Styles and Conventions of Music Videos

      Styles and Conventions of Music Videos

Narrative 

In this music video there is a story about how Eminem and Dr Dre first met and how their encounter led to the worldwide succession of Eminem. Eminem is desperately trying to convey the message that it was Dr Dre who gave Eminem a chance at the rap/music industry and desperate for him to come back in it (the industry). This is obvious through the lyrics: "Get up Dre I'm dyin', I need you, come back for fuck's sakes!" This is able to benefit the artist as the target audience will be able to see how Eminem deeply feels and his expression of love for Dr Dre, improving his popularity and reputation. Furthermore, it is a rather creative music video, which will be able to appeal and attract the audience, as they want to continue to see what happens at the end. It also gives a moral of story to the audience about celebrity life, as daily life as a celebrity can be difficult to live with, more than people stereotypically expect - easy and laid back. 

Animation

This music video is an animated one produced by games company Riot Games along with Imagine Dragons, for the 2014 League of Legends World Championships. This is also intertextual as the song makes clear references to the game through its lyrics. The game can also be seen being played by the characters. By creating an animated music video the institution, Riot Games were able to save a lot of money as they didn't need to hire any actors, locations and more things that require a substantial amount of finance. In addition to that, the creativity and imagination of the music video is limitless unlike a real/realistic one, as the people in the music video are flying around the air and space without any trouble. This also benefits to the audience as they will be thoroughly engaged to well edited and fast paced video, which will really appeal to them. People will also appreciate the time, effort and creativity that's included in the music video, as the CG effects with the layers of animation look really well made and produced.

Performance

This music video is a perfect example of a performance type because the whole video just consists of Linkin Park performing in front of a live audience. This really benefits the band as the target audience will be able to see the pure excitement and craziness of the live event, meaning that more people will want to go to their live concerts. This is typical as the genre of the song is rock and  a performance type of  music video is common in this genre. The camerawork has many shots of the excited audience, leading to the representation that the band really care about their fans and viewers. This will lead to them gaining increased reputation of interacting with the audience to a deeper level, unlike many other artists. 

Conceptual

This video is neither performance or narrative based, which means it is actually conceptual. The video goes with the tempo of the song, as when the tempo is increased the band in the music videos spin proportionally to this. This is rather beneficial to the band (Two Door Cinema Club) as they are able to be separated from the mainstream and common videos usually found in the music industry, in other words they will stand out from the crowd. People will also want to discuss the music video after watching it more, as they want to know what the music video is about - leading to an increase in popularity. The rather mysterious and eccentric music video will able to impact the audience as it will be memorable. Also, the conceptual music video will allow escapism for the target audience to happen, drawing in more viewers.

Interpretative

This music video by Katy Perry is interpretative because the lyrics of the song match the images shown in the music video itself. The lyrics are made out of cakes and sweets which is really linking to the song: Birthday. This is beneficial to the artist if they are less imaginative and creative, so they will want to create something much simpler. The production of the music video is an easier process as it is really linear. The editing of the video is really attractive and bold, as the colours and images used with and on the lyrics are attractive and bright. Also, the camera movement is rather mellow and slow, further emphasising the joyful and happiness feeling the song has for the audience.

 Surrealism

This music video by The Cranberries - The Zombies has many juxtapositions  and surrealist techniques implemented in this music video. It has a very dark and abstract and there is no clear meaning within the song or video. From this, the artist is able to portray their creativity and imagination to the audience by having a really eccentric and different music video. The artist's popularity will also increase as people will want to know the meaning behind the music video and therefore will discuss it more and more with other people. The target audience will also be appealed to the difference, editing and originality the music video has compared to other mainstream videos.