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Rock Around the Clock- Bill Haley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw
This music video has both singing and parts away from the band but this can hardly be called a narrative due to the fact that it just seems to be clips of people dancing and does not actually tell a story. The editing is very tacky with flips which makes it look like a powerpoint presentation -
These Boots Are Made for Walkin'- Nancy Sinatra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
This song features no narrative, it is just the artist with dancers in the background. This differs to modern day videos where most of the video is narrative, sometimes even wholly narrative (Eg elastic heart) . The takes are mainly long takes, showing the lack of editing of videos and the style of slow paced songs that was popular at the time -
Message in a Bottle- The Police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbXWrmQW-OE
There is very little narrative in this music video- it is just clips of them performing a live show. The rest of the video is of them in what looks like a dressing room playing their music. It is rather light hearted and paints them in a very joking kind of way. The dressing room scenes feature lots of jump cuts whereas the concert scenes feature lots of slow mo editing. -
Down Under- Men at Work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s
This music video is very literal- the words that are sung in the song are accompanied with something visual that represents it. For example, when the singer says "she took me in and gave me breakfast" a character is sat down eating breakfast with a woman. This is repeated throughout the video. There is no crosscutting to the band as a whole playing instruments- it is purely narrative. -
Africa- Toto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY
This video comprises of both narrative and shots of the band. This seem to be used by the masses in this era. The narrative is very vague and does not tell a story particularly, which again seems to be typical of music videos in the 80's. Additionally, the camera movements are not smooth with lots of zooms that look out of place -
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ClCpfeIELw
This music video comprises of both a narrative story (which is difficult to follow) and clips of the band playing. Although the song is clearly about a girl, this woman is not featured in the video which contrasts with modern day music videos where the woman is frequently featured usually through parallel editing or a cutaway. Additionally, in this video, there are a lot of canted angle shots, highlighting the pop punk/rock era of edgy videos. -
Californication- Red Hot Chili Peppers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlUKcNNmywk
This songs is mainly in the form of a video games which is very unusual for any music video to be shot in such a way. Having said this, it reflects the last 90's where the proliferation of technology was beginning. The characters in the game correspond to the members of the band and there are clips of the band playing music outside of the game, which shows that this double up of narrative and music is very popular -
Complicated- Avril Lavigne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NPBIwQyPWE
This music video starts with the initiation of a story "Dude do you wanna crash the mall?". This seems to be more typical of more modern songs and this theme carries on to 2016 with music videos highlighting the importance of the narrative. However, shots of Avril singing are also used. This video uses cuts and smooth camera movement instead of the zooms that we saw in the 20th century. Songs are becoming more and more fast paced with cuts. -
Misery Business- Paramore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyGvGEtOwc
This video is partly narrative (about a mean girl) and also has lots of shots of the band, thus making it a conventional music video when it comes to bands. The band actually becomes part of the narrative at the end of the video when Haley takes out the other girl's implants and makeup. Additionally, there are a lot of short takes in this video and close ups of the main singer which, again, are very typical -
4 Minutes - Madonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHHUhcV2eVY
This video showcases the proliferation of CGI (shown in the geometric 3D looking shapes). This contrasts with older music videos where they tended to be more simple and did not use computer generated imagery. At the most, green screens would be used, so, this video highlights the advancements in digital technology -
Party Rock Anthem- LMFAO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8
With over 1 billion views, it is clear that this is a very popular music video. This is another good example of songs valuing the narrative- 1.30 minutes of this video is purely an introduction to the narrative without the audio of the song. It is in the style of a zombie apocalypse film- showing that music videos are adopting the style of movies. The video is of them dancing which is also quite a modern aspect to videos. Product placement is obvious -
Can't Hold Us - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zNSgSzhBfM
The first 46 seconds of this music video is purely narrative without music that is actually part of this song, highlighting the importance of story telling in the 21st century when it come to successful music videos. This is highlighted by the fact that it has around 430 million views. The star of this video is the main singer Macklemore, who is featured in several different shots. The video is very fast paced which seems to be a common theme -
Am I Wrong- Nico & Vinz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1sT4ILG0w
This video has two different parts to it. Both the men have parts when they are singing and also have parts when they are part of the narrative which is finding each other. On the way, they interact with locals and enjoy the African culture. This song in typical of the era that it was brought out in due to the vibrant colours shown and the fast paced nature of the video which has lots of cuts and different filming locations. -
Elastic Heart- Sia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZGAExj-es
This video does not conform to the usual convention of artists being featured in their own music video. Instead the actor Shia LaBeof and dance star Maddie Ziegler are used. This conveys the message of the narrative more strongly, again showing the importance of the narrative to the video
