Conventions of a music video

Camera shots:  Music video's in general contain many different types of shot contained. A lot of shot stereotypically used are close ups, long shots and mid shots. The long shots are used to emphasize the location and setting, and are often used when the artist is wealthy so they can show off there richness. However close ups are used to show the emotion of the singer and also to reflect to the audience the words being sung. This image is a perfect example of an establishing shot to show wealth as it shows a massive house with stunning grounds.



Camera movement:  There are many camera movements in music videos, but the main one that is used is tracking shots which follow the band through the "story" contained in the music video.

Mise-en-scene:  The mise en scene in music videos refers to the arrangement of props and performers throughout the music video. The mise en scene can determine what is the most important element in the scene. For example the most important thing will usually be in the centre and in the light.


Editing: The usual cuts in music videos consist of jump cuts, as this is the most formal way of a dramatic change in scene or location. For example you can change the time of day just by cutting the scene, as it will get darker immediately rather than gradually. However things like cross dissolves and fades are often used too, to make the video flow better.

Lighting: The lighting in a music video can determine the mood. Dark and gloomy atmosphere is depicted by having dull boring colours, like this ipicture from Aloe Blacc's i need a dollar. Contrasting this a bright in focus picture can portray a happy more euphoric mood.


Props: The props in a music video are very important to create the mood and setting. For example, if there was a video with a lot of guns and knives in it, you could depict that it is quite a serious and dangerous mood. However the mood of a video can be shown as very happy if the props such as flowers are used to show that the mood is happier and more celebratory.  Also the prop of the bible in this book helps to reiterate the fact that it is clearly a wedding.



Costume:  The costume can be linked to showing the mood of a video also, as things like wedding dresses can be used easily to show a happy mood as it is quite clear they are at a wedding. Costume's can be very unique however as people like lady Gaga likes to be "weird" and where strange clothing completely irrelevant to the video itself.


Colour:  The colours used in a music video are used effectively to create the mood as bright colours such as Blue's and yellow's are happier colours and are used to portray a positive mood to the audience. Whereas if colours such as dark grey's and blacks are used, then a negative more sinister mood will be portrayed to the audience, and these could then be reiterated by the lyrics.