Genres of Music Videos

Music videos are mainly catagorised into three classifications:

1) Performance - focused on the artist or group performing the track

2) Narrative - telling a story or part of a story, normally linked to the lyrics

3) Conceptual - more abstract, using a range of images to suggest a mood or experience but not a straightforward narrative.

Features of Performance
- Lip synch
- Miming playing instruments
- Close-up shots
- Carefully choreographed dance routines - aids visualisation and the 'repeatability' factor

Why recreate the 'performance'?
- recreate 'live' experience
- promote the real talent of the artist
- confirm the 'star image' of the artist

Features of Narrative
- Linear, circular or fragmentary
- Can be intercut with performance
- Range of shots and fast editing

Why tell a story?
- Aids visualisation of the lyrics
- Frames the artist as narrator or participant, sometimes also as 'star'
- Presents artist as aspirational or desirable
- Illustrates, amplifies or contradicts the lyrics

Features of Conceptual
- May have elements of narrative e.g. recurring characters or locations
- May or may not include the artist
- Images may illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics or feel of the song

Where did they orginate from?
- Around 1970, the record industry discovers TV shows as a great opportunity for promotion
- Focus on producing short 'promos' (early music videos)
- Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (1975) started an era, effects such as slow fades, crossovers, low angle and close-up shots. These emphasised Queen's star image, for example the lighting on their faces fading in from shadow become iconic, as well as the video emphasising their talent as a band.