1. Analysis of Product
3
Music Video
Foo Fighters - Wheels

2. Conventions
I will use 7 specific shots I’ve
chosen from this music video
as examples for conventions
of music videos.

3. Camerawork
Close ups/extreme close-ups.
(Extreme) Close ups are shots that are used all the time in music
videos (especially in the alternative rock ones that I’ve researched)
so can been seen as a convention.
The close ups usually focus on the lead singer (if he/she is present
in the video, as in this one I researched) more than any other
member of the band, due to the fact they are the one singing.
Showing these close ups emphasise the emotion when they are
singing, depending on what the lyrics mean (expressing anger,
happiness) via their facial expressions.

4. Panning
Panning is also a popular convention within music videos.
In this case, the shot starts off to the right of the room the band are performing
in, then it moves to the left, until a lamp blocks the view of the room.
Panning simply tries to act as an establishing shot, showing where the band
are, what the room is like (what’s mise-en-scene like; the
props, costumes, settings, low-key light, etc.).
The shot successfully shows the settings/location of the room, shows there is
low-key lighting and shows the costumes the band members are wearing, and in
doing so also shows that the band are the only people in the room.
Odd props such as street lights/lamps are also in the room, indicating that the
band aren’t in a normal room, which also seems to have padded/soundproof
walls.
This could be a studio that the band practice in.

5. Fade In
This convention is from the technical area editing.
I’ve seen it be used quite a few times, and quite often linking to the lyrics
of the video. The singer will originally not be in the first shot, then fade in
(or sometimes out). The lyrics usually relate to this by talking about not
feeling like you belong somewhere (hence fading out) or feeling like
you’ve found somewhere new (fading in).
This works quite well in low-key lighting, better than in high-key
lighting, because it seems to have a better effect due to the background
light not affecting the way the person fades in/out (sometimes with
high-key lighting, fade ins/out just don’t look right).

6. Cutting/Cross cutting
Cutting is another convention from editing which is always used in music
videos.
It simply cuts from one shot to another, keeping the video flowing. In this
example that I’ve given, the camera cuts from the lead singers playing
guitar and singing to the drummer of the band. Both people are shown
used a type of mid shot; so even though the camera has cut to someone
else, they still share the same camera shot which just creates as sense of
continuity in the camerawork.

7. High angle
As the lead singer says “looked into to the sky”, the shot cuts
away from a close up of him to this high angle which is
accompanied by a change from higher-key lighting to a lower-
key lighting. This high angle goes well with the lyrics of the
song, with the low key lighting that appears emphasising the
feeling of being forgotten (which some lyrics in the song
insinuate).
High angles are used a lot in music videos, usually to show
superiority or inferiority, but in this case it’s used to show
something else, which is good as it shows this one shot can
represent different things.

8. Pace of editing
As the song picks up and reaches to the solo towards the end of the song, the
editing speeds up from a slower pace to a faster one. This is due to the
heavier/faster part of the song kicking in, forcing the editing to keep up with
this change of pace. When this happens, the shots sometimes become blurry
or distorted which can be a good thing because it emphasises a heavier/faster
side to the song.
This change in the pace of editing is common in the music videos I’ve seen so
can be classed as a convention as it has been present in music videos for
years now, not just something that has only started being used.

9. Long shot
The ending shot is a long shot which is
accompanied by panning and a fade
out, two conventions that I’ve mentioned
before.
As in the opening scenes, a mid/long shot is used to establish the settings
for the music video while the ending scene ends in a similar way. The
camera pans from left to right and fades out the further it moves, while
showing a long shot to show where the band were. This type of ending is a
popular one used to end a music video, especially when the last note of the
song is held and dragged out until you can’t hear it anymore.