Purpose and Conventions of Promotional Music Videos -

Purpose - 

What is a music video? - 

A music video is a sequence of video clips joined together to accompany a song. It is produced to promote the release of a song and the artist. However, music videos can also be used to promote products that are featured in the video. This is called product placement. Most music videos tell a narrative usually along a similar line to the songs lyrics. 

Styles of music video - 

There are many different styles and genres of music video. These features help the video to stand out, be interesting and unique.

• Narrative
• Performance
• Concept 

Narrative - Narrative based music videos follow a storyline that features in the songs lyrics. They help the viewer to understand the concept of the song and the meaning behind the words. A large amount of artist now use narrative in their music videos as they are normally very popular due to the fact they are easily understood. 

An example of a narrative based music video is 'Last Friday Night' by 'Katy Perry'.

The video follows the story of Katy Perry's alter ego "Kathy Beth Terry" and the events that happened to her 'Last Friday Night'. The video follows the song lyrics and makes it clear to understand what the song is about. Katy Perry also uses lip-syncing throughout the video which helps to emphasise the lyrics so the audience can fully understand the link between the narrative in the video and the songs lyrics. 

Performance - Performance based music videos consist mainly of the artist or band  performing there song. This can include lip-syncing, dancing, or the band playing instruments. They are used mostly to create a connection between the artist/band and audience and to promote the artist. There is no connection between the song lyrics and the video. 

An example of a performance based music video is 'Are you gonna be my girl' By 'Jet'.

The video shows the band performing there song against a plain white background. They use lip-syncing to create a clear cut and professional look. They also use a black and white filter to make there video stand out from other performance based music videos as they often don't have very much movement. They also used animation to make it stand out more from other music videos to make up for the lack of concept and narrative.

Concept - Concept based music videos are based on a specific concept or theme. They normally have a specific target audience, depending on the idea of the music video. These types of video are not as easy to understand as narrative or performance based music videos. They often have unusual content which can make the video more interesting to watch and draw in a wider audience. 

An example of a concept based music video is 'Elastic Heart' by 'Sia'.

This video shows two people trapped in a cage which is used to represent being small minded. The young girl Maddie, represents an alter ego/demon/conscious mind/children can change. The man represents subconscious mind/maturity (mature people don't change)/peace. The performers are playing the roles of animals which makes the concept a bit harder to understand. The difficult concept caused it to be very controversial however, this then drew a wider audience to the video to make there own mind up on the video. 

Conventions - 

Camera - 

• Crane Shots
• Low-angles
• Long shots and Extreme long shots
• Tracking shots
• Pan and tilt shots

Sound - 

• Diegetic Sound
• Non-diegetic Sound
• Change in Levels of sound

Mise-en-scene - 

• Location - On a stage, in the street etc.
• Props
• Costume

Editing - 

• Animation/ Computer Generated Images
• Split screens
• Filters/Effects

Types of Editing used in Music Videos - 

• Flashback - a scene or moment in a film/Novel/Music video that is set in a time earlier than the main story.

• Eye-line Match - An edit that cuts from the character to what they have been looking at.

• Graphic Match - When two objects of the same or similar shape dissolve into one another.

• Match Cut - When the position of an object is cut into the next shot but using a different object. 

• Continuity Editing - (Also called match on action) where the cut is almost unnoticeable.

• Linear Narrative - Where the shots are arranged in chronological order to create a storyline.

• Cutaways - A brief shot that momentarily interrupts the main continuous action.