Unit 29 - Styles

Performance 

A live performance is when an artist/band are performing live on a music video. Sometimes it can be the whole music video or it will just be bits of the live music video which can help to engage people watching the music video. An example of this 'Work' live performed by Rihanna and Drake. This type of style is used so the audience can feel more involved with the artist/band as they are able to interact with each other. The crowd get excited for the artist/band and this helps to get people who are home also excited as they hear all the cheering and it makes them feel excited about what is happening. Having a live performance is also good as multiple cameras are used which lets people get a better view of the artist and they can also buy merchandise as people who attend a live performance will buy a lot of merchandise for their favourite artist/band. As you can see in the music video it can be exiting for the audience as sometimes a person who is featured on the music video can surprise the audience and come on live which happened in this music video when Drake turned up and surprised the audience making them all go crazy and excited. 

Another live performance is 'Someone like you' by Adele which is a live person. This is also a good thing about live performance as sometimes the singers surprise their fans with another artist who features on their song making the crowd go wild. Also it allows the artist/band to even sometimes bring their fans on stage which is a good interaction. A lot of long shots are used so we can see the artist dancing better.  When having live performances it can be enjoyable for both the artist and the audience as this allows the artists/band to interact with their fans which the fans would obviously love but also sometimes when they sing the fans join as done in this video which lets the audience feel more engaged with the song and artist/band but also makes the artist/band happy as their fans know the lyrics of the song and are singing along which makes it fun for both parties.


Narrative 

A narrative music video will tell a story through a serious of footages. Usually the story line is linked to the lyrics so the audience watching can understand what is happening the in music video. 

An example of a narrative music video is same love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Narrative music videos are like a short film as they tell a story but it is being narrated by the artist/band singing. Sometimes the song can be personal and relatable to them and in this case it is as the music video follows a young black boy of struggling of coming out gay. Narrative stories usually get personal and allows the audience to identify with what is happening and some men and women who are going through the same issues can be able to relate to this song. The song shows us his struggles from being born to a young teenage feeling left out, to being gay and homophobia he and his boyfriend would face when together to later his father not accepting him and then to his wedding and then being old with his husband in an hospital bed. This is a powerful song which overall just says love is love. 



Another example of narrative is 'part of me' by Katy Perry. In the music video Katy Perry catches her boyfriend cheating on her and she leaves. Its a good song that shows strength that it means don't let anyone bring you down. Because narrative can be personal this can help people who have been cheated listen to this song and feel better about what happened as the audience can relate to what happened to them and overcome their struggle like Katy Perry did in the song. This can target both male and female as both genders can feel heartbroken after a heartbreak and make themselves stronger after it has happened. It can also be 15 - 30 year old's as this can be the appropriate age for this song. 




Conceptual 


A concept based music video is a music video which has no structured narrative and were the lyrics do not match what is happening in the music video at all. The music video would usually visual effects. An example of this is 'wildest dreams' by Taylor Swift. The music video shows Taylor Swift and a man in Africa filming for a romance movie were they play lovers in the movie but when off camera they are at each others throats. After further research into the song I found out that "Wildest Dreams" is about a relationship doomed to end. But the actress Taylor Swift plays is not ready to let go of the relationship. It shows us that not only is the actor she's with attractive but he's also masculine and assertive which she believes the perfect man.The lyrics explain that while they are still together now the actress Taylor Swift knows the end of the relationship and hopes that this man won't completely forget her. As the lyrics says "Say you’ll remember me standing in a nice dress, Staring at the sunset, babe / Red lips and rosy cheeks" which means she wants him to remember their relationship when they finally finish filming. 


Another example of conceptually music videos is Tinie Tempah's 'Pass out'. The choreography, song title and setting of this music video do not relate to song 'pass out'.  The song's lyrics however do relate as when Tinie Tempah says 'we can do this until we pass out' and  'until we hit the ground and pass out' the lyrics are referring to a person falling unconscious or 'passing out' due to excessive partying.The song 'pass out' would be appropriate for ages 15 - 25 as they can get into this song. 




Surreal 

A surreal music video lets people into the artists world and give insight into their creative mindset.These type of music video can let the artist/band show their fans their creative side which can be interesting for the fans when watching the music video. An example of this is 'Style' By Taylor Swift which is about a relationship that did not work out. The music video is surreal because it shows us a lot of nature and the couple trying to work out their relationship. Taylor Swift in the music video shows that she believes they are perfectly matched they like each others "style" and they look good/work well together.



Another example of a surreal music is Katy Perry's 'E.T' which is an example of a surreal music video as it has a lot of imagery and stock footage used which appears to have no rhyme or reason which makes a creative statement. The music video is a dreamlike state where the real world does not exist. The music video also shows the world in a waste playing an old tune then later goes to Katy Perry signing as an alien where she turns to a human with alien like makeup going through space. It later shows her land on earth in a new outfit were she sees an albino man as a robot and then goes Katy Perry kisses the helmet  were the robot turns into an actual man. It then goes to Kayne West floating in space as he raps then shows Katy Perry picking up the glasses and the bottom of her dress floats away were it shows goat legs and she leaves with the albino man. This is a weird music video that would not happen in real life which makes it surreal but the music video is also interesting for people to watch.

Animation 


This is a music video which can either show an animation of the artist/band or an animation of a person for the purpose of the music video. It does not show any real people on animations. An example of an animation music video is 'What I did for love' By David Guetta and Emeli Sandé which is about , is a cartoon about interspecies love. It is about a love between a very oversized cartoon chimp and a woman which shows us what the ape would do for love for the human woman as what the ape does for love is fall in love outside of his own species and defy the laws of nature by doing so and nobody can believe 'what he did for love' as he fights a shark and goes to war for the woman.It also intrigues the audience with its artistic style. It can also benefit the artist as they can get a wider audience range because of the animation they used in their music video.

Another example of animation is 'Do I wanna know' by the Arctic Monkeys. This is a music video which viewers can watch and get into as the animation is well put together and makes the music video look good and is not sloppy. This music video lets the band Arctic Monekys show off their creativity and that the animation used matches well with the video as they can do whatever they want in the music video and it will look good whereas if the music video was perfumed without animation it wouldn't look as good. Animation music videos can be popular as an artist/band can do anything when it comes to music video as long as it cheap to use also. 


Interpretive  

This video is an interpretive video as the video uses the lyrics to create plot and style of the video. An example of this is the Lonely Island ' Im On a boat'. This music video sings the people on a boat and the music video showing the audience they are on a boat. A lot of interpretive imagery is used in the music video, for example in the song he sings, 'Ive got my swim trunks and my flippy floppies' and then it shows him sat down waving his flip flops. This lyrics and the song will tell you whats happening and we will see what they are doing in this music video as they are being told what is happening and are seeing what is happening. 



Another example is 'Pretty hurts' by Beyonce. The lyrics being sung are shown in the music video which deals with societies expectations of what beauty is and eating disorders. It shows Beyonce having to put herself to societies standard of what pretty is which shows us it can be struggling for girls as Beyonce represents girls who have a struggle with how they look as they are told they need to look a certain way to be beautiful. Even though its not  real and Beyonce is not real it shows us what most women feel the pressure. However the lyrics and the song show us a powerful message that you don't need to be what society says is beautiful to be beautiful. I would say this music video at primarily females and would say the age range would be 13 - 25 years old as these are ages were girls start to become insecure about what they look like.