Narrative vs. Performance Based

Performance-Based Music Videos feature the artist/band/group performing the song through most if not all of the video. It’s probably the easiest to do on a budget provided you can get a suitable location for filming. A good example of this is would be ‘Best Of You' by Foo Fighters. The video for this is mostly performance based with random video footage presumably licensed from elsewhere.



Narrative Music Videos A narrative based music video contains mostly footage that attempts to tell a story through the moving image. Usually involving actors, or sometimes members of the band, the story is sometimes linked to the lyrical content of the song, but this isn’t always the case. This type of music video is also sometimes used if featured in the soundtrack of a movie and you will often see scenes cut into the music video. Examples of this are 'She Will Be Loved' by Maroon 5 and a prime example for a music video made for a movie is Girls Alouds' 'Jump'.


After researching closely into a variety of music videos embodying both narrative and performance based music videos, i have concluded that I prefer narrative music videos. Reason being, they further give the audience an understanding of the lyrics and help fuel the music with passion and life through the visual aswellas the audio. Additionally, it gives the audience to feel more excited for music videos, as when they hear the track they wonder about what the music videos will or could be like. Nevertheless, the majority of music videos are narrative and sometimes a performance based music video is a breath of fresh air and effective simplicity.