Styles of Music VideoMegan Cooper

Narrative

The narrative style of music video includes a set of images that tell a story throughout the video where normally the visuals and lyrics are connected.

An example of this is Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River’. This music video shows us the lyrics meaning through visuals.

Performance

Performance music videos most commonly show the band/artist performing the song either in a concert location or studio based set.

This is one of the most common music video styles.

U2’s ‘With Or Without You’ is a perfect example of this as they are performing on stage.

Homage

The music video style ’Homage’ is an acknowledgement of something from the past.

An example of a Homage style video is Tupac Shakur’s ‘Ghetto Gospel’. This video shows the days leading up to his death, which is shown by a flash of light which resembles the gunshot which took his life.

Animation

Animation styles of video uses a range of animation techniques in replace with live action.

The Gorillaz song ‘Feel Good Inc’ is an example of an animation style video.

Inspiration

Inspiration style videos reference other forms of media such as TV or Film.

An example of this is the song ‘Foolish’ by Ashanti which references the film ‘Goodfellas’ by including costumes and more which were inspired from the film.

Parody

Parody videos tend to mock an original piece of work either through subject matter, style, or author. They are comedic versions of the original.

An example of this is ‘Another One Rides the Bus’ by Weird Al, which is a parody of ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.

Pastiche

Pastiche videos imitates a piece of work. It mixes parody and references/inspiration together.

An example of this is Foo Fighters ‘Walk’.

Surreal

Surreal videos tend to have something the audience finds hard to believe, generally they tend to be disconnected from the lyrics.

An example of this is Nirvana’s song ‘Heart Shaped Box’.