I want my MTV! Music Videos are….Awesome. At first music was only played live, then humans found ways to record it, play it on the radio, then came MTV and…the music video! Making music videos is an art form. Usually a song tells some sort of story and so do music videos. Most music videos have some sort of musical performance by the band, but that is rarely all that they contain. There are two main types of music videos.
Narrative Based Video
A narrative based music video tells a story. Actors or members of the band perform a story that sometimes is connected to the lyrics of the song, but that isn’t always the case.
Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel is a narrative type music video. In 1987, this video won 9 MTV Video Music Awards. Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit) and the Brothers Quay provided claymation, pixilation, and stop motion animation that gave life to images in the song. Gabriel lay under a sheet of glass for 16 hours while filming the video one frame at a time.
Concept Based Video
This is a style of music video that is based around a single concept or idea which has no relation to the music or lyrics or the song.
Don’t Come Around Here No More, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is a concept based music video. The music video is themed around Alice in Wonderland and directed by Jeff Stein. Despite causing criticism from feminist groups, the video won an MTV Video Music Award.
Here are an assortment of acclaimed music videos. As we watch each one, please write whether you think it is a narrative or concept based video, and then a brief sentence as to what story it is telling.
Everything is Everything – Lauren Hill
Money For Nothing – Dire Straits