Conventions Of A HipHop Video

The conventions of a RnB music video:

Mise-En-Scene:

• It depends on what type of RnB it is, however typical RnB music videos have the singer dressed in 'baggy' clothing for a male and tight 'erotic' clothing for a female. The clothing will be linked in with the environement they are in, for example, if it was set in a jungle, they would be wearing 'jungle' related clothes.



• The setting is related to the song itself, if the songs talks about drugs, its would normally be set in a scenario where drugs are likely to be distributed and found.



• Props are rare in RnB music videos, the most common prop would be the characters jewellery or a car.



• Lately most successful music videos have broken the sterotypes of a rnb music video and have filmed in a place where it related to the music rather then doing it where most are filmed, for example, a club, party as its cliche.



• there isn't many vibrant colours in the music videos, and if there is its either the a part of the costume or a part of the background, never both and never a lot of either.



• Depending on the type of RnB song, the video will be in a well lit area or set in a darker, less well lit area.

Cinematography:

• There arn't any complicating camera shots in RnB music videos normally, most of the shots are normal shots where whats in shots differ.



• A common shot on a lead singer is a medium shot, however it is never held for a long time.



• The camera only looks up or down on the singer if its in the lyrics, its never done to show status



• If there is a dance group in the video, the shots will jump back and forth between the singer and the dance group when they are dancing.



• The establishing shot is used fequently to show a surrounding, but its used to show parts at a time.

Sound:

• The lyrics are mimed, there are rarely on a live performance.



• There are no sound effects in the music videos



• Sometimes there is a small intro to the music video, which show how the singer gets into the current situation or the song.

Editing:

• Most of the edits are simple cuts to the next clip



• Fade ins and out are sometimes used to edit between to clips, however its done if the edits match's whats happending in the music. For example, if in the song theres a loud bass sound and it slowly fades out, the fade out edit will be used for a transition for the next clip.



• Graphic match's are sometimes used once again if it can relate to the music.



• The shots are cut to the beats of the music.



• Pans are used to show travel and help show the story of the song.



• Superimpositions are not really used as it dosen't suit RnB songs, unless its used in the intro or outro.