Music Types and Music Videos

In the music industry, many types of music have been created and labelled as a ‘style of music’. The different music types create various feelings and emotions for different people and conjure up different images, colours and themes. 
These images can be recognised in the music videos that accompany the music:


Rock Music Videos 
Rock music videos usually follow a dark colour scheme throughout and use simple settings. The majority of videos are ‘performance’ based videos, meaning that a lot of shots include the members of the band with their instruments performing. There is a lot of emotion in the videos through the characters and musicians facial expressions, and normally they do not portray happiness in the music videos as they relate the lyrics and meaning of the song to the story line and feelings. 


Pop Music Videos 
Bright colours, flashing lights and creative settings and backdrops are typical features of pop videos. The colours would appeal to mainly younger audiences as many pop artists are young and express themselves through the lyrics of pop music, as well as their costumes that make the musicians look innocent and relatable. Many close up shots are used in videos to effectively show the innocence and fun of the artist. Pop videos usually follow a narrative – tell a story and often include up beat dance routines.


Indie Music Videos 
Common elements included in indie music videos consist heavily of shots of the band and their instruments (very similar to rock music videos). Indie videos often use a narrative throughout and show calm setting (i.e. a field, a room with just instruments in, a quiet street) and some sort of ‘journey’ is usually incorporated. Dark, moody colours and themes are popular in indie videos.

Dance Music Videos 
Bright colours, evocative costume and wealth is heavily shown in Dance/ Hip-hop music videos. The male gaze theory is focused on due to the way women are represented. Women are frequently dressed in clothing which reveals a lot of flesh and have glamorous hair dos and make up. Dance routines set in clubs consist a lot in ‘dance’ videos, this again re visits the male gaze theory. 


R‘n’B Music Videos 
R‘n’B music videos are very often narrative based. They frequently follow a ‘romantic’ or ‘love’ theme and a lot of shots are used of the artist and the actors involved in the video. Similar to dance videos, there are a lot of dance routines featured within R‘n’B videos and women are often dressed in fairly revealing clothes. Money is portrayed very positively as jewellery, cars and designer materials are heavily focused on. Wealth is also reflected in the settings used in videos
including; parties, clubs, mansions etc.