The most obvious convention of a rock video is that they tend to be both narrative and performance based. The narrative tends to show a romance between the lead singer and a girl, action based or even some form of current affair. Whereas the performance tends to be just the band with an audience performing to them, or just themselves playing to the camera.​

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Another main aspect of conventions would be the band logo. This is sometimes shown in a music video so the audience knows who's video it is. It tends to be shown for only a few seconds in the video, but is still Identifiable by the fans of the artist/band. Mise en scene is also a key factor when it comes to the video as props, location and costume have to fit with the narrative and also the genre of the music.

In early rock and the 1960s, bands made many promo films for instance, The Beatles made a 'Hard Day's Night'. Many bands from other genres also made feature films, such as Cliff Richards 'Summer holiday'.