Categories of Music Videos

There are three main types of music videos that we, as an audience, tend to see. These include:

• Performance Based
• Narrative Based
• Concept Based

Performance:

This is when the artist/band is shown throughout the video. It is a good type of video for when you have a low budget, or just want to make it simple. An example is "Something From Nothing", by the Foo Fighters:

Narrative:
A narrative based video is when the music video has a storyline that somehow links to the lyrics, which can illustrate or amplify the meaning of the lyrics. This technique is sometimes used for film soundtracks, which are made into music videos. This will include having the musician, and then shots of the film, so the audience knows what the song was written for. The example I have chosen is "Never Close Our Eyes" by Adam Lambert.  



Concept:
As the title says, this method is based around a concept, or an idea. These tend to be less common, as it isn't necessarily what the audience is used to seeing. Concept based videos are really there to get a message across to the audience through metaphors, so the video will probably be one to make you think carefully. I have used "This is Gospel" by Panic! At the Disco as an example:



Our music video, I think, will mainly be a hybrid of narrative and performance based, because we have the storyline of the man in the forest looking for something, but there is also the part where he is singing, which is separate from the narrative. 

-Janet