Conventions of a music promo

Conventions of a music promo

Conventions of a music video can be seen as different for each genre of music. This means there are many different conventions for a music video. For example, pop music would be seen to include interesting clothing as well as very few instruments in the promo. The editing of a pop video is generally at a medium pace as the music is not to fast or too slow, where as a rap promo may have people in more revealing clothes as well as faster editing to fit the fast lyrics. This once again changes when we enter into the genre of rock and metal, these promos will either be generally very fast paced or slower depending on the songs topic. The mise-en-scene will also alternate with the genre, for example, pop music could be seen as a lighter genre of music, thus have a mise-en-scene with good lighting, whereas a metal song may have a dark or even straight black mise-en-scene with little lighting, showing the aggression of the music. You would also expected different props and clothing used within these genres, for example, pop having lighter, colourful clothing whereas rock may have darker or even black clothing. Very few props may be used within a pop promo, such as just a microphone, but a rock promo would have guitars, drums, bass guitars and microphones. Once again, changing with the genre of music. You would also expect the shots to be different that are taken by the genre. A pop song would have many long shots and mid shots of the singer/band as it shows them well, but a rock or metal song would have more close ups on certain aspects in the video, such as close ups on the guitars being played, this generally alternates between mid-shots showing the band.

Analysis of a promo (Bring Me The Horizon-Pray for Plagues (Death Metal/ Extreme Metal)

Things to expect in this genre of music promo-Black clothing and mise-en-scene, shows aggression to fit the genre. Occasional red, representing blood. A Strange or frightening narrative or images.

Here, is a shot that has many conventions of this genre of music in a promo, for example, we have a black, no lighting, mise-en-scene, this represents the aggression of the music as well as showing the feeligns of the singer here, The red on his hand also represents blood, this once again is sterotypical of this genre as it once again represents blood and death. This is also a conventional shot as it shows actions of the band members as well as what they look like.

Here, we can see one of the guitarists playing whilst also head banging, another stereotype of this genre, we can also clearly see that he is wearing a black shirt, this also continues the representation of darkness and violence within this genre of music. The editing of this shot is also in between two others and we see it very briefly, showing the pace and heaviness of the music as well as showing the music as being fast and violent as the editing is, as well as unrelenting. This shot, being a mid shot also is conventional in music promos as it show as band member playing an instrument, this is apparent in almost all promos that have a instrument in it.

This is another shot that shows conventions of this genre of music promo. This is a close up of someone who seems to have no facial features, this is seen as a distressing and strange image as well as horrifying. This once again matches the conventions of this kind of music promo to this genre. This is also a close up of this character. This is conventional in promos as it shows the band member or characters emotions, or in this case, lack of.

Another conventional shot of this type of music promo.  It shows the singer having many tattoos, this is conventional of this type of music as well as being conventional in rock and metal songs as many shots show off a person’s tattoos within the promo. These tattoos are red, also representing blood and violence again. This is also a medium close up of the singer which are often used within conventional promos as they show actions as well as the band members actions.

This shot also is conventional of this type of promo as it shows what seems to be an abandoned house, another image we would find horrifying and distressing. This is also conventional within a music promo what has a narrative in it as it shows a overall mise-en-scene of the area it is set in.

This Promo-Bring Me the Horizon-Pray for Plagues (contains strong language and themes of violent lyrics)