Conventions

A Music Video Director by the name of Andrew Goodwin had noticed a trend throughout his work and noted these trends down, they were how music videos feature similar but specific elements. To show people this trend, Andrew Goodwin wrote a book called 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' and explained the 7 conventions used to attract an audience.

These 7 conventions were:

1. Genre Characteristics

2. Relationships between lyrics and visuals

3. Relationships between music and visuals

4. Artist Iconography

5. Voyeurism

6. Intertextuality

Genre Characteristics

1. Rock - Band performance, guitars, drums, alternative clothes etc.

2. Pop - Dance routines, glam hair and make-up, colourful outfits, stage settings etc.

3. Rap - large party, gold chains, casual clothing, urban street setting etc.

What can you expect from a music video?

Some of the most common things to see in a music video are...

Lip Syncing

Music - Non-diegetic

Artist Character

Narrative

Dancing

Costumes/ outfits

Style

Theme

Performance

Colour Grading