Research: What is a music video ? - Ms Begum

What is a music video?

Purpose of a music video:

-  Music video often used to show the meanings or messages of the song to the audience allowing them to enter the artist mind to see their past experience or get a taste of experiencing their situation that could maybe interpreted through the lyrics of the song.  

- There are many purposes to create a music video, these includes:

1) To sell the song and invoke a reaction or a stimulus to make the video memorable.

2) Mainly to entertain, for instant to show off the artist other talents that they may have such as dancing and acting which increase the chances of getting a bigger fan base.

3) To sell CDs and DVDs to the fans or viewers. Creating a memorable visual for the song which can increases its chances to sell.

4) Most importantly marketing for the purpose of exposure and expansion of the artist's profile.

Classic Convention:

- Classic convention of a music video usually includes having a narrative based video, a performance based video, a mixture of both or a notion of looking based video which was used by a lot of famous worldwide artist such as Usher, Chris Brown, Michael Jackson and many more...

- A narrative based video is a term given to a music video that tells a story or anecdote through the progression of the video. The narrative tends to correspond with the lyrics, mainly to create a visual interpretation of what the lyrics means or symbolise. For instant if a lyrics read ''I found myself singing in the blue'' then the music video may portray a person (artist) saying the words stated in the lyrics whilst sitting in a dark room alone. This visual effect gives the audience the idea of what the music means or what the artist is speaking about or is going through. Also allows the audience to relate to the music video as many people have been through the same situation so they won't feel like they're experiencing it alone. An example of this is through Chris Brown ''Don't Judge Me'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29nI8RQV0U).

- A performance based video is a video that is based around some form of dance or drama based performance. For example within the song there are maybe dancers dancing to the lyrics or beat of the song mainly to entertain the audience giving them a good time enjoying good music plus having to see their favourite artist showing off their other talents. In many videos that have a performance based, they often includes a small group of dancers performing in sync with each other, in some cases the artist tends to also join the group and perform together. An example of this is through Chris Brown ''Look At Me Now'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gyLR4NfMiI) Featuring two other artist which are Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes.

- A mixture of both narrative and performance based video is quite less popular than the separate based video itself. This type of video allows the artist to show off their different talents all in one video for example the artist might be dancing and performing in the beginning but then switches to acting as the video developed. An example of this is through Michael Jackson ''Thriller'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA).

- A notion of looking type of music video is often describe as  a technique where an artist is continually looks towards the camera singing in order to connect to the target audience on a personal level. This work quite effectively as it creates an instant link between both the audience and the artist within the video. An example of this is through Akon ''Sorry, Blame it on me'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMk2EwRi4Q).

Synergy:

- Music video are just one part of promoting a new single, interviews, magazines etc are all part of this too. The music video industry as a whole has a wide relationship with many other media for different purposes. These includes radio appearance, television interviews, print media, being used as soundtrack for films and promote through the internet.

Audience Impact:

- Music video can leave a massive impact on the society due to what happens within the video which affect people from different age group in different ways. Especially teenagers, as an age of where learning new things is most crucial and keen to act like adult and want to be popular, what happens within the music video really does affect teenagers leading them to act similar to their favourites artist in both negative and positive way.
- For instant, a music video can contain a negative theme about partying, getting drunk and having sex or even taking drugs, this can be something really exciting for the teenager as they might think that it's okay to do do the same even though they are at a illegal age to do so. An example of this is through Tyga ''Make it Nasty'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdfQtC2EZ1k).







- Whereas, a music video can contain a positive theme about inspiring young people to work hard to achieve their goals and to live a good life and do the right things, this would affect teenager in a way where they feel more motivated and will work harder to make their dreams come true. An example of this through R Kelly ''I believe I can fly'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIQn8pab8Vc).
 

Technology Advancements:

- As technology keeps on developing, not only people can listen to music through CDs and DVDs, more technology has been invented for further development for the entertainment industry such as smartphone and smart devices such as iphone, ipod, ipad, tablet and more... This allows people to listen to music anywhere and any time which also help artists and the entertainment industry to make more profit and get more popular.

- On the other side of technology which affect the music industry in quite a negative way, as having so many others smart devices where it allows people to access and listen to music anywhere and anytime, this creates a threat towards music videos as people can listen to the single without having to look at the music video which can make it seems quite pointless. But again, the music industry can use new invented smart technology to make music videos look good which again attracts people to watch. Overall, this kind of balance out everything and work out quite frankly.

Conclusion:

- All the information stated above has really helped me to develop a better understanding of a music video.