CONVENTIONS OF

MUSIC VIDEOS
A music video is a short film, video or montage of
footage that accompanies a piece of a music.

THERE ARE 3 GENERAL TYPES OF

MUSIC VIDEOS:

Narrative: These are music videos which tell a story with

lyrics, this is almost like a short film but with music. This type
of music video can be made up of a beginning, middle and
end. An example of this type of music video is
Conceptual: These are music videos based around a single
concept or idea. They can be filmed or edited in an unusual
way. This type of music video is not very common as it is fairly
hard to come up with a concept idea.
Performance: These are music videos which consist of the
artist performing live throughout most of the video or with
parts of the music video showing live performances. This type
of music video can be of the artist singing, dancing or playing
a musical instrument. This is a good way for the artist to
promote their music to their target audience as it shows and
highlights there ability to perform and entertain the audience.

CAMERA ANGLES/MOVEMENTS

Music videos use a range of shots to emphasise the

artist in the video.

Close-up shot is used if the director wants to focus the

audiences attention on one particular thing. This is often an
artists facial expression.
Extreme close-up shot focuses the audiences attention on
even smaller details.
Long shot shows us the whole of the artist, thus drawing
attention to the artists costume and body language. Also it
gives us more background to look at (setting).
Mid shot allows us to see the artist from the waist up.
Tracking shots are used to follow the artists.
High angle shot is taken from above, this makes it look
smaller. Low angle shot is taken from below, making it look
bigger.

SOUND
o

The sound in the music video is usually the soundtrack and the
artists voices. However in some music videos there is also
dialogue at the beginning or during the music video.
Example: Katy Perry Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A

Sound Parallel is when the music matches the mood of the

video. For example if the music video was sad then the music
would also be sad. Again this would be the same for a happy
music video.

Diegetic sound is also included in many music videos. This

sometimes includes surrounding in the background such as birds
tweeting, police sirens etc. These diegetic sounds makes the
music video appear more realistic.

EDITING
o

Editing also known as post production is crucial in a music

video, as this is what brings the music video together.
Editing consists of jump cuts and CGI effects. CGI effects
is the process used for generating animated images by
using computer graphics. For example adding different
background to the music videos.

Parallel editing is when there are cuts with many scenes

happening at the same time.

Jumps cuts are mostly common in music videos as it

brings the target audience in to keep watching as they are
shown many different cuts. This is common in a narrative
music videos.

MISE-EN-SCENE
o

Mise-en-Scene highlight costumes, lighting, props and setting.

Mise-en-Scene is important in the success of a music video as
this will depend on whether the music video is liked by the
target audience.
Depending on the genre of the music video, different mise-enscene will be shown. For example in a rock music video you
will see guitars and drums.
Props in a music video become iconic. For example Beyonce
Single Ladies, her hand or Michael Jackson and his glove.
These items become well known to the target audience.
Costume and Makeup depends on the type of music video. In
a rock music video, you usually see dark and heavy makeup
and costumes tend to have spikes and also dark.
Setting can be on location or green screened. However not
always does green screen work with music videos as they
sometimes tend to look unrealistic.

CONVENTIONS OF POP VIDEOS

o

o
o

Pop music videos are usually very bright and

colourful with a good atmosphere. These are
usually songs that people listen to when they are at
a party to set a good atmosphere. Pop videos
usually consist of many dance performances with
many different types of camera shots such as close
ups and long shots.
Carly Rae Jepson Call me maybe
Katy Perry Teenage Dream
Cheryl Cole Fight for this Love

CONVENTIONS OF INDIE/ROCK VIDEOS

o

Indie/Rock music videos tend to follow a dark

colour scheme with lots of blacks, greys and whites.
This type of music genre tends to just be
performance based with the use of many
instruments as props. Many close ups are used to
highlight the facial expression of the artist when
they are singing very heavily.

Kings of Leon Sex on Fire

Kings of Leon Use Somebody

CONVENTIONS OF DANCE VIDEOS

o

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o

Dance music videos are usually bright and happy

with a theme of a huge party. This type of music
video uses camera shots of the party and all the
dancers and sometimes the DJ. Lots of different
effects are used in these music videos to make
them appear more energetic and interesting.
Katy B Lights On
Jennifer Lopez On The Floor ft. Pitbull

THE MEDIA HAS COMMONLY

REFERRED TO JACKSON AS THE
"KING OF POP"
because, throughout his career, he transformed the art
of music videos and paved the way for modern pop
music

Pop

Definition: Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation

of "popular") is usually understood to be commercially recorded music,
often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively
short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new
variations on existing themes.

Can be traced to the sixties with 3 minute songs created for the singles
chart thereby establishing the most popular records of the time.
Bands originated from Liverpools Cavern club and Denmark street
Londons tin pan alley. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones all topped
the charts and could therefore be defined as pop.

Fashion was and is whatevers popular often established by a

particular band adopting a signature style in hair (moptops), jackets
(parkas for Mods and Oasis) flares (hippies and tamla motown) platform
shoes (glamrock).

KING OF POP
It has been widely claimed that Michael Jackson utilises
and combines several different genres within his music
anthology; but then again it might also be claimed that
he is very much a pop artist and remains firmly within
that genre, representing the early eighties in terms of
glamrock and little else.
Task:
A commonly held view is that Michael Jacksons work
is understood to utilise elements of several subgenres.

Are there any you can think of that you might add to
this?

Use the conventions below to help you with the last

question:

BPM

120

Fashion

Men: white suits, black shirt, pastel shades,

collars up, medallions
Women: Heels, revealing tight dresses, male
gaze, sunglasses (indoors)

Image

Origins

All in one place, gay, straight, black white,

poor, rich all inclusive and danced in the
same place Studio 54 (NYC) ruled the city
and if you could get in youd be dancing with
the stars.
The term "discotheque" was coined in
Europe to describe clubs where there was no
live music played. These types of clubs
emerged in the United States where they
were also described as "Discotheques"
following the 1960 popularity of dance

ALBUM: OFF THE WALL

RELEASED: 1979
AWARDS: GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST MALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE, AMERICAN MUSIC AWARD FOR FAVORITE
SOUL/R&B SINGLE
NOMINATIONS: GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST DISCO RECORDING
MICHAEL JACKSON - DON'T STOP 'TIL YOU GET ENOUGH

R NB
Style
Fashion
Image

Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum

and rhythmic interplay producing mellow, lilting, and
often hypnotic textures while calling attention to no
individual sound. While singers are emotionally
engaged with the lyrics, often intensely so, they
remain cool, relaxed, and in control.
Ghetto chic?

Origins
Audience

urbane, rocking,jazz based music with a heavy,

insistent beat
Genre of African American music originated in the
1940s
Predominantly African American

MICHAEL JACKSON - ONE MORE CHANCE

IT WAS PENNED BY R. KELLY AND CO-PRODUCED BY JACKSON AND KELLY FOR INCLUSION ON JACKSON'S COMPILATION
ALBUM NUMBER ONES,
WAS THE LAST ORIGINAL SINGLE RELEASED DURING JACKSON'S LIFETIME.
IT RECEIVED A POSITIVE RECEPTION FROM MUSIC CRITICS AND REACHED THE TOP TEN IN ITALY AND THE UNITED KINGDOM.

NEW JACK SWING (SUB GENRE R&B)

TEDDY RILEY

REMEMBER THE TIME

1992
Prior to the release of the video, Jackson's record
label promoted it by releasing clips, as well as
releasing behind the scenes clips of making the
video.
The nine-minute video was promoted as a "short
film groundbreaking visual effects and
appearances by Eddie Murphy, Iman, The
Pharcyde, Magic Johnson, Tom "Tiny" Lister,
Jr. and Wylie Draper, who portrayed Jackson as an
adult in the made for TV movie The Jacksons: An
American Dream

Beat it Music video - Blog

Rock/ Pop

List conventions

MJ GENRE

Throughout his solo career, Jackson's versatility

allowed him to experiment with various themes and
genres. As a musician, he ranged from Motown's
dance fare and ballads to techno and house-edged
new jack swing to work that incorporates both funk
rhythms and hard rock guitar.

A2. 'Most texts today mix genres.' How true is

this of your three main texts?. [30]
A2. How do your chosen texts use genre
conventions? [30]

EXAM QUESTION:

'Most media texts target a range of different

audiences.' How true is this for your chosen
texts?

For this particular question you could consider

Jackson's use of different musical sub-genres,
varied lyrical themes (link to Andrew Goodwin
conventions) and dance influences. As he
has aged, so has his themes.

DANCE INFLUENCES

http://www.mjdanceschool.com/origins-of-mjsdance-style.html

REPRESENTATION AND MJ

Compare the Billboard Top 100 1981 with the

MTV playlist 1981 were they (black groups/
artists ethnicity) being represented fairly?

HIP HOP/ RAP AND MTV

It could be argued that Hip Hop and Rap were only beginning
to achieve mainstream audience appeal in the early 1980s,
but was this primarily due to their lack of exposure on MTV?
What was out there in 1982 that could have been played?
(next slide)

Year of seminal rap and the birth of a new genre in Hip Hop:
electro-funk, initiated by Afrika Bambaataa's & The Soul Sonic
Force's "Planet Rock", the most sampled Hip Hop record of all
time (James Brown's "Funky Drummer" is the most sampled
record in Hip Hop).
The other most important Hip Hop record of all time is
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's "The Message"
which jumpstarts political/social rap (industry/ Marxism?)

1. The Message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious

Five
2. Planet Rock - Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic
Force
3. Looking for the Perfect Beat - Afrika Bambaataa & The
Soul Sonic Force
4. Play At Your Own Risk - Planet Patrol
5. Punk Rock Rap - Cold Crush Brothers
6. Rockin' It - The Fearless Four
7. Country, Rock, and Rap - Disco 4
8. Pac Jam (Look Out for the OVC) - The Jonzun Crew
9. Walking on Sunshine - Rocker's Revenge feat. Donnie
Calvin
10. The Smurf - Tyrone Brunson
11. Magic's Wand - Whodini
12. Change the Beat - Fab 5 Freddy
13. Scorpio - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
14. Body Mechanic - Quadrant Six
15. It's Magic - The Fearless 4
Honorable Mention: E.T. Boogie - Extra T's

THE MESSAGE VS. RAPTURE

What do you think about their (MTV) reasons?

(Black videos weren't being made)?
READ HANDOUT

SO WHERE DOES MJ FIT IN?

Which records had Michael Jackson produced
between 1980 and 1985?
Were they video- friendly? Do you think they
helped pave the way for others?

HOW GLOBAL/ GLOBAL APPEAL

Genre sub genres
Music Critical/ commercial acclaim
MTV he desegregated MTV
Videos - cost and scope (dance, length, CGI) of his
videos marked a paradigm shift away from the
cheap, unambitious schlock MTV had been
showing to that point (Thriller, Scream)
Links to Industry