The Eight Categories of Music Videos

Music videos fall into eight seperate catergories. Though, these catergories are not offical they help to represent the different possible styles that a video director can use.
They are;

* Performance
* Concept
* Story
* Gag
* Dance
* Animation
* Party or Club
* Film Clip

The eight caterfories often overlap in music videos, resulting in most videos featuring various aspects from each catergory.
For example;
Michael Jackson- Thriller
Directed by John Landis

Party or Club Video

A party or club video features scenes that take place in a dance club or a party situation, such as a house party.
For example;
50 Cent- In Da Club
Directed by Phillip G. Atwell

Animated Video

An animated video features animated images, in which the artist/s may or may not be depicted.
For example;
Paranoid Android- Radiohead
Directed by Magnus Carlsson

Dance Video

A dance video features choreographed dancing either with or without the artist/s.
For example;
Gwen Stefani-Hollaback girl
Directed by Paul Hunter
 

Gag Video

A gag video relies on visual trick, usually humorous. The tricks can be shot live, using props or special prosthetics to visual alter the artist or lead actor in the videos. More commonly the visual tricks can be postproduction effects, such as giving the artist or lead actor an unrealistically long tongue or setting the video in a location impossible to real life, such as under the sea.
For Example;
Soundgarden-Black Hole Sun
Directed by  Howard Greenhalgh

Story Video

A story video features a narrative, intercut with footage of the artist or band performing. The artist may or may not be involved in the storyline.
For example;
Cyndi Lauper-Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Directed by Edd Griles

Concept Video

The artist or band usually neither perform or even appear in concept videos. These videos portray only stories or images, never performances.
For example;
The Beastie Boys- Sabotage
Directed by Spike Jonze

Performance

Performance videos feature the artist or band performing, often taking place at different locations with different outfit changes in each shot.
For example;
Kamikazee - Tagpuan
Directed by Tower of Doom

Film-Clip Video

A film-clip video is when a song is featured in a movie soundtrack. The video will contain clips from the film that are intercut with the music video, promoting both artist and film.
For example;
Aerosmith- I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
Directed by  Francis Lawrence

'Take Me Out'- music video mind-map

Tom Milsom is an independent youtube-based artist who explores many genres of music through his work. We looked at his portfolio as a possibility for our music video. I looked at his song, Take Me Out a recent single for his upcoming album Organs, an indie-pop style song with an heavily produced electronic feel, reminiscent of bands like Sigur Ross and electronic. It also had a psychedelic element that reminded me of sixties psychedelia bands such as The Chocolate Watch Band and The Lovin' Spoonful.

 It has a repetitive melody throughout with a produced continuous drum beat and a simplistic guitar lead allowing his voice to be the focus throughout his piece, similar to many contemporary pop songs. Milsom has produced a self-made music video using short, found clips from unknown sources, such as; teenagers in summer, close ups of the moon, transitioning between shots of a child and parent running together.

He uses effects such as split screening and fade outs to transition between his shots. He has exaggerated the psychedelic element of his piece by using kaleidoscope mirror effect cutaways. I thought it was important to take into consideration his original music video if we were to use the song in the future, as it was his artistic vision. I liked the abstract side of the piece it's uses fast-paced editing, but not the more performance side- shots of Tom.

Analysis of Gin and Juice Lyrics

Hip Hop/RnB Definition

Hip Hop is a music genre consisting of many sub genres including freestyle rap and grime. It usually consists of stylized dance rhythm accompanied by rap- a sort of spoken word beat. Hip Hop is a generalised term for many different styles but it is usually defined by four key stylistic elements  rapping, break dancing, scratching (Djing) and graffiti writing. More recent Hip Hop is likely to also include sampling and beatboxing as well.

Rhythm and Blues often abbreviated to RnB originated in the 1940s by recording companies marketing to the  black urban youth Initially used for a form of jazz with a heavier more urban beat it has however been used to describe blues and has greatly influenced rock musicians such as the Rolling Stones and Jimmy Page. By the 1970s Rhythm an Blues became a blanket term for soul and funk. Contemporary RnB is a new development including artists such as Mariah Carey and Drake using a much more polished record production with drum machine backed rhythm and a higher use of electronics. 

Night Of The Living Baseheads (1988)

Night Of The Living Baseheads is the third single released by Public Enemy from their infamous secound album It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.
The video was released during the 1980s crack epidemic and the perception of African Americans at the time. The video begins with a still of the band standing around a gravestone with the epitah- 'R.I.P. Baseheads'. Baseheads being slang for a user of crack cocaine the video imediately puts across their realistic view that crack abusers will most likely reach a moribid end. This is exagerated by the use of black and white, a voiceover of Malcom X talking at the initiation of the Afro-American Unity, the camera zooms out revealing the whole of the band before cutting to clips from theAudubon Ballroom where Malcom X talked and was later assasinated. It continues cutting back and forth for the first fifteen secounds of the video, the still is replaced by a video of the same shot almost unnoticabley. The opening of the music video is in my opinion the most important part, it immediately introduces the subject of Baseheads but at the same time the band make the political and culturual decision to show it through their african-american viewpoint by what could be potentially shocking footage, the change that was happening at that time, the injustice and racism that they were pressed with and makes a link between that and the unfair blame the african-america community were getting at the time for the crack epidemic.

Analysis of Lyrics of Night of the Living Baseheads- Public Enemy

rapgenius.com
I found this website that gives great context on the lyrics in the song, explains drug refrences, links between other Public Enemy and much more information including that the line-

''Succotash is a means for kids to make cash
Selling drugs to the brother man instead of the other man'' -
uses the break from David Bowie's Fame, the album of which was produced with many great soul and jazz musicans.

Hip Hop/RnB

Heres a presentation I made to show my class on the genres Hip Hop/RnB. I choose three music videos and made a short presentation on each of them.

Media Powerpoint Rap Hip Hop by evedibb

Introduction

My name is Katie Dibb, I am an A2 Media Student and this is my blog. This year i will be analysing music videos and the music video industry- how they promote their artists and what makes an artist fit into certain genres. On this blog I will publish throughout the year my journey towards making a promo pack, including my group made music video.