1; Conceptual Clips- these music videos are based on a central theme, they have a plot and tell a story most of the time but sometimes they are made up of random jumbled clips to work with the music. They can be divided into two further types: Narrative music videos: mini films complex/simple narrative structure fantasy situation, genre divisions, tell a story. Non-narrative music videos: images and music combine to give an emotional effect on the audience.
2; Performance Clips- focal point is the appearance of the musician, popular in 1960s/70s, often look directly at the camera making it different from movies, appeals to an audience distinct connection between audience and musician.
Features of music videos
Poetic images- music videos use visuals imagery to create some-sort of emotion in the minds of audience members. Visuals are most important in music videos as more often than not it seems like the music augments the video rather than the other way around. Shocking and bizarre images are the focal point of some video makers to grab the attention of the audience.
Symbolic images- associations are made so that the audience can make links with other aspects in life. Foe example, references to movies, Nazi rallies, witchcraft etc.
Rapid shot changes- In order to keep attention from the audience, the videos creators have found that rapid shot changes from all different ideas help to maintain this interest. IPM= ideas per minute. A three minute video may contain hundreds of shots.
Analysis of music video: Taylor Swift- You Belong With Me In terms of having a strong narrative structure, I think that this music video is a great example. The whole video feels like a movie which has been condensed and almost sped-up, with all of the padding removed (I say this meaning parts of a film that embellish the storyline but do not however make any difference to the ending). The story is relatively simple; a girl is in love with a boy who seems to be way out of her league. This boy has a girlfriend and she observes them and feel extremely jealous at the fact that he is with another girl and not her. In the end however, the boy realises how nice the girl actually is and beaks up with his girlfriend to be with her. Camerawork- Throughout some of the video, the camera seems as though it is handheld. This gives a slightly more rustic and genuine feel to the video. It makes the story feel unplanned just as the camerawork seems to have been. There is a lot of over the shoulder shots, helping the audience to see the story from both characters perspectives and viewpoints. This is commonly used in films to do just this. Zooming out from a particular position creates a slightly more musical feel, however especially when it is in the middle of the scene, and this does challenge the conventions of a film-type narrative. (see below)
Mise-en-scene The sets which have been created for this music video is what stereotypically would be used in films. There are houses bedrooms, streets, schools etc. These sets offer a clear insight into the storyline and type of narrative which stems from that of movies. The clothing transformation from nerd to prom queen is highlighted in the changes of attire used to aid the formation and authenticity of the storyline.
Editing Lots of shot-reverse-shot editing methods are used to highlight the relationship between the two characters. This enables the audience to build a connection with this relationship and also with the storyline. The editing is also used to highlight the protagonist and single her out from the crowd and prove her to be different to others.
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Analysis of a music video: Love On Top by Beyonc
This type of music video is quite different to the one previously discussed in terms of narrative structure. There is no such storyline within it and it is simply just clips of Beyonc dancing and performing to a camera with several back up dancers from different angles and at different proximities. The only way in which this video is made remotely interesting is through the artist, who as you will probably know, is a music icon. Camera movement and shots help to view the artist from different angles and the dancing adds to the aesthetic value however the dancing is probably the most aesthetically pleasing part of the video.
Camera-work The camerawork in this has a singular purpose; to show off the artist. Close ups are used regularly to show the artists face and there are lots of extreme long shots used to show the dance routines. It is clear that this video has an extremely loose narrative structure and is extremely simplistic. There is an example of a shot which has an extremely long duration; it lasts over 5 seconds and zooms out of the artists face ever so slightly. This gives little room for a narrative structure to be formed when the shots are too long for any other scenarios to be considered.
Mise-en-scene In this particular video, the set does not change and remains the same throughout. This makes it extremely difficult for the audience to derive any kind of narrative structure from it seeing as neither the characters featured in the video and the set does not change. Shots remain similar and simplistic throughout with the colours always remaining warm and bright. This makes the potential for any climax virtually impossible.
Editing Jump cuts are rarely used in this video due to the set being constant throughout. The ability to form a narrative is made difficult due to the mass amounts of extreme long shots juxtaposed with the close-ups.
Music video analysis- Maps by Maroon 5
This video is one with a slightly more complex narrative structure than the first which I discussed. Again, the music acts as a complimentary piece to the video and simply sets the tone of the video while the actual visuals act as narration and the lyrics barely guide this. The video is extremely explicit at times, showing a fatally injured woman hit by a car. This links back to the fact that music video creators show extreme and bizarre footage for impact and memorability. The storyline of this video is crafted around cheating in a relationship, and the main character (in this case, the artist) causes his girlfriends death by causing her to storm out of a party when she sees him kissing another girl. The climax of the narrative is at the start and there is no resolution to the problem, leaving the audience on a cliff-hanger. This is not often done within music videos because it can be seen as pointless as there will be no continuation and the audience are unable to find out more.
Editing The editing is done extremely well so that it establishes a clear understanding in the audience of the characters. There are several ellipses where there is a lapse in time which helps to show a link between two events. This is extremely important in a video with such a complex narrative structure because it is watched more as a mini-film within the timeframe of a piece of music rather than a video made to compliment a piece of music. An example of a strong link between two events is when there is a two-shot of the boyfriend and another woman followed by a shot of the girlfriend which is close enough to be able to see her facial expression. This is then followed by another shot of the woman being hit by a car. This shows the link between the two events and puts the boyfriend in the blame and views him as the antagonist. (see below).
Mis-en-scene As previously mentioned, the mis-en-scene here is made to be relatively graphic and bizarre in order to give a shock factor to the video. This is not often done in music videos because it is difficult to give a resolution in he sense that people only develop a connection with the narrative if they know some history about the characters before anything shocking happens, but this is cleverly done. The colours are also dark, acting as a means of foreshadowing later events when the girl dies in a car accident. (see below).
Camerawork The camerawork in this is all done by hand it seems. All cameras are handheld to make it seem as though the audience is part of the party and is potentially moving to the music just as the characters are. A lot of tracking shots are used to emphasise the reality of the situation that the characters are in and to make it feel as though you are accompanying the lead male character.