Convention: performanceHere we have examples of the different types of performance within music videos – lip-synced in Ugly Heart by G.R.L., live in Teenage Dirtbag by Weezer, and dance performance in Runaway by Kanye West and Islands by The XX.

Convention: artist featureIn the majority of music videos the band or artist feature because essentially the purpose of videos is to sell them as a brand and create a certain image with which they can be marketed. Here are two examples from different genres – Rihanna in Diamonds and Alex Turner in Arctic Monkeys’ song Cornerstone.

Convention: narrativeI have collected examples of different types of narrative here. Videos like Telephone by Lady Gaga and Beyonce have a very clear narrative. Similarly the video for the song Aberdeen by Cage The Elephant uses narrative, this time through clay animation. Other videos have more abstract narratives like Avalanches by A Fine Frenzy. And some have no narrative at all, like Lonely Boy by The Black Keys which simply features one man dancing alone to the song.

Convention: close-upsClose-ups are almost guaranteed to feature in music videos, usually to show the artist performing. The examples below include Jessie J in her song Bang Bang, Meghan Trainor in All About That Bass and Childish Gambino in Sweatpants ft. Problem.

Convention: varying mise-en-sceneA variety of mise-en-scene is what defines a video’s aesthetic and makes it interesting, therefore most videos use a range of different costumes, locations, props, lighting etc. The example from Budapest by George Ezra here shows how costume can vary even just in one shot. The other images, all taken from The Boys by Nicki Minaj ft. Cassie, demonstrate just how many different variations of mise-en-scene can be included in one video.

Convention: soundUsually music videos only have the non-diegetic track playing and mute all other sound. The Wombats’ Techno Fan video is an example of this. However other videos may also follow a different convention of having sound breaks for dialogue, usually used to progress narrative like with Sam Smith’s I’m Not The Only One.