Rock Music Video Conventions

Rock music is popular in the UK and America and originated as Rock-n-roll in the United States in the 1950's, and started to develop into different styles in the 1960's. These styles include indie rock, alternative rock and heavy metal.

Stereotypically the rock artists within the music videos wear black or dark clothes and have loud and often strange messy hair which makes them stand out as a individual artist. Rock artists also often have many tattoos and piercings, which adds to the unusual and different appearance. There unusual style and look also helps as a marketing tool as if there appearance is slightly 'weird' and a bit 'out there' then they will be memorable and will make people and potential fans notice them. Also many fans may be inspired by there appearance and will look up to them for inspiration on how to look as this will also be an indication that they are a fan of a particular rock group and make them feel that they are part of a group. Also to add to the slightly 'outrageous' appearance, many rock bands will wear make-up, most commonly dark eye make-up such as thick eyeliner.

Rock artists are mostly found in bands. In which you will find a lead singer and the rest will play instruments such as guitars and drums. The lead singer will often be in the front off all performances and photo shoot's in a form of  hierarchy.  

On a whole Rock music videos are quite 'weird' and include a variety of different and quite random shots. The majority of the shots that make up music videos are of the band performing on stage and will include quite dramatic lighting effects with the use of strobe lighting in a variety of vivid colours which contrasts with the dark clothes of the artists themselves. Editing is quite sharp and fast paced and will cut to different shots of the band members, which will include close ups of all the artists and the instruments they are playing. Camera movement is quite unsteady and this reflects the adrenaline that the songs themselves create, cameras are often handheld to create this effect also canted angles are used to create a disorientated effect that makes rock music videos the visual spectacle that they are. As the shots within the music videos are mainly based around the actual band rock music videos often have no narrative but instead are a mash up of random shots that are thrown together.