The Three Types of Music Video

A music video can be categorised into three sections: a narrative, concept based and a performance based.

A narrative video mainly contains different types of footage and images in an attempt to tell the audience a story. Actors are frequently used to help engage the audience and emphasise its purpose. The lyrics of the song is generally how the audience understands the story and its narrative. Enrique Iglesias's 'Hero' is a prime example as it tells us a story of a man who fell in love with a lady who is part of a unruly organisation.



A concept based music video is usually based on a single idea. The video usually uses unusual filming/editing techniques that want to entertain the audience. An example of this is The Red Hot Chilli Pepper's  'Can't Stop' which centres around the idea of objects, trash etc.



A performance based music video tends to have the artist perform the entire song throughout the video. An example of this is in Def Leppard's 1983 'Photograph'. He has his whole band up on stage in the spotlight which entertains the audience giving it an upbeat rhythm whilst showing off their musical talents.



However there are many music videos that combine these elements. For example in Razorlight's 'Golden Touch'. It features a narrative/concept as well as the band performing the song instead of having actors.