Categories of Music Videos

There are many different concepts of music videos but the main 3 are the performance based videos, narrative based videos and concept based. These are 3 main vital categories of music videos which plays a huge role in today’s society.

Performance based videos are usually used if you are on a budgeted cost, however, they are really intriguing as it shows throughout a band or artists singing and guitar playing which is sometimes used by the narrators. This concept shows the reality of their lives which the audience gets to feel and understand, as well as being able for the artist/band to engage with their fans. A music video which includes this performance based video is ‘If I was here’ by Beyoncé. This is an effective way of advertising an individual’s performance and growing their fan base. Beyoncé sings live to the audience for the United Nations World Humanitarian Day and sings a song which emphasises the whole concept of the show, which gets the audiences on their feet and grabs their attention; forming a bond with the audience as she sings a slow and calming song, to get her lyrics across to the audience. I like this way of performance but for my video I would prefer a narrative based video, so the artists can get their lyrics across and show their emotions through it.

Another concept which is used is the narrative based videos, this tells the story that the artist is trying to get across to the audience. Usually when this concept is used, the lyrics links with the music video as it tells the story for the audience to understand. There are different ways of using this concept, which some artist’s use, one of which is expressing themselves through the lyrics but this is not adapted to the music video; whereas on the other hand some emphasise through the lyrics but link this to their music video to also show and tell a story for the audience to get a visual perspective. An example which interprets this is ‘Yours’ by Ella Henderson, she portrays her story through not only her lyrics but by dramatizing it through her music video.

Lastly it is concept based music video, which is used by some people. The idea of this is that it flows through one single idea or theme, which is continuously repeated throughout the music video. It may focus on a specific target audience, however, emphasises their lyrics in many ways to link it to the theme. For example, a video which uses this concept is ‘California Gurls’ by Katy Perry. Her theme is animated throughout and is put in this perspective that she is in a candy world. Although the lyrics does not match with the music video, it gets the audience intrigued and shows technology advancements and shows that in today’s society in modern music it is accustomed.