Conventions of Music Videos

Camera

Close ups are used frequently in music videos. This is because the audience often watch music videos to see the singer, being a fan of them. Showing the artists face leads to the singer being more memorable, thus creating more popularity. When a music video is created the music is being sold just as much as the singer, as this ensures that a brand is being created. In addition close ups are also used to display the emotions the singer is creating as they are lip syncing the lyrics. It clearly signifies to the audience that this person is singing the song. 

Camera movement is another camera technique used in many music videos. The convention is used to trace the music artist or band. This is because the music video is about the artist, and so as the audience are listening to their song, they are watching the relevant scenes. An example of a music video to use a tracking shot all the way through is Foo Fighters' 'My Hero'.

Editing

Jump cuts are a popular editing convention in music videos. The reason for this is because music videos have to be quite short in their duration, so the flow of the narrative has to be fast. This leads to time being shown passing quickly. Similarly to jump cuts are montages another editing technique used in music videos, for the same reason.

Another commonly featured editing technique is the fade transition. Because many cuts are used in music videos something different such as a fade can put emphasis on certain cuts differentiating them.

A cutting technique sometimes used in music videos, is cutting to the beat. This is where the shot will change in response to the beat or tempo. An example of this is The Offspring's 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)''



Costumes

There are such a wide variety of music videos that there are no main conventional style for clothing. However the different music video genres usually have a conventional style to them. For example in a pop video the outfits worn are usually brightly coloured, and fashionable. When in rock videos the clothing is usually the opposite being dark, and 'rebellious'.

Locations

Much like costumes the conventions of locations mostly relies upon the genre of the music. However many music videos are filmed inside a studio, this is especially true for pop videos. In music videos the location almost always reflects the genre, for example in a pop video the surroundings will be bright and colourful.