Styles, Conventions & Techniques of the Music video

STYLES

The use of:

• Colour
• Location
• Choreography & performance
• Narrative (story)
• Sexual/ violent content
• The image of the musician
• Representation (gender, class, age etc.)
• Humour
• Editing
• Lighting 

Pop:

colour--> mostly white; red - bright colours with a mixture of different colours

Location--> mainly at the beach; at her backyard & house

choreography--> girly dance

narrative--> girls having parts

the image of the musician --> sweet/ lovely

Representation--> upper middle class

Editing--> lots of other shot

Lighting--> a lot

Rap & Hip Hop:

colour--> mixture of colours

Location--> on the streets

sexual/violent content --> involved

the image of the musician--> gangster image - street smart

representation--> mixed gender; working class; age mid 20s

Rock and Heavy Metal:

colour--> black, white and red(fire) - dark colours

Location--> outside haunted house

the image of the musician --> deluded; metal; scary; horror

Styles

Style 1: In Concert & As Live Footage

Editing--> range of shots; slow effects; more dramatic

Style 2: Animation 

Style 3: Illustrative/ Interpretive music video (Illustrative= one which will use the literal lyrics as a basic for the visual and interpretative= encourages audience to speculate as to the deeper meaning of the song by using narrative which is not lifted literally from the lyrics, and the bond between the two will not be immediately obvious)

Style 4: Narrative (in media, narrative refers to the way a story is told; how the music video communicates the story to the audience)

Style 5: Surrealist (an art at movement which aims to break down boundaries between fantasy, dreams and reality)

Style 6: Pastiche & Homage ( this is where one media text [in this case, a music video], references another in an affectionate way a tribute).

Style 7: Parody (where one media text imitates another)

Conventions

• Lyrics interpretation;
• extending or consolidation song's meaning; 
• allusion - making reference to other things (pastiche/ homage & parody)
• links to other artists - collaborations?

Techniques 

1. Cutting To Beat 

2. Visual Effects (early 80s - particularly early days of CGI)

3. Miming and Lip-sync

4. Chroma Key (this is special effects/ post-production technique for composting