Concept – Sigur Rós ‘Valtari’

Sigur Rós are a post-rock, alternative band from Reykjavík, Iceland. The video to their song ‘Valtari’ was written and directed by Christian Larson, and features two dancers coming together to move in interesting ways.

The start of the video builds the bleak harsh environment, with a blue/green look, the video has a washed out broken theme to it. With shots of dead plants a industrial estate and a set of an old abandoned building the cinematographer success creates that harsh bleak environment.

The man within the building, performs kind of contemporary dance, the technique of dance which allows him to to unpredictably change his rhythm, speed and direction which is done to the rhythm of the music. During the video the woman joins the contemporary dance style and continues to get closer to him, as finally they dance together in the final act of the music video. When the woman starts dancing the music changes to a lighter tone with sounds that sounds similar to bell chimes. As the couple dance together the lyrics begin and the volume  and base of the music boost, as the music gets rhythmically faster and harsher, so does the dancing from couple, and the editing is done effectively to show the characters in various positions around each other.

This video is a concept style music video, this is clear as there is not a clear narrative neither is the band performing, there are simply just two characters dancing with each other, but the way the video directed and the cinematography of the music video clearly shows that there are ideas and hidden messages towards the visuals and the song. The unique choreography of flexibility and rhythm is an interesting contrast to the harsh bleak environment.

I believe that the video is about two induvials that view the world in a unquie and different way, and they have finally found someone that feels the say way, and they want to embrace this fact. At the beginning of the video, the man is dancing on his own and dances like he can feel the rhythm been produced by the environment like the bleak and pure building around him is shouting out, and he is the only one that can hear. The woman wonders into the environment sort of like his movements and dance are calling out to her and that there is an attraction pulling them together, and allowing them to dance and communicate their thoughts and feelings about the world around them in a very intermit and rhythmic way.

Styles – Concept

A concept based music video, are usually based around one idea and message. They are sometimes unusual and unique to other conventional music videos. With the increase of technology used in music video, concept video are becoming more common, this is proven in music videos such as “Her Morning Elegance’ by Oren Lavieand ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ by Gotye, that use many different techniques such as stop frame animation to portray a idea and message in an interesting way.

Performance- will.i.am ‘Bang Bang’

In 2013 will.i.am realsed the track ‘Bang Bang,’ the single features on the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gastsby.’

This music video is an good example of a performance style video. It features will.i.am and a band performing on a stage. The performance and the whole music video has a has a jazz theme, which links with the soundtrack from the 2013 film ‘The Great Gastsby,’ which follows the life of the millionaire Jay Gatsby and his neighbour Nick Carraway. The film is set in the 1920’s at largely centres around Gatsby’s excessive partying lifestyle. Will.i.am created ‘Bang Bang’ for the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s film, therefore the song itself has a 1920’s jazz theme and the music video duplicates this. Featuring the artist performing in 1920’s themed clothing with white gloves and a top hat, singing into an vintage microphone in a set filled with chandeliers and spotlights. The band behind the artist is dressed in a similar way, playing interments such as trumpets and saxophones which helped give the music video the jazz theme. Will.i.am is later joined by Spalione who performs the chorus of the song, throughout the video the two singers and the band perform a choreographed routine, which starts with over exaggerated instrument playing, tap dancing , and  an choreographed assemble dance routine.This video has a straight on camera angle, which features all the attention on the artist in the centre on the screen. Directly behind will.i.am centred i the middle of the camera is a drum set, containing the #willpower insignia, which is the symbol that has paid a large part of the artists latest album promotion.

Styles – Performance

Performance music videos focuses on the artists performing the song, this can be a performance in front of an audience or just on their own. This style of music video is very popular with rock artists.

The camera angles are usually repeated angles showcases the artists on the stage, crosscutting between the audience singing and dancing along and different members of the band. Performance style music videos also give the audience an idea of what to expect at the artists own concerts, and can help to advertise and boost ticket sales with the artist go on tour.

Narrative- Beyonce ‘If I Was A Boy’

In 2008 Beyonce released her video for the song ‘If I was a Boy.’ The video tells a narrative of a relationship between a man and a woman, and shows different emotions that the couple are feeling about each  other. The video was directed by Jake Nava, and stars Beyonce as the main character. The short film is fully shoot in black and white and has a unique role reverse theme, similar to the 1976 film Freaky Friday.

This video is a good example of a narrative music video, and portrays the message of honestly and jealously within a relationship. The video opens with the artist saying the three themes of the narrative ‘intimacy’, ‘honesty’, and ‘commitment’ the video follows Beyonce’s characters as her boy friend becomes jealous and believes that she spends to much time with her co- workers, although as they co- front each other, the video shifts and shows that the feelings are actually the other way round and Beyonce is the one who is jealous. Having this role reverse technique makes the video very unique and stand out from other narrative videos. It also plays on the relationship stereotype, as some people may believe that it’s more usual for a woman to become jealous and a man to see other woman, and after the role reverse, we find out that the relationship is completely the other way round then we first thought. This stereotype links with Beyonce’s political views of society, being a large follower in feminism, her music and video all show a message linking with equality to women, and with the role reverse she tries to prove that a relationship is an equal bond and what we see in the media and texts only shows one side to every argument, and real relationships has two equal sides and two point of views. The narrative fits in with the nature of the lyrics, even more so with the role reverse is revealed, as the lyrics are about a jealous woman stating about what she would differently if she was a boy, as she would get some revenge, from the way she was treated. Beyonce stars in all of her music video including this one. Having the artist in the video will help advertise the video and the record, helping the video to become more successful. The music video also has a performing aspect, as it cross cuts between the narrative to the Beyonce singing to the camera, this adds to the emotion of the video, as the from the facial expressions and the way she sings, we can clearly see the pure emotion within her, similar to Sinead O’Connor’s video ‘Nothing Compares 2 You,’ where the artist performs down the camera and purely shows all her emotion in her face and the way she projects her voice. Emotions is a large aspect to this video, which is shown in the narrative, the way Beyonce sings, but also in the technique aspect of the video. By having the whole video black and white suggests that the relationship is on and off, and clearly tells the audience straight away that the video and the song isn’t an all happy dancing pop songs, instead it’s a soul narrative about people struggling to stay together and the black and white colour really helps to add the atmosphere and emotions.

Styles – Narrative

The styles of music videos will differ dependant on the genre of the music and the artists individual style.

A narrative video is a very common style used in modern music videos. The video follows a storyline, connecting to the lyrics of the music. A narrative video can make the song more powerful, showcasing the points and emotions through characters, it helps the audience understand the origins and meaning of the artists music. The music video can either follow a liner storyline, starting at the beginning, going through the middle and finishing at the end. Or the video can have more of a fragmented non-linear aspect to the story,  where the storyline takes place at different times in the video. Or a more common use of non-linear music video are ones that shows a reverse narrative, and has the end at the beginning and the beginning at the end. Often in narrative music videos the band or artist will feature in the story, even tough them don’t perform, placing their face to the video, will help advertise the video and can help  the record become more successful.

Narrative style music video follow codes and conventions. ‘Propp’s character roles,’ claims that characters in a story could be fitted into eight characters roles. The first role is the ‘The Hero’ who is the main protagonist, that many motivated by the lack of some and usually seeks out something or someone within the story. ‘The Villain’ is the opposite to the the hero with evil plans. ‘The Princess’ is often very attractive and