Almost always, there is some sort of narrative in a music video. A video that has a story line can seem more appealing to an audience if it is executed well. Normally the narrative will follow the lyrics of the song – but sometimes there may not be a clear narrative which can be confusing for the viewer. Although I enjoy these types of videos, I doubt other people would go ahead and look into it as I normally do. Here’s a few music videos that I found on YouTube that I thought were interesting to watch. Hopefully I can gather some inspiration from these videos and develop a video concept soon.
This song follows the story of two people falling out and the story is shown in reverse.
Because the video is shown in reverse, the story doesn’t get clear until the end of the video. Initially the viewer is wondering why this man has attacked this woman – are they a couple? What is their relationship? Near the end of the video it is revealed that the woman who the man attacked at the beginning is actually an intruder, she tied up his wife and hid her in a closet. He simply tried to defend himself, the opposite of what we initially thought, and in the end he accidentally kills this intruder.
As someone who watches music videos quite regularly, I’m surprised to realise I haven’t seen a video like this one before. The video appeals to me because it is played in reverse and changes the viewers original opinion of the victim at the beginning of the video. Experimenting with reverse in my video could be an option, I will just have to learn how to use it well.
However, there are some music videos that don’t follow the lyrical narrative and has its own story. For example, Take me to Church by Hozier is a song about someone who is mesmerised by their girlfriend, but is very critical of her religion/church. The video has a different interpretation.
This music video details the extremes that some homophobic people will go through to hurt gay couples. The video shows a couple who are hunted and one of them is tortures simply for being gay. The video makes me feel sad because these things actually happen across the world and I personally feel as though not enough is being done to stop hate crime. The video is completely shot in black and white which I think gives it a more raw feel to it.
Not every music video has to follow the narrative of the lyrics, they can either interpret the lyrics a certain way or have their own concept. Personally I think that music videos that follow the lyrical concept bring the actual song itself, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the latter.
I am planning on making a video that follows the story of the poem because its just a personal choice of mine. Hopefully I can find a poem that has enough detail for me to make a video for.
FINAL MAJOR PROJECT 2019 