Music Video assignment

Styles,conventions and techniques.

Styles

All music videos have a style, this style can tell the audience what type of artist they are.
However sometimes music videos can have more than one style for example the video could be a narrative and tell a story as well as a performance from the artist throughout the video.

Narrative
A narrative music video is when the artist or actors tell a story about the song/lyrics.
Narrative music videos are popular with the audience as they can engage with the song and the story being told.
It mostly depends on what the lyrics are to the song on which type of narrative they tell as they want it to relate.

An example of this is Everytime by Britney Spears

The video tells a story of how she is struggling with her life. At the beginning of the video it shows what the paparazzi's are like towards her and then it goes to her boyfriend and the trouble they are going through. The video turns upsetting when she tries to drowned herself in the bath however the video ends when she is still alive as she is a pop artist and most of their songs will have a happy ending.
This video could be inspirational to the audience as it shows it doesn't matter what you go through you can always pull through the worst. The video also indicates how hard being famous can be and Britney has shown this from doing a music video.




Performance/As-live
A performance music video is when a artist or band perform their song to the camera or for a crowd.
When it comes to creating a performance video, the budget is low as they don't need as many locations and they are just performing their song to the camera meaning they won't need as many props as well.
Doing a video this way means they don't have a narrative to go along with the song as they just perform it.

An example of this style is Bon Jovi's video Livin On A Prayer

This video starts of with the band practising their song then towards the end they are performing the song to a crowd.
The most popular camera angles used in these type of videos are wide angles, the reason for this is so they can get the whole band in the frame. They will also use close ups as the band play instruments such the guitar and drums, using this shot you can see clearly when they are playing, such as their finger strumming the strings, the audience like to see this because they can see it is live.


Parody
A parody is when an artist will make fun of another artists video/song. Parody videos are mostly popular on the Internet such as YouTube and don't make it in the charts (Hit40UK) as much however they are becoming more popular because more people are creating them and the audience enjoy a funny/ sarcastic video.

For example Weird Al Yankovic will take famous songs such as happy and beat it and change the lyrics to the song to make it more funny. This style is also promoting the original songs as the audience will know which song it is from the tune even though the lyrics have changed.

Theories

Laura Mulvey
She came up with the gaze and feminist theory in 1975. She says that the public/audience view people in a certain way depending on their gender.
The male gaze is all about the way male audience watch a female artist perform in a music video, males watch females as if they are objects, this is proved from the way the camera is moved around the females body.

For example-Beyonce-Love On Top.

The artist is dressed in short clothing which means the male will look at the female more, some people think.

Not only is there a male gaze, they also have a female gaze. This is the opposite of a male gaze as the artist in the video are male and appeal to the female audience. An example of this is Mysterious girl by Peter Andre as throughout his video he has his top off and it is based on the beach.

Andrew Goodwin
He says when analysing a music video you look for certain points such as the camera work, editing, genre, colours and the relationship between lyrics and visuals. Goodwin's theory can be used to analyse any music video as it is looking for certain points even though all music videos are different.
Man who can't be moved presentation 
In the link above I have created a presentation which explains Goodwin's theory by using the music video The Man Who can't Be Moved, I talk about the colours, lyrics and genre.

Techniques

Music videos use many different techniques, depending on what the genre of the music is helps to decide what to include in the video.
One technique used is the way the lighting is set up for a video as this sets the moods and atmosphere. For example in Justin Timberlakes video Cry Me A River they use low key lighting to make it look more dull. The reason for this is because they lyrics are about getting revenge on his ex girlfriend.

They also have the opposite lighting which is high key. This type of lighting is used for more pop videos as they include bright and cheerful colours, these lighting's are used in One Direction's video What makes you beautiful

In more recent years technology has getting better meaning the videos can improve. For example Katy Perry's video for ET uses a lot of special effects as she is seen as an alien in space, the only way they could film this to make it look real is using a green scene then do the space effects in post production.

For Cher Llyods first music video Swagger Jagger she used special effects.
To do this the artist would perform in a green screen room then using a computer they will add the background and animations needed because it is all digital technology.

Another technique is cutting to the beat, this means that the scene will change as certain lyrics do or when the beat changes.
For example Adele- Rolling in the Deep

This video changes from shots of Adele singing to the drummer playing then some water in glasses moving to the beat of the song. They do this to keep the audience engaged in the video so they aren't watching the same shot for a full 3 minutes.

Codes and conventions.

Codes
Depending on what the song/lyrics are about will depend on which camera shots and angles are used. For example in a slower song they will use close ups of the artists features so they can see the emotions while they sing. Long shots are used so they can get the whole surroundings, they are used more towards a end of the video as they pan out from the scene.

The video below is from behind the scenes of One Direction video Story Of My Life. You see how the video was created and the camera movements as they used a dolly to get all around the studio and the band.

Conventions
In music there are many different genres such as; pop, classic, rap, RnB, rock, jazz and more. Depending on which genre the artist goes under will depend on the way the music video looks.

You will see a lot of the same themes in rap videos such as violence or drugs.
For example Drake-Started from the bottom.

You can tell the genre is rap as he uses the stereotypical props such as big car, chains and girls. Most rap artist wear baggy clothing, this makes him look more casual and he could connect with the audience more as they have things in common.
The artist (Drake) will look straight into the camera as this will address the audience. They use various camera shots but mostly wide shots as when they rap they move their hands and body around a lot.




A totally opposite genre is pop, you can tell a video is mostly pop as they use bright colours and a lot of the music is upbeat.
A lot of pop music videos are narrative based as the lyrics are related to some drama that has happened in the artist lives for example Taylor Swift writes her songs about her life. A lot of songs are about a girl and a boy falling in love.
The camera shots used for a pop music video is mostly long shots so the audience can get a view of the dancing/party scene, you can see this shot in the example below.
The elements that are mostly seen in pop music videos includes upbeat music, bright colours, romance related and a happy ending.
Katy Perry- Last Friday

Lyrics interpretation is used in music videos so the audience can know what the song is about. Some examples are Rebecca Black- Friday, as she sings the lyrics to the song the video also shows her doing the same movements such as when she sings 'Got to catch my bus' the scene shows her standing at the bus stop, this also shows that the video isn't too serious.

Eminem and Rihanna- Love the way you lie also use lyric interpretation however they use it more seriously as the lyrics are about being in a abuse relationship. When they talk about the bad side it will show the couple in a fight but they are careful when doing it as some of the audience might take it to heart that is why when they sing about romance they will be close to each other.

Purpose of music video
The link above is a presentation explaining why artist create music videos and the purpose of them. Some of the purposes are to promote the artist and song, to entertain the audience and to give the audience more understanding of the song.
Sometimes the lyrics to a song won't make sense to the audience that is why a artist will create a music video for the song as a narrative story can explain the lyrics for example Green Day- Jesus Of Suburbia.

Before the music video was released the audience didn't understand the lyrics such as 'On a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin' then when the music video was released it made more sense as they got actors to act out the lyrics and turned it into a story.

Another purpose, that is explained in the presentation, is to entertain the audience with a good music video for example Robbie Williams- Candy.

This song has a upbeat background which makes the song catchy then throughout the video funny things happen to him such as him falling over, which can entertain the audience and this will keep the audience watching the video. If the artist wants the video to be entertaining the song has to have a fast beat because if the song is slow then the video won't match as much.