There are so many types of music videos out there that are composed in different ways. One way it can be put together is through a narrative structure. This type of music video tells a story throughout the production and this mainly done through the lyrics, with images and short shots that correspond with what is being said. This type of music video is particularly effective in capturing the attention of the viewing audience because it is natural for anyone to be attentive during a tale or story whilst being shown images. To add, the lyrics of most narrative music video's are effective because of the message or idea they create. Being visual in a music video is very important so the quick shots of images help make the story an art piece. The example I'll be looking at for this style is by the artist Eminem called 'When I'm Gone'.
At the beginning of the video we see a group session taking place, with some people smoking and drinking. Amongst them is the main character Eminem, who is called up to talk about his life, this is the point where the music starts. The narrative is solely about how a father pays little attention to his children and more on his job. The beat starts promptly at the point 1:13 when the artist starts to rap, this shows some effectiveness on the audience because before there was a calmness about him and the room was quiet, which means his emotions were building up to this point. To add, looking at the artists clothing he is wearing a cap with a hoodie, this adds to the mise-scene in the sense that his words are relatable to the cloths he is wearing. If he were to wear a suit and tie, it would not make sense to the audience and make him look out of place. Another thing I've pick up is his facial expressions and expressive hand gestures, these again emphasis the way Eminem is feeling and his thoughts are put into a visual context.
We know this is a narrative music video because of the various locations we see, for instance, as there are cutaways here and there we see him in what appears to be a house with his daughter. Again, this puts everything that is being vocalized into perspective for the audience. The audience may personally identify with this situation at the point 1:33 where the girl is trying to get her fathers attention but he is too busy thinking of things like work.
Later on in the video at the point 3:47 we see Eminem wearing a suit looking smart even though he is performing at a concert. This is obviously not the way we are used to seeing artists when they're at their concert, so the audience are immediately questioning why he has done this. Is he trying to tell us that his job is being an artist and therefore wearing a suit shows that he is going to 'work'? Or perhaps that he is not satisfying his family in being a man with a 'proper job' so needs to wear the suit in order to show this? These are all questions us as the audience are going to be asking ourselves.
We know this is a narrative music video because of the various locations we see, for instance, as there are cutaways here and there we see him in what appears to be a house with his daughter. Again, this puts everything that is being vocalized into perspective for the audience. The audience may personally identify with this situation at the point 1:33 where the girl is trying to get her fathers attention but he is too busy thinking of things like work.
Later on in the video at the point 3:47 we see Eminem wearing a suit looking smart even though he is performing at a concert. This is obviously not the way we are used to seeing artists when they're at their concert, so the audience are immediately questioning why he has done this. Is he trying to tell us that his job is being an artist and therefore wearing a suit shows that he is going to 'work'? Or perhaps that he is not satisfying his family in being a man with a 'proper job' so needs to wear the suit in order to show this? These are all questions us as the audience are going to be asking ourselves.
This is another example of a narrative music video and is by the artist 'Rihanna singing Take a Bow'. We know it's a narrative music video because she is telling us an anecdote about a scenario that once happened to her similar to the video above. The mise-en-scene is totally relatable to the mood and feel of the lyrics, for instance, her clothing is mostly dark or fairly dark which denotes her lack of feeling or emotion to the situation. This is something the audience could personally identify with because its an issue which is in most cases probable. At 1:00 she is seen with red lipstick on which to me suggests that she is dangerous and is looking for revenge, shortly after she puts on shades which again tells me that shes going to be up to something and is almost covering for herself. The audience may socially interact at this because this is generally how girls react to things which go wrong in relationships. The editing is another aspect which adds to this video. We see that as she says ''but its over now'' at 3:30 it cuts to her setting the man's cloths on fire, this helps the video flow more naturally and allows the audience to absorb and interpret the lyrics easily. Unlike the Eminem video here there is limited locations that we're shown, I think the reason being is to keep the audience concentrated on the story but also as the tempo is quite slow again unlike the video above, it is made to match
Performative
A performance music video shows the artist engaging with the song and not paying any attention to the actual video. It is made purely to promote the artist and show them with a live audience in order to show the way they act and communicate with the audience. Also, these performance-based music videos are made so that the artist can be more popular in the audience and general public, the way they do this is by performing with full concentration and once people hear it they will spread the news and thus giving the artist popularity.
The first example I am going to be looking at is from the band 'High School Musical' singing and performing 'We're all in this together'. The audience here are the supporters of the basketball club and are sitting in the chairs behind the band. One striking convention which jumps out at me is the camerawork, this is done effectively so that we feel as though we're there performing with the band. As the camera pans quickly from my person to the next as they all dance, its hard to keep concentrated on one person, this gives the audience energy to get up and dance.
Not all performance music videos are performed or made with a crowd/audience, some like this one are considered performances except there is no crowd.
This is another example of a performance music video where the artist/band is performing in front of a crowd.
It is by Mark Ronson performing 'Valerie', which is a Amy Winehouse original. Right from the start we are seeing the relationship the artists have with the crowd is engaging and fun. This is a key part to a performance video-showing how the live audience react to the artist as they perform. This performance video is different to the one above because it involves a live audience. The lighting could impact a video and its general feel, here there is almost no lighting except the floodlights behind the band. This gives the room a different energy and makes it almost seem like we're in a night club.
Conceptual
A concept based music video is a music video where the lyrics doesn't have to match what is on the screen and there is no clear idea or message. This allows the audience to interpret the lyrics how they want to in a subjective way. The song 'Level's' by Avicii is definitely a conceptual song as the lyrics don't match with what we see on screen, also the lack of lyrics makes it more open to interpretations.
The concept behind this video is perhaps not so obvious to the audience, from looking at the colour pallet there are quite dull colours such as browns and greys which reflect the characters need of escapism from work, hence the dancing. The rock he is pushing at 1:21 could symbolise the workload he has to get done being too much to handle, possibly reflecting the normal everyday working man. The audience could pick up on this and relate to his situation as they too may have experienced this. At 1:21 again there is a transition which is a white fade out in a circle which helps to move the audience on to the next shot nicely as it is a smooth transition. Although there may not particularly be a concept behind this the audience are free to have their personal interpretation of it.
Animated
Another type of music video is an animated one. Although the clue is in the name there are many purposes to an animated music video and why an artist may choose to make one.This is a song called 'On the bright side' by Never Shout Never who are an American rock band. This is clearly a 2D animated music video, and the overriding message is that in every situation you should look on the bright side. To begin, this style of music video is mainly made for several purposes, some being the flexibility the artist gets, the limitless creativity and the stretch of imagination. All these make the audience get a gratification of escapism and a freedom to think out of the box. Technology developments have allowed animators to become ever more creative with what they can do in terms or animating. With the introduction of software's such as; Adobe Flash, Macromedia Flash 2D and Blender for animating, making it financially easier for music video directors to make a video. One convention which I think is effective in this video is the editing with the subtitles that are shown on screen throughout, I think this makes the song easier to follow and gives the audience a turn to sing along which makes it more engaging.
Interpretative
One of the conventions which repeatedly occurs in this video is the camera work, or shot types, which are either close ups or extreme close ups. I think that this is the case because most of the references made have something to do with the toys scattered around the room and so we will need to see them up close in order for us to know that the lyrics match what we're shown.
An interpretative music video is one where the artist is singing the lyrics and what they say matches with what is happening on screen. These are quite common and often this type of style is generally seen in almost every music video with a combination of the other styles. The first video I will analyse is by Owl City called 'Fireflies', this video is a very good example of an interpretative style. Firstly, although the video is set in one location this style is still satisfied, the artist begins singing and soon after makes references to objects in the room. Just before he sings '...if ten million fireflies...' at the point 0:29 there is a sudden cut to a screen that is auto typing what he says as he says it. This is clearly the lyrics matching what is shown and the audience don't have to concentrate on just his singing but also what they're shown. Again at 1:16 as he says '..teach me how to dance..'' we're shown a robot dancing, this could be that he is making a comparison between the robot and himself, and by the fireflies 'teaching him how to dance he feels like a robot taking order. These are interpretations that the audience are going to take into account. 1:24 he makes a reference to the disco ball hanging from the ceiling by a thread, this puts his lyrics into a visual picture and allows the audience to remember what he says and not just let it go by, considering he is singing at a fast pace. Almost to the end of the video at 2:33 he makes a reference to the fireflies being in a jar, and again we are shown them, and although the song doesn't particularly mean anything it is clear that the fireflies must mean something to the artist. By keeping them in a jar indicates that they are sacred and should be treasured not let out to escape.
Another music video showing the style of interpretative is 'Rude- by MAGIC!'. From the first couple of shots (from 0.03) we can see the artist interpreting the lyrics. From the shots showing the artist getting out of bed and going into his car, in sync with the lyrics ''Saturday morning , jumped out of bed and put on my best suit, got in my car..''. In addition, at 0.27 when the artist is singing ''can I have your daughter for the rest of my life, say yes say yes because I need to know'' he is seen saying this to the father of the daughter, which also shows good interpretation of the lyrics.
Surreal
One aspect of this video which also adds to the surrealism of it is the technology used to emphasis on things like the editing and voice of both artist. This is evident at the point 0:47 when Kanye is rapping and the pitch of his voice is stretch to the point of exaggeration. Again at 1:16 there is an extraterrestrial being floating in the air, which slightly reminds us of the alien in the film E.T, therefore we could say that this video contains some intertextuality and given the name is E.T the audience are able to get satisfaction that they know and recognize the name because of the movie.
The next video is by the artist Robbie Williams and the song is called 'Candy'. This is also a surreal video because here the artist has a halo above his head and is able to have superhero powers. This isn't something that anyone can ever do so is surreal. At 0:30 Robbie is seen making people fall over by pushing his hands towards their direction, meaning his halo has given him this ability. Also, he does this to make space for the women he is following around. I think that this is a two way street in terms of interpretation, the audience might read that men are saviors for women and other may think that women have such an effect on men that they'd go out of their way to comfort them. For the men watching this video they would wish that they could have this power so that they too can impress a girl. However, Robbie isn't so heroic because at 0:33 he pushes over an old man and punches an old lady, showing him to be aggressive which isn't the type of guy women would want. The surreal halo paints many pictures for the audience throughout this video.
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