Music videos: Types and Conventions

Before finalising and expanding our ideas for the music video we decided to look at as the categories of music video and the conventions and set up of each. We will look at the presentation of plot, if it has one, as well as how the band are involved in the music video. We want to look specifically at independent or lesser known artists because this is the kind of music we want to make a music video for, and because the style for these videos will be lower budget than major artists. We also want the genres to be similar to the music we intend to use for our own music video (electronic and relaxed spoken word style rap.) If we can identify the conventions of these genres and the style of each kind of music video it will be easier to produce a final video that appeals to the fans of the genre and fits the song better, improving the general quality of our music video.

Performance Based Music Videos

These music videos are focused more on the band, and may often include clips of the band in concert, or performing in a location set up for the music video. Most performance based videos will overlap with concept or narrative to make them more engaging, however many do solely feature band performance, such as these:

Conventions:

• Features the artist performing the song
• Has no narrative
• Abstract locations chosen for aesthetic value
• Lip syncing/ Fake playing
• Sometimes features live performances

Narrative Based Music Videos

Narrative Music videos will tell a story, often related to the lyrics of the video. They usually tell a clear story, though often it is not clear until the end of the video to build suspense. Sometimes these narratives are chronological and easy to follow; other times, they can be fragmented narratives, although this is less common.

Conventions:

• Makes some form of narrative sense, with a form of plot progression
• often features the artist or artists
• related in some way to the lyrics

Conceptual Music Videos

Rather than necessarily making sense to an audience, conceptual music videos are based around a concept or idea and are meant to aesthetically fit the style of music video. They will focus more on purely creating a mood that fits with the song, and rarely follows lyrical content.

Conventions:

• Abstract
• Conforms to the song in tone
• Does not follow any discernible narrative structure

Initial ideas: Mood Board

Initial Ideas: Brainstorm

Music video Brainstorm

• Possible songs:
• Revival - Olivver the Kid
• Your Bones – Thought Forms
• Interference – Thom Yorke
• You Took Your Time – Mount Kimbie (feat. King Krule)
• Cancer – Kapitan Korsakov
• Cheese is Christ – Kapitan Korsakov
• Night Terror – We Were Promised Jetpacks

Possible Narrative ideas:

Style

Dark, gritty. Muted colours – browns and greys. Dirty, dank settings.

Bright contrasts – stark colours, reds and blues.

Dreamy, neon lighting – Neo-Noir. Cool, calm. Oranges and blues.

Inspiration/ similar pieces

• Drive
• The guest
• David lynch
• Nightcrawler
• Blue valentine
• Bronson
• Only God forgives
• Fight club
• Mulholland drive
• Under the skin
• Night on earth
• Christiane f
• Short term twelve

Possible locations

• Roads, street lights – empty. Long drives, lights passing.

• Motel room – Light through window (can use spare room – looks similar)

• Hotel reception – west bay lagoon

• Rooftop- view of city, lights and traffic

• Souq Waqif area – dark, dingy streets. Neon lights.

• Abandoned buildings

• Party scene?

Other ideas

Non chronological. Disjointed, story is hard to follow. Supports the unstable main character?

Distorted- glitch? Old vhs look (transitions into high quality?)

Voicemail at start/end to give some clarity.

Show different narratives- Unreliable narrator?

Introduction - James and Béatrice - Music Promotion Package

For our coursework my group has decided to do the music promotion package. As our group only consists of two people we will just share the roles and workload equally, rather than designating roles. We will be creating a website, digipak, and music video for a band. So far we have a rough idea of the style of the video and the type of music we would be interested in using, but we will discuss it further to come to a decision.
The music video will be the main focus as it is the main task and an opportunity for us to experiment with visual styles and telling a story in a non standard narrative format.the stylistic focus of the music promotion package is why we chose this over the other options, as it will give us freedom to focus more on the technical elements of film making than anything else.