Music Video Style

Camerawork:
-Has significant impact on meaning!
-Everything; camera movement, angle, distance, shot type, framing etc, can be used to construct meaning, (and should be analysed accordingly).
-Movement can follow/accompany movement of performers to create a more dynamic feel to an otherwise static sequence.

Editing:
-Fast-cut discontinuity montage style is most common, ensuring multiple viewings by audiences/consumers to see all images.
-Some may use slow place and gentle transitions to establish mood (eg for ballads).
-Pace can be varied to match the song elements (tempo, rhythm etc), and ultimately to sustain interest.
-Unconventional, one take videos can be quite interesting, such as the surrealist video for Radiohead's 'Knives Out':

Special Effects
-SFX are not used to create an illusion of reality (like in film), but to make an interesting image.
-They offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience by playing with images.
-However, they can look cheap and outdated, or tacky if overused/used inappropriately/used badly.

The Close-Up
-Due to size of TV screens!
-Create sense of intimacy for viewer.
-And, more importantly, it emphasises the commodity (the artist) being promoted.

How Advertising Techniques Link to Pop Music Promo

Arguably, music videos have just two purposes, artistic and promotional. Within these two areas, there may be many intentions, such as illustrating or adding secondary meanings to the lyrics, or helping construct the image of the artist, and suchlike.

However, the notion of the music video being used to endorse or promote the song has a large effect on the methods used in its creation. Namely, this involves a list of techniques most commonly found in advertising:

• Intertextuality, see my post on intertextuality here.
• Beauty
• Celebrity endorsement, such as the famous people in Johnny Cash's God's Gonna Cut You Down, or Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl's camo appearances in Tenacious D's music videos.
  
• Escapism
• Comparison
• Demonstration
• Enigma, like the mysterious phrase at the end of Radiohead's music video for Just.
  
• Humour, Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly.
  
• Shock, such as the Prodigy music video for Smack My Bitch Up.
  
• Irony
• Contrast
• Illustration, such as Bright Eye's visual recreation of the lyrics in At The Bottom.
  
• Juxtaposition
• Glamour
• Lifestyle, eg Blur - Parklife.
  
• Sexuality
  
• Narrative, like Panic At The Disco's very literal video for I Write Sins Not Tragedies.
  
• Rebellion
• Concept, like the simple idea behind Wax's California, or the groundbreaking use of technology by Arcade Fire.
• Emotion, such as The Smashing Pumpkin's harrowing video for Try Try Try.
  

"music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star’s face (the product)" - John Stewart of Oil Factory