Music Video Conventions

Music video conventions can vary depending on what genre or style they are and change up things such as the use of cameras and specific movements as cameras are able to grasp facial codes which often shows the emotions of the singer. Music conventions are the way things are usually done within the video generally in order to portray the genre, and therefore not every convention applies to every music video. The lyrics of a music video often establishes the general feeling and the meaning of the video, however rather than having an artist solely singing directly to the camera it is often presented in visuals such as a narrative or abstractual. General conventions of a music video may include: Artist shown performing with instruments or such; the lyric of the song influence what is shown in the video; the editing pace fits the tempo of the music; costumes reflect the mood of the song i.e. the use of dark clothing contrasts the use of light clothing.


Camera Shots:

Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions by showing as much of it all as possible. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist, called lip syncing.

Different shot types which can be applied to music videos include:

- Close up- a certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame
- Extreme close ups- the shot gets right in and shows extreme detail for example the artists’ lips
- Cut ins- shows some other part of the artist in the shot for example the artists hand movements when singing
- Cutaway- a shot of something other than the subject
- Two- shot- a shot of two people framed similarly to mid shot for example this is often used in bands when a signer shares the microphone with another member of the band
- Over the shoulder shot- looking from behind a person at the subject this is often used in narrative music videos

Camera Movement:

The movement of the camera is used to follow the artist and show what they are doing and/or expressing in the video. Camera movements include tilts, pans, zooms, tracking and crane shots, all of which require the moving of the camera by either using your hands, a tripod or other specialist equipment.


Mise-En-Scene:

The mise-en-scene refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage in a scene for a production of a music video or any other text of which puts importance on the representation of something such as the mood or the nature of the video. It literally means 'everything within the scene' and so includes almost everything that you can see.

Examples of mise-en-scene include:

- Clothing
- Makeup
- Props
- Venue

Editing:

Jump cuts are the main editing technique used in music videos as this allows a sudden change from one scene to another and keeps to the beat of the song if it is fast-paced. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos that are more slow-paced to go with the smoothness of the song. As the eyes, ears and mind work together it is better that these three take in the same tempo as to easily process what is happening, making the videos easier to feel.


Lighting and Sound:

Most music videos use artificial light sources from light-boxes or ring-lights as these give the most flawless and clear bright white lighting, perfect for all shots and styles and are also much easier to work with and carry about opposed to bigger sources of artificial lighting.

Conventionally, in a music video all sound is put in at post-production and only consist of the music to go over the video and sometimes sound that goes with the happenings within the video itself.