Generic Conventions of Music Videos

There are many generic conventions in music videos, I am going to demonstrate these by using The Scientist by Coldplay as an example:

Varieties of different camera shots will be used to show the artist, here we can see a close up of Chris Martin.

 Camera movement is also very common within music videos as we can see from the close up the camera pans to a long shot.
Lighting is also very important within music videos, as it highlights the artist and makes them look better or more attractive which then appeals to a larger audience.

 This screenshot also demonstrates camera movement as the camera pans from Chris's feet to a full body shot.







Music directors try to include different backgrounds and scenery to keep the audience entertained.

Again, a large range of camera shots are used, here we can see an establishing shot.

Costume/outfit changes are also a generic convention of music videos, here we can see Chris in a changed outfit. This may be due to product placement or to display the artists style.






Props are generic conventions in music videos. In this video this car is a prop. Props can be used by the artist or be included within the narrative of the story.






This screenshot shows the narrative within the video, having a narrative within the music video is also a generic convention.

Digi-packs That Have Inspired Me

Miles Kane - Colour of The Trap

This album cover displays the artist, Miles Kane, in black and white and then uses large, bright pink writing to contrast with the black and white, in order to make his name stand out. A simple yet very effective album cover.
It has featured Miles Kane as the main focus of the album cover to appeal to his audience and to increase his popularity.




Gorillaz - Demon Days

Demon Days by The Gorillaz highlights all four of their animated characters. By using black and white as their main colours it allows the main focus of the album cover to be on the characters, in which case represent the artist.
The font used is in capital letters and in white to contrast with the black background. By doing this it makes the band name and album name stand out to allow its reputation to increase.




Arctic Monkeys - Whatever You Say I Am That's What I'm Not

This album cover by the Arctic Monkeys displays Chris McClure, friends of the band, smoking a cigarette. This caused controversy with the NHS as it promotes smoking. By causing controversy it causes interest to followers of the NHS and even smokers in general, which allows the albums popularity to increase further.
Also, many young people who believe smoking to be cool or mischievous would begin to feel the Arctic Monkeys are cool and therefore want the album. This is similar to the effect that an explicit content warning on the front of an album has.



Eminem - Relapse

Relapse by Eminem displays Eminem's face by using pills. This is a very artistic way to show his face whilst displaying a background story to the album. The album is about Eminem's recovery from drug addiction therefore the sticker on the front cover resembles a prescription drug label, which has been prescribed from Dr. Dre.
This creates interest with fans of Eminem as they want to know more about his recovery, and fans of Dr. Dre will also become interested due to his features within the album.
The album cover includes an explicit content warning sticker on the front which makes people (especially young people) believe that having this album is rebellious as you have to be over 18 to buy it. Therefore they will try harder to buy it, even if they are not particularly big fans of Eminem or rap music.

Music Video Director - Diane Martel

Diane has worked on famous music videos such as:




The Killers - Read My Mind

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Ciara ft. Justin Timberlake - Love Sex Magic










Diane Martel has directed these three music videos by Miley Cyrus, Ciara, and The Killers. Dianes' videos display similarities as all three are performance videos which focus on the main artist. Due to the artists popularity and fame, Diane can afford to keep the videos simple and focused on the artists as many fans will want to watch the artist perform to their own music.

Music Video Director - Joseph Kahn

Joseph Kahn

Joseph has worked on famous music videos such as:

Eminem - We Made You

Taylor Swift - Bad Blood













Nicole Scherzinger - Poison 

Joseph's work all share similar features to one another. In these three music videos I have selected of his, the artist is the main feature of the video, this follows Andrew Goodwin's theory of The Star, and the video is not supposed to be taken seriously but instead to show a different, more comical side of the artist. He works with upbeat songs in order to show this funny, relaxed side of the artist.
Even though the artist is the main focus of the video, he features many other actors within his videos to interact with the artist to portray the artists dominance in comparison to others.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

In Andrew Goodwin's theory, it states there are 5 key aspects in a music video:

• Thought beats (seeing the sound)
• Relationship of visuals to the song
• Narrative and performance 
• Technical aspects of the video
• The Star image (making the artist centre of attention)

This can be demonstrated through the music video 'Gold Digger' by Kanye West:

The Star Image - In the music video Kanye West is the centre of attention majority of the time.

Relationship of Visuals to the Song - In the song the lyrics 'baby by busta' are said and this is then directly related to the image in the video.

Again, this screenshot shows the relationship of visuals to the song, as in the song it says 'I know somebody paying child support for one of his kids' and this is directly related to the visual of the kid.







Andrew Goodwin also agrees with Laura Mulvey's theory of The Gaze. He talks about the voyeuristic treatment which shows that by filming certain features of men and women in a sexual way, it creates an interest and attraction to the viewers.




The voyeuristic treatment can be shown here as close ups of this women is irrelevant but creates attention to the male viewers.

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze Theory

The concept of the gaze is one that deals with how the audience views the people represented in the video. This theory consists of three different gazes:

• That of the person behind the camera.
• That of the characters within the video itself.
• The gaze of the viewer.

A music video which uses this theory is 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke.

Throughout this music video the women are portrayed as objects rather than people and are arguably the main focus of the video due to their revealing outfits and their bodies.

Having girls such as these creates a talking point to viewers, both male and female, as male viewers talk about the girls and their attractiveness, and the female viewers talk about sexism and even though it may give the video a bad image, it creates an awareness and makes the video even more popular on YouTube and social media. 

The screenshots I took below demonstrate how the women are portrayed throughout the video:

Great Music Videos - Shake It Off

Shake It Off by Taylor Swift has become a massive hit with over 1 billion views as it creates so many hot talking points within the video to appeal to a wide audience. It includes several different genres of dance styles, such as Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet and Cheerleader, which again appeals to a wide audience as fans of these genres will be interested in this video.

Taylor Swift performing her song demonstrating ballet.

 She then begins to perform her song whilst demonstrating Hip Hop.

 Here Taylor Swift is imitating Lady Gaga from one of her music videos.

Taylor Swift performing to Jazz.

Here Taylor Swift recreates the scene from Nicki Minaj's Anaconda.

This creates a talking point for social media and gives fans of Nicki Minaj reason to watch the video.

Here Taylor is dancing in the form of Cheerleader.









Taylor Swift performs all theses different genres of music and imitates all these different artists to create an interest with the artists fan base whom she is imitating. Some people would argue she is taking the mick out of the artists that she is imitating, however this is a clever way to create a hot talking point around the Shake It Off music video, which then allows the videos publicity to increase.