Genre Conventions

Conventions of Music Videos by laurenmabs on GoAnimate

Within pop music videos there is a connection and a link between the lyrics of the song and the visuals, this is common to keep a solid narrative. This also creates a link between the artist and the song selling not only the product to the audience but the artists too. Having the artist or an actor perform in the video is essential to sell the artist as an individual, the cinematography and editing used is usually related to the video and cut or shot in time with the beat. This allows the audience to connect with the dominant personality of the video. Bright objects of lighting are also a strong convention of music videos because it stands out to the audience, the youth of today, for example in Stooshe, Rihanna and Carly Rae Jepson's videos. The bright objects and lighting appears vibrant and lively, something young people are attracted to. It also makes it more upbeat, so it fits the beat and general message of the songs. Fashion within music videos is a common factor, generally within the pop industry the singer songwriters/actors are wearing whatever the latest trend is as the time, this makes them relatable to their target audience. FUN are a band that contradict this theory as they wear suits within their videos, this is connoting that they don't want to be put into that Pop mainstream genre and are staying classy with their attire. Certain celebrities such as Olly Murs wear a type of product that is a reoccurring symbol of them and makes them recognisable, for example Olly's hat is his symbol.
There are many structures within theoretic narratives based upon a tale shown in music videos. Tzvetan Todarov (1977) came up with the Classic Narrative Structure, a theory that involves both an antagonist and protagonist, there is a distruption, quest and resolution. We use theories like these when producing videos to create an equilibrium with our audience, making it more real and connecting to the feelings of the target audience. No matter what theory it is in the music video there is a title feature of the artist or their song title at the beginning or end of the video. This embeds the idea into the audiences head to remember it more. Cinematography in my opinion is the main aspect of the videos, close ups are conventionally used because the singers lips are a focus of the media form.
Within videos such as Carly Rae Jepsons - Call me maybe and Maroon 5 - Moves like Jagger there is some voyeurism however not of the female form. This highlights some hypocrisy in the music industry; it's ok for men to be looked at, but when it's women there is a disruption caused.