Content analysis of 4 music videos

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Reflecting on what I have learnt about the conventions of music videos focuses on the narrative being a macro idea. Furthermore the technical conventions of lip-syncing and editing to the beat and the promotion of the artist.

The relationship between the song and the narrative can be :

  • Illustration – the narrative in the video very closely echoes the lyrics and music
  • Amplification – The narrative whilst inspired by the song adds a new element to complement the song
  • Disjuncture – The narrative seems to hold a very little relationship to the song and seems quite random

A video can also be split between narrative, performance or both :

  • Performance Videos – Exclusively performance, stunning visual effects
  • Combination Videos – Mixture of performance and narrative, the star observes the action as an invisible narrator
  • Narrative Videos – Has little or no performance, may often tell a socially important story

This will help me in my music video as I have an idea of the different ways I can present my video. This can be more narrative or performance or a combination.  I also need to choose the relationship I want between the song and lyrics and whether I want my video to echo the lyrics or the video holding very little relationship with the lyrics.