Research & Planning: Features of a Music Video

Narrative
From our research, we have found that most music videos do not have a narrative. This is probably due to the fact that the songs themselves lack a narrative, and instead focus on a 'theme'. If the music video has a narrative, it is more often than not consistent with the theme of the song, as is usually particularly vague.

Here is a music video with a clear narrative. Data -Don't Sing

However the song itself has little to no narrative structure, and it is difficult to figure out a centralised theme between the lyrics and the music video. However the synergy between the visuals and the music is still effective.

Setting
We have found that music videos follow no particular trend when it comes to setting & location. For bands, however, there are many instances of an empty room with the band playing. Setting is less important in a music video than other media, because it usually is light on narrative. This lends more freedom to the creative process because there is no need to match everything, setting, sound, mis en scene, to the narrative. The most important thing is that the setting matches the theme of the song and the theme we have chosen for the video.

Characters
A "character" has no particular need in a music video to be deep, emotionally interesting, or anything else you'd expect from a character in a film or tv show. It is important however, for the "characters" in a music video to be visually interesting. This could be achieved through a  combination of costume & actions.

Happy Mondays - Step On

This video has neither a meaningful narrative, deep characters, or a varied setting. It literally consists of the band pissing around on a roof, dancing and miming the words of the song. Despite this, it is still a successful  and interesting music video. This goes to show that even the most meaningless mediocre premise can succeed so long as the cinematography is good.