types of music video

There are three main types of music videos that are used by music artists in our contemporary music industry: Narrative Based, Performance Based and Concept Based. Each have distinct characteristics  with different purposes for how they will gain their audience's attention. The record label to whom the artist/band is signed wants them to appear as original as possible to other contemporary music artists, so they look for unique attributes within them which they can emphasise to give them a unique image and persona that will attract their targeted audience.

NARRATIVEBASED:

A narrative based music video contains footage that attempts to tell a story. involving actors, the story is sometimes linked to the lyrical content of the song. this is popular amongst songs in movies. a good example of this is 'Always' by Bon Jovi.

CONCEPTBASED:

This style of music video is based around a singe idea and tends to focus on a specific style of filming that would usually be unusual to use in normal filming. it's not often you see a purely conceptual music video as the commercial world demands things to be a bit more interesting/accessible. a great example is 'monkey drummer' by Aphex Twin.

PERFORMANCEBASED:

These videos feature the artist/band/group performing the song through most, if not all of the video. it can be argued that this type is the easiest to produce on a budget provided you are able to obtain a suitable/professional looking location. An example of this would be 'Best of you' by Foo Fighters.