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What is a Music video? - (4/6/15)
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. It acts as a visual aid to accompany a song to provide added entertainment and to bring the song "alive". Andrew Goodwin said that "Music video is not primarily a commodity form but a promotional one" in 1992. This suggests that music videos are not necessary to a songs production, however is made to advertise the artist and the track in the hope that it'll appeal to a wider audience and generate a larger profit.
Music video's and their typologies
Martin Garrix feat. Usher - Don't Look Down
'Don't Look Down' is song by DJ and producer Martin Garrix, featuring R&B singer/songwriter Usher. The video was released on the 23rd of March 2015, with the genre being Dance. In terms of the videos typology, it is a narrative piece which means it is based around a story, where an actor/actress perform the story solely or alongside the artists, in this case it's the previous of the two. In 'Don't Look Down' the narrative is about an average guy who is trying to win over a girl he's fallen for, who the audience perceives to be out of his league. A story gives the video personality and makes it more relatable to the audience, especially if its something they're experienced themselves. When deciding on how I'd categorise the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals I would have to say that it's a slight combination of illustrative and contradictory. Its' illustrative because the lyrics are about someone feeling in love, which is also represented in the video, however also contradictory as the images don't always match the lyrics as we'd expect. This allows the audience to understand what the song is about, while also be slightly confused by whats happening, making the video more memorable. The video represents the artist as being quite conservative as he is not seen on camera, suggesting that he wants it to be more about the music then about his performance.
Lethal Bizzle ft. Diztortion - Fester Skank
Fester Skank is a hybrid of genres being a combination of Hip-Hop/Rap and is by the artist Lethal Bizzle featuring Diztortion. It was released on the 3rd of March and is a performance music video, which means that it focuses on the performance of the artist whether thats them singing, dancing or playing an instrument. In this video Lethal Bizzle is at the centre of most shots which makes it clear to the audience that he's meant to be the centre of attention in the video. This represents him as being confident and believes that he is talented, therefore wanting to showcase himself in front of the camera. The music video is a mixture of illustrative and contradictory. Certain points throughout the video the lyrics match the image on screen for example when Lethal Bizzle say's "camo-snapback" he points to the camo snapback he is wearing. The exact definition of illustrative is a literal interpretation of the lyrics, but it doesn't have to be exact. This gives the audience a visual aid so it's easier for them to picture what he's saying. However it's also contradictory because sometimes the images on screen are pretty random and have no relevance to the lyrics that they're paired with. This makes the video slightly odd and entertaining which is also how Lethal Bizzle is represented.
Roads was made by the pop band Lawson and was released on the 11th of March 2015. The typology of the video is performance and narrative. This is because a large amount of the video consists of the band being shown singing and playing instruments, displaying that they have raw talent. The audience is therefore more appreciative of the artist as they recognise the skill in the skills they’re showcasing. However it is also narrative because the lyrics are about someone running away from another person but they can’t, which is depicted by the lead singer of the band running/driving away from an unknown character. This suggests to the audience that the song relates to the artist in someway giving the lyrics meaning. The mood of the music video is a combination between illustrative and amplification. It’s illustrative because the lyrics are about a chase, someone running to avoid another person which is illustrated in the video. This gives the audience a visual aid so it is easier to imagine, therefore enabling the listener to enjoy the song and its meaning. It also has amplification because the terrain/setting is exaggerated to add new layers of meaning to the song. This extends the audiences understanding of the lyrics and there meaning, making the video more memorable.
Lawson - Roads
Rockstar was made by the band Nickleback on October the 26th 2009 and is of the rock genre. The typology of this music video is concept because the video focuses on the concept of random members of the public/the odd famous person lip synching over the lyrics. This is unusual for the rock genre as the typology is usually performance as it illustrates the artists ‘raw‘ talent. This suggests to the audience that the song is one of the people, implying that the lyrics represent how most people feel and so therefore the exclusion of the band highlights this. The video is also contradictory as the images on screen do not match the meaning of the lyrics, as it features a bunch of random people that have no relevance to whats being said. This suggests that the idea of the video was to be more entertaining rather then proving a visual aid to match the lyrics for the audience. Therefore the artist in this particular video is represented as being a band of the people, one that doesn’t always have to showcase there talents to make a good music video.
Nickleback - Rockstar
Centuries is a song by the band Fall Out Boy who are from the alternative genre. The video was released on the 17th of October 2014 and is a narrative music video, featuring a battle within a coliseum. This gives the audience a story that they can follow and associate the lyrics with, providing them with a higher meaning. This therefore suggests to the audience that the artist wanted to envelope the viewer within the story in order to make the video more appealing. The music video is also of an amplification mood as the events portrayed in the video have been exaggerated to provide the lyrics with a greater meaning, extending the audiences understanding by engaging their imagination. This makes the video more memorable as the song is called 'Centuries' and the video is about the Roman period. The lyrics and the amplified imagery seen in the video combine together to make an original video and represents the artist as being creative. It also suggests that the lyrics have a greater meaning to the artist themselves, however they felt that the only way that they could get the audience to relate to them was to exaggerate the themes and events.
Fall Out Boy - Centuries
Below are five music video's from five different genre's, which will enable me to start to identify the sorts of conventions that are associated with the different genre's in terms of their typologies. This will be beneficial because it will give me an idea of the sorts of genre's that I would like to create a music video for and be able to incorporate generalised conventions into them so that they conform with the norm meaning people recognise the video from being from that genre, however also select a couple to challenge in order for our video to be unique.