Research: Sven E Carlson

Research on Sven E Carlson

Carlson has theorized that there are two main types of music video, conceptual and Performance.

The performance type video is split further into three categories:

The commercial exhibitionist:  This type of video is where the sole purpose of the video is to sell and advertise the artist. The Artist performs through out most of the video and is presented as successful and talented. This usually has the desired effect of making the audience aspire to be like the artist.

The Televised Bard: This type of video is where the artist is more like the narrator to a story rather than solely being a performer. The artist will narrate imagery that relates to the narrative rather than inner personal thoughts. The artist is shown to be performing in the same setting as the narrative that is taking place but not actually taking part in the narrative themselves. The narrative helps to give meaning to the lyrics.

The Electric Shaman: This is where the artists have no actual visual presence in the video themselves but their soundtrack is played over the top of the narrative visuals. The narrative usually connects to the visuals in some way and helps to provide meaning of the lyrics for the audience.

Conceptual music videos are split further into two categories:

Narrative clip: This type of video is where the video is seen as more of a silent movie and it has no lip-synching or any images of the artist themselves. The narrative is usually very strong and helps to illustrate the lyrics of the song through a story.

Art clip: The artist is not presented in this clip and there is no real narrative to the video. It is more a collection of visuals that relate to single greater theme rather than have a clear connection to the lyrics.

Carlson also believes that binary oppositions drive the music video.

How theory will inform my practice 
I would like my video to be similar to that of an televised bard video as I would like to include some shots of my band performing as well as shots of the main character of my video swimming and running in order to create some sort of narrative. However it will also follow some of the conventions of an art clip such as having the visuals connect to a greater theme rather than have a very solid narrative. As well as this I will be using binary oppositions in my video to help drive the narrative for example I will using footage of the main subject of my video running which shows her as a strong character however I am also showing the same girl drowning (symbolising her drowning in her problems) and presents her as weaker.