Conventions of the Video Promo!

Pop Promo Conventions

Although pop video is fairly freeform generically and artistically it still employs several common conventions.

Here is a list of these conventions...

• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption
• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception) 
• A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement
• Repetition of reoccurring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo).
• A possible narrative structure. 
• A possible performance element. 
• The flexibility to disregard Realism!
• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track. 
• Use of special effects (lighting, animation, CGIs, in-camera effects). 
• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track.
• • High impact instantly!

In the industry in order for the artist to be recognised and remembered they have to make an instant impact! 

As music journalist Annabelle Jankell said, “You have three and a half minutes to make an instant impact on people’s eyeballs, instantly!”