Styles & Conventions

Some music videos have performance footage (In-concert and 'as live' footage) , this gives the video a good feel and shows the band and singers tallent. This type of music video is most common with rock songs.





Narrative and interpretive music videos are a way for a band to turn their lyrics into visual meaning, this is very intertaining for the audience. However not all narrative music videos have a visual story to do with the lyrics, some artists choose to have a story which is nothing to do with the song but simply entertains the audience.





Surreal music videos are very differnt and can sometimes shock/entertain the audience with how wiered and funny they can be. Some surreal videos can relate slightly to the lyrics however most of the time they are just suprising and unconventional.





Impressionist music videos are seen as artistic, Instead of telling a story or relating to the lyrics, impressionish music trys to capture the emotional tone of the music itself. Lots of elements are used to capture this emotion, such as light, different colours and soft edges.

 

 

Intertexual: synergy/parody

music videos such as intertexual videos relate to another media product, such as synergy, this is where the music video will be dedicated to another media product such as a film, a good example of this would be New Divide by Linkin Park as it was created for the film Transformers. Parody is a music video which acts humorous about another video, it does this by changing the lyrics and say their is a sexy woman in the video this may get switched to be a big fat hairy man, a good example would be "California Gurls" which was originally "California Girls" by Katy Perry.

Animation

Animation is a unique style and can be a very time consuming process but at the same time its very effective and entertaining. A good example is the music video Feel Good Inc, done by Gorillaz.

Lip Synch 

Lip synch is used is many different music videos, this is where the artist mimes their song within the music video so when played with their original song in the background it will synch and look like they are singing it. This can be tricky sometimes as when slow motion is introduced the artist will have to mime to a faster version of the song so when they are slown down it will match the original pace of their song.

Cutting to Beat

This is a very interesting effect used with music videos, this effect is when a shot cuts everytime a beat is played, this gives the music video a very fast pace feel.

Post Production Effects

Visual effects are used in music video to make them interesting/eye catching and experimental, when editing a music video its important that you use the right effect for the genre of the music video otherwise it can distract the audience and take away the greatness of the song.

 

Split Screen

This effect is where two videos are played next to each other, its usually used in a narrative music video showing two different events, such as two different people living their lives then meeting each other at end, or one person having really good luck and the other having bad luck.

Chroma Key Effects

This effect is very common, its where the artist stand in front of a green/blue screen. When filmed they can edit out the single block colour in the background so that they can change the background in post production. Meaning the artist could be standing in a studio in London but in the video they are on some sandy terrain in Texas.

Camera Movements

These movements can be very effective and gain excitement for the target audience if used in the right way, movements such as crabbing, tracking, tilting and panning.

 

Camera Angles/Shot Types

As well as the movements of the camera there is also the angles and shots, these can be used very effectively, for example going from a wide shot zooming into a close up. The choice of different angles and shot types can change how interesting and smooth the video looks.

Mise-En-Scene

This is quite an important part within a music video, people might think it doesnt matter where the music video is located however depending on the genre of music and the mood of the music it can effect the video greatly if the right Mise-En-Scene is used.