Initial Idea: Music Video

I asked some people what they thought the key conventions /features of a music video were and using wordle I comprised a visual representation of some of the stand out comments they made:

I will take into consideration some of these comments as I want my music video to conform to as many conventions as possible.

I read an article entitled 'The Music Video - Audiovisual poetry or Commercial Salad of Images?' I then decided to note down some of the interesting points made, which I feel may relate to my future task of creating my own music video.

Music videos can be interpreted as a merging of three traditions of moving images: singing performances, visual strory telling, and the non-narration of modern art. There are two types of clip:

• A performance clip, when the video mostly shows an artist singing or dancing.
• A conceptual clip, when the video shows something else during its duration, it often has artistic ambitions.

As well as different types of clips, there are different types of performances:

• A commercial exhibitionist - They sell their image, selling everything to be in the spotlight. They sell their voice, face, lifetyle, records etc, they want success.
• A Televised Bard - They are seen as a 'singing storyteller' who uses on screen images instead of inner, personal images.
• The Electronic Shaman - Sometimes 'the shaman' is invisible, it is only his or her voice and rhythm that anchors the visuals.

The music:

• Images are often bound together by the beat of the music as well as other musical features.
• Sometimes it is actually the musical elements which shape the moving pictures.

The lyrics:

• In many recent music videos, a new meaning is added to lyrics through metaphorical language.
• Alteratively, in some music videos, the lyrics are illustrated by visual imagery.

Andrew Goodwin's music video analysis:

This information is taken from Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which will recur across their work.
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking, in particular voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextua reference (references to existing media).

I am currently thinking about making a music video for my coursework and have researched three existing videos to help me decide on a genre, style and length of my video.

The first video I watched was 'Written in the Stars' by Tinie Tempah featuring Eric Turner. The video shows both of the artists quite frequently throughout the video alternating between them and some actors who are linked to the song lyrics. Although there is not a direct link between what is heard and seen, the actors are shown to be acting out the 'story' of the song. The genre of this video is probably 'pop' although the majority of the song is rap. A variety of different camera shots and angles are used to show how the story of the young boy progresses, at the beginning he is shown to be vulnerable and shy through the use of high angled shots but at the end of the song when he has realised his potential he is shown on the same rooftop that Tinie Tempah is on for most of the song. Close up's of both artists are shown and the audience are in no doubt of who is singing. Few locations are used to illustrate the story, a grubby looking hallway, a basketball court as well as a smart, clean studio room and the rooftop where the artist are shown. Tinie Tempah himself is shown in the hallway, hinting that he too was once in the same position as the young boy.

The second video I chose to analyse was 'Stylo' by Gorillaz. This video is unusual as it varies between animation and real life footage. The artist is not shown at all but the animated characters take on his persona and can be seen miming to to his voice. The images on screen are fast paced and compliment the music quite well. A selection of camera shots are used , close ups of the characters as well as of speakers and other objects shown throughought the course of the video. The video is fluent, it doesn't switch between different scenes, it is all in one location and follows the characters as they have a dangerous high speed car chase.  The video also stars a famous celebrity; Bruce Willis. It was evidently a very expensive video due to it conent as well as its running time; 5:11, which is extremely long for a music video.

The last video I have looked at is 'Promise This' by Cheryl Cole. This video shows the artist in almost every single frame, she is the focus of every shot and it is extremely obvious to the audience that she is the artist. Unlike the other two videos I have looked at, the artist has many different costume changes and each scene is slightly different. The lyrics do not match the images shown on screen and the video does not appear to have a 'story' like the other two. This video also contains complicated dance routines which the artist herself takes part in. The lighting varies between light and dark throughout the video as do the camera shots. The genre of this video is obviously pop as is shown through the costumes, the style and the music.

After looking at these three videos, I have decided that if I do decide to make a music video I will try to make it similar in style to Tinie Tempah's as I really like the varying shots and think that it looks effective.