Tends to show the band or artists mostly performing there song, possibly at a gig or in a studio setting. An example of this is ‘American Idiot- Green Day'. This video is made up of shots showing the band performing the song, or Billie Joe (lead singer) lip syncing to the song along with playing the guitar. However, they have made the video interesting and not just used a standard performance by making each band member perform the song at a different speed, such as Billie Joe performing the song sped up whilst Tre Cool is playing the drums at normal speed, etc. This alternates between band members throughout the video and gives the video an individual, creative edge. There is also a theme of the colour green throughout the video; supposedly to go along with the bands name "Green Day". As this is a theme throughout the video it gets stuck in the viewers mind and reminds them of the bands name. There is also an American flag behind the band members as they are performing the song; this is used in an ironic way as the song is about not wanting to be an American idiot. The flag is also green which goes along with the theme of green in the video but also contrasts with the usual red white and blue, making it seem like it is decaying which could also go along with the lyrics which promote a bad view of what America has become.
The video tells the story within the lyrics and is like a mini film which has a beginning, middle and end which overall is telling us a story. An example of this is Aha's "Take On Me" video. This video has a storyline consisting of a woman in a coffee shop reading a comic book about competitive motorcycle racing in which two villains pursue the hero. After the woman receives the bill for her coffee from a waitress, the winner of the race winks at the girl from the comic book and reaches his hand out for her to enter his animated world. As the waitress comes back to pick up the bill she thinks the woman has left without paying, and angrily crumples up the comic book and throws it in the bin. The crumpled pages lead to the two-motorcycle villains crossing over into the panels containing the motorcycle race winner and the girl. This leads to a struggle between the hero and the villains, of which the girl eventually escapes by the hero tearing a hole in one of the comic book pages so she can get out. She reappears on the floor in the coffee shop and takes the comic book home, trying to flatten out the pages to see what happens next. One of the pages shows the hero seemingly dead, and the girl begins to cry. The hero then wakes up and begins throwing himself against the edges of the panel of the comic book's page, attempting to break out into the real world. As he does this, he begins to flash between animation and a real, living person. The real life version of him appears in the hallway leading to the girl's room, throwing himself against the corridor walls. He finally escapes from the comic book by becoming human and embraces the girl.
This
video is not restricted to just being narrative based though, as there are some
scenes of the band performing in the narrative setting and as the hero is
played by the bands lead singer he tends to lip sync to the song during some of
the narrative parts of the story. As the song goes on, the drawn animated
images tend to become more fast paced to go along with the fast pace of the
song and the urgency of the situation where there is the struggle between the
hero and the two villains. This is a very unique narrative based video as it is
mostly animated in a comic book fashion and tends to mix this with live action
scenes, something that around the time of the videos release had never been
done before and therefore it gained many awards and was seen as a revolutionary
music video.
Concept based music videos-
These are based on a certain idea or concept, which is usually obscure. This obscurity attracts a wider audience to watch the video as it will keep the audience entertained throughout the video. An example of this is OK GO's "Here It Goes Again". This video shows the band performing a dance routine on 6 treadmills, a very original and abstract idea that has never been done before for a music video. It would have had to be shot in one take for continuity, which would have put pressure on the band members to not make any mistakes. The routine is flawless in the video, apart from at about 1 minute in where the man on the front left treadmill starts to fall off, but it is barely noticeable as he recovers well. Another point in the video that could have been as mistake is the very beginning where the man is trying to turn on the CD player and it wont work, however this could have been a deliberate mistake to add humour to the video. The routine is in time with the music and the band tend to do tricks in their routine at key points during the song, making the routine more catchy and eye grabbing, making viewers want to keep watching. This concept was a very simple, yet an effective video and soon became a viral hit, giving the band much promotion and success.
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