Narrative, Performance and Concept based videos

There are three different styles of music video; narrative based, performance based and concept based and I have chosen one video for each that fits into the genre of the song I will be making a video for.

Narrative based music video

A narrative based music video is one that has a storyline, which is followed throughout the entire video and an example of this kind of video is Fresh Start Fever by You Me At Six.

The narrative of the video has no relevance to the lyrics of the song; however, the story is maintained throughout the video. Surprisingly for a rock bands’ music video there is no performance element whatsoever. The narrative follows a young couple, the man is a motorcycle racer who is injured but dreams of racing again, the couple argue over these desires, all of which is edited in slow motion to emphasise the trouble in their relationship and the severity of the argument. The settings are very rural, set in fields, a caravan park and a run-down motor track. This allows the audience to focus on the relationship, but also it is quite refreshing as the song itself is quite heavy so if offers a breath of fresh air and is atypical of the genre too as usually rock videos are shot in studios or in urban areas. The band members make small cameos in the video, prepping the motorcyclists for their race, parallel to the moments leading up to the male main character who leaves his girlfriend in their home, leaving

 her crying. Again, the emotional moments of the narrative are slowed down to highlight the feelings of the characters as the struggles within the relationship are driving the narrative forward. The bridge and final chorus of the song show the race taking place; this sequence is made up of fast and slow paced editing to bring across the intensity of the race, also it features close ups of the riders, who are all wearing full helmets, as a way of hinting that perhaps one of them is the boyfriend. As the song reaches its most energetic part, the rhythm of the song is matched by the video as the race is coming to an end with the riders fighting for first place, the winner of the race is seen to have a brace on his hand and the audience realise it is the main character. The final shot of the music video is the girlfriend running towards him, again in slow motion, and this triggers the realisation that the slow motion effect was an effect used throughout the audience’s experience of their relationship and so is symbolic of their relationship.

Although the narrative is not relevant to the lyrics of the song, the pace, atmosphere and energy of the song is matched perfectly with the variation of shots and pace of editing in the music video.

Performance based music video

A performance-based music video tends to show the artist performing their song for most if not the entirety of the video. They are usually shot in a plain studio or in a concert-like setting to show off the performer or band in their usual surroundings.

Lower than Atlantis’ music video for Here We Go is an example of a performance driven video. With a purely performance based video there is the danger that it becomes repetitive and boring, however in this video it remains interesting as there is a variety of performances by each band member performing at different speeds to create visual variety. The video consists of a variety of close up shots, 360 shots as the band are performing in a circle, and long shots of the band and this provides a lot of footage to edit the video in a fast pace to match the pace of the song. The colour palette is quite monochromatic as the studio is black and the bands clothing is quite dark, there are some flashes of colour like red and blue and the lighting offers a lot of contrast against the darker tones. This constant theme of colours allows the video to stay in the viewers mind. The editing is timed perfectly to the music, the fast paced shots match the drums and the slow motion shots match the guitar riffs, all of which makes the video more appealing to the viewer. The varying pace provides energy and diversity to a video that is filmed in a single location.

Concept driven music video

A concept-based music video is one that has evolved from a simple idea that is irrelevant to the music, lyrics or genre. Conceptual music videos allow viewers to absorb the video more as they don’t have to try and make links between the music and images, therefore making it more memorable.

An example of a concept-based music video is the Foo fighters-Everlong. The song itself is about falling in love with someone and the music video in no way illustrates this. The concept of the video is a series of dream-like scenarios. The video starts out in black and white, taking a tour through a house; the colour scheme suggests to the audience that it is real life as it is then contrasted with scenes in colour (the dreams) implying that imagination is better and more exciting than real life. The different scenarios in the music video are quite humorous in a sadistic kind of way as much of the humour comes from the suffering of the other characters. However, the other element of humour is that the band are playing the main characters, both men and women. Part of the concept of the video is surrealism-the sizing of objects and setting has been exaggerated or made smaller to create a more surreal, dream-like effect for the video. In addition, another element of the concept is parodying horror films such as the Evil Dead, which is easily recognisable and so this makes it much more appealing and memorable to the audience as they can associate it not only to the song but to other areas of media.