STYLES AND TECHNIQUES IN MUSIC VIDEOS

ibrahim ali

POPExample : Bruno Mars - 24K Magichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqyT8IEBkvY

This song and video are both very Pop, it is the most common genre of music and the most famous when it comes to being played on the radio and tv, so the most important thing for this music video to deliver is a good image, something positive and clean, but also very fun and something to make life a little happier, However if it is dirty then it has to be censored for radio and tv play,also some artists bend the rules of Pop and make the songs very risky and sample bits of other genres such as Rock and Hip-Hop

This song is meant to be a party anthem kind of song, the lyrics are very show off-ish and the video is the same, it has him dancing around Las Vegas with his friends and driving in convertible cars hitting up parties and messing around in hotel corridors, this is all to promote a very lavish lifestyleThe song is very upbeat and has some techno elements to it

Music Video: The music video is very expensive and makes the

star look like, well a starIt gives you a glance at what it's like to party when

you’re rich and shows a lot of extravagant things such as gold, expensive cars, private jets and

gambling, the music video matches up amazingly well with the actual song, thanks to the elements

being the same, lavish lifestyleAnd then the actual editing being great, the lip-syncing and the cuts are so precise to the beat

Lyrics: “Players only, come onPut your pinky rings up to the moonGirls, what y'all trying to do?24 karat magic in the airHead to toe so player”

Hip-HopExample : Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatleshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m9zhNAgKs

This song is a mix of RNB, Hip-Hop and Rap, they use a very RNB chorus mixed with verses of Rap with some very groovy Hip-Hop tunes, this song really broke out of the limitations of the Hip-Hop music genre, even going as far as sampling certain aspects of some indie music, there isn’t too much swearing and the topic isn’t one that is too dirty, so the song gets plenty of radio play without too much censorship

The video shows them pretty much just partying and living the ideal rockstar lifestyle, the lyrics match up well with the music video and seem very in-sync, the crowd is seen dancing to the song as it shows the stars playing this song live in the music video, but it also has scenes of them creating the song in the studioThe fact that it shows people enjoying this song automatically makes the audience listening also like the song and want to dance or bop along to the beat, this is done with the help of fast cutting on the beat

Music Video:

The music video’s purpose was to show how these artists are real life rock stars, showing their

lifestyle and how huge they are, they compare themselves to the Beatles and because of this

they make the music video very old looking using methods such as VHS and LOFI effects, the cuts

are very sharp and transition between them partying on stage, making music in a studio and running around the city from their fans, all this is

done to show their lifestyle now that they have reached fame

Lyrics: “That girl is a real crowd pleaserSmall world, all her friends know of meYoung bull livin' like an old geezerQuick release the cash, watch it fall slowlyFrat girls still tryna get evenHaters mad for whatever reasonSmoke in the air, binge drinkingThey lose it when the DJ drops the needle”

ROCKExample : twenty one pilots: Heathenshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprcpdwuwCg

This song is very Rock but also quite soft, its popularity has made it very common on radio, the label knew this would happen since it is associated with a huge film that came out at the same time, so purposely the song and video has no adult themes, there was no risks in the video, a pretty basic video of the artists in the same jail scenes as the movie characters and then doing a little live performance in the jail with the jailmates who they refer to as ‘Heathens’

The video is done in a way that makes the main artist seem like he is innocent or regrets his actions now that he is in prison, it tells a story, it makes the audience think he did nothing wrong or he did something he didn’t mean to, this could be saying something about mental health struggles as the band has spoken about it a lot and a majority of their fans are teenagers transitioning into becoming adults

The video also has a live performance at the end, in which the two-man band play for their fellow prison mates, this shows the jailers enjoying the song, this is basically showing how the jailmates are misunderstood and just normal people who did something they regret and can no longer have a second chance due to thisThe live performance has lip-syncing and throughout the music video the artist lip-syncs the lyrics as the other glides through the prison playing the drums, being a kind of angel figure, this could be something the artist only imagines but it leads him to joining the angel figure on stage and singing as the angel plays the drums, this video has a straightforward narrative but has little parts which lets the audience make their own interpretation of what they think the music video is trying to say

Music Video:

The music video was done in partnership with a movie, a movie about villains inside a prison, so naturally the music

video was also shot inside the prison, the video cuts between parts of the movie such as the characters in the

movie in jail synced up with the artists in the same jail, it is done in a story line and does this to promote the movie,

the narrative is about life in jail as a psychopath with other people who are also psychopaths just like you

Lyrics: “Welcome to the room of peopleWho have rooms of people that they loved one dayLocked awayJust because we check the guns at the doorDoesn't mean our brains will change from hand grenadesYou'll never know the psychopath sitting next to youYou'll never know the murderer sitting next to youYou'll think, “How'd I get here, sitting next to you?"”

IN-CONCERT / LIVE FOOTAGEExample : Ty Dolla $ign - Blaséhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXz-xLB1-0

This music video has clips of the artist being driven around in a limo, smoking and hanging out with women,and has footage of him and his friends having a party on a tourbus and walking around the city at night, but the main part is the bit where he is jumping around on stage to the music, he has a live crowd dancing and going crazy to the song as well, the footage was shot during one of his concerts and is shot with a VHS camera and made to be very old and distorted

ANIMATIONExample : Kanye West – Heartlesshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0tTeuUVhU

This music video was done in an animation style, very cartoonish with a strong narrative, the video revolves around the artist and his girlfriend, they had a nasty breakup but the artist feels that he has done nothing wrong and her friends pressured her into letting go of him, this is related to a girl that the artist was around the time this song was madeThe video very cleverly includes the cartoon ‘The Jetsons’, which is a cartoon sitcom from 1962The entire video was done as a cartoon and has very wacky and trippy backgrounds to these drawings, including an Andy Warhol painting and a lot of space including stars and nebulas

NARRATIVEExample : Antony and the Johnsons - Cut the Worldhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9a1C1qXHfM

This music video is shot as a story, there is no lip-syncing and the cuts are very slow and dramatic, the colours are dark and the video is set in a work place, the story is between a receptionist and her boss

The video stars with the boss looking out of his office window, it then shows a close-up of his ring, telling us that he is married, then his receptionist walks in and they have a little awkward greeting, she then gives him his files and goes to her office, she is then shown glancing out the window and suddenly looking very sad, the boss however is shown drinking tea and looking quite happy, this makes the audience think something happened between them and now the receptionist feels upset about it and the boss doesn’t care, it is hinted that they had an affair, she is then shown carrying a knife to his room and killing him whilst crying, she then hurries outside and to her surprise is surrounded by multiple women with blood on their faces and hands and doing the same thing as her, which tells us that many people have gone through the same things as her, she is not alone

this video is so great as it allows the audience to make their own interpretation of what they think the music video is about

PasticheExample : Iggy Azalea - Black Widowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3u22OYqFGo

Pastiche is a technique which is when an artist imitates another artist’s work, done very light-heartedly and not done in a disrespectful way, maybe a little tongue-in-cheek but not the same as a parody

The music video I have chosen is a POP song which imitates a movie, the movie ‘Kill Bill’, it references many parts of the movie but does it in a way to pay respect, sort of like a homage or a dedication to the movie which is loved by millions

The music video borrows certain aspects of the movie, such as the sword, the costume, the hair, the theme and many others, it isn’t an imitation exactly as the music video creates its own image but is very similar to the movie it was inspired by

MUSIC VIDEO vs MOVIE

ParodyExample : The Weeknd – Starboyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqcByjqXEPA

A parody is something that mimics another piece of work in an absurd and ridiculous way, it tries to make something serious into something funMost parodies are done on films and music videos, the parody attempts to ridicule the plot of the original work and does it in a disrespectful way, it is done to ruin the expectations we have of certain genres of music videos and do something completely different

This particular parody is for a popular music video, it has to be almost identical to the original work and pays extra close attention to detail, things we, the viewer, wouldn't even pay too much attention to such as objects in the background or the number of plants on a desk

The type of shots were also the same and the editing was done almost identical to the original

PARODY vs MUSIC VIDEO

Surrealist // ImpressionistExample : Jamie xx – Girlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7gmVWgEpRc

These kinds of music video are done to be very abstract and may not even be related to the actual music, they can be animated or real life, but as long as they have some sort of dreamlike or unreal elements, it counts

The one I have chosen to look into is an animation based music video, it is done very slowly and has repetition, it’s the same colours over and over and follows a specific pattern, all in all it takes you away from reality

There are no actual lyrics, it is mostly just vocals and techno beats mixed with a dreamy chorus which is about love and girls

CUTTING TO THE BEATExample : YG - One Time Cominhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nTCUI5reJw

Cutting to the beat means when the video clips are structured in a certain pattern that it starts and finishes according to the audio, in this case music, when it’s the right time in the song the video should be cut at that exact pointthis gives it a nice finished look, it has a smooth rhythm and great pace,everything is in-sync and the overall video flows beautifully

This can draw the viewer in and make them stay focused on the video as it does not drag on for too long on the same clip , instead it mixes things up and has different scenes and joins them together perfectly and makes it a lot more entertaining

For this particular video the cuts are timed every couple of seconds, 5/8 seconds to be almost exact, this is a fast paced song and the video keeps this pattern up

As you can see below, the scene is cut into 3 different parts, a high and far angle, a medium and high angle, and a low and close angle, the last angle being the action shotAll these clips work very well together in the music video and the way it is cut to the beat makes it very enjoyable to watch

MIMING & LIP SYNCExample : Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Knowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY

Miming and Lip Sync is done in order to create the illusion that the artist is singing the song, it is a perfect way to connect both the music and the video together, this technique is huge in the music video industry

In the video I looked at, the artists lip-sync the entire song during the video, the low vocals and the high ones and another artist enters the video to lip-sync for the female character in the song, this connects both the characters and makes it very enjoyable for the viewers as it creates a narrative inside the music video

The miming is so on point that it makes it seem that the artist is singing right in front of you, instead of through a camera and then being edited together, the miming and lip-syncing is a very strong point for music videos

MULTI-IMAGEExample : Charlie Puth - We Don't Talk Anymorehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AtDnEC4zak

The meaning of Multi-Image is in the name, it’s multiple images / video together in one music video, it is not very popular in music videos but works great with narrative, especially in the one I looked into

This music video looks into the lives of two different people, who live very different lives and what they get up to, but the main thing is that it stays in the same format

It shows him waking up, and it shows her waking up, at the same timeIt shows the city he is in, and the city she is in, at the same time

It shows them doing their own activities but on two separate sides of screen, he always stays on the left, whilst she stays on the right

It creates a storyline and lets us see how they are not together but still think of each other, and it is very powerful for the viewer as he can see into both of their lives, thanks to the amazing video editing technique known as Multi-Image

IBRAHIM ALI