Pop music videos typically feature bright, vibrant lighting and settings to portray an upbeat mood. Costumes, makeup, and props are chosen to reflect the artist's style and lyrics of the song. Common techniques include close-ups of the artist's face, establishing shots of locations, and shots that follow the choreography or performance. Editing is done on the beat of the music. Main types of pop videos are performance, narrative, and mixed. Performance focuses on the artist lip-syncing, narrative uses a scripted story, and mixed includes elements of both.

1. Conventions of Pop Music Videos
(G324: Media Studies)

2. What is Pop?
• Pop music is a popular genre of music that originated from the United
Kingdom & the United States during the mid-1950s.
• Pop music derives its ideas and styles from a broad range of genres,
including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country – despite this, there is
certain elements that define “Pop” music, for example, Pop music
tends to attempt to appeal to a general audience, unlike some genres,
such as Rock, Rap, etc.
• Pop music usually has a focus on melodies, catchy hooks and a chorus
that contrasts with the verses

3. Conventions of Pop Music Videos
Mise-En-Scene Camerawork Editing and Sound
Costume: the costume will heavily depend on
the artist. Commonly, the artist will wear the
latest fashion – occasionally, the artist will
wear clothing that is “out there”, for example
Lady Gaga.
Many closeups of artist’s faces Editing in pop music videos can vary from
video to video, this reflects the wide range of
sub-genres within the “pop” genre.
Lighting: Generally bright, vibrant lighting will
be used, however in some cases, dark lighting
may be used to portray an emotion, for
example in a “love” song.
Establishing shots of locations Pop videos tend to edit on the beat of the
song
Makeup: similarly to costume, makeup will
heavily depend on the artist.
Long shots of choreography / performance
Props: the props tend to depend on the lyrics,
some songs require more props than others.
POV shots are used to create a sense of
relatability. For example in the video for
“Galway girl” a POV shot is used to portray a
scene of Ed Sheeran walking down a street at
night with a girl – something that many
people can relate to.
Setting: bright, vibrant settings – usually
filmed in the real world, making it relatable

4. Types of Videos: Performance
• Performance videos are one of the most
common types of videos. In these types of
videos, we see the artist(s) “performing” and
lip synching to their song. Clips from real
concerts may also be used.
• In “What makes you beautiful” by One
Direction, we see the band hanging out,
having fun at a beach this video mainly
features clips of the band lip-syncing to the
music.

5. Types of Videos: Narrative
• Narrative videos are primarily created using
scripted narratives. These videos may include
some lip-synching, but will focus mainly on
the narrative the visuals portray.
• In “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift, we see her
walking around a big house, sitting on a big
bed, and playing/dancing with a man. This
creates the narrative of a love story, which
then begins to break down towards the
middle/end of the video.

6. Types of Videos: Mixed
• Mixed videos include features from both
narrative, and performance videos.
• In “Galway Girl” by Ed Sheeran, clips from his
concert are used, along with clips that
together create a small, easy to follow
narrative.