Theorist Joan Lynch

Joan Lynch (1984) theorised that all the basic structure for music videos include at least one element of: performance, narrative, and concept. Sometimes videos include multiples of these, and often certain artists identify with a certain aspect of this theory.

Performance:

Performance structured videos are very common in mainstream media, creating a focus on the band/artist performing the song through lip-syncing, dancing, and/or playing instruments. In our transition video, we focused upon lip-syncing to practise aligning the music with the visuals, with the occasional dance motif thrown in. In Sinéad O'Connor's iconic video Nothing Compares 2U, features a close up shot of just her face for almost the entire duration of the video. The high contrast between her pale skin and empty black background create a clear foundation for the emotion which she portrays through the lip-syncing of this song. The direct eye contact engages and connects the viewer, adding a further intensity to the performance.

Sia is well known for not showing her face in many performances and music videos in order to leave the song unaffected by the artist, forcing the viewer to focus solely upon the track. The video for Chandelier by Sia solely features dancing, an element of performance videos. The lyrics suggest the story of a "party girl" as she falls into the despair of not being valued, partying so hard that she will "swing from the chandelier". The quite manic but very well executed dance mimics the deterioration within the lyrics, demonstrating how dance can be a very successful medium within performance videos.

The aforementioned cross-overs between each of the three narrative structures is evident in the video above by The Bluebells for Young At Heart. Encapsulating performance and narrative elements, this video has personal significance - my mum is in it from 0:55 to 0:57! Filmed on a low budget, apparently the group drove around in the van shown with the track blaring out, shouting "do something funny." Whilst performance is the focus in this video, the parallel editing between the band performing in the van and the café, which shows the otherwise grumpy chef becoming instantly happier whenever the song comes on the radio, with a zoom focusing on the radio at 0:42 cutting to the chef dancing. The enthusiasm continues throughout the video, with the café becoming Bluebells themed, ending with a humorous dance sequence between the chef and an elderly lady, matching that to the song's title of Young At Heart; hearing the song has evidently made them exactly that.

Narrative:

A narrative video can be defined as a video which tells a story, often through the direct or close relation between the lyrics and the visuals. In the video above for David Guetta and Sia's track Titanium, the 4 minute long clip follows the story of a young boy running away from the police after he caused a 'supernatural occurrence at local school', directly shown through a newsflash on a TV. As the audience, we are positioned to see the events as they unfold, piecing together various visual clues to understand the narrative. In the beginning, the mise en scène presents a chaotic scene with rubble and various notes across a floor. Through iconography of a corridor lined with lockers and the boys age, the viewer assumes that he is in a school, which is later confirmed through the TV shot above. As we follow the boy back to his house where he is hurriedly packing, his 'supernatural powers' are revealed, using his mind to take some keys off a table from across the room. An ellipsis marks the transition from day to night, with the boy being chased - presumably by the police - through some woods. The boy is eventually captured, erupting with a flash of light which causes those surrounding him to be thrown, before the clip fades to black. Leaving somewhat of a cliffhanger, this video evidences how solely a narrative can be portrayed through a video, with visual clues and iconography fundamental to the perceived viewing of the video.

In Naughty Boy's video La La La featuring Sam Smith, references to local lore and popular culture encapsulate the narrative to the video, personally leaving me curious as to the backstory to this narrative. Revolving around Bolivian legend from the 19th century, a deaf boy (the protagonist) flees his abusive home and finds a stray dog. Living on the streets, he finds that he can heal people's struggles by screaming. By screaming he saves a man who is being stoned, reviving his heart in the process. He then discovers a disfigured man who was cursed by the demon El Tio, who is considered lord of the underworld in Bolivia. Anyone who can hear the demon will fall under his control, but as the boy is deaf he cannot fall victim to the curse, so they go on a quest to find El Tio so that the boy can save others from falling victim to the curse. The boys screaming overpowers the demon, which is shown throughout this video by the boy sticking his fingers in his ears and lip-syncing to the songs namesake 'La La La'. References have also been made to The Wizard of Oz, with the tin man, scarecrow, and lion identifiable characters here. I personally find this video very successful in the portrayal of the narrative, with mythology adding another considered layer to the clip.


Conceptual:

Often conceptual videos are a secondary category to either performance or narrative, with the concept acting as a foundation for which the video to be remembered. However, in the video above by The Replacements, the concept is the clear focus, with the video lacking any elements of performance or narrative. Featuring a continuous shot of a speaker, the shot is gradually zoomed out until 1:06, revealing a greater section of the room. A record player and records are stacked, but otherwise everything is still except for the pulsating speaker. At 1:41 a man walks into the frame, with only the lower half of him visible. He then precedes to sit down, presumably on a couch which the camera appears to be resting on. Then, until 3:21, the viewer is positioned to see only a hand or a foot, as the man shuffles around on the sofa. The audience is positioned to feel as if we are witnessing a fairly intimate aspect of this persons life, with the partial reveal of the person suggesting we are intruding or otherwise spying on the man. This routine of shuffling about on the couch is interrupted with the end of the song at 3:21, with the man getting up, kicking the speaker out of frame, before walking out of the door. This could be a social statement in that they are rejecting mainstream conventions of the music industry, by destroying the one thing that the audience was positioned to focus upon from the start of the video. The brash removal of conventions is further reiterated through the unique conceptual nature of this video, and definitely leaves the clip open to interpretation.

As mentioned above, often videos will integrate concept with elements of performance and/or narrative. Muse's video for Supermassive Black Hole above, can be defined as having both a performance and conceptual structure. The quite abstract idea of various people in morphsuits adorned with an array of prints from owls to abstracted natural textures, each character appears completely unrelated to that of the song lyrics. Furthermore, hooded, faceless characters playing various instruments are interlaced with performance clips of the band lip-syncing to the track. As with many conceptual videos, the various symbolisms and imagery within the clip are open to interpretation, however on a surface level, the bizarre visuals bare little resemblance to the lyrics, forming a conceptual element to this video.