A music video is an important tool in releasing a song, helping to sell both the artist and music by getting the release in the public eye. Typical conventions can be seen present in the construction of music videos. For example, Andrew Goodwin says that the genre of the music is often reflected in how the video is put together. This can be supported be such videos as ‘Girls Aloud’ (shown right) where a dance routine is used, stereotypically something that a pop girl band would partake in.
From another perspective, a dark, on stage theme may be used for the genre of metal like ‘Trivium’, a screenshot shown to the left. This convention helps the audience to instantly understand what to expect from the song as soon as they see the visual and both music and video support each other effectively.
As well as this, a music video will contain a large number of close up shots of the artist themselves. This is due to the fact that, incidentally, the idea is to sell this artist, particularly with genres such as pop when the focus and selling point may not be the music itself but more to do with the persona behind it, with set demands from the record label. For instance, this can be seen through a music video such as ‘Lady Gaga, Just Dance,’ seen right. Throughout the video, these close ups can be seen, focusing on the artist and selling point of Lady Gaga.
Seen alongside these close up shots, there is often a frequent reference to the notion of looking. The example shown to the left is from ‘Issues’ by ‘The Saturdays’, a member of the band looking out of a window. It could also be something such like looking in a mirror, through binoculars or a telescope. This idea gives the feeling of the artist being within reach, fans being able to look and communicate with them and also makes them more desirable and longing if looking from a distance.
Accompanying this idea of looking, something that frequently appears in music videos is the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The audience is forced to see the artist or character in the music video in a sexual way, almost like a ‘peeping tom’, observing the artist from a distance. This convention is frequently seen in videos where the idea is to sell the artist and appeal to a particular section of the audience, rather than selling them for their music, making them attractive, desirable and, controversially at points, something to aspire to. ‘Britney Spears’ in ‘Toxic’ is the example shown, an artist that epitomises this concept in almost all of her music videos.
Often, a music video may show some kind of intertextuality, where it references a particular idea from another media text. ‘Linkin Park’ used the design of anime concepts for their music video ‘Breaking the Habit’ (left). This often helps to target a specific part of the audience, in this case appealing to gamers and anime fans, something normally seen through a different medium brought to the media text of music video.
The final two conventions are more standard and simple. They state that there is often a relationship between lyrics and visuals, so when a particular object is mentioned for example it is shown on screen. The screenshot to the right is from ‘I’ll Be OK’ from ‘Mcfly’, and the line says, “All alcohol in the world would ever help me to forget”; the visual reflects this with a beer shown and the artist looking sad and depressed, the correct mood established to fit with this specific lyric. However, the two do not have to necessarily match; they may be contradicting, working in an opposing way. The other is when there is a relationship between music and visuals with the editing working together with the beat of the music. This is present in almost all music videos so a whole host of examples could be used, the one below a short section of ‘You Me At Six’ with ‘Underdog,’ the different images moving along with the fast paced beat. Again, this relationship does not have to match, it could be intentionally contradictory, yet there is still a relationship of sorts.
These six conventions typically define what appears in most music videos and from this, I will work to create my own that adheres to as many of these conventions as possible, therefore making it as realistic as possible.
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