The document discusses the structure and purpose of music videos. Music videos typically run 3-4 minutes and combine live musical performances with narrative and visual elements to promote new songs and albums. They aim to entertain audiences and help define the meaning and image of songs. Common components of music videos include performances by artists, narratives or stories, themes, and symbolic imagery. Videos also use techniques like direct address, spectacle, editing techniques, and digital effects to engage viewers.

1. Music Videos
Structure

2. The purpose of the Music Video
 Promotes a single and, normally, an album
 Promotes the artist or band
 Creates, adapts or feeds into a ‘star image’
 Entertains the audience
 Sets the ‘meanings’ of a song by the use
of images

3. Basic structures
 In 3-4 minutes a typical music video combines a
mix of live performance, narrative, and other
visual imagery including computer graphics and
animation.
 It does this to advertise the band/artist and song

4. Music Videos
 Often contains a number of different elements:
 Performance
 Narrative
 Thematic
 Symbolic

5. Performance
Many music videos include
performance of the artists as part of
the video
It was from clips of performances that
music Videos developed

6.  -Often contain shots of the artists performing
 Can be a live stage performance, with shots
of artists and audience
 Can be the artists in “real life” situations eg
warming up, talking, fooling around
 Often includes lots of close ups of the artist
and there can be a particular visual style that
goes with the artist (a motif) eg particular
clothing, actions, props, type of images.
 Often the artist can appear to perform in an
unusual place - all lip-synched eg a field, a
rooftop

7. Idea of Spectacle
Music Videos may be considered to be examples of
'spectacle'.
 In this the performers are performing, often
looking directly at the viewer. This is called
“direct address” -where they are directly
interacting with the viewer.

8.  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 for you.
 The female figure is often an object of an erotic
gaze, object of male desire which is a voyeuristic
gaze. A Voyeur is someone who looks at someone
for pleasure. This means females in music vids are
often dressed and posed in very sexual ways

9. Narrative
 Often the video tells a story either that features in
the lyrics or is suggested in the lyrics eg girl
dumps boy
 This narrative can be like a Mini film, with a
beginning, middle and end
 Or it can suggest some links to a story
 It can promote a film with clips from the film
included telling a story

10. Narrative
 Because it is only 3-4 minutes it can be
-very fast paced, lots of shots and cuts
-use inter-textuality with films, tv and other videos
-mimic other film and tv genre eg horror or sci fi
-sometimes the story can contradict what is seen for
effect
-sometimes the artist is a part of the story, or an
observer or completely separate

11. Thematic
 There are lots of common themes in music videos
 Depends on the genre of music
 Eg Heavy metal bands go for perfomance
dominated clips
Rap has lots of “street” images
dance routines are common for many female
artist performances

12. Symbolic
 Use of lots of symbols to build up meaning eg
graveyard…death
 Lots of use of montage -lots of images to create
meaning sometimes often contradictory
 Lighting often used to suggest mood
 Fast paced - often only a few seconds per shot to
build up meanings
 Pictures can support or contradict the lyrics

13. Some Other Codes and Conventions
 Visually stylish – ‘artistic’ mise-en-scene
 Cutting related to the rhythm of the music
 Intercutting between performance and images or
story
 Experimental use of camera/editing (hand held
camera, distortion of colours)
 Often break the rules of continuity editing. Can
use lots of jump cuts
 Lots of use of digital effects

14. Types of Music Videos
1 Performance Clips
-Concentrate on stage performance of bands
2 Conceptual clips
Based around a theme or story
a) Narrative “mini film” idea
i)either simple fantasy situation with other
images inbetween eg artist
ii)Or complex genre ‘story’ eg Michael
Jackson’s Thriller
b) Non -narrative often dream like , random thoughts
around a loose theme eg lost love, use lots of
symbolism

15. To make your Music Video
 What is the theme or aim of my music video?
 Who will this appeal to?
 How can I make it appeal to this group?
 What are the lyrics saying?
 What do the music/rhythms/genre suggest?
 How can I link music/lyrics/images?
 What type of video will it be?