Music Video Productions: Styles, Conventions & Techniques

In-concert and 'as live' footage:

The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

This type of music video is showing the band or singer playing to a live audience.  It is a natural way of showing the talent of a band or singer but can be experimented with by adding a few different shots in which link well with the music.

Although the whole video isn't the band playing 'as live' all the way through, it has some elements of it spliced through other footage.

Narrative and interpretive:

The Darkness - Barbarian 

This type of music video can either mirror or contrast with the lyrics.  They include a story for the audience which is effective because they can see what the song is about and appreciate the tone and mood of the lyrics.

The music video tells the a story of history through a comic-style video.

Surrealist/absurdist:

The Horrors - Sheena is a Parasite

The main objective of a surreal or absurd music video is to surprise the audience which can lead to them remembering the video and the song.  These sort of music videos can either project what the song is about in an over-the-top way or have very little similarity to the song.

This video consists of showing a band playing and a girl standing in the same spot making jerky movements.  The video goes well with the repetitive nature of the song.

Impressionist:

Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

Impressionist music videos are effective when wanting to get the audience to feel emotional (have goosebumps). It gives them more of an artistic license and you commonly see a lot of soft focus and slow panning in these sorts of videos. 

The song and video is showing how someone is wanting to be something they are on the inside and need a push to express it.

Inter-textual: Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody and Homage:

Midnight Beast - Down Parody


These videos always have a reference to another song, film, historical event, etc. They can either been seen seriously (homage) but more commonly are projected as comedy with some elements of satire.

You see in the video that they are using ideas from the original Down song but creating it into more of a comedy.

Animation (stop motion, digital):

Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite

Videos in this catergory are created and contain animation.  This can appeal to the audience because it would be something different to look at, making it a talking point.

This video is clearly done by clay stop motion animation.

Lip-synch - miming and playback:

Cher and Meatloaf - Dead Ringer for Love

A music video performance might want the artist or band to mime the lyrics in order for them to be in time with the track.  This type of music video normally comes with a narrative and sometimes the speed of the song or video is changed with the pace of the track.

You can tell this video is an example of lip-syching because the action and dancing the singers are doing would make it very difficult for them to sing.

Editing:

Art of Noise - Close (To The Edit)

Becoming a talking point again (like animated videos) the editing is often done in a different but interesting way.  Often these videos are weird along with the setting.

The video shows jerky transitions and frozen pieces of footage in order to mirror the jerky sounds of the music.  The people in the video walk in a robotic way and the music in the background goes with the destruction of the musical instruments.

Cutting to beat:

Mr C The Slide Man - Cha Cha Slide

You will see in these types of music videos that the rhythm and beat of the song is in time with the dancing or shots.

In this video you see a large group of people in different destinations dancing along to the rhythm of this song.  This is to make people want to dance to this song and by remember the dance you are also remembering the song and music video.

Post-production effects:

Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

These music videos are effective when wanting to impress that target audience if the visual effects are cutting edge or are done with a unique idea behind them.  When the effects are complex or mesmerizing and usually show a contrast you will attract different types of audience.

The bright colours and the way that old-style dancing with the people in black and white is merged with the updated style of dancing in colour is a unique idea.  The setting on a massive theatre stage gives the video an uplifting joyful effect.

Split screen:

Destiny's Child - Emotion

This is an example of a different but interesting editing technique.  Different images of different evens are all shown on the screen at the same time which results in an effective panorama.  It is different to multi-imaging but is more modern as non-linear editing makes it more efficient and clean-cut.

Each member of the band in Destiny's Child has their own section of the screen.  This make the video interesting to look at and you can see each band member perform.

Chroma key:

Jackalope - Can't We Go Back

This is where you can shoot a music video in front of a green or blue screen and remove the green or blue (chroma keyed) and replace it with a more interesting setting.  It makes having any setting you want possible.

As you can see in this example, the use of the green or blue screen is making it free for the editors to develop an artistic setting which goes well with the music.  They way that the editors also made the singers in the video have a soft outline also mirrors well with the setting and music.

Camera movements:

Will Young - Leave Right Now

Camera movements create a flow to the music video and a sense of excitement.  These types of music videos use panning, tracking shots, tilts and crab shots and the purpose of that is to create a sense of movement.

This video of Leave Right Now has the camera focusing on the singer and it pans and lowers at every movement.  It's to create the illusion that he is singing to the audience whilst the audience is also watching him intently.  It gives the music video a unique viewing factor with its simplicity.

Camera angles and shot types:

JAY-Z - 99 Problems

The effect of using a variation of shot types, shot angles and shot length can add different types of atmosphere, tone and meaning.  Shot variation can also show different elements of mise-en-scene.

In this video you see that it's set in an estate-style street and flat with working-class people.  The black and white makes the setting dingy and dirty which goes well with the music, but at the same time classical.  The atmosphere and camera shots make the singer look taller and important and as if he is playing a tough character.

Mise-en-scene:

Here are a few example where the mise-en-scene is crucial.  Aspects like lighting, objects, settings and other elements such as costumes and props can create a certain mood and atmosphere such as anger, passion, glamour, love, desire and so on.  

First example:

Little Mix - Black Magic