What is a music video? A music video is a short video or film that accompanies a composition of music. Modern music videos today are primarily made and used as a marketing device which is used to promote the sale of music recordings.With the purpose of creating a music video, I must understand the definition of a 'music video'. Nevertheless, the definition above does not expand upon each individual requirement that makes a good music video, for this reason, I must undergo thorough research of codes and conventions, the target audience as well as successful artists' and music videos today. Music Institutions are essential to understand as they are the companies that fund and create the music videos that we consumers watch, this presentation expands upon existing institutions including EMI and Sony Music. Institutions
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In order to understand an in depth analysis of any genre of music, I must understand different social tribes as their style and variations influence specific and individual genres of music.
In order to understand an in depth analysis of any genre of music, I must understand different social tribes as their style and variations influence specific and individual genres of music.
The presentation below advances upon the codes and conventions of music videos, yet in order to understand a substantial amount, I must investigate existing songs, as a result, I have mentioned examples of songs that are successful due to their clever manipulation of these conventions.
Codes and convention
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Plastic pop is important to today's music industry as we have all come across it via TV programmes (Britain's got Talent), yet it is important to understand how it manages to influence us when marketing, as those strategies are what make it successful.
Plastic pop is important to today's music industry as we have all come across it via TV programmes (Britain's got Talent), yet it is important to understand how it manages to influence us when marketing, as those strategies are what make it successful.
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Teaching Task
During our media lesson, we were given a music video task, where each of our groups were randomly given a well known song that needed to be analysed. The brief itself included a thorough investigation of the micro elements as well as an interactive task, that will test our knowledge of the codes and conventions of music videos. As you can see below, me and Rachel received the RNB music video, Umbrella by Rihanna, which we broke down in order to gain sufficient knowledge as to what made this specific music video successful, we then shared our knowledge via a presentation in front of the rest of the groups. I felt that this task allowed us to develop and test our knowledge as we managed to gain and learn lessons from one other, enhancing our previous knowledge.
Below is the power point presentation that we had evaluated during our lesson.
Teaching Task
During our media lesson, we were given a music video task, where each of our groups were randomly given a well known song that needed to be analysed. The brief itself included a thorough investigation of the micro elements as well as an interactive task, that will test our knowledge of the codes and conventions of music videos. As you can see below, me and Rachel received the RNB music video, Umbrella by Rihanna, which we broke down in order to gain sufficient knowledge as to what made this specific music video successful, we then shared our knowledge via a presentation in front of the rest of the groups. I felt that this task allowed us to develop and test our knowledge as we managed to gain and learn lessons from one other, enhancing our previous knowledge.
Below is the power point presentation that we had evaluated during our lesson.
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The questions that we had included towards the end were mainly there in order to enhance the memories of our fellow peers, nevertheless, we did include certain questions that magnified specific micro elements (mise-en-scene) and codes and conventions (number of costume changes). We felt that the costume changes were of great significance, therefore, we had mentioned this within our presentation as they are not usually noticed, however, this is a great convention that is used in all music videos, despite the genre of music. For this reason, I am well aware that this convention must be present within our music video. This is the video of Rachel and I presenting in front of our peers:
The questions that we had included towards the end were mainly there in order to enhance the memories of our fellow peers, nevertheless, we did include certain questions that magnified specific micro elements (mise-en-scene) and codes and conventions (number of costume changes). We felt that the costume changes were of great significance, therefore, we had mentioned this within our presentation as they are not usually noticed, however, this is a great convention that is used in all music videos, despite the genre of music. For this reason, I am well aware that this convention must be present within our music video. This is the video of Rachel and I presenting in front of our peers:
As well as existing music videos, the target audience are very essential to any successful music video as they are the consumers, as a result, they get a say as to what would appeal to them. In order to gain this information, myself and Rachel decided to do a questionnaire that would question their like and dislikes regarding music videos
1.How old are you?
2.Gender?
Male()
Female()
3.Do you prefer a music video that which is...
Funny()
Serious()
4.Do you prefer abstract videos or ones that go with the lyrics (parallel sound)?
Abstract()
Goes with lyrics()
Why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.Do you prefer music videos that include special effects/animations?
Yes()
No()
Why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.What aspects of a music video make it more interesting for you to watch? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7.Do you prefer...
Calm/slow music videos()
Lively/fast music videos()
8.Do you like to see dance routines?
Yes()
No()
9.What genre of music is your favourite and why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10.What would you expect to see in a rock music video?
Performance()
Narrative()
The Results
In order to gain reliable results, we made sure that the amount of males were equal to the amount of females, where ages varied from 13 to 27, concluding in opinions from a vast amount of our target audience. We feel that their opinion will influence our ideas drastically as we need them to enjoy our music video in order for it be profitable.
The response to question one made me realise that both funny and serious music videos are appealing as we received an equal amount of responses to each category. For this reason, we may explore both gothic genres and pop genres as we understand that both a successful in the music industry today.
As to question two, I have realised that majority of the target market prefer parallel sound where the scenes coincide with the lyrics sung, as it seems that the plot is easier to understand. Nevertheless, a healthy amount of consumers felt that spontaneous scenes would engage more of the viewers as they are not necessarily things that you would occasionally see in a music video.
In question three, all of the target audience felt that special effects and animations should be included within music videos as they provide something extra, as quite a lot of music videos today lack when it comes to these elements. Other than the fact that it adds more elements to the video, special effects and animations provide an escapism that many consumers enjoy and cannot gain from live and real footage. Yet still, there is a reason why many music videos lack in these elements today, and from the audience response, I have understood that these aspects take away the realism of many music videos, loosing the essence of the message. As a result, if using special effects and animations within our music video, myself and Rachel need to ensure that the effects don't overpower the message portrayed, but add to the ambience of the music video.
As with any music video, the music is essential, reasons for which the target audience felt that better vocals is what makes any music video more interesting. Yet still, others consider colours as a vital element since it represents emotion and themes (red - anger). Many are then aware of the dominant characters and roles within the music video as these characters are reflected through the colours worn by them. Lastly, we have the narrative that 75% of the audience deemed the most interesting part of a music video, due to the relatable scenarios that appear within the storyline. This also engages the viewers as many felt that a full performance didn't result in a good music video.
As you can see from the table above, the next question revolves around the tempo of the music, it is clearly said that many media consumers today prefer lively and fast tempos yet a considerable amount believe that calm music videos are preferable. However, as these results are quite close, I will need to look at various types of music videos that satisfy each rhythm and consider which may be more appealing. In the other hand, there are songs that incorporate both calm/slow paces in ballads, which transition into powerful, lively endings yet this may not have a fast tempo.
Majority of the target audience prefer to have dance sequences as you see from the bar chart, however, those of whom who did say yes felt that dance sequences can only be incorporated for certain types of music (eg. upbeat hip hop). I had also noticed that those who preferred calm music were those who said no to having dance sequences in music videos. From this, I had realised that dance sequences should be incorporated dependent on the genre of music, for example, classical music would usually shy away from dance yet it may consist of ballet.
From this pie chart, we gain an instant comprehension of the genres of music that are popular within this age boundary, ranging from 13 to 27. As you can see, RNB is very popular, yet each type of genre has roughly the same amount of numbers, this is due to the varied amount of social tribes in today's society. It seems that specific genres of music are enjoyed by a specific social tribe, for example, emos would prefer rock/indie music. As a result, our music video may consist of any genre, yet we may have to question a specific social tribe in order to see whether the music video is successful.
The question above was orientated towards those who prefer rock music, as myself and Rachel were exploring different genres, yet we felt that rock was something that we both knew a considerable amount on. In addition to this, I felt that rock could generate a broadened target audience as many social tribes, such as rockers, emos and goths would listen to it. From the table above, we noticed that performance is a crucial element of any rock music video, which is why bands such as the Big Pink manage to have a pure performance. Nevertheless, a healthy amount of the target audience felt that narrative is also a crucial element, which is why myself and Rachel have decided upon a mixture of both narrative and performance as many artists who have done this have successful, and relatable music videos.
In order to gain a house style, we must consider colour combinations, for this reason, I have given five possible combinations and it seems that the target market preferred option one which includes red, black and white. From these colours, we gain an insight to the possible genre of music of rock as these colours are usually associated with this. Red advances upon the romance element conventionally included in a lot of music videos toady, along with white that signifies purity whilst black illiminates it. From these colours, we may have a narrative that that corresponds to these colours and what they symbolise.
Promotional magazine Advertisement
When looking at magazine advertisements, there are many possibilities as advertising music videos can range from the front cover to a promotional poster within the magazine. For this reason, I will research and investigate both types and see which one is more beneficial and why.
Here are examples of the covers of music magazines:
As you can see from above, many covers of music magazines easily promote artists, this is enhanced by the fact that it is the first thing people notice when looking on the shelf. However, the cover also includes other stories regarding other artists that are plastered upon the page, this may take away some of the dominance from the centre image within the middle that promotes the artist. This is especially the case when looking at KERRANG magazine above, where there is a splash in front of the centre image, the fact that this slogan relates to the main story promotes the artist. Nevertheless, there are other music magazines that have splashes that refer to other stories, which result in more attention drawing away from the main promotion of the artist. To add to this, we notice that the story revolves around the artist and their social lives, not their actual music, for this reason the music video isn't promoted very well, instead the artist is promoted and if the target audience like what they see, they then consider listening to their music. For this reason, I may go ahead with a promotional poster within the magazine.
Here are some examples of promotional posters within magazines:
These promotional posters convey the variety that you can gain instead of doing a cover as the poster itself can be either landscape (double page spread) or portrait (single page). I have also noticed that many artists today use these elements within a variety of magazines, not specifically for music magazines, as a result the target market is broadened. However, when using a a cover spread, the artist may only be present upon music magazines, yet the fact that it is the first thing that you notice on the shelf makes it very declarative. As both forms of advertising engage the target audience in different ways, I decided to see which one is more domineering in the industry, and it is found that the promotional posters within magazines are more convenient when promoting at such a large scale, this being the case, myself and Rachel have decided to use this form of magazine advertising.
CD Cover
CD covers are essential to get right as they provide the first initial reaction for the target audience, this is very significant as an unsuccessful CD cover will not promote the music video, even if the music video itself is thriving. Due to this, I ensured that we looked at a range of successful CD covers to gain an insight to their conventions and what makes them what they are.
Here are a few examples of CD covers:
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As you can see from majority of the CD covers that I have analysed, majority of them focus on simplicity, mainly developing and conceptualising the centre image and the mast head. I will attempt to imply these techniques onto my own work to guarantee a successful CD cover that will promote the music video well, not just including simple images, but relevant ones that create symbolism in a connotation to the music video itself, similar to those of which I've analysed.
Update
As myself and Rachel have evaluated numerous ideas (look on the page with developing ideas), we decided to gain an insight to artists that have become successful within the genre of rock that mainly appeal to goths, rockers and emos. This is essential as I can then understand the rebellious attitude that comes along with this genre, so that this anarchist behaviour and overall mise-en-scene can be implicated through into my own music video, CD cover and promotional magazine poster. This is the research that I have managed to gain:
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From gaining the research above, I now realise that my models/actors must have a specific dress sense that mainly consists of black, yet this is not certain as the mise-en-scene will depend upon which area of rock that we will advance on music wise, then we can reflect this in to the visual aspect, creating a form of parallel sound.
