Pop Artist Example

Purpose of Music Videos (Individual)

To Sell the Song

The purpose of music videos is to sell the track entertain the audience using hyper-reality or through storytelling in order to make the music video memorable to the audience and promote the artists and their brands. The main method used to promote a music video nowadays is viral videos. Viral videos are videos used to grab everyone's attention while the music is just a meagre soundtrack. Example of a viral video would be Mr C The Slide Man's Cha Cha Slide.

Promotional for the artist

Promotion of the artist is key in a music video for the future success of both record label and the artist who will gain fame and create an image for the artist. Artist can be promoted through YouTube, twitter, and other social media for the purpose of free advertising. Given the proliferation of hardware, majors could use 360 degree marketing which involves the use of ALL marketing techniques to cater to the biggest audience possible and make a huge amount of income. In this music video record labels promote the artist by using a huge amount of close-ups




Exposure of the Artist

Exposure for artists is vital in music videos because the audience likes seeing the performing artists. The image of the artist however is hidden in the hyper reality of the music video to make the audience think that the artist is who he or she is portrayed to be in the music video for the purpose of increasing revenue.



To invoke a reaction from the audience

Music videos were produced to get reactions from their audience. If the visuals aren't as good as the track, then it will not sell to the targeted audience. Some artists such as Beyoncé, Lady gaga, and Rihanna are under the impression that sex sells, therefore they use voyeurism in their music videos to cater to the male audience for the purpose of male gaze.

To give the audience a better understanding of the song

Most music videos are thematic or conceptual and some have a narrative which gives the audience an understanding of what is going on in the hyper reality. For these kind of videos to sell, it has to make sense and the visuals have to appeal more to the audience. An example music video would be Kavinsky's Odd Look because it has a simple narrative that the audience can easily follow e.g. girl gets harassed by a bunch of men which are the antagonists, the protagonist  comes in and confronts the villain, the hero saves the girl and takes her for a ride in his car.

This video uses both synergy and product placement.

Synergy

Synergy involves the use of different product and different platforms in order to sell the music video to the audience, thus increasing revenue for both the record label and the company. Like product placement, it is designed to sell the products of the individual companies as well as promote them. Promotion of an artists music or album is hugely important for the success of that product so the music video becomes memorable and sells to the audience.

Product Placement

Product Placement is used in almost all entertainment outlets as a way to increase revenue. Product placement involves the product produced from an individual company being used by the artist to promote the brand as well as the artist. Utilising product placement with extremely popular artists will make the brand more known to the targeted audience. Product placement is seen in music videos, films, magazines, and on television but predominantly music videos.

Promotion of Music and Album

In this example, this is a performance based music video from the album called Toxicity. The purpose of a performance based music video is to give the impression that this is a live performance and they are selling tickets to go see them perform live. These music videos act as an advert for the live show because people stopped paying for music therefore music is devalued.



Promotion of film

Artists will often write songs specifically for a film. The music videos for these songs often feature a narrative set like a short film or use backdrops which set the theme of the film. For instance, a song called 'Rule the world' by the band Take That was used in a film called Stardust. Therefore, this music video will make the audience remember this film and they will eventually watch the film.







Promote Festivals

Music videos are often used to promote other music related products. In the last decade, festivals and tours have become more important because the artist can go on tours and people would pay to see them perform and to get their name across to the market. Social media can be used to share upcoming events to friends and families and widen the audience. For example, The gig for the band Black Sabbath was advertised by social media and in public so that it gets the public eye of their fans so that they can buy tickets to see them perform live.

Generate new market for record company

Record companies such as Sony music group and Warner Bros will use music videos as an extension of income for the song. They do this by making the music video accessible to many different outlets as possible in order to sell the artist's image through videos and increase revenue through monetisation. Outlets such as YouTube, spotify, and tidal. are what majors use to increase their income. However, music is devalued because people stopped paying for music and started downloading songs from YouTube. This only has a minor effect on majors but a huge effect  on indies because the audience wouldn't pay for music when they get it for free. Like this music which is part of the soundtrack for the movie Iron man.

Image

An artist will often sell an image or look to the audience. A false image of the artist which portrays an abstract lifestyle and inspires the audience by giving them a role model. As a result of this, her sales increased and the song became hugely successful. For example in this music video, Eminem's has a godlike image the record label is trying to sell to the audience so that the targeted audience looks up to him as a role model.

1990s to 2000

This music video was released in 1994 close to the mid 90's. What was innovative about the music video is that it is the first music video that was shot in one take you could tell that it was shot in one take because he ran out of breath in some scenes.

This is recognizable as a music video because it has hyper reality to create a fake representation to give the audience the impression that he can travel through time. Intertextuality was included in the music video since you can see the lip-syncing artist through the television.

The technological change in the 1990's is when music videos were becoming more and more expensive and this is when rock, and the use of abstract art and intertextuality in order to cater to the audience. Multi-channels also came into existence so that music videos can also be played from it.



What was innovative/ Important?
this was a ground breaking music video which was released in the year 1994, they were faking the opening sequence of a TV show which was popular at the time called sabotage which is actually related to the title of the song, Also we do not see the artist throughout the whole video either lip syncing or performing to the song. What was innovative about this music video was that it was the first of its kind to have this sort of inter textuallity where the music video is actually paying homage to the actually TV show.

How was it recognized as a music video?
It can be seen as a music video because it conveys the conventions of a music video such as using inter textuallity as it makes reference to a TV show and also there is a a bit of hyper reality going on as usually a cops day life wont really be like what was in the music video and to some extent the music video cut to the beat of the song.

What Technological/ cultural Change happened in this time?
Music videos at this time started to use more artist form of making their videos bending more towards the use of abstract art in their videos while others used things such as TV shows and movies that were already famous in other to appeal not only to their target audience but also to the movies target audience.



Music videos were first invented in the early years 1930’s. Visuals were not a new thing for people as there were many films realized by this time. A music video is a short film or a video that can sometimes have a narrative, a music video is used to go with the song. One of the very first music videos that were invented featured singer Bessie Smith in a two- reel short film. This mainly a performance with the artist and a live band. Which has then been used in the post modern era(1980's till now). Another music video that involves a performance is Nat King Cole Frim Fram sauce. This also involes sexuliation of women due to the fact in the video it focuses on the ladies legs. Compared to today this is a mild version of what we see in music videos.   

This is reflected into the music videos that were made in the 1990's to the 2000's. For instance in this video of Britney Spears in her biggest hit 'Baby hit me one more time' it is a young girl wearing clothes that would be deemed as being overly sexualized at the time would make this music video very controversial due to the fact that you would not see young girls dressed in provocative clothing in the hallways dancing. This also gives us a sense of Hyper- reality as this is something that typically happens in a school.




The boy is mind is a composition between Brandy and Monica that was release in 1998. I't an innovative by its unique use of mise en scene. It features two different girls fighting over a guy and uses a wall in the middle of the scene to divide them. This symbolises their two houses and helps the person watching to see the two different lives of these girls that share the same man. It also helps to create realism by showing things in real time. This, therefore, make the video more reliable to us at home. This is furthered by the fact that the girls are having a conversation with each other and at one point it even shows them having a telephone conversation that coheres with the lyrics.

It is considered a typical music video because although it features a story, this story only progresses slightly and is more leaned towards the performance of the girls who are singing in their houses. They also use other conventions of music videos. For example, the two singers are lip syncing which is commonly used. However, to make a change the lyrics at some point turn into diegetic when they begin to talk on the phone.

Despite the video being quite contemporary, music videos have still changed hugely since then. In terms of the camera work, this consists mostly one shots which, although cut to the beat, goes at a slower pace to what would have been these days. Another thing changed is the mise en scene and the clothing. The props in the scene have clearly been updated as technology had updated with time. In terms of the clothing. The girls are wearing a lot less revealing clothes in comparison to music videos now days which aim to sexualise  the characters in order to sell the music.  

They have made a lot of progress from earlier on. There are some transitions such as wipes and fades which help create excitement in the video. Also, about half way through the video, there features a lot of canted angles which haven't been done a lot. Another thing they have played around with in the beginning of the video is depth of field. One of the girls are positioned in front of the couch but behind the fish bowl and we can see clearly the change from the three different places in the room. This makes it more realistic for the views.

Beyonce Major Artist (1B)

Image

When looking at music videos major artists tend to change their image over time using hyper reality to create a fake representation of themselves in order to cater to the targeted audience which would mean more money for them. For example, a famous choreographer Beyoncé reveals the beauty of her body to the male and female audience in the music video Drunk in Love. Beyonce is portayed as free spirited, playful, and seductive. As you can see, there is a medium close up on Beyonce's body indicating that she is being sexualized. According to the lyrics when she says 'I've been drinking watermelon', it is a sexual innuendo because watermelon has seeds which may symbolise semen. Thus a fake sexual representation of herself. 

Synergy and Product Placement

There is no synergy as she is promoting herself in the music video. 

Gimmicks used to promote

Voyeurism was the gimmick used to promote this music video. Voyeurism is the process of how we look at women through sexual gratification.

Audience

Beyonce is appealing to the large and predominantly male audience given the voyeurism in the music video meaning that she is using her body to get youtube views this is also seen as a gimmick used for malegaze.

Monetisation of outlets

The process is that the advertisers want the large audience of the music video to watch the advert and in return the artist is paid $2 per 1000 views so that means that 384,958,014 views divided by 1000 multiplied by two equals $770,275 dollars but however, the artist is paid 10 percent if they are signed to a record label. This music video was monetised through sponsors since there was an advert appearing before the video.

Budget and Production Value

This music video is highly budgeted as there was smoke effects, the location permission for the beach and another Star in the music video as well as the money being put towards the editing and the expensive camera. Given that it features a major artist.

Conclusion

Major artists stand out more in comparison to indies and self-produced because of the major record label. The advantages of being signed to a major record label is that record labels know the industry meaning that have an understanding of the stages that lead to releasing the album. Being signed to a record label also helps pay your bills. To elaborate, record labels make more money than the artist and that money is spent on the distribution and the promotion of the artist's music which is more money than you could spend on yourself. The disadvantages of being signed to a major label is that the artist has to change their image over time in order to maintain their huge fan-base. Another disadvantage is that they have no control over their music compared to independent artists. Which means the artist has to comply with the director's understanding on what image is effective or ineffective for the time being. One disadvantage would be that if the artist is not successful enough in gaining a huge amount of popularity from the audience, then major labels will consider you a bad investment and end up removing the artist.

Album Cover (1973)

Unsigned Artist Profile and Performance Music Video

  

Here is the unsigned artist I will be taking as my client. He is a model and a guitarist so he would make a suitable client for the production of my music video. 

Analysis of 8 music videos

Kavinsky - Odd Look



The narrative is linear since there are no flashbacks. There is a story about a woman who was being held captive by the customers and Kavinsky comes in and confronts the and saves the girl. The genre of this music is electro house or House. There is no lip synching involved in the music video. There is no multi image there is no rythmic editing in the music video but given that the name of the song was Odd Look the video was relevant with the name. This song is from the album OutRun which has a story. It is about a young man who crashes his car in 1986, killing himself but then he reappears as a zombie which makes electro-house music. There is the establishing shot showing the Halfway House Cafe which is a classic diner seen in the 80s. This creates a sense of nostalgia. In addition, it is set in the night which creates a dark and gloomy atmosphere for the audience. There is also low-key lighting which indicates that danger lurks in the night. The car is red the colour red connotes blood. The reason as to why a red car was intentionally chosen because it is hinting that something morbid will soon happen. It can Also suggest that the driver is a villain since his face is concealed in darkness. This is a close up of the mysterious driver observing what is going on from his car. We are still unaware of whether he is a protagonist and antagonist, a motivated cut follows up and it shows the POV of the woman's behind. This represents the dominant stereotype that men are impure, perverted and later in the video, the caucasian woman is held against her will. Which represents the stereotype that males are stronger than women and the woman is seen as a damsel in distress. Then the mysterious man enters the diner. He is portrayed as the knight in shining armour as he faces off against the man but you can witness that he is not human as he feels no pain after being shot by a gun and been hit by a glass bottle. After defeating the villains, the girl rescued by the mysterious man and is taken into his car and the video ends there.




God Dethroned - Poison Fog



There is no narrative. It is a performance music video because there shots showing the band God Dethroned. It often cuts to a burning building and excess smoke which represents the poisonous fog. There is also a close up on the guitarists performing their guitar solos. There are extreme close ups on the male guitarist's eyes and mouth to show that he is metal screaming and his eyes to suggest that his power and dominance. Which supports the dominant stereotype that men are doninant and powerful and beastly given the metal screaming in the video. Later in the video, it then cuts to a graveyard which represents lost souls. In my opinion, I think it links to the explosion you see in the beginning of the video and all the humans that died in the building. The song is also about human violence through the history and the brutal life can be.

Breaking Benjamin- Diary of Jane

The scene begins with the remains of an old household. The video is about a girl who wakes up in a bathroom and approaches the mirror only to find out that all the mirrors in the house are gone. Then she comes across a room full of mirrors. When sees her reflection in the mirror she gasped and then cuts to a grave with the female's name engraved which was Jane. Jane was wearing white. The colour white connotes light and purity. The fact that the girl wore a white dress in the video means that she was a spirit roaming the house but we didn't know that until the end of the video. Low key lighting was consistent in this video. Panning was used in this video to show the surroundings.


Avenged Sevenfold- Beast and the Harlot


The video was set in a stripclub, the reason being is because given that the title is Beast and the Harlot and the word harlot means prostitute. The scene begins with a stripper walking into a stripclub. There was a boy holding a lollipop and looking at one of the dancing strippers and it cuts to the boys leg and you could see that darkness is crawling up his legs which may represent that his spirit is tainted by darkness making him impure. There is also another scene where a womans us being taken by darkness since she had no pupils and the darkness was crawling her face. This video refers to men being beasts and women being harlots hence why the scene is set in a stripclub.

 Darude-Sandstorm

The genre of this music is electronica. There is an establishing shot of a man sitting on a staircase and the camera pans, showing us a building of which the escaping woman is is holding a brief case but is chased by two agents. There are visual effects such as slow motion. The observing man warps several times. However he appears unseen as the pursuers could see him but he could see them. The woman holding the briefcase  had more of a dominant role in this video because she was the target. There was rythmic editing as well. 

TFK - War of Change 

The genre of this song is rock. This is a predominantly a performance music video apart from the shots showing women wearing black. There was rythmic editing. They put white powder on the instruments to create a smoke effect which creates a black and white atmosphere/ monochrome. Quick cuts and slow-motion was being used in the video. Low-key lighting was used in this video to create a chiaroscuro effect which was fitting and they pulled it off effectively. The colours black and white were used together to create a sense of nostalgia in addition to the costumes the women were wearing, some of them were wearing masks.

Breaking Benjamin- So Cold

The video begins with an establishing shot showing a man wearing black which connotes death, emptiness, and despair. The next shot is of a man being punished since there was a match on action showing a man holding block and his legs are shackled. There is also a scene where a woman is holding a rose close to her heart. This gives the idea that the woman may be the wife of the man who is going to be killed. In this video the woman is represented as helpless and dependant because the man was the breadwinner in the relationship and he was providing for her now without him she will end up going through pain and anquish. The man was represented as a victim and impure and guilty which supports the dominant stereotype that men are corrupt, evil and demonic.

System of A Down- Chop Suey

This is a performance music video meaning that there is no narrative. There were a series of jump cuts in the video but it was used effectively and it suited the video. Men in this video are represented as wild energetic, and beastly. There was also rythmic editing and visual effects such as the medium close up shot when the singer and the guitarist went through each other as if they were poltergeists meaning noisy spirits in german. In my opinion, the discontinuity used in this video means that the intended audience doesn't want to think they like fast-paced action they like to be rough.