Genres

In today’s lesson we looked at the genres of music videos in order to help us decide and think about the genre of mine. Deciding on a genre helps define what the music video is about, as I am still unset on an idea I found it really helpful to see the options.  

Performance

The first genre we looked at was performance. This kind of music video is when the artist/band ‘performs’ their song live. This is a very simple idea for a video and keeps the focus on the artist throughout.

U2- Beautiful Day is an example of a performance video.

Dance

Dance is another common genre, in this the artist and another’s dance to the beat of the music. This requires a lot of choreography in order to look effective and match the beat.

Micheal Jackson- Thriller

Storyline

This is when the imagery is parallel with the lyrics of the song; they often add a visual enhancement to the lyrics and create an added impact for the audience. For example: Colour The Atlas- Paper Wings. This combines both footage of the band and a storyline following the issues of love and racism.

Conceptual

OK GO also used a conceptual genre for their song ‘Needing/Getting’. In the video the band creates the sound of the song on a car journey. This illustrates the quirkiness of the band. 

Special Effects

These videos are often the ones to stand out. For example: Bonobo- Cirrus. This uses visual effects creating a disjointed mismatch of visuals which is correspondent to the music. Giving it a very surreal, unearthly feel as it continues.  

Animation

Where the music video is purely animated, creating a very unique take on the music. Using animation can also make a very surreal result as you can create things you otherwise would not be able to if shot in real life.

An example of this is: Gorillaz- Clint Eastwood, this shows cartoon of the band performing as well as a surreal storyline.

Browser

This genre uses new technology to stand out. OK GO and Arcade Fire have both used this genre in their music videos to make their videos interactive. OK GO- All is not lost, is an interactive video where dancers creates words (you can chose) with their feet, view here: http://www.allisnotlo.st/index_en.html