Research - What is a Music Video?

What is a Music Video?

A music video is a short film that integrates a song with imagery, and is produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.

Music videos use a wide range of styles and contemporary video-making techniques, including animation, live action, documentary, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film.

Abstract films are non-narrative visual/sound experiences with no story and no acting. They rely on the unique qualities of motion, rhythm, light and composition inherent in the technical medium of cinema to create emotional experiences. 

Some music videos combine different styles with the music, such as animation and live action. Combining these styles and techniques has become more popular because of the variety for the audience. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may not have any concept, being a merely filmed version of the song's live concert performance.

Types of Music Videos

There are generally three types of music video in which they can be categorised; narrative, performance and conceptual.

Performance

Artists that create a performance within their music video makes the audience solely focus on the performance. Genres such as alternative rock and pop funk commonly include performance within their music video. A structure within a performance video plays a key part because it enables the music video to form a shape where it can develop and change during the course of the video, preventing the video from being visually unappealing and boring. The key structures that editors usually use are the different forms of editing, the use of unconventional camera angles and the consistent or different colour schemes used.

Marshmellow - Happier (Performance Video)

Narrative

A narrative video is where the music video has been created into a short film rather than a music video. Narrative music videos will not have lip-syncing but will often relate to the lyrics in some kind of way. There are three different types of narrative within the genre; illustration, amplification and disjuncture. Narrative music videos emphasise the artists intentions of the song to be seen and shows the artists interest in creating a short story for the audience. The plot has a very simple meaning and the audience can easily understand and follow the narrative, this helps to engage the audience more rather them no paying attention to the music video and just listening to the song.

Avicci - Wake Me Up

Illustration

This is commonly used and utilises images to illustrate lyrics. Illustration is the simplest and easiest concept to put around a music video because it gives a literal meaning and the words match the music video.

Amplification

This convention is demonstrated by the music videos creative director. They can use both narrative and performance to connote the meaning behind the music video.

Disjuncture

This intentionally ignores the content of the song and genre of the music and tries to create a completely different meaning. The music videos don't make sense and can often use abstract images that don't match the lyrics.


Conceptual

This is very different from a performance or narrative music video, this is due to the fact that conceptual music video have no storyline and usually don't relate to the lyrics. However, in most concept music videos there is either some sort of small performance or narrative so that the audience can somewhat understand the music video without being too confused. Conceptual music videos are merely based on the artists ideas. It expands their creativity within the song and as a result of these creative concept videos, audience often remember these types of music videos because of its uniqueness. There are usually two types of conceptual music videos; thematic and symbolic.

Gotya - Somebody That I Used To Know

Thematic

These types of conceptual videos are theme based. (E.g An old country folk song would contain fields, farms, etc)

Symbolic

These types of conceptual music videos contain a lot of signs within the music video that gradually build up the meaning behind the video, the lighting and the pace of editing can also symbolise the emotions and meanings within the music video.

Sources:

https://prezi.com/rlvr0gyat3_f/what-are-the-3-different-forms-of-music-videos/ (Visited 08/05/19)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video (Visited 08/05/19)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_animation (Visited 08/05/19)