2. PURPOSE OF A MUSIC VIDEO
Promotes a single and album
Promotes the artist or band
Creates, adapts or feeds into a stars image
Sets the meaning of a song using images.
3. BASIC STRUCTURES
A music video should conventionally be 3-4 minutes
with a combination of a live performance, narrative
and other computer graphics.
Many music videos include performances of artists
as part of the video
It was from clips of performances that music videos
developed
Can be a live stage performance, with shots of
artists and audiences
Can be the artists in real life situation e.g. fooling
around, talking
4. IDEA OF SPECTACLE
Music videos can be considered to be examples of spectacle.
This is when the performers are performing, often looking directly at the viewer.
This is called direct address which is when they are directly interacting with the
viewer.
Examples:
In the case of men, this involves the look of the character towards the viewer.
The male is seen to be addressing the viewer directly. He is supposed to be
singing directly at you.
The female figure is often an object of an erotic gaze, object of males desire
which is a voyeuristic gaze. Which is someone who looks at someone for
pleasure. Women in music videos are often dresses and posed in sexual
ways.
5. NARRATIVE
Often the video tells a story either that features in
the lyrics or is suggested in the lyrics .e.g. boy
dumps girl
Like a mini film with a beginning, middle and end
Very fast paced, lots of shots and cuts
Sometimes the story can contradict what is said for effect
6. THEMATIC
There are lots of common themes in music videos
Depends on the genre of music
Heavy metal bands go for dominant clips
Rap will have street images
Female artists have dance sequences
7. ANDREW GOODWIN
Andrew Goodwin identifies 5 key aspects of music
videos that the audiences look out for which is:
Thought beats – seeing the sound
Narrative and performance
The star image
Relation of visuals to song
Technical aspects of music videos
8. THOUGHT BEATS
First step: is to look at the music itself and take into
account the structure of the song
Second: the voice of the song, the artists voice is
extremely unique and can form identification it
trademarks that work well with the star image.
Ronald Barthes theory of the Grain of voice can be
related to this. He sees the singing voice as an
expressive instrument and therefore able to make
an association of its own
Third: He points out the artists mode of address.
Songs can be seen as stories and the artist the
storyteller, making the music video a two was
communication device, them telling us the story and
us listening.
9. NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE
We only tend to typically get the git of the meaning of
the song and then tend to make up our own idea to
what is being told. Goodwin explains that music
videos should ignore common narrative. It is
important in their role of advertising. Music videos
should coherent repeatability. Narrative and
performance work hand in hand it makes it easier for
the audience to watch over and over without loosing
interest. The artist acting as both narrator and
participant helps to increase the authenticity however
the lip sync and other mimed actors remains the heart
of music videos. The audience need to believe its
real.
10. THE STAR IMAGE
The star image is another vital aspect of music
videos. Meta narrative which is a big story that
describes the development of the star over time, it
has an important part to play in the music video
production process.
11. RELATION OF VISUALS TO SONG
This is similar to
repeatability.
Meanings and effects
are manipulated and
constantly shown
through the video
and drummed into
our vision
This is where the meaning
of the song is completely
ignored
Music videos can
use a set of
images to
illustrate the
meaning of lyrics
and genre, this is
the most
common
12. TECHNICAL ASPECTS
Technical aspects hold the music video together through
use of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene,
editing, sound and special effects.
Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post
production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and
colour help set the moods and emphasise the key
moments of the song for dramatic effect.
Mise-en-scene, the setting of music videos is vital, it
needs to look authentic to attain professionalism
Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat or
rhythm making music videos more entertaining.
