What are the forms and conventions of a music video?

In order to create a music video, I needed to a have an in depth understanding of the conventions of a successful video.

Location

The unexpected- According to my research locations like these vary from an abandoned house to the Sahara dessert. These locations are used to surprise the audience or link them to the lyrics of the song.

Studio- Filming in a studio is commonly used in many indie/rock videos. Although it is used often Directors are still able to find interesting new ways to present this. An example of this is the video to "called out in the dark" by Snow Patrol.

Outside and Inside- According to my research a music video is filmed embracing the use of nature outside with a vibrant colour scheme or a binary opposite in being filmed in a dark enclosure inside following a grey colour scheme. This surprised me as both settings of mis-en-scene embraced the genre of indie-rock.

To develop my understand of location, I decided to develop my initial studies and explore the outside environment in my local woodland. The video below reveals my struggle in shake free filming. Although I gained an insight to how suitable an outside environment would be for a music video , this also raised awareness to the fact a steady cam would produce a successful outcome.  I think it is important to include both successful and unsuccessful work in order to show improvement and progression.

Clothing
Due to the genre being Indie/Rock , research into the ideal clothing was a challenge as the clothing had to relate to a split target audience. These creations from Paper doll Heaven are my response from watching existing music videos to what the dress sense in an indie-rock video should be.

Advertising

 Overall music videos are a source of ADVERTISEMENT for the band or singer. Therefore many videos have indirect promotion within the video. this only caught my attention after observing many videos. The use of indirect promotion could be from an original storyline to the band wearing or acknowledging their logos. The most intelligent use of advertising that I discovered was the use of a storyline in which Mayday Parade continued in two songs. as an audience this enticed me to watch the next video as I had more interest in the storyline which actually led me to be interested into the song. An example of other promotion is shown in this shot of "Thanks for the memories" by Fall out boy in which they have subtle self promotion. Linkin Park also follow this trend of self promotion within their video. The use of their world ronound logo is presented in "What ive done" in which a close-up is shown of the drum kit.

Lighting

After my previous experimentation with controlled lighting, I felt more confident and aware of the effects and power that lighting really has. According to my research dance videos consist of neon colours and vibrancy portraying a techno undertone, whereas classical explore the use of sepia and greyscale effects. Indie/rock videos encourage the use of spotlight and silhouettes in a band or even natural lighting according to the storyline. "Lights" by Ellie Goulding portrays a series of different lighting in which I feel the dominant glow on 10s would suit an Indie/rock video. To further my research I resorted to reading the theory of primary sources; "lighting for photography" by W.Nurnberg. Although the book has a focus on photography the advice given could easily be applied to film.

Lyrics- When constructing a music video the lyrics have a vital contribution in the outcome of the video and also the level of seriousness it portrays. This leads to the connection between music and lyrics. The relationship between the music and the lyrics has to independently be successful in order to construct a music video. This addresses the power and significance of a music video as well as the correlation of components in which is presented. The presentation below reveals my attempt to analyse lyrics.

camera shots

Editing- Unlike photography, my research suggests that editing film is a lot more challenging and demanding, requiring more thought. From reflecting back to my initial ideas I played closer attention to editing and how it varied depending on the genre and lyrics.