Types of Music Videos

Types of music videos
Narrative
Narrative music videos tend to be very cinematic, in that you are creating a short film to cover a duration of 3-4 minutes. Narrative based music videos sometimes tend to use diegetic sound as it can be easier to communicate certain parts of a narrative using sound, especially if it is dialogue. Narrative music videos usually match the lyrics to visuals, which is something that has been done in the music video for 'I Found' by Amber Run.

In the music video for 'I Found', the narrative is of two men who kidnap a young woman, and are holding her for ransom. However, one of the main lyrics in the chorus is 'I found love where it wasn't supposed to be', and throughout the music video, it is clear that some feelings have developed between one of the kidnappers and the young women. The techniques when it comes to the editing of this music video are very similar to that of the editing techniques we used for our film opening last year. Match on action has still been used in this music video, as it is needed to make the sequence make sense. Also, eye line matches have been used to communicate the chemistry between the kidnapper and the young woman.

The idea of expanding time has been used quite a lot in this music video, furthering its cinematic look. At times throughout the music video, decreasing the frame rate has helped signify the effect of the drug on the characters, but it has also been used at times to build the tension as to what is going to happen to this young woman. Shrinking time has also been used to signify that this young woman has spent a whole night out in the cold, as a time lapse of the sun rising has been used.

Concept

Concept music videos usually revolve around an idea (or a concept), that tends to be quite unusual or obscure. As most concept based music videos are so bizarre, they tend to keep the audience's attention, because there is so much happening on screen. Concept based music videos can be a good way to represent the artist of the song if you choose to not have the artist of the song in it, as you have the scope to represent them as someone or something completely different.

A good example of a concept based music video is 'Ready to Go' by Panic! At the Disco. In a video behind the scenes of the music video, lead singer Brendon Urie said how he wanted the entire video to be like a musical, hence why different parts of the music video are similar to famous musicals. For example, when Brendon and the drummer leave the rehearsal space and pass through the wall, the first area is based around the musical 'Grease'. This is clearly represented in the mise en scene of the sequence, such as the hairstyles and outfits.

There is a total of 156 cuts in the music video, which fits with the genre of the song, however I feel that slightly fewer cuts have been made to fit with each musical theme. For example, there was lots of cuts in the 'Grease' sequence, but there was fewer cuts, and the use of expanding time in the 'Mary Poppins' sequence. They have chosen to expand time when the song starts to reach the bridge, and the pace of the song slows down slightly, so expanding time in editing makes sure this change in pace is clearly evident visually.

Performance
Performance based music videos do exactly what they say on the tin: they are a live performance of the band. Due to the fact it is simply performance, location becomes far more important when planning for the shoot, The choice of location has to fit with the genre of the song, else the audience will find that the visuals don't match what they are hearing.

A good example for a performace based music video is that of 'Little Lion Man' by Mumford and Sons. The music video is set in a barn, which fits very well with their genre of folk rock. If they had decided to film in a skate park, what we as the audience were hearing wouldn't have matched what we were seeing on screen.
The number of cuts made when editing is also very important in performance music videos. The cuts should match the pace of the song, so the faster the song, the more cuts that should be made. The frequency of the cuts in this music video varied, making sure to follow the pace of the song all the way through. There is 116 cuts in total in the music video, which fits well with the pace of the song itself.

Performance and Narrative
Some music videos also choose to combine both performance and narrative in one music video. This can be especially useful if the narrative involves a concert, or some reference to the artist themselves. A good example of this is the music video for 'Kids in the Dark' by All Time Low.

Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford and Sons

The music video for 'Hopeless Wanderer' by Mumford and Sons is a concept based music video, in which 4 famous actors have been cast to act as the members of the band, and these actors are the ones performing the song. There is a total of 194 cuts in the music video, which is a clear communication of the pace of the music video: although it starts quite slow, it builds to quite a fast pace.

The process of expanding time has been used towards the end of the music video, as the frame rate is decreased to see them destroying their instruments. By slowing down this part of the sequence, it becomes far more effective as you can see all the details of the instruments as they are being broken.

Time has also been shrunk by the use of very quick cuts each time the song reaches the chorus. This increase in number of cuts is suitable because, during the chorus, the pace of the song increases greatly. This increase in cuts therefore makes sure that the sound matches the visuals.