Conventions of a Music Video

To produce a high-quality music video, we need to look at the conventions of one.

I have found a good slideshow which portrays the conventions of a music video here :

The conventions applicable to our video are :

Dress and Costume - must be appropriate to the genre and setting, as it reflects the mood/genre of the song. Must be dark for sad, slow songs and possibly more vibrant for fast-paced, upbeat songs.

Lyrics Establish the general happenings of the music video, can provide metaphors to use in a music video and sometimes the lyrics are used literally to show what is happening in the video. We will need to make sure that our ideas for the music video fit in with the lyrics, ie. a "funeral" is suggestive of a church/ graveyard.

Genre This is reflected in the dress, mise en scene and sound of the band, and is very important in a music video

Music (tempo) reflects the video's effects and editing, for example, slow tempo would utilize a sombre mood to the video, possibly dark or neutral clothing and gloomy settings. However, a fast tempo would make use of bright colours, and possibly instances of pathetic fallacy. A strong drum beat can represent several things, such as continuity or doom. Whereas instruments such as the violin represent classical music, which would in turn give the video a sophisticated feel.

Editing we would make use of slow transitions to create a calm and complecent mood, and quick cuts to convey rapid transitions. Editing can also be used (as seen in my video analysis of Your Love is My Drug) to create effects such as hallucinations or optical illusions

Intertextuality is the act of referring to another video or media product within the video. This can be used to emphasize points by relating it to another, possibly more well known product. This is depicted in my analyzation of Ke$ha's "Your Love is My Drug" where an allusion to "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles is present.

Camera Angles In music videos, as with all film products, camera angles are used to convey different gestures. For example, an extreme close up would be used to convey a specific expression, or a full shot of a person would illustrate their complete self. High camera angles suggest inferiority, and low camera angles suggest dominance. Also, if we wanted to give a sense of our character's surroundings we would use a pan or tilt.

Lighting is always essential to the mood of the music video. It simply relates to: a light atmosphere would result in bright lighting, and a more depressing atmosphere would have dark and lighting. This closely links to pathetic fallacy; in a cheery video, bright lights would be used to represent good weather and hence a good mood, while we will use dark lighting to represent the end of hope and ominosity.