Styles of Music Video

Narrative Based

Narrative based music videos follow a storyline. The artist can feature in the "story" but this is not always the case. This form of music video is common in the pop genre and often tells a romantic story for example Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day". Daniel Powter does not feature in the narrative and instead uses actors to perform.



However some artists do create music videos of them involved in the narrative like Plan B in "She Said".

Cinematic

Cinematic music videos have high production values and like a narrative based video feature a storyline. The difference is that cinematic music videos have a "film like" quality to them. An example of this is Green Day's "21 Guns".

Studio Based

Studio based music videos are filmed in studios. Atoms For Peace's "Ingenue" was filmed in a studio.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality music videos refer to other existing texts. For example "Walks Like Rihanna" by The Wanted refers to The Backstreet Boys and Take That.

From 1:42 to 1:56, The Wanted make reference to Take That's "Back For Good with the black and white appearance, the props (car, rain) and the costumes (hat, over-sized coats).




They also refer to Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way".

The theatrical puppet part is referring to N Sync's "Bye Bye Bye".

Parody

Parody music videos mock another text. For example, Hot Chip's "I Feel Better" mocks the typical boy band and the conventional "fan-girls" who scream and cry as they perform dance routines while singing on stage.

Pastiche

Pastiches are based on/contain features from another genre/time frame. Unlike parodies, pastiches do not mock these texts. Coldplay's "Magic" uses influence from early 20th century silent films. 

“As Live”

“As Live” music videos contain concert footage to give the sense that the entire music video is filmed live. An example of this is Muse's "Follow Me" which uses of them actually walking onto stage and performing the song.

Animation/Stop Motion

Animated music videos either use digital or stop motion animation instead of "real life" footage. Peter Gabriel's entire music video for Sledgehammer uses stop motion animation with photographs, plasticine models and digital animation. This method is time consuming however allows the artist to create effects that may not have been possible, particularly if they are on a tight budget.