Music Videos

Bringing Songs to the Screen

Music videos have become a beloved aspect of a song's identity, with them being an additional layer of creativity to the meaning of the music. While, the lyrics and melody communicate emotions well by itself, a music video brings a visual and interpretive view of the song's story. The visual element can bring the story to life through the video's use of cinematography, lighting, acting, and editing. These techniques can also enhance deep themes and open up more interpretations of the music's meaning. Moreover, music videos are a more modern development in the music industry. Old enough songs may not have a proper music video, and they'll instead just have a recording of a live performance of the song being played. Modern music videos, in contrast, have become their own aspect of individual songs, with there being whole productions and promotional elements for just one video.

There are also several different styles of music videos. Narrative videos are a style in which what is occurring in the video aligns with the lyrics of the song. These often have actors or the singer themselves play characters in the plot of a story. For example, a love song may include a video with two characters falling in love on screen. The story could take the characters through their journey of romance and difficulties they face along the way. Another type of music video is a lyric video, where the video displays the lyrics of the song in an artistic and creative way. These are a simple type of music video, but it's important for them to be able to express emotions through different editing techniques. There's also performance videos, which involve a recording of the band actually performing the song with their instruments. These may also involve dancing and lip-syncing along with the music, and live performances are often used too. Lastly, concept music videos are another beautiful version of these videos. These are an abstract or symbolic style of what is being expressed in the song's lyrics, with the music artist's goal to display their vision. Performances and narratives can be used within these music videos, but the action occurring on screen doesn't align with the lyrics.



Narrative
Lyric
Performance
Concept