Music video genre conventions:

For this assignment I've decided to look at the conventions of music videos in the rock music genre. So I've researched five examples of rock music videos where these conventions can be found. These conventions would include video elements like: content, tempo, editing etc.



First of this is a video convention of imagery. This is case the imagery that would be used is the band playing their instruments in a performance space. This could be anywhere from a stage at a concert, a location made for the video, or in this example a realistic location such as a ware house. This convention is used to show who plays the song and instruments are being played like guitar or drums.

Another imagery related convention is about what actually happens in the video itself. This being the video's tempo depending on the speed of the song that it uses, whether it would be fast or slow. In this example the song has a fast beat, and the band members are really ecstatic and energetic when performing with their instruments. This is done to make the video match with the doing in tone and tempo, also it shows that the band are enjoying themselves while playing the music. This in short makes the video look exciting to watch, if it is a fast pace song.

Another convention of videos in the rock genre, is that they try to tell a story while using the lyrics as a guide for: subject, setting and meaning. In this example the song is about a revolution of some kind taking place in a dark world. This is the case with lyrics like "we will be victorious" signifying a battle to be won, that is the videos subject. With the title being Uprising. Along with the dark tone of the video showing that the people who live there are having hard times. The story would be the people rising up for a better world as heard in the lyrics.

A lot of rock music videos often reflect something about the band. Whether it would be the lighting to show that the songs are dramatic; or even bright and colorful to reflect a songs up beat tone. But in the case of this example, it tells us this bands choice of main colour scheme. These colours would be: red, white and black. We can tell this because these three colours are the only colours that are used through out the whole video. This tells us that these artist may use this scheme a lot for logos, videos and maybe even album covers, given that these colours are used that much. And upon looking further into the matter this is the case with this band.

My final convention i found from rock music video, is that the editing speed with match the tempo of the song. In this example the editing is very fast when cutting between shots used in the video; cutting back and forth between the band members, the singer and a taxi in New York. Not only that but when the bass groove would kick in, that's when the shots would change and match the songs beat. A lot of videos in this genre use this editing technique of having shots change in between music riffs, bars and grooves; whether it be a fast paced song like this, or a song with a slower melody.