MUSIC VIDEO TYPESSophie Bell

Music videos can be characterized by three broad types:

• Performance

• Narrative

• Concept

These types describe the form and content selected by the director and artist in order to attract viewers and convey a direct or indirect message. They can act either as adverts, as popular art forms or as self referential filmic texts.

PERFORMANCE VIDEOS• This is the most common type of music video. These videos feature the singer or band actually

performing their song either in front of a live audience or just performing for the video. The goal is to create an in-concert experience for the viewer. Gow (1992) suggests: ‘the predominance of performance indicates that music video defines itself chiefly by images of artists singing and playing songs’. Performance videos, especially ones that feature the artists in the studio, have the power to remind the audience that the soundtrack is still important – ‘performance orientated visuals cue viewers that the recording of the music is the most significant element’. An example of this type of video is Beyoncé's ‘Love on Top’, which features her and her backup dancers singing and dancing to the song, and then at the end she says ‘cut’ and they walk off casually, to emphasise that it was just a rehearsal. This fits in with the idea that a performance video taking place in the studio or place of production enhances the audience awareness of the importance of the recording stage of the music’s production.

The video opens with a shot of the microphones which the performers will then use. This introduces the audience to the fact that a performance will take place.

A shot of the performers from behind then appears, as they click along to the music. This creates excitement as well as ambiguity as we don’t know who is who yet

After the performers have finished, and Beyoncé casually walks off the stage, the camera that was filming is revealed. I think this enables the audience to identify with the performers and the process of rehearsing their work.

The performance is filmed through a range of medium wide shots containing all the dancers, to close ups of just Beyoncé's face. This can relate to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of record label demands, as Beyoncé's face and image is a very important selling feature.

NARRATIVE VIDEOS• A narrative video presents a sequence of events. A narrative video may tell any kind of a story in

linear, cause-effect sequencing. Love stories e.g. showing people falling in love, relationships, breakups, abuse etc. are all very common themes for narrative videos. Schwichtenberg (1992) suggested ‘action in the story is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen.’ A perfect example of a narrative video is Taylor Swifts ‘you belong with me’. This video features a ‘nerdy’ girl who is in love with her next door neighbour, a ‘cool’ boy. They converse through writing messages to each other and holding them up to their bedroom windows. The cool boy has a girl friend who is the popular ‘mean girl’. The story progresses and eventually the boy falls in love with the girl and they kiss at the prom and live ‘happily ever after’. This concept also fits in with Goodwin’s idea of visuals amplifying and illustrating lyrics.

The scene opens with an establishing shot of the young couples houses – this establishes where the video is going to take place and the concept. It also represents the start of a story.

A shot of Taylor Swift holding up her sign to the boy is shown, this establishes the relationship that they have as friends and that she cares about him.

This shot shows the boys response, as the story develops, its obvious that they have a connection, as he is confiding in her about his relationship troubles with his girlfriend.

The story develops as the boy goes off with his girlfriend who is the ‘mean girl’ it becomes clear to the audience that they are not meant for each other

The resolution of this story is shown in this shot of the drama being solved and the pair kissing. This is a very typical ending to a narrative music video.

CONCEPTUAL VIDEOS

• These types of videos rely on poetic forms, mainly metaphors. Firth (1988) said: ‘Conceptual videos do not tell a story in linear fashion, but rather create a mood, a feeling to be evoked in the experience of viewing’ Because conceptual videos can be perceived differently to different people, they are open to ambiguity and different possibilities of what the message could actually be. Multiple meanings are available as the metaphors are interpreted by each viewer. An example of a conceptual music video is Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes ‘That’s what's up’ which features a boy and a girl toddler acting as though their adults, going to work, arguing etc. The concept behind this video is to illustrate how innocent and naïve children are and how complicated adult relationships are, but the idea is that adult relationships can be simple if only we were more child-like perhaps. But, perhaps somebody else may interpret this in a different way to me, which is the whole point of conceptual music videos.

PERFORMANCE/CONCEPT HYBRID

• Sometimes a music video contains more than one of these characteristics, which makes it a hybrid. This is more often than not a performance with a concept. The result of this is the audience feel they can relate to the performer as well as the concept, which usually have something in common. An example of this hybrid is Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ video, which displays them performing their song, whilst cutting to a scene of a young man running away from creepy looking hooded figures, who catch him and cut him open resulting in black blood seeping out of his chest. The performance aspect of this video is very common in the metal/rock genre, depicting the band playing their instruments and the lead singer singing into the microphone. The concept aspect of this video is inspired by the horror movie genre, the use of an abandoned desolate building, scary black figures and gore all relate to this genre. This coincides with Goodwin's theory of record labels having certain demands and impressing certain images onto their artists, as well as intertextuality.