research into types of music videos and their elements

1. Music Videos
Matthew Pumphrey

2. Purpose of
Music Videos
• Promotion of a single and
album by an artist
• Develops a ‘star image’
• Entertains the audience
• Gives a meaning to a song
through the use of images
Basic Structure
• 3-4 minutes long
• Combines a mix of live
performance, narrative, and
other visual imagery
• Sometimes uses computer
graphics and animation
• It does this to advertise the
band/artist and song.

3. Elements of Music Videos
They often contain a number of different
elements:
• Performance
• Narrative
• Thematic
• Symbolic

4. Performance Music Videos
• Included in many music videos
• Shots often include the artist(s) performing
• Can be a live stage performance
• Can be the artists in “real life” situations
• Often include close ups of the artist(s) and can
include a particular visual style that goes with the
artist e.g. clothing, actions, props.
• Appearance of artists giving a lip-synched
performance in unusual places e.g. rooftop, a
field etc.

5. Idea of Spectacle
Music videos may be considered to be examples
of ‘spectacle’.
• When artists are performing they often look directly
at the viewer, known as direct address.
• For male artists, this involves the look of the
character towards the viewer, addressing the viewer
supposedly singing directly for the audience.
• For female artists, they are often an object of erotic
gaze, meaning females in music videos are often
dressed in a sexual way.

6. Narrative Music Videos
• Often tells a story that features in the lyric of
is suggested in the lyrics – like a mini film.
• It can promote a film with clips from the film
included telling a story.
• Fast paced editing
• Uses intertextuality with films, TV shows and
other videos.
• Sometimes features the artist as a character
or observer of the story.

7. Thematic Music Videos
• Lots of common themes in music videos
• Depends on the genre of music
• For example:
• Heavy metal – performance dominated clips
• Rap – lots of “street” images
• Dance routines are common for female artist performances

8. Symbolic Music Videos
• Use of lots of symbols to build up meaning
e.g. graveyard symbolises death
• Lots of use of montage – lots of images to
create meaning
• Lighting used to suggest the mood and tone of
the video
• Fast paced – often only a few seconds per shot
to build up meanings
• Pictures can support or contradict the lyrics

9. Other codes and conventions
• Visually stylish – ‘artistic’ mise-en-scene
• Cutting related to rhythm of the music
• Intercutting between performance and images or
story
• Experimental use of camera/editing – hand held
camera, distortion of colours etc.
• Often breaks the rules of continuity editing, using
lots of jump cuts
• Lots of use of digital effects

10. Types of Music Videos
• Performance Clips:
• Concentrate on stage performance of bands.
• Conceptual Clips
Based around a theme or story
• Narrative “mini film” idea:
• Either simple fantasy situation with other images in between
• Or complex genre story e.g. Michael Jackson’s Thriller
• Non-narrative :
• Often dream like, random thoughts around a loose theme e.g. lost
love
• Use of lots of symbolism