Music Video Techniques

There are several different techniques used in music videos, most of which should be included in order to make a good music video.

Relationship between Visuals and Lyrics & Music - This is the first of these techniques and is probably the most important. All three styles of music video tend to use this as it is basically the whole point of a music video, to illustrate the song. The relationship should always be able to seen by the audience at some point in the video, in some cases it may only be a mild link and be quite unnoticeable by the audience but most videos have the link between the two. The video to "In Too Deep" by Sum 41 uses relationship between visuals and lyrics because throughout the video, people are diving into a swimming pool, relating to the title and lyrics "in too deep".



Genre Characteristics - This is another important technique in music video production. Basically music videos must always relate to the genre of music that the song is, purely so it makes sense. A pop music video wouldn't work well with a rock song unless it was like a parody video and that was the point of it. For example a rock video usually shows the band wearing dark clothes, playing infront of a crowd or just dark elements in general because it suits this type of music. In rap music videos it would usually includes things such as cars, girls, parties etc. The video to "Won't Go Quietly" is an example of this, it is an electronic/dance song and the video includes things such as clubs, strobe lights and lots of dancing.



Star Image - Star image is important in music videos, particularly for solo artists. It is a way of representing themselves as unique, something that artist is known for, whilst also being a representation of their music. For example Lady Gaga is known for being slightly "wild" and known for her unusual fashion sense, which we see in every video of hers. An example of this is the video to Pass Out by Tinie Tempah, he is known to be quite "wild" also and is probably of as a fun person. There are many close ups of him throughout the video and there are a lot of shots of him just generally dancing and enjoying himself.



Voyeurism - This is a very important technique in modern music. It relates to when somebody is described as a voyeur which means when they're looking at something that they probably shouldn't be and wanting to be there. The video to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift is shot in quite a voyeuristic way because it shows her ex boyfriend constantly being around her and almost following her when she wants nothing to do with him anymore.



Intertextual Referencing - Not an essential technique but is used in quite a lot of music videos. It basically means the video use context or reference from something such as a film or a tv program. This is used to show some creativity in music videos and can also be used to promote both the song and the film because people will recognize it and link them together. An example of this is the video to Year 3000 by Busted which uses references to Back to the Future such as the car that's been made into a time machine and the slightly crazy professor character.