The FIRTH theory (1998)

When looking at music videos in 1998, it is said that they can be split into three main catagories. This theory is made up and fully supported by the theorist David Firth as he quotes;

"Music videos can be catagorised in three different typologies"
 

 These different catagories split the world of music videos into three main catagories which are:

 

>Narrative

 

>Concept

 

>Performance

Narrative

These videos choose to follow a particular narrative asthe audience is taken through a story directed by the song. These typesofvideos usually match the lyrics word for word and is very literal in terms to what you see on the screen. Narrative music videos tend to have actors instead of themselves because they want to get across what is happening in the storyline and let the audience have a deeper undertsanding of the text,and not what the artist looks or sounds like.

The music video of 'Everything Has Changed' by Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran is a perfect example of a purely narrative based video. It tells the story of two young children that very closely resemble a mini-me of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran who are singing the song, and their story of their friendship and perhaps mini lovestory. Narrative videos are mainly meant to bring out the emotion of the audience and make them feel like they are part of the song and something that they can relate to. There are many slow motion shots which is a very key element of making a successul music video for any catagory.

Another purely based narrative music video is 'Waiting All Night' by Rudimental featuring Ella Eyre,which tells the true story with true original footage of a pro BMX'er being involved in a bike accident and the road to recovery and riding agian with one of his legs amputated. Instead of having lots of slow motion shots and pans, this video interpretes the narrative catagory very differently and goes for shots that match the sound of the song and not the emotion. Fpr instance whyen he's in hospital, the shots are quite long showing him suffereing with the accident. And when the track picks up it shows him learning to cope with his injury, learning how to walk agian with his prostetic leg andfinally learning to ride agian. This video is also emotional as it goes through the storyof something that has actually happened and changed someones life drastically.




Concept

A concept based music video is a vidoe which has no structured narrative or storyline. The lyrics don't match what is being shown to the audience on screen at all. Thie type of music video would be centred around the random concept of the song which in a way could be very unique and different. purely concept based music videos can be very hard to find, and if youdo find one, it is often teamed with performance.

This music video of the song 'Here It Goes Agian' by OK Go is the best I could find to purely concept based as it shows four men doing a very practiced dance rountine on some tredmills. Ths shot just consists of one long shot andlooks very low maintenance and not all fancy. the music video is almost humerous as some of the moves they useare very clever and funny.

Another conceot music video would be 'Six Years Later' by Ghostlight. The whole video is of thesefive girls dancing which had relation to what the lyrics are saying, and it clearly does not has a storyline. this is one of my favourite music videos because it shows such simplicity, and shows offthe amazing talent that these dancers have. The music video consists of a range of shots from different angles in the studio changning and almost tracking the dancers, changing the shot where needed in order to show oof their talent even more.





Performance

Perfoamnce based music videos are videos that basically show the artist off entirely.This means thatthe video shows mainly shots of the artist or bandas they perform to the watching audience. this often includes the artist/ band singing out to the audience. It also includes shots of the instruments in the band, and the artist miming the lyrics to make it look like they are singing outto the audience. Performance is always very closely linked to narrative and cinceot, as most music videos usually cross over with the catagories, and performance is the most commonly used one.

 

 

The music video 'Love On Top' by Beyonce is a very typical all performance music video, as she is looking at the camera, shes smiling and singing out to the audience and let's not forget her amazing dance moves. The videoo plays along with thhe sound  well, as each time she goes up higher in the song with the chorus which is called a sequence if we're looking at it musically, it's still the same dancers and set, but theres  different lighting and different costumes which gives the feeling that its changed completely. The simplicity of  the set works well to keep the focus on Beyonces performance which the director and producer do on purpose. The shots are very simple but work effectively with the sound and the music.

 



 

 

Another performance music video also made by Beyonce is 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)'. In this video, The simplicity of everything aboout it  works in Beyonce's favor as all eyes are on her. The contrast between the white backround and her dressed all in black is making Beyonce stand out, and the way theres a light coming from above just shinning on her, lets the audience know that she is the star in this video, and the fact that she is always in the middle of the frame and always in the front, brings more attention  to her. Alos this helps her image as she is one of the most influencial femanists in the world today, so for her to always be in the front wwith two girl dancers beehanind her, just highlights her more and helps her image.