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3 Categories of Music Video

Performance - Example: Tell it to My Heart // Taylor Dayne

 

A performance music video shows the artist either performing in front of a crowd or by themselves. This video type would usually be used to raise the artists profile, show their expression or personality, to make a simple video or if they want it to be low-budget. It includes lip-syncing and the playing of instruments/dancing in time to the music. This type of music video usually includes a wide variety of camera shots and angles to make it more interesting for the audience to watch. The same shot the whole way  through could be boring and they are less likely to keep watching. This type of video is typical of most genres, for example: pop, rock, dubstep, house and dance-pop. The dance-pop song, 'Tell it to My Heart' has a music video that is a perfect example of this as it is solely a performance video and includes many different shots, such as: the extreme close-up of Taylor's eye at the start, close-ups of her face to show her lip-syncing and wide shots to show her dancing. 

There are 3 types of music videos: performance, narrative and concept. Most music videos are hybrids of these categories, which means they feature aspects of two or all three in just one music video. The most common music video type is narrative/performance hybrid videos. Below are some dance-pop examples of music videos that mainly display features of only one of the categories. 

Narrative - Example: We Dance On // N-Dubz Feat. Bodyrox

 

A narrative music video shows a story that normally relates to the lyrics. This video type would usually be used to emphasise the meaning of the song, make people relate to the song/lyrics or include intertextual references. They are usually made in a way that is very easy to follow, as if the audience cannot follow the story, they lose interest. This type of music video usually includes many different big features, such as: multiple settings, a variety of costumes/make-up styles and endless props which means it can be very high-budget. It is usually the bigger record labels that make narrative videos because of how much they cost and how time-costly they are. This type of video is very common in the pop genre because most pop songs consist of lyrics that tell a story, usually about a relationship. Dance-pop is a sub-genre that includes similar elements of pop videos so it is very typical of this genre to have a narrative music video. The dance-pop song, 'We Dance On' has a music video that is a perfect example of a narrative video as not only does it include it's own storyline, it also includes an intertextual reference to the film 'Street Dance 3D'. 

Concept - Example: Her Morning Elegance // Oren Lavie

 

A concept music videos show a single idea/concept that is unusual and surreal for the audience. This video type would usually be used to capture the audience with something different, be based around a theme, contain poetic elements or have a hidden meaning/metaphor. They are usually made in a way that is very captivating for the audience to watch but if the video is too diverse or peculiar it puts the audience off because they don't understand. This type of music video usually includes many different editing techniques to make. It is mainly used by artists that are of the folk/rock, rock, indie or singer/songwriter genres but is not typical of the dance-pop genre. This is because it is for artists that want to make a statement or don't want to be mainstream with their music videos and they would usually be part of an indie record label. The 'Her Morning Elegance' music video is a good example of a solely concept video and is of a folk genre. 

 

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