Types and convention
- 2. Music videos often tend to have a type of narrative that relates to the lyrics and type of genre of the track.This creates a image/audio relation as viewers are able to connect the related items to each other are more likely to remember the song. These types of music videos often tell some type of story within them which causes audiences engagement as they can often be labelled as ‘short films’ This is also a reason why films and music artists will collaborate in an act of synergy so the film is interpreted into the music video and the song into the film generating larger amounts of views. An example of this can be seen through the music video ‘Almost is never enough:Ariana Grande ft Nathan Sykes’ which involves screenplay from the film ‘The Mortal Instruments:City of Bones’
- 3. Conventions of a narrative based music video according to the theorist Alex Goodwin include that of: 1. A thought through beat- This allows the song to be created and tends to set the genre of the track 2. Relationship between the song and visuals With a clear link between the music and the theme shown it allows audience identify what the music video will feature 3. Narrative and performance of the song Narrative and performance will help to portray the song in the ideal way, this may often vary depending on genre as a music video may not always include a clear narrative. 4.Technical aspect of music video Editing must be concise and stick to the pattern of the music video, conventions will also be used. for example within a pop song may use more jump cuts than that of a slow dancing song. 5. Star image and camera shots to put attention on them With using a star image it allows audiences to focus on them and make a clear link between the song and the creator/main star.This is more likely to stay in an audience members memory.
- 4. Performance based music videos tend to consist of the music artist performing their song in a way which will appeal to their target audience.This is usually seen in more pop based songs, for example ‘One direction’ with their song ‘That’s what makes you beautiful’ These types of music videos tend to focus heavily on technical aspects such as high key lighting and low angle camera shots to emphasise focus on the artist and make them seem as important as possible. Performance based music videos also tend to include narrative based elements in order to keep audiences engaged. This can also be varied via genre of the music video for example a more ‘urban’ type music video would feature conventions such as guns, money, violent actors, and women whilst the artist performs their song. In contrast, a pop artist who is more likely to feature happy upbeat characters with more joyful dancing.
- 5. Music videos with a ‘concept based’ theme often tend to lean towards the more artistic side with themes being more abstract and unique. An example of this is shown through the music video created for the song ‘Robin Thicke: Blurred lines’ which features naked women dancing obscurely, stuffed/real animals, other random props and #Thicke across the screen. This created a large amount of discussion within society when it was first released as the music video was so transcendent and many even claimed it was promoting rape culture. Videos with a concept based theme give creators more freedom with what they chose and allows them to promote ideologies through an art form, engaging audiences who search for niche videos.
- 6. Conventions of a concept based music video include: Camera angles- These will often change and alter through out the music video, this is so the audience can see the type of concept the video is portraying and not disengage with what is being shown. Mise en scene- This will often involve scenery and costumes that tear away from ‘the norms’ of society, for example in ‘Somebody that I used to know: Gotye’ both characters are surrounded by paint and have a lack of clothing. Editing- More than often editing within a concept based music video will have periods of slow and fast paces in order to communicate different aspects of the theme to the audiences.This allows audiences to feel differently through out the music video and engage fully. Camera movements- Movements of the camera may be included in a concept based music video in order to give a unique feel to the video.
- 7. From the information I have gathered I can infer that a ‘Narrative based’ music video seems to be the most popular through the musical industry. Despite this there has also been a rise in narrative based music videos combining with that of performance based, in order to promote the star as well as keep the audiences involved with the video.