Conventions of a music video

1. Conventions of A Music
Video

2. Camera movement
The camera movements usually tend to follow the artist or band. The camera movements usually
include pans, tracking, tilts and crane shots.
Camera shots
Long shots tend to be used in music videos including close ups
and mid shots. Long shots are used to emphasise the location,
whereas mid shots would be used to show the artist and close
up for emotions. Close ups are not only used to show emotions
but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the
lips.

3. Editing
Jump cuts are the predominant editing technique used in music videos.
This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another.
Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music
videos, as they create a different effect to cuts.
An example of mise-en-scene is Katy Perry’s Roar video.
 Cartoon which establishes the shot and sets the scene - introduces song
 Name “roar” tiger font
 Fire flies – editing – light
 Reflection
 Many eyes of animals “eye” of the tiger
 tiger made with fireflies - editing

4. Mise-en-scene
This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for
a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en-scene put
importance on the representation of something.
An example of mise-en-scene is Katy Perry’s Roar video. Props such the leopard
print scarf foreshadowed what was about to happen and went with the theme of
the song. She also made her own props in the video such as the spear to portray
her time spent in the wild and survival in the video. The transformation of her
costume throughout the video also highlights the development of her personality.
Katy’s facial expressions change during the course of the video – at the
beginning, she’s scared but becomes confident as the song goes on. She uses
passion fruit as a lipstick – she’s still got her feminine side.

5. Lighting
Some music videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood, some videos have
artificial lighting which put the artist/band in an enhanced look.
Sound
Sound is mainly the vocals or the sing but in some cases such as
Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock and Roll album every sons is an
instillation of a short film. After the videos were shot for each
individual song a short film was made putting all the songs
together to show the journey of the band saving Rock and Roll

6. Props
These are important as they assist in adding to the scene and by
creating significance on particular object or people.
Costumes
Costumes go with the scenes in the song and reflect the genre.
Costumes are an important factor as costumes tend to have a
slight influence on how the audience will dress as some viewers
use celebrities as role models.
Colour
Colours tend to set the mood of the song through creating an
atmosphere. For example, dark colours are used more in rock
songs such as Fall Out Boy, whereas bright colours are seen to
be used more in hip hop and pop videos such as One Direction.