I am not sure as to what type of music video I would like to create so to get a better understanding I researched the

different types of music videos out there to help me decide which kind

would be the most suitable.

Research On Types Of Music Videos

Pop Music Videos

Nikki Minaj Pound the Alarm –

Setting & Lighting: The setting of the video is Spain and constantly reminds you of this throughout by repeating clips of the singer in front of a view of the city, with bright blue skies. The lighting of this music video is extremely colourful and vivid, little of the music video features and dim lighting.

Costume: The costumes featured in the music video very much fit in with the lighting and setting of the video, every actor in the video is seen in bright, multi-coloured clothing.Props: There are various props used in this video like fire and fireworks, this helps tie in with the feel of the video as being a party atmosphere and very upbeat.

Pace: The overall pace of the music video is upbeat throughout, with various part of the music video reflecting the pace of the song and lyrics, for example the verses are relatively fast but as the chorus approaches the pace increases. The clips shown rarely last more than a single second or two.

The Artist: The artist of the song is very much shown throughout the video, ranging from clips of her alone to clips with her surrounded by other people.

Overall Story: There is very little story in this video we are aware that some kind of festival or carnival is taking place, however the is no clear story, the video very much reflects the song itself and simply a feel good upbeat pop song.

Pop MusicVideos

Pop MusicVideos

Rita Ora How We Do –

Setting & Lighting: The setting of this video is some kind of party, although much darker than the previous video there are occasional clips shown very bright and vivid, generally when the chorus starts these clips are shown to reflect the upbeat chorus. Much of the lighting in this video is directed at the singer in many of the clips, the background is very faint with the artist being the prominent person in the clip.

Costume: Because the setting of the video is a party many of the actors are seen in slightly casual but still very glamorous clothing, the artist is also shown in glamorous but casual clothing such as jeans, shorts, hats as opposed to a glamorous dress as that would not fit the scene of the video.

The Artist: Similar to the Nikki minaj video the artist if featured throughout the video there are barely any clips that she is not shown in, the clips once again range from shots of her alone in various settings, to her amongst other people.

Overall Story: Once again there is little to suggest an in-depth storyline, the majority of the clips are of a party atmosphere, giving the audience a very positive feeling when watching it.

Pop Music Videos

Pop music videos seem to be very much

performance focused, the artist is featured

throughout and there is rarely any specific

or prominent narrative.

Because these types of videos tend to be

set in very extravagant settings with a great

amount of actors and props, I feel it would

be very difficult if I choose to do this kind of

music video and it would not accurately

represent a pop music video.

Alternative/Indie Music Videos

Poets of the Fall Dreaming Wide Awake –

Setting & Lighting: The settings in this video vary from a snowy arctic setting in he present, to the hustle and bustle of a town in the past tense clips, the artist is shown in various settings from the arctic scene to the town.

Costume: The costume in this video is very basic everyday clothing; the characters are shown in very vintage old winter clothing to reflect the norm of their lives.

Props: The props used in this video range from old photographs to broken lights, very drastically different props used in pop videos, these are very everyday objects, that relate to the video and are used to show how the character in the video is feeling for example a smashing light reflects he anger of the character.

Pace: The pace is relatively slow to fit in with the narrative of the song, the content of the clips tend to become more rapid during certain points of the song for example the chorus, as the verses begin again the videos pace slows to reflect the pace of the song.

The Artist: The Artist is only featured in the video at certain points often singing along to the song, the majority of the video features actors for the narrative.

Overall Story: For this video it is clear there is some kind of narrative, it is unclear what the story is at the beginning of the video and as the song progresses the story slowly unravels. The video is constantly shifting from the past to present in order to reveal the narrative

Alternative/Indie Music Videos

Alternative/Indie Music Videos

Ed Sheeran The A Team –

Setting & Lighting: In regards to lighting this video is shot entirely in black and white, this could be to reflect the dullness of the characters life, there is little lighting throughout most of the video, a lot of the clips are very dark with little light reflect off the characters face. The setting of this video is a rundown town as to show how much the character is struggling, it is set on the street most of the time, and there are no glamorous settings throughout this video.

Costume: As the character in the videos is supposed to be struggling she is shown in rather run down clothes, with her make up very washed out, her costume is very stereotypically a prostitute’s clothes hair and makeup.

Props: One of the main props in this video is the characters sleeping bag which she is shown wrapped in throughout a lot of the video, this is to add to the effect of her being very poor and not having very much, her sleeping bag in this looks to be one of her only major possessions, the sleeping bag is a prop strongly associated with the homeless.

Pace: The pace is similar to the pace of the song is rather slow and calm throughout, this is to fit with the song and possibly to reflect the characters simply and life who feels she is not living and not making anything of herself.

The Artist: The Artist is slightly included in the video but only as another actor in order to interact with the other characters.

Overall Story: The opening of the video is set in the present showing the main character dead, but the video then begins to show you the past and her life before she died to show us how or why this did happen. Once the opening present scene is shown the clips follow in a chronological order it does not flip from past to present throughout.

Alternative/Indie Music Videos

The setting of this kind of video is very different to that of pop videos; it is generally the opposite instead of the glitz and glam of a

summery setting to a relatively dismal setting. The pace generally

reflects the pace of the song, verses are used to show slower clips

while the chorus and upbeat parts of the song will be shown using

rapid clips these rapid clips are often the main clue to the narrative. They are very much narrative based videos rather than a

performance, it would be very bizarre and odd is an Alternative video

showed a e.g. dance routine as it would not go. The Artist are occasionally featured, some will show the artist and some will not

but even when they are it is for very brief moments they are by no

means the star of the video. I did like in the second video I analysed how the writer of the song acted in the video as if he was just

another character helping he main actor in her struggle. Props used

in these kind of videos generally are everyday household objects and are used to create a specific feeling to the audience and will

often have strong associations with them which is why the director will use them.

Rock Music Videos

Rock

Music Videos

Slipknot – Psychosocial

Setting & Lighting: The setting of this video seems to be a corn field however some clips are shot at night and some in the day. Some clips clearly show images of the setting. Fire is used in the night scenes as an element of lighting.

Costume: The most obvious point to make about their costumes is that they are costumes, the wear masks throughout this video, these have become almost a trademark of the band and they are well known for them, the fact they are used in the videos is maybe because they fit in with the overall setting and feel of the video or they reflect the message of the song.

Pace: The pace of this video is very rapid and almost hectic no clips last longer than a second and each clips appears to be filmed using a handheld camera very hap hazard and jumpy. There are a few clips shown in slow motion ad almost work in contrast with the actual pace of the song.

The Artist: The band is shown constantly whether it is of the singer the whole band or a shot of another member, the band is the main focus.

Overall Story: The band is used in this video to tell the story, there is no acting from other characters and even the band but the way they perform there song they show body language of desperation or anger.

Rock

Music Videos

Rock Music Videos

Good Charlotte – The River

Setting & Lighting: The video appears to be set in this one setting a sewage draining system, a setting although not glamorous very recognisable to many people. The setting of the video could be because of the link with message of the song, the lyrics say “ on my own” the band behind situated all alone in a deserted place of a waste line could be to reflect the lyrics.

Costume: The band is wearing all black in this video, along with black hats black scarves and even black instruments making them appear very clearly and vividly against the pale setting they are in. This could be to show the element or rock behind the bands image. Rock is stereotypically dark and black.

Symbol: I did notice a small river being shown in some shots running through, as the name of the song is river I thought this could have been strategically used to back up the meaning of the song.

The Artist: The band is shot throughout the video, they are very much featured in it similar to the pop videos however the way they preset themselves almost gives off some kind of narrative.

Overall Story: There doesn’t appear to be a clear narrative in this video like the Indie/Alternative videos as the band is just shown performing throughout however the way they perform provides clues to the nature of the song.

Overall what I found was that rock videos demonstrate a kind

of negativity through their videos but through props, costume

and setting, there is no real narrative usually but the band

perform their song in a certain way that it almost hints at the

general them of the song. The pace always reflect the song

generally element of fast motion with slow motion, many

different shots are used from close-ups of individuals with

instrument (usually on instrumental part of the song) to shots

of the singer or shot of the whole band. There is generally a

lack of colour, main colours shown are very dark and any pale

bright colours are only used to emphasis the darkness of the

band as opposed to the pop videos I viewed which feature a

lot of colour. Any props used generally have a connotation

towards rock and anger e.g. fire.