Music Video Conventions

What you expect to see in a music video

-Close ups on the band members/artist (especially the lead singer). This is so the audience can see the member(s) because they are the ones they want to see.

-Footage of them playing the instruments or singing (live). This is so that the viewer can see that they can actually play an instrument, these shots are normally close-ups.

-Long/Medium shots of the whole band or artist. These are used to set the scene and to show a bigger area.

-A Narrative to the song. This helps to show the nature of the lyrics and song, making it easier for the audience to understand or make questions about the video as occasionally the video has no link to the song at all.

-Shots to change with the beat of the music. This helps to set the mood of the video. This can results in rapid cuts between scenes, depending on the tempo. If the transitions between scenes are fast it means only straight cuts can be used, not fade in/outs.

-Interesting use of camera types and editing (low/high angles, pans, slow/fast motion etc). This adds an interesting element to the video. Music videos are also a way to show the best of the artists work meaning experimental and different techniques are used. for example the use of blue screen for special effects is used in the black eyed peas video.

-Interesting settings are used to make the singer or band look more glamorous for example, places like New York, California or London are seen in video.