Conventions of Music Videos

There are many conventions of Music Videos. One of these is Movement. This is essential to music videos as it represents the beat of the song it's showing. Movement can be shown though camera movement, people moving, dancing or the speed of editing. A good example of movement is Bring Me the Horizon's Shadow Moses. It has quick and shaky actions and editing which represents the song extremely well.



Another convention is Narrative. This is when the video tells a story. Sometimes a story which represents the lyrics exactly or a different story. A good example of this is My Chemical Romance The Ghost Of You. The video shows a World War 2 scene with an old fashion dance with all the soldiers then it goes to the war itself. The video is intense at the end shows a tragic scene of the loss of a solider.


A lot of music videos tend to show the band/artist preforming or lip syncing. It sometimes shows them as acting rather than preforming as in showing a story. MCR The Ghost of you can be used as another example for this. It shows the lead singer Gerard Way lip syncing the song as well as acting like an old war solider. Another great example of this is Panic! at The Disco's song I Write Sins Not Tragedies The video for this shows a wedding which lead singer Brendon Urie crashes lip syncing and talking to the groom through the song.
Another convention in intertexuality. This is when the song makes references to other music videos or films or video games. A good example of this is All Time Low's I feel like dancin'. This video shows the band copying Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. It copies the artists fully with their appearance.




However although this is an exact copy, there are some which are more discrete. An example of this is The Killers, Miss Atomic Bomb. This music video shows a cartoon story about a boy and girl. Another song which has a similar music video is Linkin Park, Breaking the habit. This also shows a cartoon story but is more detailed.