Professional Products: Style of Music Videos

After completing some research into different music videos, I decided that I would create a file on the codes & conventions that are seen in professional

music videos. I have looked closely into how music videos can change in style and with the techniques that are used whilst filming.

Types of Music Video: Performance

A performance music video consists mainly of the artists performing in the video. A clear and modern day example of this is with the video ‘What You Know’ by Two Door Cinema Club. This video shows the artists continuously performing the song and there is no narrative or any other locations featured in the video. This style of music video isn’t as very common, and it was rather difficult trying to find a video that solely based on performance. They are not very common as the target audience will not be able to engage with the song or video, however this example makes use of costume and lighting to display the performance in a creative way making it more interesting for the audience.

Types of Music Video: Narrative

A Narrative music video follows a plotline . There are two types of narrative music videos – Linear and Fragmented. A linear narrative starts a story at the beginning, goes on through the middle and there is a clear conclusion. Whereas, a fragmented narrative does completely the opposite of this. An example of a linear narrative is ‘La La La’ by Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith. It has a clear storyline to it and this flows from the beginning of the music video all the way to the end.

Types of Music Video: Mixture

These music videos contain a combination of performance and narrative. This is what is commonly found in music videos as it is hard to have a pure performance or narrative. By using both performance and narrative the video can be made more interesting and enjoyable to watch for the audience. An example that I found was ‘Figure 8’ by Ellie Goulding.

Use of Camera

The way that the camera is used when creating a music video is crucial. It can create completely different affects with the slightest change in angle of length. Generally in music videos, there is a wide variety of camera shots, angles and movements used to create different emotions within the audience and to make the video different and unique. However, there is a number of music videos that goes against the convention of various camera angles and movements, with some videos just repeating the same shot over and over again.

Camera Shots

Extreme Long Shots are often used as establishing shots. The artists is generally seen in these shots, but they are often very small. These shots can be used to create themes of isolation or seclusion.

Long Shots are used to show the artist in a closer area, but there is still a sense of space surrounding the shot. In the shot to the right, Kylie Minogue is at the top of the page, surrounded by other actors.

Mid Shots show the artist from their waist to their head. These shots a primarily focussed on the artist, but there is still a sense of location and setting established.

Camera Shots

A Medium Close up can be used to get both facial expressions. These are common in emotional songs, and is used widely in this Kylie Minogue song.

A Close Up, is again used widely in romantic music videos. They are key in getting the audience to recognise the emotions of the character or the artist.

An Extreme Close Up shows the artists/ characters face very closely. It will generally focus on the persons eyes or mouth showing the audience the persons thoughts and feelings or even showing a lip sync commonly used in music videos.

Camera AnglesHigh Angle shots can be used to show dominance or inferiority of a character. These are commonly used in narrative music videos as they show emotions of characters without the need for action or dialogue.

Low Angle shots are also used to show character emotions. Along with high angle shots they can be used in angle-reverse-angle shots, to show a conversation or an interaction between characters.

An Eye line Match shot can be used to a character being equal to another character or the audience. Different camera angles are key in showing the emotions of characters without dialogue or noticeable actions.

Camera Angles

A Bird’s Eye shows the character/ setting from directly above. Taken from a completely different angle it is quite a unnatural point of view which can be used to add dramatic effect or showing a different perspective. It can also show the positions and motions of different characters and objects, enabling the viewer to see things the character might not.

A Cut In can be used in music videos to show something clearly that the lyrics might be about. It is similar to a extreme close up, but instead used very quickly, and commonly showing a prop or a iconographic piece. For instance in this Kylie Minogue song, it is a Dove.