Styles of a Music Video

Glossary of Key Terms in relation to the Style(s) of a Music Video.
Here are some key terms that I will define, give examples of and explain:
-Pastiche/Parody
-Interpretative
-Animation
-In Concert/Live Footage
-Narrative
-Genre Specific

PASTICHE/PARODY

One distinguishable style of music video is pastiche/parody. These types of music videos each have different and similar features.

Differences between each music video will depend on what the video is parodying, for example, Alien Ant Farm's cover of Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' is a parody of Michael Jackson due to certain elements and characteristics that AAF use. Some examples of elements are listed below along with screenshots.

• Jackson's single sparkly glove and monkey
• Light-up pavements
• Dance moves to 'Thriller'
• The lean that Jackson does in the original 'Smooth Criminal' music video

Each of these elements are explicitly mocking Michael Jackson's music (there are at least three music videos of Jackson's in this one video).

The reason for AAF doing this is unlikely to be to make people like Jackson or pay homage to his work, it is however, to make the audience laugh at Jackson and see AAF's view of him.   

INTERPRETATIVE
Interpretative music videos are simply how the artist has interpreted the song and relays this to the audience through the music video. A very good example of this is Lady GaGa's (featuring Beyonce) music video of 'Telephone'. This is due to the song being about her being in a club and not wanting to answer her telephone, however, the video portrays GaGa in a prison to start with then gets released by Beyonce and they both murder a number of people in an American diner.

The possible reason for GaGa wanting to make the music video in the setting of a prison instead of a club it considerably reflective of her previous work. She is a music artist known for going over the top and doing things alternatively and this video definitely lives up the that reputation. However, in the case of other artists who are not like Lady GaGa, although they may show their interpretation of a music video in the same way, it will not be to live up to their reputation. For example, Amy Winehouse's music video 'Back to Black' is set in a funeral whereas the song is about a break-up.


ANIMATION
A music video in the style of animation is fairly straight forward. It doesn't use real people, instead it uses animated characters that may or may not resemble the artist/artists. In most cases, animated music videos are commonly used in music numbers in a cartoon such as a Disney film. An example of this would be Billy Joel's 'Why Should I Worry' from the 1988 Disney film, Oliver & Company. Throughout this musical number, there is constant animation, and although the character does not in any way represent Billy Joel himself, the song is still sung through the character of 'Dodge' (the dog).

Animation can be used for a number of reasons, however, in this case, the animation is used to attract the target audience; young children. In addition to this, the fact that it is animation may add to the excitement of a dog running around on the rooftops of cars in New York City for small children. Dodge has been considered a character which many children admire due to his careless ways and fun attitude, these elements are shown through the way in which he has been animated and the way Billy Joel sings the song.
Another way of using animation in a music video is through partial-animation. This is when a music video is animated but also has elements of non-animation throughout. An example of this is Fall Out Boy's 'America's Suitehearts'. As you can see the animators have also made cartoons of the artists themselves to give the added effect of a fantasy world.

Fall Out Boy use the style of animation to express their view of 'selling-out' in the music industry. People used in their music video are first real life, then animated, then they flash between the two until they become a real-life version of their animation.

IN CONCERT/LIVE FOOTAGE
In concert/live footage is fairly straight forward. Instead of filming a music video to show a narrative of the protagonist, it is just clips of the artist performing their song.

In this case, The Beatles' song Love Me Do shows their performance and also the fanatical attitudes of the fans watching them. Other reasons for filming a music video using live footage is to show the excitement of the fans and the atmosphere possibly resulting in the audience wanting to go see them live.

NARRATIVE
A narrative music video shows a story that coincides with the song. Taylor Swift is a very good example of this as when the audience hears her songs, they also see her songs. By this I mean that what is said in the lyrics at a specific moment is shown in the music video .
In 'Love Story', Taylor Swift sings of a love dilemma and compares it Shakepeare's Romeo and Juliet through her lyrics. Similarly, in the music video, it is very similar to the play itself with the costumes and the setting. 

GENRE SPECIFIC
Genre specific music videos are music videos that, if watched without the music accompanying it, the audience would still be able to tell what type of genre the song is. An example of this is Slipknot. Most of Slipknot's videos are all very similar to each other and other metal/rock bands. This not only makes it easy to distinguish what a Slipknot music video looks like, but also what a metal/rock music video consists of. 
Their music videos generally consist of:

• Pale-ish colours (mostly black and a sickly-green colour)
• Dark/eerie/abandoned locations
• Fire
• Themselves
• Head-banging
• Distorted effects

Similarly, Rammstein's song 'Sonne' uses similar elements thus showing that they are both from the same genre.