What is a Music Video? Lauryn Cedrola

Andrew Goodwin Theory Dictionary Definition: A videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images. According to Andrew Goodwin (a famous director of music) a music video often has several key conventions: 1 Thought through beat 2 Relationship between the lyrics and visuals 3 Narrative and performance of the song 4 Technical aspect of the music video 5 Star Image (protagonist) 6 Intertextual References 7 Genre related style/iconography 8 Voyeurism

This can be achieved by editing the video so that it is in sync with the beat of the music. You must first establish the structure of the song e.g. The pacing, verses and chorus. Some videos may even have repeated visuals to indicate chorus. The singer’s voice is also taken into consideration here as it is unique to the artist and is crucial to choices about the video. As well as editing , the story within the music and the artist as a storyteller have to be looked at in order to establish the mood for the video. Thought through Beat

Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals Sia – Chandelier (Disjuncture) Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals More often than not, the visuals in a music video will compliment the lyrics in the song. For example, if the lyrics mention the word ‘jump’, the video may show a person jumping. When the video illustrates the lyrics, it aids in explaining meaning and directly relates to the song. If the music video is completely unrelated to the song, this is known as disjuncture. The music video can serve to amplify the lyrics when certain images are repeated throughout. Taylor Swift – Love Story (Illustrate)

Narrative and Performance of the Song While it is not essential for a music video to have a narrative, many of them do. Often, including one helps with the overall storytelling and helps to bring the lyrics or meaning of the song to life. Having some kind of storyline is also useful in engaging the audience and encouraging them to watch the whole video to see what happens. The video for Zara Larsson’s ‘Never Forget You’ has a narrative

Technical Aspect of the Video Generally, the production of the video as a piece of film is very important in terms of how effective it is. The following must be considered: lighting, camera angles/shots, casting, animation, costume, location, props, mise en scene, colour palette, pace/style of editing.

Star Image Usually, the singer/band will have a key role in the music video. This helps to promote them as an artist and develop a key style that is identifiable. More often than not, the artist is the protagonist of the video but not always. The way the artist is presented to the audience creates a reputation for that particular person.

Intertextual References The video for ‘California Love’ by Tupac feat Dr. Dre was heavily inspired by the movie ‘Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome’ Sometimes, a music video may include references to other songs/movies/books. This is typically a convention of humorous videos. Audiences enjoy spotting these links within media texts and some may even choose to watch the video because they are a fan of the referenced content.

Genre related style/Iconography Each genre of music has its own set of conventions for their videos. Here are a few: Rock videos often feature concert footage. Rap videos tend to include money, club, female dancers. Music from pop groups usually have choreographed dance routines.

Voyeurism Often, females in music videos are sexualised with the use of voyeuristic angles. This is to attract the male audience and fuels the idea that women in Hollywood are glamorous sex objects, used for pleasure only.

Music Videos as Promotion One of the main purposes for a music video is to promote the song and artist. If the music video is unique and memorable, people are likely to watch it multiple times (on sites such as YouTube) quite increases the popularity of the song and sparks more downloads. As well as selling the individual song, a music video helps promote the artist’s image and as this artist continues to grow, more money is made for the record label. The image promoted within the music video can be used across other aspects of the artist’s career (for example: album covers, merchandise and posters)