor locations such as the
woods the brick wall I made sure they were
naturally bright colours, the greens on the trees
being bright and for the wall having it be a deep
but eye catching red. For the studio location I
added red lighting to the backdrop, giving it a
bright pink glow, a colour that is most
associated with the pop genre.

14. Movement
The sensual way she moves is part of the image
she is trying to sell to her audience, creating a
juxtaposition between the sexual icon she
wants to be and the innocent girl she portrays
herself as in the other locations.Often in pop
videos there is a confusion as to the age of the
artist which creates a sense of confusion when
mixed with the sensual dance moved and
innocent dance moves. But this confusion is
seen a lot within pop, and could be considered a
convention.

15. For these scenes within the studio I was inspired
MeghanTrainor’sAll AboutThat Bass, specifically
the colour scheme. The colour scheme within the
video is very conventional of the pop genre and as
my video is within the pop genre then I want to
achieve the same thing.The use of a studio
location and infinity screen in the background also
conforms to the conventions of pop.
The use of the pink background relates well to the
genre as the most common colour associated with
pop is the colour pink.The pink also accentuates
the colour of the artists hair, making it stand out
more than the colour itself already does.The pink
also symbolising the femininity of the artist and
creating links between her and the title of the
song. Using a blue costume creates a contrast
against the pink and is a bright colour within the
mise-en-scene.
MeghanTrainor – AllAboutThat Bass
My video Location

16. One of the locations seen within the music video is a brick wall
on High Street. I chose this as a background as brick walls are
often presented to be tough, strong, and difficult to knock
down.These connotations are something that I wanted to be
applied to my artist as well and placing her in front of the wall
creates a link between the two. I wanted my artist to appear
strong as it relates to the message of the song, which is about
unrequited love, and if she comes across as strong in the same
way as the wall then it will show to her audience what type of
person she is.This is giving a positive image to the audience
and as the pop demographic is mostly teenagers then this is
spreading a positive message to her audience as they are at an
age in which they will first start experiencing this type of love.
Conventionally, pop music videos often target their videos to
their audience which is why I made sure that there was an
ideology behind this location.
I chose to use a brick wall background as another one of my
locations as this breaks the typical conventions of a pop video.
The use of a wall has features in other pop videos, such as One
Direction’s – History, but this was the only example that I found
within my research. I was inspired by One Directions break in
the typical locations for their music video, which is why I
included it within my own.
My video
One Direction – History
Location

17. I chose to use these woods specifically and have the artist
against the suburban houses and fence rather than more
woods. I did this because the woods added to the natural
feel that I wanted to achieving, matching the natural
beauty of the artist. I included the fence and houses in
the background to link to her outfit in these scenes.This
outfit does not fit the pop convention of wearing dresses
but it does conform to the one about the artist wearing
fashionable clothing.The fence in the background adds
to the connotations that the song has.The song being
about unrequited love but as it is unrequited the artist
could be considered trapped, which is the reason why I
have the fence in the background as a way to physically
represent this trapped feeling. It is often conventional to
have the mise-en-scene further the meaning.
For the woods location I was inspired byTaylor Swift’s
Out of the Woods. I chose to make my location a lot
brighter and natural-looking thanTaylors as it was the
actual woods themselves that I wanted to use. I wanted a
location that was typically unconventional within the pop
genre and I found that a wooded area was not seen often
within the genre.
My video
Taylor Swift – IntoThe Woods
Location

18. Editing
I conformed to the music video convention of rhythmic editing as all or most of
the cuts are on a beat in the song. I made sure that every cut fit on a beat yet
flowed seamlessly. I also conformed to the pop music convention of using a filter
on clips while editing. I added a filter to some of the clips as a way to correct the
colour and put more emphasis on the singer rather than the location within these
clips. Some editing that I chose to challenge was adding animation. As I wanted
my video to appear natural the idea of adding animation would ruin the tone of
the video and make it appear somewhat fake. I also chose to challenge the use of
tints as tints would ruin the colour scheme I wanted and tried to achieve within
each of the different locations.

19. Narrative
I wanted to challenge the conventions of typical pop videos by not including narrative such
as story or a hybrid of both performance and story. I chose to make my video completely
performance as the use of performance does conform to pop conventions but a full video
does not. I chose to do this a way to show that the singer is happy with her music and this
can be seen on her face while she is singing, and a singer being enthusiastic about their
music is a convention of pop music. As I did not have any story narrative within my video I
challenged that convention but that also means I challenged many other conventions that
are based around story. I opposed the use of a love narrative, even if the song is based
around love, and I challenged the use of a party within my video as the tone of the song
would not work with a party. I both challenged and conformed to the use of voyeurism
within my video.While I didn’t have the singer being voyeuristic, which is typical
convention, the video itself could be called a voyeuristic video with the audience being the
voyeurs and with the way that the camera is always on the artist, in a ‘MaleGaze’ type way,
could created an argument that I did conform to the use of voyeurism.