1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.