1. The prop of the car is a sign of wealth in the video. Thisis
a common convention of the hip-hop genre. The caris black as well
as the singers costume. This is a reallycommon convention in the
hip-hop genre.The black props and costume as well as the lighting
give a very dark mood tothe videos. Hard lighting on the performer
is often used for dramatic effect andadds to the high contrast in
the video. The video is edited in black and white toenhance the
effect of the high contrast. There is afemale in the video used as
a sexual object. With aminimal costume. In a few of the shots, the
hardlighting is used to create shadows.The titles are used at the
beginning of the video withplain black backgrounds. A few of the
videos featuringThe Weeknd use titles with the song and artists
namebut I feel it breaks the convention of the hip-hop genreand
would be more conventional in a pop video.Because the genre of
music is contemporary hip-hop, it will share conventionswith
different genres. The pace in the cuts are quite slow to fit with
the music.The whole video is edited in black and white with
highcontrast to look dramatic. It also reflects the slow songwith a
sad or sorrowful mood.A lot of the shots in the video aremidshots,
especially the performanceshots. Mainly straight on angles giving
theaudience a clear identification with theperformer enhanced by
the direct address. The performer iscomposed in the centre of the
shot becoming a clear focal point.During these performance shots no
movements are used. Thisemphasizes the slow pace of the video
fitting with the music .
2. In this video both performers are wearing completelyblack
outfits. One is wearing a black shirt and the othera bomber jacket.
This is a large connotation from thehip-hop genre and has been
translated into thisalternative genre. The majority of the lighting
used is hard lighting whichenhances the contrast of the video and
the dramatic mood. The lighting isalso used as a prop or part of
the setting in this videoand others associated with the artist. It
also gives theidea that the setting is urban and grungy. The
lightingwill often flicker to match the pace of the music andthe
pace of the editing. A cold colour filter is used toreflect the
mood of the video. The hard lighting and colour filters are also
usedto create dramatic silhouettes of the artist which arefeatured
in a lot of the artists videoThere are various oriental symbols and
titles used.They flash quickly on the screen matching the pace
ofthe editing. The bright colours contrast with the darkvideo. They
also incorporate the English titles.This is conventional in The
Weeknds videos. The video is edited very quicklywith flashing cuts.
The cold blue colour filter gives a dramatic effect andconnotes
power and masculinity.The majority of shots in the video areclose
ups while performing. They can beon different angles to add to the
fast paceand the sense of abstraction to the video.Long shots and
extreme long shots are used in shots such as thesilhouette where
the artist is not performing and where thesetting is established.
The camera movements are very abstractand add to the effect given
by the angles of the performanceshots. Often in the video there is
a focuschange where the performer seems tobe blurry which could add
to the fast,panicked filming technique.
3. Again, the costume is all black. This helps will the
highcontrast in the video and the dark themes. Hardlighting is used
throughout, often the lights are alsoused as props in the scene
creating lens flaresand adding to the grungy and slightly
futuristic feel to the settings. In thisvideo there are other
people used as well as the performer. Also featuring awoman as a
sex symbol or love interest which is common of the whole genre.The
costume worn is a black shirt all the way through.This is what the
artist will commonly wear in thevideos as well as a jacket.The fast
paced editing is very conventional in theartists videos and is a
feature in this video. It has linksto the hip-hop genre. The colour
filters are a large partof this video as well as some of the other
videos.Blue is used again connoting power and masculinity also
adding to thefuturistic mood of the video. The blue and orange
colours are complimentary.Multiple extreme close ups of the mouth
areused, some during performance shots. This isconventional with in
the artists videos andshares convention with the hip-hop
genre.There is often negative space in the shots using different
focuses onaperture priority settings. There are few long shots. The
video consistsof mainly mid shots and close ups, especially when
performing.These shots focus a lot on the star of thevideo and
allow the audience to relate andidentify with the artist.
4. The lighting in this scene is used to create adramatic
silhouette effect. This brings out thecolor in the background. Blue
is used again as themain color. The projected image on to the
artistIs put in the scene to depict a woman as a sexual object. The
projector is aconventional prop in the sub-genre and in the hip-hop
genre. I think it adds tothe dramatic mood of the video. The
costumes for both performers is all blackwith a jacket and jeans.
This is a clearconvention. Hard lighting is a large convention
inall of the videos I have researched so far andplays a large part
in the high contrast anddramatic mood of the video.The location is
a conventional one for this video. They have usedgrungy scenery
such as old buildings with flickering lights and plainwalls.The
editing is very fast paced as I have found is conventional
throughout thevideos. The shots can flicker during fast bits of
music or use flickering lights.This is used to match the high
intensity of the music. Although a lot of the colorIs from the
lighting, color filters will be used toenhance it. Cold filters
will make the blue colorstand out more which connotes power
andmasculinity. The contrast will be edited to makethe video darker
and more dramatic.Extreme close ups are used as isconventional in a
lot of the videos ofthe artist and in the genre. It
alsoincorporates the composition that isUsed a lot in the video,
rule of thirds. It is a much moreinteresting composition, using
negative space which is a largefactor in a lot of the compositions
in the videos I have looked atoften filled with black. A lot of
camera movements in the videoAre quite abstract and give a sense
ofurgency and distortion.
5. Hard lighting is used throughout thevideo, much like the
videos I havealready looked at making it a largeconvention. Also,
much like theWeeknds videos, the lighting is oftenfrom a prop in
the scene such as this arcade game. The costumes inthe video, of
the artist are all black which is a clear convention ofthe sub
genre. Props include cigarettes which are often smoked bypeople in
the video. This can be a sign of power and it representsthe
characters recklessness. There arefemales in the video which is a
slightchallenge of the convention of the sub-genreand more a
convention of thehip-hop genre.The editing in the video is quite
slow paced matching the songspace. This seems to be a convention of
the slower songs in thegenre. Colour filters are used throughout
which is a clearconvention of the sub genre. The colours used are
blue and redmuch like The Weeknds videos.They are power colours
andcomplimentary colours. They alsogive the impression of a
nightclub scene.The video is made up of mainlymid shots. Extreme
close ups andclose ups are used as well whichare a main convention.
Theangles and movements can bothbe quite abstract at times which is
also conventional howeverarches are a main movement used as well as
pans.
6. The lighting, conventionally, is hard andbright. Costume is
all dark much like theconventions of the sub genre that EdSheerans
music relates to. However astudio is used in this video
throughoutWhich breaks convention as there is always props in the
scene inthe other videos I have looked at. The prop of the sparkler
is usedfor the exploding effect and adds drama to the video much as
thehard lighting and high contrast does. There is an actor in the
videoDoing the performance which challengesconvention as the other
videos idealizethe performer more. There can also bemore than one
performer dancing.A logo is used at the start of the video inthe
place of a title, introducing thesinger. I have found this to
beconventional in some of the videos inthe sub genre. The editing
is also veryFast paced meeting the convention. This matches the
fast pacedmusic and the way the music and the video want to make
theaudience feel.Extreme close ups are used in this
videoconventionally as well as a lot of longshots which slightly
challengeconvention. It is used in a few cases toshow silhouettes
which are a mainconvention. The movements are lessAbstract and
challenge that convention. The video features tracksin and tracks
out mainly focussing in on the character ore theperformer in the
shots or making them look isolated in the frameputting a lot of
negative space in the shot.