Music videos serve several purposes including promoting a single, artist, or album. They entertain audiences and help set the meaning of songs through visual imagery. Typically lasting 3-4 minutes, music videos combine live performance, narrative elements, and visuals like computer graphics. They often feature performances by the artist, tell a narrative story related to the song lyrics, or focus on a conceptual theme, symbolism, or idea. Concept videos emphasize artistic visual style over narrative or performance and may break conventions of film editing.

1. Music Videos

2. Why have music videos?
 Draw a star diagram to show a number of
different purposes of a music video……

3. The purpose of the Music Video
 Promotes a single and, normally, an album
 Promotes the artist or band
 Creates, adapts or feeds into a ‘star image’
 Entertains the audience
 Sets the ‘meanings’ of a song by the use of
images

4. Basic structures
 In 3-4 minutes a typical music video combines a
mix of live performance, narrative, and other
visual imagery including computer graphics and
animation.
 It does this to advertise the band/artist and song

5. Music Videos
 Often contains a number of different elements:
 Performance
 Narrative
 Concept:
 Thematic
 Symbolic
 Idea based

6. Performance
 Many music videos include performance of the
artists as part of the video
 It was from clips of performances that music
videos developed
 Bon Jovi – You give love a bad name

7.  Often contain shots of the artists performing
 Can be a live stage performance, with shots of
artists and audience
 Can be the artists in “real life” situations eg
warming up, talking, fooling around
 Often includes lots of close ups of the artist
 There can be a particular visual style that goes
with the artist (a motif) eg particular clothing,
actions, props, type of images.
 Often the artist can appear to perform in an
unusual place - all lip-synched eg a field, a
rooftop

8. Narrative
 Often the video tells a story either that features
in the lyrics or is suggested in the lyrics eg girl
dumps boy
 This narrative can be like a Mini film, with a
beginning, middle and end
 Or it can suggest some links to a story
 It can promote a film with clips form the film
included telling a story
 Taylor Swift – You belong with me

9. Narrative
 Because it is only 3-4 minutes it can be
very fast paced, lots of shots and cuts
use inter-textuality with films, tv and other videos
mimic other film and tv genre eg horror or sci fi
sometimes the story can contradict what is seen
for effect
sometimes the artist is a part of the story, or an
observer or completely separate

10. Concept
 Thematic
 Symbolic
 Idea based
Narrative or performance is not the most dominate
aspect.

11. Concept - Thematic
 There are lots of common themes in music videos
 Depends on the genre of music
 Eg Heavy metal bands go for perfomance
dominated clips
Rap has lots of “street” images
dance routines are common for many female
artist performances

12. Concept - Symbolic
 Use of lots of symbols to build up meaning eg
graveyard…death
 Lots of use of montage -lots of images to create
meaning sometimes often contradictory
 Lighting often used to suggest mood
 Fast paced - often only a few seconds per shot to
build up meanings

13. Concept – Interesting Idea
 Visually stylish – ‘artistic’ mise-en-scene
dominates
 Experimental use of camera/editing
 Fast pace
 Conspicuous lighting and cinematography
 Often break the rules of continuity editing

14. How would you define these Concept
Videos?
In your Arms – Kina Grannis
Red Hot Chili Pepper - Outside
Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel
White Knuckles - OK Go
Once in a Lifetime – Talking Head
Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie
Sophie - Goodshirt
Walkie Talkie Man - Stereograms

15. Some Other Codes and Conventions
 Visually stylish – ‘artistic’ mise-en-scene
 Cutting related to the rhythm of the music
 Intercutting between performance and images
or story
 Experimental use of camera/editing (hand held
camera, distortion of colours)
 Often break the rules of continuity editing. Can
use lots of jump cuts
 Lots of use of digital effects

16. Homework Task
 Create a post for your blog which outlines and
demonstrates you understanding of the music
video styles discussed today. Find your own
examples to illustrate the points that you make.
 Engage in analysis of the micro elements, try to
make links to Goodwin and representational.
 Discuss what are the pros and cons of each style
 Explain what you favourite style is and why