Conventions

I'm going to research the conventions of a music video.

In a music video, the way things are shown describe the genre of the music video. Music video conventions can vary depending on what the genre of music is. Some conventions that apply to all music videos is the artist/band is shown performing the song, the lyrics are interpreted within the narrative of the video, the pace of editing fits into the beats of the music and what the artist/band reflect the mood of the song. Also close ups are used throughout the video, mainly on the lead singer of the band as this is usually the member that most people know. The band/artist make eye contact with the audience/camera, to give the audience virostic pleasure. The music video usually has 'extras' in the video, for example 'Mr Brightside' has two Amercian stars in the video who are involved in the narrative of the video. Also the video is also shot in more that one location and there are quick editing cuts between the performance and the narrative. In the video, there is usually a reference to the notion of looking, for example in Mr Brightside all the actress' costumes are quite sexy and the dance they do within the video reflects the Moulin Rouge! film.


'Mr Brightside' fits into the indie/pop music genre. I researched the conventions of both indie and pop music video to get a better of idea of what to include in my video.
The conventions of an indie music video are;
The video is usually shot as a live performance and is usually shot on a stage. The structure of the video is mainly performance based.
The conventions of a pop music video are;
The song is usually performed straightforwardly, either on a stage or in a good location. The emphasis is mainly on the performance. The narrative of the song is usually interpreted within the music video.
'Mr Brightside' has both indie and pop music video conventions. The Killers are shown performing the track, but also within the video a narrative story is been told. Fast pace editing cuts are used between the performance and the narrative. 'Extras' are used in the video too, these 'extras' are used in the narrative story of the video. Brendon Flowers, the front man of the band always makes eye contact with the camera, by doing this he is also making eye contact with the audience. Close up shots of Brendon Flowers are used in the music video, this is because Brendon Flowers is the front man of the band and he is the most well known member of the band. The audience know who he is, that's why he is shown the most in the video. Another reason why Brendon Flowers is shown the most is because he is involved in the narrative story and he is the main character in the narrative story. The location of the music video doesn't really change, the video is shot in a dance floor location, the video does cut to a balcony. But apart from that the music video doesn't really change.


The conventions of the Bad Romance music video by Lady GaGa are;
The artist is shown performing the song within the music video, the lyrics of the song are interpreted within the narrative of the video.
The video is shot in more than one location, the different locations are all different rooms within one setting and the pace of the editing fits to the beat of the song.
The artist makes eye contact with the audience, by making eye contact with the audience it gives the virostic pleasure. This means that the audience can watch the artist without the artist knowing that they're being watched.
The artist is the main focus of the music video and close up shots are used to show that she is the main focus.
The structure of this video is both performance and narrative based. The artist performs a dance routine to the song with her extras who are as well as extras the backing dancers. The narrative side of the video is how the lyrics are interpreted in the video.
There is also a notion of looking within the video, as the artist and all the dancers are in quite revealing costumes.