Textual Analysis of MVs

-

 1. PERFORMANCE VIDEOS:

Themes: Portrays the artist/band's charisma, and connection to the music. 

Visual Elements: Involves close-ups of the artist singing and wide-angle shots of the band, further highlighting the setup and lighting.

Textual Focus: Focuses on how the artist/ band's stage presence, along with the audience's response, sets the tone and mood of the song.

2. NARRATIVE VIDEOS:

Themes: Since it depicts a story, themes often involve love, heartbreak, struggles, history, etc. based on the message of the song

Visual Elements: Involves a cinematic approach of the character's interactions and development, along with the setting, to showcase the song's mood and enhance the lyrics.

Textual Focus: Stylized in terms of plot, character development, and emotional resolution.

3. LYRIC VIDEOS

Themes: Direct focus on the song's message, creating a sense of relatability with oneself, and the artist.

Visual Elements: Involves interactive background, text font, and transitions (depending on the tone of the song)

Textual Focus: The words, and the way they are displayed, complement the mood of the song and connection with the audience.

4. PASTICHE/HOMAGE VIDEOS:

Themes: Linked to nostalgia, admiration, related to the original/ previous piece of media

Visual Elements: Uses elements inspired from original media (in this case, other music videos)

Textual Focus: The purpose is to recognise, or pay tribute to other works, often being inspired from their aesthetic. 

5. ANIMATED VIDEOS:

Themes: Fantasy, escapism, exploration

Visual Elements: Can be 2D, 3D or CGI, depending on the aesthetic of MV.

Textual Focus: Allows for experimentation and endless creativity by exaggerating the characters, and concept of the video. 

6. CONCEPTUAL VIDEOS:

Themes: Usually open for interpretation, abstract ideas, artistic expression, symbolism

Visual Elements: Bold use of colors and imagery, used to represent deeper themes such as love, tragedy, freedom etc.

Textual Focus: Since its open to interpretation, this technique allows viewers to derive their own meaning based on different experiences. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Script/Screenplay for MVs

-
The script or screenplay is the written plan that guides the production of a music video. It outlines every aspect of the video from visual to narrative elements such as settings, camera movements, audio, narration, actor directions, scenes, etc. The rest of this blog will talk about the key components of a script/ screenplay. 1. Basic structure: - First and foremost, it's vital to determine the concept or theme of the script, so that the idea aligns with the actual video. This can be done through listening to the song to determine a suitable theme, which will serve as the basis for the rest of the script.  - Visual description: The visual aesthetics of the script details the overall look and feel that aligns with the song's mood and message. This involves writing detailed notes on the costumes, makeup, setting, and vibe of the MV. - Transitions and camera movements: This aspect describes how the scenes and shots will transition (fade in/out, cutaway) and how the camera will mo...
Read more

History and Evolution of MVs

-
Image
  ☆ The Early Era: Short music films, featuring dance sequences were created around the 1920s and 1930s. About a decade later, these were termed as  “soundies” , and were shown in jukeboxes called Panorams(16mm rear projection machines). As seen in the soundie above, it's a musical film displaying a performance. ☆ The Rise of Promotional Films (1960s-1970s): During this era, bands started making short films of their songs. ‘The Beatles’, for example, has set an example of promotional clips through “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964), which uses a cinematographic style, similar to how music videos are nowadays. ☆ The 1980s: The 1980s was a transformative decade for music videos. Here they became a vital part of the music industry. MTV, a cable television network that began as a 24-hour platform for music videos, launched just after midnight, on 1st August, 1981. The first song broadcasted was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. Since this time, MTV has revolutionized the musi...
Read more