TYPES AND STYLES OF MUSIC VIDEOS

•Performance based

•Narrative based

•Concept based

Types of Music Videos:

Narrative based music videos

Narrative based music videos attempt to tell a story that features in the lyrics or that is suggested in the lyrics and then dramatized in the video itself. 

Narrative based music videos often establish a clear relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of the song.

Either the actors are acting according to the story or the music artists are performing.

Narrative based music videos require the viewer to understand the lyrics of the song clearly and these types of music videos are easily understood and enjoyed by the audience.

Examples of Narrative based music videos You Belong With Me by TAYLOR SWIFT

The Hearts Wants What It Wants by SELENA GOMEZ

Last Friday Night by KATY PERRY

Perfomance based music videos

Performance based music videos are only, or mostly, the artist/band performing their song.

These include dancing, lip syncing, live concerts or musicians playing music instruments.

Performance based music videos mostly build a relationship with the audience to show off the star identity.

These videos don’t have any specific message for the audience or there is no concept or idea behind the song or the video.

There is no connection between the lyrics of the song, as we can just see well dressed artists performing on their song.

Examples of Performance based music videos

Fix You by

COLDPLAY

This Summer’s Gonna Hurt by MAROON 5

Single Ladies by BEYONCE

Concept based music videos

Concept based music videos are based on a specific concept or a theme.

The concept can be magic, supernatural, historical, religious, scientific or any other idea which is based on a concept or a theme.

Mostly concept based videos intrigue a specific class or target audience, according to the idea of the music video.

The unusual content of the video is what attracts most of the people.

Examples of concept based music videos

Take Me To Church by Hozier Elastic Heart by SIA

Paradise by COLDPLAY

Styles of music videos

ANIMATION

INTERPRETIVE

IMPRESSIONIST

INTER TEXTUALITY

SURREALIST

ALLUSION

Animation

Animated music videos have an animated film, or cartoons, with the soundtrack playing in the background.

These videos usually don’t have anything real to show to the viewer, even though the song is produced by the original artist.

The animations in the videos are designed by using different softwares and these music videos are usually cheap as they are entirely digital.

For example, Rude Boy by Rihanna

Interpretive Interpretive music videos can be

interpreted by the audience in many ways.

Each person can see this video in a different way and understand a different meaning according to their mentality.

Impressionist An impressionist music video can be

used to show a particular theme to the audience.

It includes random and peculiar shots and images to express the theme of the video.

Abstract features are mostly used in an impressionist music video.

For example, Girl from Mars by Ash

Intertextuality References used from some other

media product, some mythology, history, or any other existing thing is taken and shown in this type of music video.

For example, Dark Horse by Katy Perry

Surrealist Similar to impressionist music videos,

surrealist music videos are very abstract and may not have a relation with the music itself.

A surreal music video contains artificial, unreal or supersticious elements in it.

A surrealist music video gives a very dream-like effect to the audience.

For example, ET by Katy Perry

Allusion It is similar to intertextuality to some

extent. An allusion music video gives reference

of another thing sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly.

It depends on how the audience see the video, how they make a connection between the video and other similar things they have seen before.

For example, Avril Lavigne’s Rock n Roll

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