Coventions of my genre.

As I have now looked at a substantial amount of music videos in the industrial/electro genre I am now going talk about the basic conventions in this genre.

Camera shots, angles and movement.
To start off low angles are frequent in this genre, in many videos I have seen there have been low angle shots of the band member/s looking down at the camera, maybe as this matches their image of being bad/scary/intimidating as this is the kind of vibe that this genre gives off.

 Close ups and extreme close ups are a major part in this genre, as in many genres. Extreme close ups of band members to show facial expression or make up, close ups of the instruments being played or just close ups of weird objects. Close ups where packed into every video I have watched.

Long shots and establishing shots are also frequent as these shots are used to show the location or the whole band together.

 The camera movement can fluctuate depending on the type of song from very fast to moderate however in all of the videos I've watched with the exception of one or two had camera movement, the movement tends to really speed up as the song speeds up. Panning of the camera is common to switch between band members and zooms are also common. The lead band member also tends to control the editing and movement of the camera, examples of this are in the mushroom head videos and the nine inch nails video I analysed, this makes the lead member look powerful.

The camera's focus is also used in videos to give a blurry effect making the camera go in and out of focus. Movement of the camera is used in most of the videos to makes you feel disorientated and this matches the genre and this type of music.






Editing and Post Production effects.
The editing in videos of this genre can also vary but it has a common pattern. The editing always comes back to the lead singers no matter what, and usually revolves around him like in the slipknot video dead memories. Editing however is mainly fast in most videos, with quick cuts of the instruments and close ups of band members, a common pattern is cuts between close ups and long shots, showing the band performing with a long shot and then a close up of the lead singer. An extreme case of fast editing is in the slipknot video spit it out or in evetus the fallen, and then slower editing is in videos such as nine inch nails and mushroom head however it all depends on the tempo of the song. There are many post production techniques and special effects used in this genre, some more than others, common features includes, fading, interlacing, overlapping of shots, slow motion, colour grading including bright colours and dark lighting, flashing lights and blurring.

Mise en Scene.
Costumes - are very important in this genre and are instantly recognisable, the common dress code is dark clothing and piercings like in Nine Inch Nails videos and Stabbing Westward, however then you get the extremes which are also common with unique masks such as in mushroom head and slipknot and then weird costumes such as a priest, zombies and ballerinas and boxers like in videos for evetus and stabbing westward. The costumes are immediately recognisable for the genre and this links with the make up.

Make up - is also important in this genre and this links in with the costume, face paint is common with the lead singers in mushroomhead and in evetus, common colours are white, red, green and black. Blood is also common in the genre along with also a dusty old dark theme which is portrayed through the interesting use of make up such as the greyish make up used in the fallen, save us and save yourself.
Lighting- The common lighting in the genre is low key which is always associated with the rock genre and has been seen in most of the videos I have looked at. However as my genre is mixed with electro, bright colours are also used which I have seen in a lot of videos, colours such as orange, green, red, white and blue. Most sets are mostly dark with a back lighting like in save us however natural lighting is also just used like in evetus the fallen. I have a feeling I will be using colour grading a lot during my editing process and will have to play about with lighting to get the right feel for my song. A mixture of bright, natural and dark lighting was used in this genre however low key is dominant.
Props - props are an good way to make a video interesting and this genre is full of them, some props are fairly basic like canes and jars however in some of the videos I've looked at weird and wonderful props are being used such as dog muzzle a tread mill and a kids bicycle.





These are just the basic conventions of the genre I have seen so far, I will be looking into more videos in this genre, however for now these are the trends I have seen and the things that make this particular genre easily recognisable.