Looking at Conventions of Music Videos

The grid above is a piece written  from within my lesson, it consists of different conventions of music videos.

Within the lesson we each looked at the different aspects of narrative and the various conventions we could see and believed to be important.

After the lesson I decided to do some extra research, into the various conventions of a music video.

Firstly I looked into the Cinematography

 In which all music videos cover  a wide range of cinematography usually mixed depending on the style of the music video. The uses of more close ups and different camera angles are normally seen in  abstract where as close ups, long shots, establishing shots are more conventional to narrative, and sometimes performance or a mix of two. 

When looking at narrative music videos it is often seen that close up shots are used when an artist is trying to create emotion within a song, it is normal to use a close up or an extreme close up of an artists mining and then showing their face close up can be to  represent  their  emotions to the audience.

There may be time where the artist isn't the one featured within the video, this usually means that artist has had an input within the video. However if the artist is featured within the video they will usually be the main person or main focus. 

In order to represent this the use of medium close ups with the artist placed in central frame is shown, often to establish the main focus with the audience. This then may lead into a tracking shot in order to ensure the audience is following the artist and keeping their focus is set on them.

Another key aspect of music video is the camera angles these are often used to show the audience who is powerful/dominant or maybe trying to show they're less powerful within a situation.

I know from watching music videos that Pop and Rap videos have a tendency to be energetic using lots of pans, tilts and ______ another aspect which is used is the upwards camera angle in which the artist is usually be  seen miming downwards to the camera this helps to establish their power and/or authority and position within the video. 

Next I looked into the Sound;

In terms of sound, music videos are greatly based on the music track, due to the fact that this is what the institution and artist are trying to promote/sell. 

When looking at music videos they usually range from narrative, performance or abstract.

When looking at narrative music videos the video will usually consist of a theme, it is likely that within a narrative such as some of  Michael Jackson's Music Videos such as "Thriller" and "Scream" are good examples of music videos which include digetetic sound. Narrative videos are longer than usual music videos and can include but include lots of speech and background noise that would not be heard usually over radio etc as they edit them down just to the song.

Next I looked into the Mise-En-Scene

In terms of Mise-en-scene it is one of the most important aspects to a  music videos, however this will vary dependent on the genre etc. 

Mise-en-scene is key due to the factor that these can have a massive influence upon their target audience, various Iconic styles for pop stars can be made through their videos though, which means its important to get it right and make and portray the right image however this will not always be positive. 

There are various artists such as Rihanna and Lady GaGa which have been known to create music videos that have been slightly controversial and have shocked the audience, typically through the Mise-en-scene used (usually slightly or greatly provocative). 

Despite many points of view from the audience being disapproving the audience will still be watching and listening to the song and usually sharing the song commenting with their points of view, however despite some being negative attention the streaming and downloads etc still go up, still causing the artist to be gaining money.

Things which are included within mise-en-scene are things such as location, costume and colours within videos there is usually a reoccurring theme which be shown in the locations, costume and colours videos such as "Thriller" is a horror based narrative and the use of the graveyard location added with the zombie costumes and dark grey, reds and black colour schemes, which helps for the audience to establish the theme and narrative from the start.