Conventions of a music video

Cinematography 

For cinematography (camerawork), the main shots used in a music promo are close up shots and mid shots. This is so that not just the musician, but the musicians instrument can be included in the shot as well because it shows the audience that the performer is actually performing in the music video.

The close up shots are normally used of the vocalist, to give the viewer a 1 on 1 viewing with the vocalist and to make the viewer feel like the vocalist is telling them the lyrics.

Close up shots can also be used on the instruments to plug the make/brand of the instrument of any other content in the video, and also to show off that the guitarist may have a $99999 guitar, showing the audience that they’re in a way better than you, something that is regularly done in the pop promo.

Editing

Editing for a music video all depends on what type of music it is as the pace normally is linked with the tempo of the song.

For example in a metal song, the tempo will be 170+, resulting in a music video with lots of fast editing.

The editing also depends on the section of the song. The verse may have less camera cuts as the video may focus on the vocalist more, meaning the cuts are slower. However the chorus – breakdown may be on the guitarists, bassist and the drummer, meaning the editing has to be quick to give all of the musicians an equal time on camera.

Mise En Scene

Location

The location for the music video all depends again on the story behind the music video and what genre the music video is. It may also depend on the content of the story as well.

For example a pop promo is normally done in a studio and is caught by many different cameras. Whereas a metal video may be caught on one camera in a dark wood because it links in with the music video.

Lighting

Lighting in a music video is very important. Too much lighting, not just the performers are blinded but the camera will be burnt out, meaning there may be patches that look too bright when in fact it’s because the light has affected the lens.

Too little lighting and colour correction will be needed which result in too much noise being in the video.

Props

The props, like location, all depend on the lyrics of the song and the genre of the song.

For example, for a hip hop song, normally a car is involved and a lot of jewelry on both the women and the man is worn to show ‘bling’. This is done so that the ‘hip hop’ singers fit the stereotype of someone who is ‘hip hop’.

Narrative/Performance

It is very common in a music video to have either a narrative, a performance or both.

A narrative is introduced to give a story line to the audience and to engage them and make them want to watch the video to the end.

A performance is included to remind the viewer that they are musicians and they can play their instruments. It is also used to give the viewers a taste of what they are like live and to encourage them to come tao a gig. 

Example 1 of hardcore punk music videos

The screenshot above is of the bassist. It is quite conventional in hardcore music videos to show all of the band members equally because in most hardcore bands, they are not a manufactured product. Hardcore music is             

written by the band for the fans. It also shows all of the band members (both playing their instruments and off the stage, to show that they are like everyone else, just composers and performers) to show the viewers what instrument they play and that they can play it!

The next 2 screenshots are extremely conventional in a hardcore music video. Most hardcore music videos are DIY videos, for example done on tour, old files put together to create a video and other performances.

It is also very conventional of a hardcore band to show a lively show in the video to give the users a sense of what a live show is like. 

The next screenshot is of a crowd at a TUI show. It perfectly explains what hardcore is about. The crowds and listeners are hardcore are reckless and don’t care about the system, and nearly all of the time don’t like the system. They also most of the time are rough, not because of their upbringing but because hardcore music encourages brutality and the aim at a hardcore gig is normally to cause as much trouble as possible. It is also said that hardcore isn’t a music genre, ‘it’s a way of life.’ This is quite a conventional shot as it's showing the hardcore crowd. 

The last screenshot is of a scene in the music video that is quite unconventional. It contains a full band shot which normally isn’t used in a music video. This is because the music video normally contains several band shots on stage. However this isn’t on stage.

This may have been done to show the viewers who TUI are as this video was published when TUI were crossing over from America to England and Europe and were getting larger. 


Throughout the video, the main types of shots that have been used on the musicians are close up shots that have a fast pace of editing to represent the fast pace the song has. 
The camera shots of the crowd aren't edited so that they are quick and they have longer on video. The shots are also done with a wide angle lens to show the whole crowd and the mayhem that is happening. 

For mise en scene, the main things included in the music video are the instruments and the crowd (details in paragraphs above). 

Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture

Illustration is the most popular of the three types of music videos.

Illustration is where the lyrics of the song and the video are linked to each other. The lyrics basically act as a script and the band members, or actors, act out the lyrics. 

For example A Day To Remembers' 'Have Faith In Me' music video links the lyrics, about a relationship breaking down, to the video content, a couple having a breaking down relationship and ending up in a breakdown. 

Amplification shares some aspects with disjuncture however they use amplification to have a link from the lyrics to the video. It shows the main parts of the video but doesn't have a story line with lyrics running along the video content.

In the example video (While She Sleeps - Our Courage Our Cancer) the lyrics do not link the video exactly, however there are some links in the lyrics that have visual links. For example 'We think of you with love and speak of you with pride, whilst the video showers soldiers. This is a strong link but isn't an illustration link as the whole song and video so not link.

Disjuncture is where the music video has no link to the lyrics sung i the song. It is normally filled with pieces of abstract meanings.

My example is Lady Gaga's - Bad Romance. It has no link from the lyrics to the video and is a completely abstract video filled with different meanings.

Mise En Scene Prelim

Our main goals for Mise En Scene in our prelim task were funny props purely because we were aiming at a parody video and without funny props, the video wouldn't have been funny.
Hula skirts were worn to give off the American/Hawaii feel to the viewers and because Hula Skirts are commonly worn by 'Beach Babes', something that me and my group were not. Therefore it looked silly and funny, bringing a comedy aspect to the skirts.
A blow up shark was used to also create comedy as the shark was almost the fifth character in the video.
We also tried to use the sea as the backdrop as much as possible to remind the viewer that we are on a beach, and to give the coast feeling to the viewer.

Location shots for our prelim

We are very happy with the location we picked for our prelim. We decided to go to Skegness because it is a very stereotypical British beach filled with cheap goods and not the nicest of people. The complete opposite of what the sterotypical American beach is like, which is where the Beach Boys would have filmed their version of the music video. Their beach would have been filled with attractive people and clean sand and clear blue water.
However we are pleased with our location because it wasn't filled with people that would have caused a problem with our filmed. We were also worried that the beach and weather wouldn't have been pleasant however both were fantastic and created a nice Beach Boys feel to the video.

Analysing Prelim lyrics

We decided to create an Illustration music video (where the video content matches the lyrics) because we felt that we could do it in a comedic way and almost make the video a parody of the Beach Boys.

I am happy with how it turned out because I feel that we did a good parody of the song however I think that it also showed what the lyrics were well at the same time.

Prelim Storyboard