Unit 29 - Music videos

Narrative 

Narrative videos tells a story through a chain of events. (Beginning, middle and end) Narrative music videos show a story that connects to the lyrics of the video. An example of an artist who uses a narrative video well is the Bruno Mars song 'Grenade'. The concept of the music video is Bruno Mars talking about a girl he loves dearly but does not feel the same way about him. The piano symbolises his love for the woman. He plans to try and get his lover back but when he finally makes his way to her house he see's her with another man. This makes him turn away in and drag the piano away in sadness as he realises she's moved on. People from the ages of 15 - 40 would be able to relate to this song if they have gone through what he is making it more deep and understandable for them. The video also uses natural lighting to make the video more realistic. It shows us he's actually pulling the piano.  

'Same Love' by Macklemore and Ryan lewis is a song about same sex marriage and the struggles people go through because of same sex marriage and relationships. This video shows the meaning of the song in a visual way for the audience, so the audience can get a better understanding on whats happening. The video also features different people from who have the same thing in common, a love for each other whether its the same sex relationships or not. The video directly plays on the lyrics of the song and is made to make the viewers think and want to change what our society thinks about same sex marriage by showing that everyone is bound by love and that should not be an issue if you are gay or not. It also uses a lot of natural lighting to show the audience that realism of the video. The video also has a slow pace of edit so people watching the video can know more what the story is about. 


Performance 

Usually captures a live performance of a band/artist while showing the excitement of a live event. Beyonce's 'flawless' was performed live. This allows the audience to see the connection the artist is having with its fans and viewers. In addition to this can also be a means of saving money or spending money on a new music video. This also allows people watching the video to become excited and to want to go to their next concert due to the audiences reaction going wild. The use of editing such as close ups, wide and mid long shots are consistently used in the video to engage the audience and to make them feel part of the video. There is also a use of artificial light which are bright flashing lights. This makes the video more entreating for the people watching and gets them more excited. 



Jay- Z and Linkin park encore is another example of a performative music video. Both of the artists are performing are from very music genres yet they work very well together in this music video.This is good promotion for both artist fans as fans of Jay-Z who liked Linkin park will look them and the same with Jay-Z. The props used are instruments and technical devices such as lighting and mixing, these are typical props needed for most live performances. The video is aimed at adults and teenagers as the artists use strong language in the lyrics. Also, the audience in the crowd mainly consist of adults and older teenagers.


Animation 


This type of music video just uses animated characters with no live performance from people. Animation are mostly used and aimed for kids. However, a music video by Kanye west called 'Heartless' Kanye uses animation aimed for adults as some parts of the video would be inappropriate for kids. For example, there are some scenes with a woman dancing sexually provocative. Usually animations would appeal to kids within the ages of 5 - 13 but because Kayne west is a well known rapper and the video of the song the ages would go up to 14 - 30 as he talks about heartbreak which people within those age groups may have experienced what he is talking about. The colours which are also shown in the video are both bright and dark. These are shown to show the relation of the song 'Heartless.' Using animation within a music video can be very popular as it can be limitless. Artists can do whatever they want with their music video as they wouldn't need to film. This is also what makes them cheaper to use as they do not need to be spending money or props or using location as everything is done on a computer. 

An example of another animation music video is 'One more time' by Daft punk. This is a music video with animation. Again this music video is aimed at specially for adults and not kids as contains adult culture which would not be appropriate for kids as some of the women in the music video wear low crop tops. The setting of the animated music video is in a club. The genre of this music video is dance, as the song focuses on the music rather than the lyrics. The props used in this video are instruments as the main characters are presented as doing a performance on stage. The music video consists mainly of close up shots; the shots show what the characters are doing. 



Surrealist 

Surreal videos are often unconventional and different. The video may have no association to the lyrics at all but use the shock factor to gain attention.They are also used for strange videos that you can't believe it reals. An example of a surreal music video is 'Take on me' by a-ha. The video uses real visual images and well as animated combined into one. This video is made surreal due to the moving comic book and the way the female character gets pulled into the animated, fantasy world, but she remains normal and human real while everyone and everything else is animated.This video is very good and appealing to the audience as its different compared to most music videos, its unusual and original. It would engage the audience as not many music videos are like. The use of bright colours shows us that she's in the comic-book and for us to see what is going on in the music video. The video is also very fast paced which makes the music video entertaining because if it were slow we would get bored on what we are watching. 



Surrealist music videos seem like they don’t have any meaning to them, they just seem really random and abnormal. An example of a surreal music video is 'Everlong' by the Foo Fighters. In Everlong the lead singer and the drummer have a series of dreams about an Elvis Presley looking character and his accomplice being mean to the drummer. Another band members also dreams about having a big hand. This style will sometimes include the band performing in cuts between the randomness making the music video entertaining for the audience. The surrealist in this music videos is so that the they be more creative with their work because they aren’t tied down to interpreting what the song is about so much. The music video is very fast pace as it just has very random scenes on what is going on with the people in the music video. The use of black and white in the music video also makes it more interesting as not common to use a different colour. 


Interpretative

Interpretive means something that looks like something else, but has a different meaning. These videos want the audience to make their own meaning on what they think the music video is about. An example of this is 'Russian Roulette' by Rihanna. It shows us a Rihanna who has been placed a Russian prison where she isn't treated right by the people there. This will make the audience think why Rihanna who plays this women is inside this Russian prison. What did she do? Is she innocent? This is what we are meant to think on as its not clear on why she was put into this place. The dark colours such as red and black go well with whats happening in the video as we know whats happening to Rihanna isn't a good thing. The colours add to the dark, creepy mood Rihanna is showing making it entertaining. The music video also uses jump cuts to make the video more intriguing on whats happening.