· A narrative based music video centres around a story, which is portrayed through images rather than text so that the viewers could pick up on what the song is meant to be about and how the artist feels about that specific idea. ‘Knights of Cydonia’ performed by Muse, is portrayed via a story which helps the viewer understand the meaning of the song text and what the band wants to accomplish through that. A lot of bands often use narrative based music videos rather than performance based or concept based because a narrative based video is often more efficient, especially when considering a concept or idea that will make the viewer specifically feel something for the idea or character within the video. Another song based on narrative is ‘Broken’ by Lifehouse which centres around a man (lead singer) who discovers that he has crashed his car coming out of the tunnel, killing two other people and his friends that were on the backseat, and then running back into the tunnel to warn himself of the incident. The video is portrayed through non-linear, giving the video a fresh look at the story which the viewers will find upsetting. I find that this is a good method to use because the viewer can walk away with some realisation which will then be passed on to others. In ‘Broken’ the five elements to narrative media forms are the equilibrium that the main character and his friends are in the car, waiting for the traffic to clear, the disequilibrium and recognition is the introduction to the car crash where he realises what has happened; reparation is where he then runs back to the car in hopes of stopping the event and the new equilibrium is he fails to inform his past self and continues driving, leaving the viewers to suspect that the car crash will happen.
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Yc3HhSl1Q&feature=related (Muse, Knights of Cydonia)
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6cdPeYJh0s (Lifehouse, Broken)
· A performance based music video includes a performance by the artist, for instance, the rock band Muse performs in almost every one of their music videos. In the music video for ‘Undisclosed Desires’ by Muse, which is set within a recording studio, the band is seen performing behind the scenes; with the camera creating the movement while the performers are seen in the same position throughout the video. In order to make the music video more amusing, the editor has used fast cutting for a greater tempo which subsequently makes the video at the same tempo as the song. There are usually two types of bands or artists that will perform within the music video, the first is rock, as portrayed by Muse above, and the other by R’n’B artists, such as Lady Gaga, who also almost always performs in her music videos. In the music video for ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga, which is set in a surreal location (often used in performance based music videos by R’n’B artists), with the camera creating a lot of the movement while the artist is seen performing at a luxurious house/mansion. In order to make such a music video entertaining, a female artist is often represented sexually, often wearing seductive clothing which subsequently attracts many male viewers as well as female viewers that wish to have her body. Again the video tempo has been raised using fast cutting to reach the same tempo as the song, going slower and going faster when it’s needed. There are also a lot of close-ups and mid-shots of the artist, showing off her good looks which are considered more important than the actual meaning of the song that’s represented through the video.
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8OOWcsFj0U&ob=av2n (Muse, Undisclosed Desires)
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo&ob=av2n (Lady Gaga, Poker Face)
· A concept based music video almost always includes an idea that the artist wants to inform the viewer, for instance, the rock band Muse have often music videos that people can’t necessarily understand because of its unusual and weird nature. But from their style and the way they perform, people can tell that the band is very political, such a music video can be seen below. ‘Time is Running Out’ by Muse, is an example of a concept based music video where the band perform on a table at which several army related people are sat that gives the audience the idea that the song is about war and specifically the political side of it due to the bands association with the theme. In the concept based videos, the idea is very independent on mise-en-scene and camera angles rather than what actually occurs within the video to get the audience to think about it more without making it too hard to understand. Abstract metaphorical images are used with mild links to the song, getting the audience to create their own interpretations.
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2IuJPh6h_A&ob=av2n (Muse, Time is Running Out)
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