Conventions of Music Videos

Conventions of Music Videos

Camera Shots:

Music videos tend to include a wide variety of shots, ranging from long shots, close ups, establishing shots, mid shots and high/low angle shots. The variety on shots is often used to create emphasis on either the artist, the characters within the story, if there is one. Many camera shots can also be used to reflect both the lyrics and the emotions implied throughout the use of different technical elements, for example a wide locational shot combined with slow lyrics can create a sombre mood.

Camera Movement:

Camera movements are usually used to follow and trace the artists or key characters; however the speed at which a camera moves changes from genre to genre as well as what mood the song is looking to set. The movements include tilts, pans, tracking shots and crane shots.

Mise-en-scene:

The mise-en-scene refers to the arrangement of performers, props, setting and many other different factors that make up what the audience is viewing. Mise-en-scene is what will compose what the audience is meant to be feeling, thinking about the song and viewing. Mise-en-scene can be composed through the use of lighting, in order to set whether the mood is meant to be happy or sad, for example, a scene involving low key lighting could be shown to be upsetting, while a scene in high-key lighting could connote happier times. Mise-en-scene would also feature the costumes of the different people in the videos, costumes are an important feature as they have a high influence on how the viewers will see the characters, and costumes can also be affected by the genre of the music. Sound will be the main thing that decides the video, for example a happy and fast song is not going to have a video that features slow and sad scenes, as well as vice versa.

Editing:

Jump cuts is the primary editing technique used in music videos, this is because it allows a switch from different scene to different scene quickly and also helps with matching pace of the music. Other transitions that are used can be slow fades or cross cutting, cross cutting can be used when the video is focused on two people and can show the parallel between what the two characters are doing. Slow fades can be used to create a distant effect to the transitions, showing a passage of time in the video.