In this essay I will be discussing the styles, conventions and techniques of the modern day music video and music videos from an earlier era. Each subject will have a variety of different artists and genres of music as examples, from Liam Gallagher to Sia. Each of the subjects will range from animation in music videos to impressionisms in music videos. With there being a broad range of styles of music videos and the popularity of music videos ever rising, each variety of music video has its own style, conventions or technique.
In concert and ‘as live’ footage.
An ‘in concert’ or ‘as live’ music video, is a music video which is shot as an artist performs to a live crowd or as part of a large music festival. Often artists will have their performance shot to avoid the issue of making a music video that costs a large amount of money and is highly time consuming. A director normally puts together a music video from one or more live shows; clips from the gigs are edited together and usually put to a studio-recorded version of the song. Although many artists do this, there are some others that shoot a music video, which appears as a live concert, but is actually just shot as a standard music video. They will still have the artist performing in front of a crowd but the performance has been set up specifically for the production of the music video.
Two examples of an ‘in concert’ music video is former Oasis frontman’s, Liam Gallagher’s solo project Beady Eye, ‘The Beat Goes On’ and Miles Kane’s song ‘Inhaler,’ from the album ‘Colour of the Trap.’ Both of these music videos present both artists performing to a live crowd; Liam Gallagher is seen performing at a festival although we are unsure which one and Miles Kane is seen performing at a smaller gig to a smaller crowd, with some shots being slightly staged but are not obvious to the spectator.
In regards to ‘as live’ music video, the location the performance is shot in will also be relevant. An example of this is Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man.’ Joel is seen playing to a crowd in a bar which is very obviously staged, but shows Joel performing one of his classics. The majority of the shots remain focused on Joel but often cuts to the actors playing the crowd.
Narrative and Interpretive.
Most music videos will offer some meaning behind the lyrics of the song, but this can be achieved in different ways, which can extend, consolidate contradict or sometimes ignore the lyrics.
Foster the People’s song, Helena Beat is an example of a narrative music video. This video is an example of a narrative music video. It seems to be set in a post-apocalyptic state in a deserted area when foster the peoples Mark Foster is ambushed by children who have formed some sort of gang-army in this post-apocalyptic world. The kids are clearly in charge as they kidnap band members of FTP and go on to torture them. The video tells a story which the audience follows for the whole video, it includes a beginning middle and an end just like any story and this is a good example of how narrative is used to tell a story with a music video. Without dialogue it can be different to put the message of a narrative across which is why the narrative highly emphasises the imagery to tell the audience what is going on and there is often some relation or reference to the lyrics of the song.
Surrealist/Absurdist
Surrealist videos are often surprising and unconventional, and on a literal narrative level may sometimes bear very little relationship with the lyrics. Surrealist music videos are videos, which uses unexpected juxtapositions and other surrealist techniques. Often with surrealist music videos, they may cause some controversy; an example of a surrealist music video is American rock band MGMT’s 2008 single ‘Kids.’ This video can be classified as a surrealist music video due to it not relating to the lyrics and the tempo of the song itself, both of these features are upbeat and have a sense of calmness to them, but compared to the music video, which includes a toddler being scared to death of monsters attacking its crib and as he walks down the street zombie like creatures going for him, this features a wide amount of juxtaposing issues. The video itself faced a lot of controversy and criticism due to the toddler’s safety, although it is stated on the MGMT website, "No children were harmed in the making of this video." The band later released a "behind the scenes" video through its official YouTube channel that shows the toddler laughing while interacting with the puppets and actors in monster costumes. At the beginning of the video it begins with a quote ostensibly from Mark Twain, on a background of fire. The quote at the beginning of the video ("Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you...”) attributed to Mark Twain is actually a quote from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Impressionist.
An impressionist music video will try to capture the emotional tone of the music over the narrative and the literal meanings of the lyrics. This will then make the music video be considered more artistic by the spectator. An example of an impressionist music video is Snoop Lion’s "Get Away." Snoop Lion’s, who is Snoop Dog’s reggae persona, single features Angela Hunte and was released in January 2014 as part of his album ‘Reincarnated.’ The music video fits into the style of both animation, homage and impressionist. It pays homage to the '90s themed Pokémon Games. Nostalgia will flow for fans of the classic Game Boy release as they watch an 8-bit version of Snoop Lion patrolling the reconstructed world reminiscent of the original games. Snoop Lion also battles a trainer within the video, Major Lazer, who also co-produced the track.
Another example of an impressionist music video is ‘Say Something’ by A Great Big World and features Christina Aguilera. The music video tries to get an emotional response through the use of visuals and the tone of the music by showing distressing and upsetting scenes, such as a child becoming frightened and hiding under her bed with her dog when her parents being to argue. Another scene, which is featured, is an elderly man crying, lying in a hospital bed alongside his dying wife.
Intertextual: Synergy, Allusion, Pastiche, Parody and Homage
An Intertextual music video is when the video references, parodies, pays homage or replicates the style of a certain artistic era or medium. The video would replicate what has been seen in the referenced media. A feature of Intertextual music videos is a parody music video which a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule wrote a hilarious parody of a popular song.
An example of a parody music video is Eminem’s "Just Loose It." It parodies to Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean.’ The song caused controversy as its lyrics and music video parodies Michael Jackson, who was being accused of child molestation at the time. The song also pokes fun at Beavis, MC Hammer, Madonna, and others. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" refer to Jackson's legal troubles, however he does state in his song "... and that's not a stab at Michael, That's just a metaphor, I'm just psycho...."
A synergy music video is when a film would make music videos of the songs on their soundtrack in order to tie in with the promotion of the film. These videos may include an actor or group of actors from the film and the artist behind the song. An example of a synergy music video is ‘See You Again’ by Wiz Khalifa and features Christina Charlie Puth. The music video is used as part of the Fast and Furious franchise and is dedicated to the late Paul Walker. It features previous footage of stars Paul Walker and Vin Diesel and makes constant referral to brotherhood and the previous films in the franchise. The video begins with a shot of a cliff top at sunset, followed by Khalifa walking down a highway road; Puth is then shown singing the chorus whilst sitting at, and playing, a piano located between two cars. Khalifa's rap verses and Puth singing the second chorus and bridge are interspersed with footage from Furious 7. After the bridge, we see the final scene from the film: Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Conner (Cody Walker, filling in for his brother, Paul), driving together, pull over in their cars and smile at each other one last time before driving away on separate roads into the sunset. As the camera pans up into the sky, a message reads "For Paul" and the video ends.
Animation
Animation is beginning to feature more heavily in today’s society, with many music videos taking this up. Animation is commonly known as a drawing with comes to life. There are different types of animation in music videos, such as stop-motion, motion graphics, 2D animation (vector based), 3D animation (CGI, computer animation) and live-action animated footage.
Two examples of music videos that feature animation of some sort within their music videos are 90’s Britpop band, Blur, and the late Viola Beach. In Blur’s, Coffee and TV, we see a small-animated milk bottle that goes on a search for a missing person. This style of animation would be live-action animated footage, as it is merged with live-action footage of people and animals etc. This character would have been digitally imposed onto the footage, and while filming to give the actors a sense of where to look etc. the filmmakers would have used another item to block the scene.
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The second animated music video is the late Viola Beach’s single, Boys that Sing, this music video was created as a tribute to the band and their manager after a fatal incident, killing all members. In the music video, we see an obscure human like animation walking through the streets, which is presumably live footage. The video also features animations of what the band looked like, but also features footage from an earlier gig they performed at BBC Introducing. The video is heavily animated but has aspects of live action imported into it.
Lip Sync – miming and playback
Often in music videos we will see the artist miming the lyrics to their track, this is due to the post-production stage of the music video. In the edit, the editor will need to synchronize the mimed lyrics up to the pre-recorded song. This is a very difficult feature to do, as you will not want it to look odd when watching, as the mimed lyrics may be out of time with the track itself, so a lot of work has to go into this to make it perfect. Lip-syncing to playback for more narrative-based music videos is also more common. Often the speed of a song is changed when filming for a variety of different effects.
An example of a lip-syncing is George Ezra’s Listen to the Man, which stars legendary actor Sir Ian McKellan. In the video, we see Sir Ian, lip-syncing along to Ezra’s track in time with Ezra singing it. At points in the music video, we also see Ezra and McKellan in coherence with one another, with both on screen actors matching up their timing to perfection. Another example of a lip-syncing music video is MuteMath’s track Typical. The concept video was directed by Israel Anthem and features the band performing the song backwards. The band rehearsed and memorized the performance in reverse. The video made it on the New York Post Hot List and registered more than 100,000 views in fewer than four days.
Cutting to the Beat
Cutting to the beat is a style of music video in which it is edited so the cuts are synchronised to the beats or to create a distinguishable rhythmic cuts between the shots. These edits would be seen throughout the music video. An example of a music video that cuts to the beat is Artic Monkeys’ song, ‘When the sun goes down’ taken from their album, ‘Whatever people say I am, That’s what I am not.’ The song's music video was directed by Paul Fraser and premiered on MTV2 on 21 December 2005. It starred Lauren Socha and Stephen Graham. The video used footage from a longer film, Scummy Man, which used the same actors who appeared in the music video to tell the story of 'Nina', the nameless "that girl there" from the song. In the song we can see the shots change regularly when the beat changes, such as when there is a drumbeat. This is sometimes out of time.
Another example of a music video that cuts to the beat, is Little Mix’s song ‘Wings.’ "Wings" is a single by Little Mix, which was released in 2012. The band has 4 members and the beat is in common time (time signature = 4/4), which works out, really easy for the music video. Most of the time, the cuts are to the beat of the song and the cuts include all 4 girls every time. This is a good effect for dance related music videos; as shown there is a dance sequence in the video.
Post-Production Effects
There are several different effects that could be added in post-production, these include such things as coloured filters, CGI/digital recreation or an animation technique, in which they draw over the frames of the objects in the shots, such as Aha’s ‘Take on Me.’ Whether these are stock footage of certain affects like smoke, fire or muzzle flares, they will be added in during post production. Sometimes an audience will be so interested in the technology behind the effects but sometimes they just like the idea of adding more of a story and colour to the video. It keeps them entertained.
An example of the usage of postproduction is, "We Made You" a single by Eminem, which was released in 2009. Throughout the video, there are many visual effects that are used with a green-screen e.g. Eminem singing through fire. There are also effects such as the car turning into a transformer, or the effects represented by the Star Trek reference Eminem was conveying. This is a good technique because it keeps the audience entertained and they want to watch the whole thing because they want to know if there are any more effects to look out for.
Split Screen
An example of certain effects in music videos is the use of the Split Screen, in which multiple shots or footage are placed over the same screen, but with different shot scene or action takes place on the other screen. This can be used to duplicate the artist or band with a more fluent and visually unique video. An example of a music video that uses a split screen is by Daft Punk and features Pentatonix. Pentatonix is an acapella group, and they produced a medley of songs by Daft Punk. The creative part of this video was the use of split screen, because there are 5 members of the band. The editing was done very well and also used the technique of cutting to the beat because each cut refers to a video changing position. The size, timing and position of each video were excellent and it was entertaining to watch.
Chroma Key
Chroma Key effects are when music videos are shot in front of a green screen. This means that a block colour is put behind the artist and is replaced by another picture/video. Sometimes the quality doesn't always look as good if the background is of a specific location but they are sometimes used for upbeat dance songs. A lot of music videos use Chroma key to add a comical sense to their music. It's a technique used to try and interest and entertain the viewers more. Chroma key is also a good technique when the budget for a music video isn't very big.
An example of Chroma key being used in a music video is the Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s song ‘Monarchy of the Rose,’ which also features a behind the scene video showing how the Chroma key was used in the music video. The video features the band in an animated style setting, in the behind the scene video we see the band spinning round on a green turntable with green walls so the Chroma key can be completed in post-production.
Camera Angles, Shot Types and Movements
Just like in any other form of video media, there will always be certain camera movements that are used for different reasons; an establishing shot will generally set the scene at the beginning; a long shot will normally set out the location of a closer scene, so the audience have a better understanding of the atmosphere; mid shots and close ups will be used to see the artists face and see their emotions depending on the music style; extreme close ups would normally be used if the music video wanted to capture emotion, and so an extreme close up on a tear rolling down a cheek might be used. Whereas, different movements can also be chosen depending on a scenario; tracking is used to follow a band, which could be used if it is a continuous shot; a panning shot will normally be used to set another scene and show the audience the surroundings. Just like movements, camera angles make a huge impact on the meaning and style of the music video. Wherever a camera is placed can show the power of the artist/characters. Or sometimes it can show an exact location from where we should be seeing it. By choosing different angles, the viewers have a different view of the action, which makes it more interesting and everybody will have their own way of watching it.
"Hollaback Girl" is a single by Gwen Stefani and was released in 2005. Throughout the music video, there are multiple shots of different tracking and panning shots which are slow and fast. It gives the music video a good sense of energy because they're always on the move and presents the artist in a lively way. There are also a lot of camera shots as well which makes the music video look a lot more productive and visual; we know exactly what’s going on and where about they all are as well as knowing everyone’s expression.
"Salute" is a single by Little Mix that was released in 2014. The song is about how women need to tackle equality in the world and stand up for themselves. The music video features a lot of different angles and movement, but particularly from a low angle view. This is because the music video needs to demonstrate the power that the girls need to have to overcome this problem. With the girls up high or, the camera down low, we are looking up at them as leaders, which is what they want viewers to feel like when watching this music video.
