Music Video Research

There are two main types of music video, namely performance based, and narrative based.

Performance based music videos will generally consist simply of an artist performing the chosen song, and will feature little, if any story, or narrative. Typically these types of videos will consist of a 'staged' or set up performance, at a specific location, where the band would usually not perform, for example in a field, or warehouse. There are of course performance based videos which feature footage from concerts, or gigs the band/artist have played, but the difference here is that these scenes have not been 'set up' and the footage is essentially of the band playing naturally, in their usual environment, whereas in 'set up' performances the artist will often look to the camera, and acknowledge the presence of the crew who are filming. Concert videos can appear a lot more natural because of this, as they will usually show the band playing how they usually
 would, without moving or performing in specific ways for the purposes of the video.

Narrative based music videos focus a lot more on a story or plot being told, and purely narrative based videos will often not feature the artist at all. For this type of video a set of characters and a stroyline will be created with no relation to the artist, but will usually link to themes and topics conveyed through the chosen song, for example if the song is about a relationship breaking up, the video may act out this sequence, and then show the after events of this. Generally, the mood set out by the song will be reflected through the plot and acting within the video, to create a link between the two. For the example I have used above, in this sense the video would unlikely be very lively, and a show of negative emotion would be conveyed through the characters. There are videos which are narrative based, but do not follow these conventions however, for example videos which aim to achieve a comical effect, and do not link very closely to the themes conveyed through the song.