There have been many changes to the music video over the years. The three types of music video are performance based (where the main focus of the video is the artist singing), narrative (fragmented, never complete) and concept based (mainly focuses on society's issues, such as drugs, alcohol and sex). The main purposes of music videos are to promote the artist, increase sales, entertainment and to create a relationship between the artist and the consumer.
Conceptual based music videos range from Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles to Where is the Love? by Black Eyed Peas. Video Killed the Radio Star is a performance and concept based video, and is critical of the up and coming music video industry and how society believed it would kill the radio industry. Many of the shots are closeups of the performers and it included animated overlays. Where is the Love? is a performance, conceptual and narrative video. It focuses on racism, gang crime, pollution, war, religion and beliefs. One of the shots shows the Statue of Liberty, which is a symbol of freedom for America; yet despite this, America is one of the worst places for racism and racist attacks. The song is still relevant today, demonstrated by the lines "But if you only have love for your own race / Then you only leave space to discriminate" and "Nations droppin' bombs / Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones / With the ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young / So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone". The difference between these two videos is mainly the style. They both may be conceptual, but Video Killed the Radio Star uses a lot of animation, whereas Where is The Love? uses a lot of wide shots and closeups of the artists.
Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles
Where Is The Love? - Black Eyed Peas
An example of a narrative music video is Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy. It uses a lot of short, quick shots, both a mix of medium shots and wide shots. The storyline is mainly based around the kidnapping and drugging of four men, who are served red wine, blood and food by a group of women. The drugs ensure that the men hallucinate that the entire affair is a party, when in reality, they are being tortured. Like most narratives, the story is left unfinished, however, the music video is third in a series of eleven, so the viewer has a chance to see what happens next. The video isn't just a narrative, as it also includes one of the men singing, however, the majority is a narrative. The song juxtaposes to the darkness of the video, as the lyrics and music are relatively upbeat. Another narrative/performance music video is Material Girl by Madonna. The song details a woman who is extremely materialistic and is followed around by many men who shower her in gifts. A lot of the performance is a voyeuristic Madonna surrounded by a group of men that are giving her gifts, however, the narrative follows her falling for the guy who has nothing, showing that she isn't all materialistic. It uses a lot of sharp cuts between narrative and performance, effectively showing the story. This music video was a forerunner in changing the style of videos. These videos are extremely different, more so than Where is the Love? and Video Killed the Radio Star, since one is dark in nature and one is upbeat and bright.
Young Volcanoes - Fall Out Boy
Rockin All Over The World by Status Quo is a performance style music video. It uses closeups and medium closeups of the band performing the song on stage, which is typical of an early music video. Another performance music video is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It uses closeups of the four members before zooming out to show the members on stage. A lot of the following shot types are closeups of Freddie Mercury's face, as well as medium closeups of the other members. Performance based music videos haven't changed much over the years, except for the addition of conceptual and narrative scenes.
Rocking All Over The World - Status Quo
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Music videos started off as performance, before Video Killed the Radio Star (which is considered to be the first music video that wasn't fully performance) introduced concepts. From there on, with the introduction of narrative, music videos have become something that everyone is used to, a vast contrast to the days when people thought they would kill the radio industry. A lot more money also goes into creating a music video these days, before, the majority were under $500,000, with the exception of Scream by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson (it cost between $7,000,000 and $11,7454,141).
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