Music Video Styles
GenreIn today's modern music industry we have many genres from country all the way to London grime music. In every genre there is a video that highlights the exact convention that shows the type of music.
This is a typical R&B love song sung by R&B artist Trey Songz called "Never Again". The video projects many elements in the video about a loved one, the price of fame and the heartbreak it can bring.
The video shows Trey constantly looking into the distance in thought in 0:58 whilst singing,showing that he is thinking about the past. The video continuously shows Trey looking sad in his thoughts this is done to show the emotion clearly. Like many video like this we the love interest who doesn't say anything but plays a key part for story telling.
Performance
Performance videos mainly show an artist that has created a music video but performs a live version toward a audience. The performance could be a recording from a concert or gig. Depending on the stage and audience you may see background dancers or a live band playing behind the artist.
This is an example of Devlin and Wretch32 performing new song "Off With Their Heads" this has been recorded by online broadcasting company SBTV which is well known for promoting aspiring artist or current artist in London area. This recording shows that the artists are in a room rapping their song showing of their song in the live version. The good thing about live performances is that it allow the audience to pay attention to the lyrics more because there are no distraction in the video to disturb your listening/thoughts.
Narrative
A narrative music video is a music video that tells a story that relates to the lyric sung/rapped by the artist. These video are great because it keeps the audience interested to see what happens at the end of the video. Also in some song it allows the lyrics to have deeper meaning.
Keyshia Cole- Trust & Believe is a great example for a narrative, Like most narrative music it always has a back story to help launch the story telling. It starts with Keyshia Cole behind a bathroom door and her partner banging on the other side pleading with her to open up saying "its not what you think" which grabs the viewer's attention. The lyrics go on about how she gave him her all and how far they have come from back in the day to the present. When singing she gives a couple direct looks at the camera showing her pain and sorrow, as the story goes on we wonder what happened to her and why she is so hurt. When the video shows the clip of back in the day it illustrates how thing were back then the partner was a local hood-rat who could of got in trouble with the law. Present day show the couple in a happy light but we see a glimmer of what might happen when the male partner is freeze framed looks at the friend. After the male partner and the best friend cross eyes we a clip of them in bed shortly after, the male and the best friend are sitting in the car discussing how there relationship is going to work behind Keyshia Cole's back. In the scene where Keyshia and the best friend "Tonya" are taliking she discusses how her partner "Tae" is acting suspicious and the possibility of him cheating (which he is actually doing). A few clips late we see Tae sleeping and his phone ringing Keyshia answers the phone since Tae is sleeping only to hear the voice of her best friend Tonya asking if he is free tonight which sends Keyshia mad in anger which show her behind the bathroom door like the start. In the following clips we see Keyshia smash Tonya's car window in anger followed by her standing in the garden whilst Tae trys to talk to Keyshia. We see Tonya and Tae getting intimate again but this time Keyshia walks in forcing the both of them to run away half naked in the rain, both two got in to the car as Keyshia after them we that the had a crash and burnt due to the expression on Keyshia's face. At the end we see Keyshia walking to Tonya's porch the place she and Tae and her use to talk and throws two roses on the step.
Keyshia Cole behind the bathroom door hiding her self away from the situation at 0:08. She is hind herself away from the situation that has occured. As you can see she has her hands on her shoulder and is curled up illustrating the possible troubles.
Tae & Keyshia having a good time at 1:19-21 this is were thing turn from good to bad in the story.
Interpretative
Interpretative video is a video that directly links the lyrics with the visual in the video. The visual could be made in an animation form as well.
This is a video of a interpretative music video, This is a R&B music video called "Same Girl". Every thing that is said by R.Kelly and Usher is illustrated with visual images helping the viewer to get strong grips of what is happening this is seen in 0:56 were R.Kelly starts to describe his female to Usher. Most artist don't use direct links that connect the lyrics with the visual but mainly make a narrative video which can be more enjoyable for viewers.
Surreal/Abstract
Surreal and abstract videos give the viewer the element of surprise . The visuals and the lyrics may not match and the video might not make sense or might not go with the video but it does however make the viewer think and maybe try to think about what the artist is trying to show. This is a way to get more people talking about you as a lot of people will use word of mouth to tell others about the video.
This is an example of a music video which helps creates a surreal image all the way to the end of the video , Frank Ocean features as a nurse and is sitting with the little boy which is a very small part , the video starts of with a man dragging a girl on a stretcher looking for medical help possibly. He arrives at a tent and a western Indian looking person takes the girl into the tent two seconds later a weird looking man with white and black paint pops out. The man grabs the boy by the head and holds onto him focusing on his eyes. After the odd exchange of looks the boy hops on his horse and gallops away.At the end of his journey we see him get of and pick up a star that has fallen from the sky which seems to be some kind of life force.This video shows surrealism and makes the viewer think about what is going making them very puzzled. This video attracts a lot more attention then producing any other style, video's like this would go viral online an attracted many views on social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Producing videos such as this helps with exposure and people talking about you or the video.
Animation
Animation videos are either freeze frame motion or digital. Animation is a more detailed because its cheaper but maybe more rare category that artist tend to fall in or make .Animation goes with anything from narrative to interpretive.
This is an example by Kanye West - Good Morning , this example shows a digital animation. The song is about a boy ( the teddy bear) who is going through a rough morning and has had trial and trubilation through out his life. The pace of this song is fairly slow and the animation that have been drawn are constructed with a lot of detail. The song has a more deeper meaning if you do your research on Kanye, he never finished high school and was the best student he is very good at painting a picture of his life and background in cartoon form. The audience are drawn into it from the start as its a cartoon with the futuristic affect. Artist normally produce cartoons because its cheaper and allow them to express things a lot easier because in a cartoon nothing is impossible it just takes creativity.
Parody
Parody's are a comical version of the original , it shows a more funny side to what may be in the original it also exaggerates some parts in the video and most often changes the original lyrics to a more humorous one to make the video more enjoyable . Parody's are made as a joke and can be spoofs of music videos such as the one below or even films such as 'Superhero Movie' . Parody's commonly seen on you tube as many people try duplicate or make a parody and upload it online for every one to view and make a joke out of, the parody's that are really good might hit virally on social network sites.
This music video made up of many "artist" and snippets from there videosto make a parody -
As you can see the video got major success and is one of YouTube most viewed clips they even made a auto tune parody about this (see below)
Intertextuality
Intertexuality means when one media text copy's or has some similar features to another media text.
This is an example from old series of "The Simpson's" - "The Night Before Christmas" this well known for linking to other media text. The example i have found is from the Simpson and was a Christmas special which was a famous poem originally wrote by Clement Clarke Moore. I took this as an example because it copy's the the poem but puts a twist on the words to go with the show.
Referring
This is an example of referring, this when a music video links in with a movie. This is not synergy because it is made for the move and not promoting anything else but the film. This is very popular in the media industry as many artist make a sound track for a certain movie and when the the music video is developed comes the artist and some shots from the movie are shown in the music video.
The movie "Think Like A Man Act Like A Lady" is a song made by well known Jennifer Hudson who made the track with Epic Records.The video shows Jennifer Hudson featuring in the sound tracks along with fellow artist Ne-Yo and Rick Ross also some clips from the movie 'Think Like A Man'. The music companies make these music videos to help promote the film from the artist whom already has a large fan base. Most artist that perform songs like these are very much mainstream artist will bring in more fans.The artist also gets more notification for taking part in a film project that gives them exposure to the film industry plus the potential audience who are going to view the movie.
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