Music Video Conventions

Music videos follow certain conventions. Some of these include having a range of different shot types so that it gives the audience a very in depth view of the setting and to add emphasis to the artist involved in the music video. They also include many close ups to show emotions as well as movement of the artists lips to reflect the words of the song; for instance you see a range of shot types to show emphasis of Macklemore in this video below.



Another convention commonly found in music videos is to include an interesting costume that will send out messages to the audience to appeal to them in some way. The costume will usually go with scene of the music video. For example in Katy Perry's video it is set in a jungle and we see the costumes to be like safari costumes to fit with the scene.



The mise en scene of a music video is also a convention in music videos. The Mise en scene refers to the performers, props and setting. Usually music videos somewhere a bit more unfamiliar to everyday life  to make it seem more intriguing to the audience. The mise en scene allows you to understand the feeling from the song and can strongly suggest the genre of the song. Here for example from the setting we can tell that it is a sad song as Chris brown is isolated in quite a deserted place. Also from his actions we can tell that the song is a sombre song.