The document discusses different styles and techniques used in music videos. It provides examples for different genres of music including pop, hip hop, rock, and live concert footage. It also analyzes animation, narrative, pastiche, parody, surrealist, and cutting to the beat as techniques. Key techniques discussed are miming/lip syncing and multi-image editing to tell stories or promote lifestyles through vivid visuals that match the songs.

1. STYLES AND TECHNIQUES IN
MUSIC VIDEOS
ibrahim ali

2. POP
Example : Bruno Mars - 24K Magic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqyT8IEBkvY
This song and video are both very Pop, it is the most common genre of music and the most famous when it comes to being played
on the radio and tv, so the most important thing for this music video to deliver is a good image, something positive and clean, but also
very fun and something to make life a little happier, However if it is dirty then it has to be censored for radio and tv play,
also some artists bend the rules of Pop and make the songs very risky and sample bits of other genres such as Rock and Hip-Hop
This song is meant to be a party anthem kind of song, the lyrics are very show off-ish and the video is the same, it has him dancing
around Las Vegas with his friends and driving in convertible cars hitting up parties and messing around in hotel corridors, this is all to
promote a very lavish lifestyle
The song is very upbeat and has some techno elements to it
Music Video:
The music video is very expensive and makes the
star look like, well a star
It gives you a glance at what it's like to party when
you’re rich and shows a lot of extravagant things
such as gold, expensive cars, private jets and
gambling, the music video matches up amazingly
well with the actual song, thanks to the elements
being the same, lavish lifestyle
And then the actual editing being great, the lip-
syncing and the cuts are so precise to the beat
Lyrics:
“Players only, come on
Put your pinky rings up to the moon
Girls, what y'all trying to do?
24 karat magic in the air
Head to toe so player”

3. Hip-Hop
Example : Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m9zhNAgKs
This song is a mix of RNB, Hip-Hop and Rap, they use a very RNB chorus mixed with verses of Rap with some very groovy Hip-Hop
tunes, this song really broke out of the limitations of the Hip-Hop music genre, even going as far as sampling certain aspects of some
indie music, there isn’t too much swearing and the topic isn’t one that is too dirty, so the song gets plenty of radio play without too
much censorship
The video shows them pretty much just partying and living the ideal rockstar lifestyle, the lyrics match up well with the music video
and seem very in-sync, the crowd is seen dancing to the song as it shows the stars playing this song live in the music video, but it
also has scenes of them creating the song in the studio
The fact that it shows people enjoying this song automatically makes the audience listening also like the song and want to dance or
bop along to the beat, this is done with the help of fast cutting on the beat
Music Video:
The music video’s purpose was to show how
these artists are real life rock stars, showing their
lifestyle and how huge they are, they compare
themselves to the Beatles and because of this
they make the music video very old looking using
methods such as VHS and LOFI effects, the cuts
are very sharp and transition between them
partying on stage, making music in a studio and
running around the city from their fans, all this is
done to show their lifestyle now that they have
reached fame
Lyrics:
“That girl is a real crowd pleaser
Small world, all her friends know of me
Young bull livin' like an old geezer
Quick release the cash, watch it fall slowly
Frat girls still tryna get even
Haters mad for whatever reason
Smoke in the air, binge drinking
They lose it when the DJ drops the needle”

4. ROCK
Example : twenty one pilots: Heathens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprcpdwuwCg
This song is very Rock but also quite soft, its popularity has made it very common on radio, the label knew this would happen since it is
associated with a huge film that came out at the same time, so purposely the song and video has no adult themes, there was no risks in the
video, a pretty basic video of the artists in the same jail scenes as the movie characters and then doing a little live performance in the jail with the
jailmates who they refer to as ‘Heathens’
The video is done in a way that makes the main artist seem like he is innocent or regrets his actions now that he is in prison, it tells a story, it
makes the audience think he did nothing wrong or he did something he didn’t mean to, this could be saying something about mental health
struggles as the band has spoken about it a lot and a majority of their fans are teenagers transitioning into becoming adults
The video also has a live performance at the end, in which the two-man band play for their fellow prison mates, this shows the jailers enjoying the
song, this is basically showing how the jailmates are misunderstood and just normal people who did something they regret and can no longer
have a second chance due to this
The live performance has lip-syncing and throughout the music video the artist lip-syncs the lyrics as the other glides through the prison playing
the drums, being a kind of angel figure, this could be something the artist only imagines but it leads him to joining the angel figure on stage and
singing as the angel plays the drums, this video has a straightforward narrative but has little parts which lets the audience make their own
interpretation of what they think the music video is trying to say
Music Video:
The music video was done in partnership with a movie, a
movie about villains inside a prison, so naturally the
music video was also shot inside the prison, the video
cuts between parts of the movie such as the characters
in the movie in jail synced up with the artists in the same
jail, it is done in a story line and does this to promote the
movie, the narrative is about life in jail as a psychopath
with other people who are also psychopaths just like you
Lyrics:
“Welcome to the room of people
Who have rooms of people that they loved one day
Locked away
Just because we check the guns at the door
Doesn't mean our brains will change from hand grenades
You'll never know the psychopath sitting next to you
You'll never know the murderer sitting next to you
You'll think, “How'd I get here, sitting next to you?"”

5. IN-CONCERT / LIVE FOOTAGE
Example : Ty Dolla $ign - Blasé
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXz-xLB1-0
This music video has clips of the artist being driven around in a limo, smoking and hanging out with women,
and has footage of him and his friends having a party on a tourbus and walking around the city at night,
but the main part is the bit where he is jumping around on stage to the music, he has a live crowd dancing and
going crazy to the song as well, the footage was shot during one of his concerts and is shot with a VHS camera
and made to be very old and distorted

6. ANIMATION
Example : Kanye West – Heartless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0tTeuUVhU
This music video was done in an animation style, very cartoonish with a strong narrative, the video revolves
around the artist and his girlfriend, they had a nasty breakup but the artist feels that he has done nothing wrong
and her friends pressured her into letting go of him, this is related to a girl that the artist was around the time this
song was made
The video very cleverly includes the cartoon ‘The Jetsons’, which is a cartoon sitcom from 1962
The entire video was done as a cartoon and has very wacky and trippy backgrounds to these drawings, including
an Andy Warhol painting and a lot of space including stars and nebulas

7. NARRATIVE
Example : Antony and the Johnsons - Cut the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9a1C1qXHfM
This music video is shot as a story, there is no lip-syncing and the cuts are very slow and dramatic, the colours are dark and the
video is set in a work place, the story is between a receptionist and her boss
The video stars with the boss looking out of his office window, it then shows a close-up of his ring, telling us that he is married, then
his receptionist walks in and they have a little awkward greeting, she then gives him his files and goes to her office, she is then
shown glancing out the window and suddenly looking very sad, the boss however is shown drinking tea and looking quite happy, this
makes the audience think something happened between them and now the receptionist feels upset about it and the boss doesn’t
care, it is hinted that they had an affair, she is then shown carrying a knife to his room and killing him whilst crying, she then hurries
outside and to her surprise is surrounded by multiple women with blood on their faces and hands and doing the same thing as her,
which tells us that many people have gone through the same things as her, she is not alone
this video is so great as it allows the audience to make their own interpretation of what they think the music video is about

8. Pastiche
Example : Iggy Azalea - Black Widow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3u22OYqFGo
Pastiche is a technique which is when an artist imitates another artist’s work, done very light-heartedly and not done in a
disrespectful way, maybe a little tongue-in-cheek but not the same as a parody
The music video I have chosen is a POP song which imitates a movie, the movie ‘Kill Bill’, it references many parts of the movie but
does it in a way to pay respect, sort of like a homage or a dedication to the movie which is loved by millions
The music video borrows certain aspects of the movie, such as the sword, the costume, the hair, the theme and many others, it isn’t
an imitation exactly as the music video creates its own image but is very similar to the movie it was inspired by
MUSIC VIDEO vs MOVIE

9. Parody
Example : The Weeknd – Starboy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqcByjqXEPA
A parody is something that mimics another piece of work in an absurd and ridiculous way, it tries to make something serious into
something fun
Most parodies are done on films and music videos, the parody attempts to ridicule the plot of the original work and does it in a
disrespectful way, it is done to ruin the expectations we have of certain genres of music videos and do something completely different
This particular parody is for a popular music video, it has to be almost identical to the original work and pays extra close attention to
detail, things we, the viewer, wouldn't even pay too much attention to such as objects in the background or the number of plants on a
desk
The type of shots were also the same and the editing was done almost identical to the original
PARODY vs MUSIC VIDEO

10. Surrealist // Impressionist
Example : Jamie xx – Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7gmVWgEpRc
These kinds of music video are done to be very abstract and may not even be related to the actual music, they can be animated or
real life, but as long as they have some sort of dreamlike or unreal elements, it counts
The one I have chosen to look into is an animation based music video, it is done very slowly and has repetition, it’s the same colours
over and over and follows a specific pattern, all in all it takes you away from reality
There are no actual lyrics, it is mostly just vocals and techno beats mixed with a dreamy chorus which is about love and girls

11. CUTTING TO THE BEAT
Example : YG - One Time Comin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nTCUI5reJw
Cutting to the beat means when the video clips are structured in a certain pattern that it starts and finishes according to the audio, in
this case music, when it’s the right time in the song the video should be cut at that exact point
this gives it a nice finished look, it has a smooth rhythm and great pace,
everything is in-sync and the overall video flows beautifully
This can draw the viewer in and make them stay focused on the video as it does not drag on for too long on the same clip , instead it
mixes things up and has different scenes and joins them together perfectly and makes it a lot more entertaining
For this particular video the cuts are timed every couple of seconds, 5/8 seconds to be almost exact, this is a fast paced song and
the video keeps this pattern up
As you can see below, the scene is cut into 3 different parts, a high and far angle, a medium and high angle, and a low and close
angle, the last angle being the action shot
All these clips work very well together in the music video and the way it is cut to the beat makes it very enjoyable to watch

12. MIMING & LIP SYNC
Example : Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
Miming and Lip Sync is done in order to create the illusion that the artist is singing the song, it is a perfect way to connect both the
music and the video together, this technique is huge in the music video industry
In the video I looked at, the artists lip-sync the entire song during the video, the low vocals and the high ones and another artist
enters the video to lip-sync for the female character in the song, this connects both the characters and makes it very enjoyable for
the viewers as it creates a narrative inside the music video
The miming is so on point that it makes it seem that the artist is singing right in front of you, instead of through a camera and then
being edited together, the miming and lip-syncing is a very strong point for music videos

13. MULTI-IMAGE
Example : Charlie Puth - We Don't Talk Anymore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AtDnEC4zak
The meaning of Multi-Image is in the name, it’s multiple images / video
together in one music video, it is not very popular in music videos but
works great with narrative, especially in the one I looked into
This music video looks into the lives of two different people, who live very
different lives and what they get up to, but the main thing is that it stays
in the same format
It shows him waking up, and it shows her waking up, at the same time
It shows the city he is in, and the city she is in, at the same time
It shows them doing their own activities but on two separate sides of
screen, he always stays on the left, whilst she stays on the right
It creates a storyline and lets us see how they are not together but still
think of each other, and it is very powerful for the viewer as he can see
into both of their lives, thanks to the amazing video editing technique
known as Multi-Image

14. IBRAHIM ALI