Music Video Style

There are four main music video styles: performance, concept, narrative and intertextuality. Within some of them are smaller sub categories of these styles, for example within narrative there is both an illustrative and interpretative style, and within intertextuality you can have both a parody and pastiche.

Intertextuality:

The first style that I will be talking about is intertextuality. Intertextuality is the relationship between two media texts, and in terms of the music industry, it means that there is a relationship between two videos, as one is referencing to the other; or the music video could be referencing to a different type of media text, such as a film or a book. This can occur in two ways, the first being a pastiche. This is like a tribute to what the artist is referencing to in their video, as it's seen as 'affectionate' and the artist may also pay homage to the creator of the other media text.

An example music video with the pastiche style is LA Devotee by Panic! At the Disco.

The artist pays homage to the famous netflix show 'Stranger Things', which you can tell as the actor who plays the character of Will in the series, Noah Schnapp, stars in the video. He appears to be trapped in a villain's lair, who is supposedly the singer Brendon Urie. The whole idea of the music video could be interpreted that this a take on what happened to Will when he went missing throughout the series.

Other clues that show that this music video is a tribute to the show is the symbol shown at the beginning of the video in a field, which can connote an alien presence as this feature is usually associated with this, and this can relate to Stranger Things being a sci-fi, as the creature discovered by the government lab is an alien to them. However, the symbol can also relate to this logo of a government agency, much like the one that was experimenting with Eleven.



Furthermore, props such as an old camcorder are featured which can support this 80's vibe, as this is the timezone that Stranger Things was set in. The character is also watching an old projection on the wall in front of him of some clips that look outdated, which also contributes to this theme.

The second sub genre of intertexuality is a parody, in which the artists make a reference to a media text or even another artist in a mocking way; and they do this in such a way that they don't have to pay homage to the artists. This is because their set up isn't exactly alike to the original video, as there are slight differences, whether it's in the costume or the actual location.

All Time Low's song I Feel Like Dancing is an example of a parody music video, because not only is it a parody of some famous artists such as Lady Gaga, but it could also be said that it is a parody of the music video as a whole and how music videos are made.

At the start of the video, the band are in a meeting with a man who is telling them how to be successful, as the idea is that this is their first record label that they have signed on to. He starts by shutting the band members down and telling them how to really gain fame fast, which is the start to the parody of the music industry, as the acting and concept is really exaggerated.

One method that is featured in the video is product placement, in which the band go over the top with promoting the drink Rockstar in order to be successful so they can promote each other and earn more money. The last method that the band had to carry out was stealing ideas from other people, in which it was also a parody of artists like Katy Perry.

Narrative:

The style of narrative involves creating a story that the audience can follow which can link to the lyrics or not at all. There are two types of narrative, the first being illustrative. This is where the lyrics tell the story and is very closely related to the visuals of the video. An example music video I have found which does this is Riptide by Vance Joy, in which each lyric is linked to a visual exactly.

The second type of narrative is interpretative, in which the story and meaning of the video is not entirely clear, and the artist leaves the audience to interpret their own meaning from what they saw. This can generate different meanings based on the person, meaning that there is no common meaning, unless it is a hidden one that only the artist understands.

An example music video that uses this style is This is Gospel by Panic! at the Disco. The meaning can be interpreted in many ways, for example he could be accepting his death and just wanting to enter the afterlife, but other people are not willing to let him go, hence the lyric "If you love me let me go". Another interpretation could be that he is trying to break free of social norms and people are trying to hold him down and make him conform.

Performance:

A performance is when the artist is featured in the music video, singing and/or playing an instrument to the camera, performing the song to the audience.
An example performance video is Ride by Twenty One Pilots, as it just features them performing in a forest both during the and and night.

A sub genre of the style of performance is a live/in concert music video.This style is commonly found in rock and indie songs, and the example I have below is Do or Die by 30 STM, and the genre of their music is alternative rock.

   

Concept:

The last music video style in concept, in which the music video is very abstract due to being based around a single idea. The video may not link to the lyrics of the song.

An example concept video is Somebody I Used to Know by Gotye, as the video features him getting painted whilst he sings along to the song, and has no direct relation to the lyrics or its meaning.

From this research I have gathered an idea as to what style I would like in my own music video, and as it's from the electropop genre I will rely a lot on performance however I will incorporate a narrative into my video.