CONVENTIONS.

Cinematography

(Took from You Me At Six - Bite My Tongue) 

Extreme close ups are also used to show the expression and feelings of the artist, here we can see Josh is looking angry which creates the idea of violence in the video. Josh is using direct eye contact which is breaking the 4th wall as he's addressing the audience. Mise en scene also comes into this as the background is dark and gives more of an aggressive feel as it's more 'in your face'. 

(Took from Deaf Havana - Leeches)
A dutch tilt can also be used in rock videos as stereo-typically rock songs are loud and aggressive and you would picture everything as being a little distorted - a dutch tilt can create an illusion of the scene being confusing and messy.

(Took from Kasabian - Fire) music video.

Tracking shots are used frequently to follow the singer/actor. These can be used to give many different effects such as being followed/spyed on or just basically following the artist to where they are going to create a story.

(Deaf Havana - Leeches) 

Focus pull is used a lot to highlight specific objects or people- to create the illusion of something being less/more important. For example if there was two people stood next to each other and one was blurred, you would get the impression that the blurred out person isn't as important, and the focus pull shows the other person is imperior. However, it could also show the person isn't thinking about anyone around them and are in a day dream.

High angle shots can be used to show someone being looked down on, or making them look small and vunerable in a scene.

Editing
Rock videos tend to use jump cuts alot to show continuity or a fast pace. In this case we can see the shot went from the girl looking into the room, to the girl being inside the room. (Took from Deaf Havana - Leeches music video)

(Kasabian - Re-Wired)

Slow motion is used to create the effect of time going slowly or to emphasise something dramatic happening.

(Avenged Sevenfold - Seize The Day)

Here we can see a shot of a guy stood, fading into a shot of a guitar. Fades can be used to show the subject thinking about something, or to add a calming effect instead of a quick jump cut to another shot.

Mise en scene.

(Deaf Havana - Leeches)

Stereotypically rock songs use alot of dark clothing and surroundings. They also tend to include music instruments (as used in this video). We can also see that the artist himself is wearing dark clothes, this drains the mood and creates a sad/emotional atmosphere.