Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Types of Music Videos

Hitchin' A RideThere are three main types of music videos; Performance-based, narrative-based and concept based. However, a lot of music videos have performance-based elements as a huge majority of music videos feature the artist or band (or at least the lead singer) in the music video. And arguably most performance-based videos have elements of concept based videos since the video could relate to the lyrics, therefore, making it themed around a concept.

Performance
Performance-based music videos focus mainly on the actual performance of the musician(s), whether it is singing, dancing or playing their instrument(s). the video will consist of many close up and mid shots on the musicians to capture their performance, hence the name. A good example of this type of music video is "American Idiot" by Green Day, where each three of the band members play the song on their instruments. The video arguably has concept-based elements in it as the song is a critique of America and they have a large backdrop of a green American flag behind them with green goo possibly being a connotation about America.
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Narrative
A narrative music video is when there is a story being shown through the video and is usually linked to the concept of the song. There is a clear story being told and directors have to use camera shots and mise-en-scene effectively as they only have a few minutes to get the story across. Many narrative-based videos are like any other story with the beginning, middle, and end.
A good example of this is Green Day's "21 Guns" where a young couple is hiding from the police in the house. The opening shot is of a young man holding a bullet and then dropping it. The story then progresses as it shows police sirens through a mirror and a window using mise-en-scene effectively, soon after the house is shot by police and a phone is showing going off. Meanwhile, the actors look at each other through a broken mirror with close-up shots of them conveying their feelings to the audience.
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Concept
Concept videos don't really have a story but will generally have a performance element in it. Concept videos are based on a concept (hence the name) or an idea which the video will show. A good example of this is Green Day's "Hitchin' A Ride" where multiple characters come and go while the band plays the song and walk along on a treadmill as well linking in with the title. It also features a lot of crazy things as the video is about going cold turkey. Mise-en-scene is used as well in these types of videos. Drinks are used in this particular video and vintage 1950s suits, vintage signs, and a large Betty Boop to give the video a 50s feel. It also uses circle closing transitions like in old films and cartoons.

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Contemporary
These music videos will usually feature different elements of all of the above videos. They do not have a certain theme or obvious narrative but may usually have artists featuring in it.
The White Stripes' "Fell in Love With a Girl" is a stop motion animation video of the duo playing the song done entirely with Lego bricks.
Paramore's "Still Into You" is the band messing around and doing random stuff with random objects placed everywhere like lots of balloons and riding bicycles indoors.
Sum 41's "The Hell Song" is of the band playing with action figures and other toys as if the toys are the band members.
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Lyric Videos 
Lyric videos have become a lot more popular since YouTube became popular but they started way before that. Lyric videos are essentially music videos where the main focus is on the lyrics. They can have just text with static images, kinetic or dynamic typography or even have the lyrics on physical things like in Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" or Panic! at the Disco's "Northern Downpour". They are usually released before the official music video so that the target audience is more likely to listen to the song when it is released. 
 Artists like Bob Dylan and Prince would've wanted the audience to actually focus on the lyrics. Dylan only holds up signs of the most significant words on paper, Prince had his lyrics made extremely large so you had to focus on them, he also included flashing colours to make things stand out and have it more aesthetically pleasing for the viewer.
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Letterbomb - Green Day (fan made)
Northern Downpour - P!ATD
Subterranean Homesick Blues - Boby Dylan
Sign o' the Times - Prince
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Image result for Subterranean Homesick BluesRelated image




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