Purpose and Conventions of Promotional Music Videos

Definition of a music video:
A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.

Conventions of promotional music videos

Camera

• A wide range of shots (e.g: mid shots, close ups, long shots, high angle, low angle)
• Camera movement (e.g: tilt, pan, tracking, crane shots)

Mise en Scene

• Props
• Costume
• Lighting
• Hair and makeup
• Location / setting
• Colour

Sound

• Diegetic sound
• Non - diegetic sound

Editing

• Jump cuts
• Effects (e.g: fade + dissolve)

Purpose of promotional music videos

• To promote the artist's self image and music
• To sell the song further and attract a wider audience

There are three categories of music videos:

• Performance - band / singer
• Narrative - story
• Concept - symbolic

Performance

• A video of the artist/ band performing their song, and tend to include dancing, lip syncing, live concerts, or musicians playing musical instruments.
• They don't have a specific message for the audience, or a connection between the lyrics behind the song.
• They are made up of close shots of the artist, with them making eye contact with the viewer.
• Performance based music videos mostly build a relationship with the audience to show off the star identity.

Example of a performance based music video:

Narrative

• Videos attempting to tell a story that features lyrics or is based on the lyrics and dramatized in the video itself.
• They often a establish a clear relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of the song, and require the audience to understand the lyrics of the song clearly, so that they are understood fully.
• They consist of either actors acting according to the story, or the music artists are the ones performing. They may include performance of the actors or the musicians, but mainly focus on the narrative.

Example of a narrative based music video:

Concept

• Videos based on a specific concept or theme, could be including magic, supernatural, historical, religious, scientific, or any other idea based on a concept or theme.
• They mainly intrigue a specific class or target audience, according to the idea of the music video.
• These videos are not easily understood, but can be interesting to view if the audience does understand, as the unusual content attracts people, however they are more difficult to produce.

Example of a concept based music video: