Convention of a Music Video

There are many elements that go into making a music video these include:
Camera Shots: Camera shots are a major element in music videos, of course because it is a video. Music videos usually include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. These shots create emphasis on the artist of the video, the location and the emotions being shown in the video. Close ups are used to show emotions such as love, sadness and anger, but close ups also reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist, this is especially important in our music video as the artists will be miming and we want it to look convincing.
Camera Movement: Camera movement is used in music videos to follow and trace the artist or band throughout the video. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking shots and crane shots. During the filming of our music video we will use a lot of slow pans to show all of the band members.
 Mise-en-scene: Mise en scene is important in music videos as it helps to set the scene of the music video. Props are a key element, for example in a Indie music video instruments and props  such as drums, guitars and microphones are used to show a band in the video. Costume plays a key part in music videos as it can reflect the mood of the video, for example if the artist is wearing all black it can reflect their mood as being sad or depressed. Where as vibrant colours can reflect the artist being happy. However certain artists wear different outfits to suit what they are representing in the video, for example a rapper maybe represented in a music video by wearing a baseball cap and alot of flasy jewllery. Also the type of costume worn by the artist attracts it suited audience, as the audience can relate to the artist as they may wear the same sort of clothing.The setting for music videos sets the scene immediately, many settings used are simple settings where many people can relate to. For example in our music video we have used a derelict building for band shots and a grassy park like area for narrative shots.Editing is used to put the video together. Jump cuts are an editing technique used alot in music videos. This is because jump cuts allow sudden change from one scene to another. Also, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cut to different scenes.
Lighting: Lighting is also effective, some music videos are  black and white which help emphasise a particular mood such as sadness or loss. Some videos use artificial lighting which gives the artist an enhanced look. Sound in music videos is mainly the vocals of the song and the backing music. However some music videos are made into short films meaning there is alot of sound.

Here is an example of a black and white music video showing loss and sadness

Amy Winehouse- Back To Black

Here is an example of a vibrant video showing happiness. This is also an example of  an animated music video

Mika- Lollipop

Here are some conventions of a Indie Rock music video:

• They tend to be black and white
• The artist or band is shown throughout the video
• Extreme close ups and long shots are used quite alot
 • Dark locations such as derelict buildings 
• Some use of special effects sometimes.

 

Here is a example of an Indie Rock Music Video
The Killers- All These Things That I've Done