rock music video conventions

rock music video conventions 

rock music is usually filmed in a performance format. This is the band usually being filmed in there natural environment, such as having a band practice or being filmed live. There is often a story which then intertwines with them performing live. Modern rock music tends to have more story based music videos, unlike older rock which is found to still dominate the rock industry tend to just have videos of them performing live and only for the most popular songs will there be videos as there was firstly limited people who had television and also the technology for filming was no where near as advanced as we see it today. Some examples of this are  Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Guns & Roses.

                                         Led Zeppelin- going to California (live at earls court)  

MISE-EN-SCENE- Rock music can be stereotyped to be seen as rebellious and fighting against society, especially the sub genre of heavy metal. The clothing often worn by rock stars is often either very simple or very extreme, For example David Bowie used to dress very femininity in the days of glam rock, where as Iggy pop use not even wear a shirt even at the age of sixty. rock stars often have a piece of clothing that they are remembered by and that resembles them. 

Freddie Mercury always sang with a half microphone stand, something is remembered for.  

for example Slash, who is the guitarist in Guns & Roses wear his top hat and that is something that he is remembered by.

        

likely locations for a music video are arenas and stadiums if the bands music is them at a concert, for louder and more thrash metal the location may be in dark and mysterious places (e.g a forest, abandoned warehouse or buildings).



CAMERA TECHNIQUES- The lead singer is often the main focus of the band and there will be less shots of the drummer, guitarist and other musicians in the band. There are often close ups of the instruments that they are playing to display the talents that they have to the audience. Hand held camera techniques are used to show what it would be there to see them live and to recreate the atmosphere. Even if the song is not particularly good by making the atmosphere seem very lively it makes the watcher of the video feel that they are a very talented band. An example of this is Cage the elephant, come a little closer. 

EDITING- The editing often has to change the frame fairly quickly so that they can focus on each band member for a certain amount of time. Also the editing often has to represent the mood of the song and its pace.