What Makes A Great Music Video?

In my opinion, a great music video isn't just about the popularity of the song or how well the artist(s) singing and/or playing is known. Which begs the question; what makes a great music video?

The Storyline:
Not all music videos need a comprehensible plot, though the storyline needs to be imaginative, to convey a powerful emotion or expression and  to have a unique concept or a unique selling point (a marketing concept first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern in successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s).

An example for this can include:

The Mise-En-Scene:
Like with any film, the location, props, costume, hair and make-up are all essential in film-making. Mise-en-scene creates an ambience or tone with the film, so with a music video, if you are using music with a certain tone, you would need elements such as costumes, lighting, ect... to mach the music.

An example for this can include:



Editing:

The pace of the editing has to match the beat of the music. However, that is not all that has to be met perfectly to obtain the status of a great music video. In a good music video, there should be a variety or an interesting use of effects.

An example of this can include:




Cinematography:

A narrative is a music video with a storyline. The story line progresses through the video along with the music. Sometimes the artists may cameo in the video however some do not. A good music video, in my opinion, should use a variety - or at least an interesting use - of a variety of shots, camera angles and movements. 

An example for this can include:


Promotion and publicity:

Usually the most popular music videos are the ones that are promoted the best, weather through adverts, charts, sales or word of mouth.

An example of this includes: