PERFORMANCE BASED, NARRATIVE BASED OR

CONCEPT BASED MUSIC VIDEOSBy Yasemin Sehri

Performance Based Music Videos

Performance based music videos often contain close up shots of the artist and bands as well as the instruments they are playing, the whole video tends to be of a one performance filmed from different angles which provides a more engaging finished product. Occasional cutaways of shots that aren't relevant to the performance may also be used. An example of a performance based music video is, The 1975’s ‘UGH!’ The entire video is of the band performing with cutaways of close ups of lip syncing as well as of the instruments. This style of music video is very popular in the indie music genre as the focus tends to be on the instruments.

Concept based Music Videos

Concept based music videos are based upon a single theme or idea, they tend to be a bit hard to understand and can be interpreted in various different ways, narratives in concept based videos can be very strong if there as a strong ideology message behind it or very loose if the idea is more visually artistic. An example of a concept- based music video is, Vance Joys ‘Riptide’ The video is very aesthetically pleasing and interesting to watch, there is no story line but there is a running theme of women and photography.

Narrative Based Music Videos

• Narrative based music videos often tell stories that either features in the lyrics or that is suggested in the lyrics and the video will amplify them. This style of music video helps connote meanings to the lyrics of songs and illustrating the lyrical content. They tend to follow the generic beginning, middle and end layout. This style can be seen in Mikas ‘Popular Song’ The visuals of the video amplify the lyrics and a story is created around it.