Conventions of a Music Promo

Camera Shots

Close Ups and Extreme Close Ups are the main shot types used for a music video. The idea of these shots are to highlight and illustrate the artists' musical ability. For example in music promos for bands, there are many close ups of each member playing their instrument, showing their great ability.

Reaction shots are used to higlight the audience or the artist in the music video. If the promo has a narrative, reaction shots can be used to show emotions or illustrate the meaning of the lyrics.

Establishing shots are good to show the setting of the music video. For example, a music video may be set in a venue and so establishing shots will show, the stage, the audience and the artist up on stage.

Band shots are very effective when showing the whole band in one frame. Often in music videos only one or two individuals are shown in the frame but there are times when the whole band playing emphasises their ability and togetherness.

Low Angled shots are mainly used to highlight the stars of the band or the individual artist. The low angle looking up makes them dominate the frame and seem more important.

Movement of the camera is very important in a music promo. It keeps the flow of the song and also looks very effective compared to just a still shot. The camera is always panning, across or up or down which is something you don't always see, especially in a movie. Crane shots are also used to capture film from above, showing different angles and perspective on either the artist or the narrative.

Editing

Fast cuts are very common in  music promos. They are the most efficient types of cut and also flow with the song as they are mainly used in time with the beat and tempo of the song.

Transitions are often used in between cuts to add a certain effect to the promo. Fade to black or white add an effect of anger or peace.

CGI features in many modern day music promos. It is mainly used in pop videos which has a certain narrative that CGI can help acheive. For example The Black Eyed Peas 'Meet Me Halfway' the promos location is in space so CGI has been used to create a world that otherwise would have been unable to film on location.

Mis-en-scene

Location and Lighting in music promos is used to add to the mis-en-scene and genre of the song. For example, a pop song would most likely be set in a very exotic place such as a beach. The lighting would be very bright, highliting the fact they are in such a glamourous place and the artist would be made to stand out. Yet for a more agressive genre such as hardcore and metal, the location may be very desolate, with low lighting. This links to the genre of the music and is very conventional.

For example, these two videos are very different in style, lighting, mis-en-scene and narrative. The Wanted 'Glad You Came' shows the group enjoying themselves in a very exotic place, partying and being surrounded by women. Whereas Slipknot 'Psychosocial' shows the band in a very desolate place, with low lighting and fast paced cuts which link in with the speed of the music and anger in the song. 

Costumes in music promos add to the narrative or the artist's performance. What type of costumes depends on the genre and also the narrative, if their is a particular storyline for instance. If a music promo was set in space then the costumes would fit in with that location. When a band perform a music video they will often wear their own clothes if they are perfoming, as if they were actually playing in a live venue.

A good example here is metal band, Slipknot. They are very famous for their iconic masks they wear in live shows and promos. They hide their identity and are very sinister which links in with their style of music and lyric meaning. The whole band also wear matching jumpsuits and are each identified by a number from 0 to 8.

Props in music promos are mainly the instruments the artists are using to play. For instance, in Architects 'Follow the Water' the only props in the video are the instruments to show them playing the song. In other music promos, if there are any props they will link in with the narrative.

Narrative

In a lot of music promos they feature some kind of narrative and performance. These means during the video you will see the artist performing the song and also a storyline running throughout.

• The narrative in the promo could illustrate the lyrics, and have the storyline following the meaning of what is being sung.
• The narrative could contradict the lyrics, also known as disjuncture, which the narrative can then be completely different to what the lyrics actually mean.
• The narrative could also amplify the lyrics and show exactly what the lyrics mean. A good example of amplification of the lyrics is Coldplay 'The Scientist' which shows the whole video in reverse as it focuses on one line 'going back to the start.'