1. What are the conventions of a music video?
A music video is made of many different components and parts. A main part of this would be the
camera angles and movements. These can be long shots, close ups, zooms, tracking, mid shots, pans,
birds eye views, high shot, low shot, extreme close up and many more. These angles are used to
show the audience the music video in a certain way for example in Miley Cyrus music video for her
song ‘wrecking ball’ the camera has a close up of her eyes to show her ‘tears and pain’ to the
audience and the camera pans over her body to show the curve of her legs, thighs and chest and a
few mid shots of her shoulders upwards implying that she is naked which links to the ‘Male Gaze’
theory by Laura Mulvey as the pan of her body was to show her female features and make her look
attractive to the audience. However some believe that her nakedness in her music video was to
symbolise her vulnerability.
Sometimes music videos are expected to have a dance routine which usually ends up sweeping
across the world and soon enough everyone is dancing along. An example of this would be the song
‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy from Korea. His iconic dance moves such as ‘riding the horse’ were famous
worldwide and many large organisations did group copies of this dance. This helped gain Psy song
worldwide recognition for his song and hilarious music video.
The mise en scene is also a very big part of a music video through what the artists or actors in the
video are wearing such as tight fitting revealing clothing such as Rhianna in her ‘SnM’ music video to
show her sex appeal and grab the attention of her audience. Props play an important role in a music
video as they are commonly used as symbolism such as in Miley Cyrus’s music video for ‘Wrecking
ball’ she licks the hammer to show how she loves the pain and the wrecking ball she swings on is a
symbol for how her life has been destroyed and ‘wrecked’.
The way a music video is edited is crucial to display the meaning to the audience. For example
constant jump cuts or flashes of clips can create a disorientated feel for the audience which can
match the meaning of the song. A slow relaxed paced song may have minimal clips and very smooth
transitions or fade outs between each clip. This is seen in Sinéad O'Connor’s music video for ‘Nothing
compares 2U’ where the main image is a close up of her face .This was very minimal but gave the
audience the full impact of the song as they could feel her emotions such as sadness and regret
making it an extremely famous and successful music video due to the camera angles, mise en scene
and editing.
A music video has many purposes
To make money by grabbing the audience’s attention and make them want to buy the song
which may lead onto them buying the album or looing and buying the artists previous songs
and albums.
To entertain
To promote the artists song or album
To connote the songs meaning and the artists beliefs
In some cases to create controversy which can gain the artists a negative view but people
will still want to watch the video to see what everyone is talking about gaining the artists
popularity. This technique is similar to ‘word of mouth’ where people want to watch the
video because they’ve heard about something outrages in it that they must see.
There are lots of ways to analyse a music video
You could look at the symbolism of the music video and want ideas the artists is trying to
promote. This links into the ideology and culture theory where the star represent shares
cultural values and attitudes, and promotes a certain ideology. This is seen with Lady
Gaga who is a massive supporter of Lesbian, Gay and Transgender rights and this is seen
in her music video ‘Paparazzi’ where there is a scene with her kissing to girls with very
little clothing on and then in her music video for ‘Poker face’ where her attention is on
the male actor.

2. Analyse the mise en scene, what props are used, clothing, colour and lighting.
You could note the different camera angles used such as pans, zooms, tracking shots,
low shots and high shots.
How the video has been edited? Has it got lots of short clips together or a few smooth
transitions?
Analyse what message the video is giving to the audience. Is the artist trying to convey
their feeling towards society or does the artist just want to promote their song.
What’s the mode of address? Is it through the lyrics, images on screen or text in the
video?