What is a Music Video?
A music video is a short film or video clip integrating a song and imagery produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Music Videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device, intended to promote the sale of music recordings.
Andrew Goodwin (Theorist) - "Music videos are not primarily a commodity form but a promotional one."
This statement suggests that music videos are not a nesessity to go with songs but rather a piece of media that is solely there to promote the song and the artist.
Richard Dyer's Star Theory
Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are manufactured by institutions for financial gain. He proposes that stars are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions. Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose which is to make money out of an audience, who respond to various elements of a star’s personality by buying records and becoming fans, therefore increasing sales and furthering the stars and institutions power. The stars' role in this is to stay in the spotlight as much as they possibly can, they do this by trying to be innovative and keep the audiences interested.
Audience and Institutions
This area states that stars are only made for money purposes. This is done by increasing the exposure of a music artist for example, until they become a household name that is very well known, the institution can then use this to their advantage by increasing sales in every media platform they own, because of the exposure the star has.. The institution may then model the artist around the target audience they choose, therefore giving the audience exactly what they want, whilst the audience think they are coming up with new ideas.
Hegemony (Culture)
This is the idea that the audience can relate to the star because they have a feature that they may share or admire with the them. Some fans may even begin to copy the star by replicating what they wear and the way they act. This can have both positive and negative consequences. It is also nothing new, and has been happening since the dawn of the music industry, for example, back in the 60's, cannabis sales went up due to the fact that the beatles were open about using it. This gives the star power over their fans, and ultimately gives the institution the power overall. In the current generaton, the star is more easily able to convey what they want to say through media platforms such as TV and Social Media, this makes it easier for the fans to hear what they want to hear, and feel strongly connected with their favourite stars.
Music videos could also follow into this as it is another way to allow the stars to expose and promote themselves, but another medium in which they can communicate and influence their fans.
Music videos are generally divided into 3 categories, these are: Narrative, Performance and Conceptual.
Narrative: A narrative video is one that has a clear storyline or plot that the audience can follow. This is usually in the form of some kind of love story or even a struggle that someone may be going through. Narrative videos are most likely to be related to the lyrics of the song. In terms of trends, narrative videos are more commonly seen in the 'POP' genre. The most commonly made category of music video is a mixture of narrative and performance.
Performance: A performance music video is one in which the artist can be seen performing the song, this could include footage of concerts and past gigs, but the footage is usually made specifically for the video. Performace music videos are mainly used by bands as they are percieved to have more "Raw Talent" and so displaying this in their music videos allows them to showcase their talent. This type of video is mostly seen in the 'Rock' genre as there are more instruments used, and this includes 'Alterntive', 'Indie', 'Folk' and many more.
Conceptual: A conceptual music video is a video that tries to make the audience experience emotions, which emotions, however, is usually decided by the audience themselves. Conceptual videos have no real theme and are therefore open to interpretation, they are usually confusing and disorientating and may appear to make no sense. The video is most likely to be made up of short clips and montages, and can range from being very bright and colourful, to dark and gloomy. There are a wide range of genres that use conceptual music vidoes, ranging from 'Hard Rock' and 'Metal' to 'Electric' music and even 'Jazz'.
Below are 5 music videos that are all of different genres, they are also all different types of videos that have used a wide range of techniques and the format for each also differs to suit the catergory it is in.
(Song - Artist)
Gold On The Ceiling - The Black Keys
Gold On The Ceiling is a song by The Black Keys, it was released in 2012 in the album "El Camino". This song is of the 'Rock' genre, mainly 'Garage, Blues and Glam' meaning that it requires instruments such as Guitars, Drums, Bass etc. As mentioned above, the majority of 'Rock' songs have performance based music videos, and this one is no different. Througout the video the band can be seen performing, and the setting is of a concert, possibly a past one. This helps promote the band due to them being seen as open and talented, with nothing to hide. It is easy to see that the band is being promoted in the video in subtle ways, a case can be seen showing "The Black Keys" and this links up with Goodwin's theory that these videos are merely to promote the artist. In addition to this, the audience in the video all seem to be enjoying themselves and further help to create an atmosphere that is fun, thereby giving proof of their quality. At some point it could be mistaken for a narrative, such as the beginning, however, no one is introduced or focused on and so this is unlikely to to be classed as a narrative. It strongly follows the conventions of a 'Rock' music video by mostly focusing on the band and the effect they have on their fans, this could convince the audience to follow the artist with more interest, and so the video will have served its purpose.
I Really Like You - Carly Rae Jepsen
I Really Like you is a song by Carly Rae Jepsen, it was released in early 2015 in the album "Emotion". The genre of this song is 'POP', specifically, 'Dance POP and synthPOP' and the video is mostly a narrative with some characteristics of a performance video. The video is lip-synced which means that the people are not singing but miming the lyrics, in this case, it is used for a humorous purpose. The man in the video is famous actor Tom Hanks, he lip-syncs the majority of the video and because the song is originally sang by a female, this is where the humour aspect comes in. The video could be considered a narrative as it follows Hanks' character throughout his routine for that day, he becomes the character the audience grow familiar with. It could also be seen as a performance video due to the fact that choreography is still involved and the characters still lip-sync the lyrics. The appearance that Tom hanks makes could be strongly linked to Richard Dyer's star theory. Both Hanks and Carly Rae Jepsen are trying to stay in the spotlight, in this case by working together to promote themselves to each of their fan bases and ultimately to a wider audience. The video somewhat follows the conventions of a 'POP' video but has a twist with the lip-syncing and the humorous aspect, and also with the appearance of a famous film star.
On Top Of The World - Imagine dragons
On Top Of The World is a song by Imagine Dragons, it was released in 2013 in the album "Night Visions". This song is a 'Folk-POP' song that has some elements of rock in it. The video is mostly a narrative but during the second half, turns into a performance type, which is typical for a song of this genre. The video is heavily focused in the 60's. There is a lot of intertextuality in the video also, such as references to the conspiracy theory that the moon landings were faked with the help of film director Stanley Kubrick. The Beatles are also heavily referenced as the band members imitate their walk across the zebra crossing. The video also references the rumour that Paul McCartney dies in 1966 and was replaced with a look-alike. The first half of the video is all narrative as 4 different members from different houses get ready to go to space. The video is bright and colourful and this is normal for a song of this genre. The second half of the video shows the band performing in front of screaming fans. They are wearing astronaut suits at the time and Richard Nixon is watching. In terms of Goodwins theory, they are promoting themselves by displaying their music in a different time period and still people like it. The video follows a few conventions such as the performance aspect, but the narrative and the intertextuality is unique for a music video.
Take Me To Church - Hozier
Take Me To Church is a song by Hozier, it was released in September 2013 as a single debut song. This song is a mixture between Indie Rock, Soul and Blues. The video is completely narrative, although it has been mistaken for a conceptual video at times, it has been confirmed that it is a narrative and tells a story. Due to the grey sepia effect that covers the whole video, it can be instantly seen to have a serious tone. The video shows two men who are part of a same sex relationship in Ireland, who exprience a violent backlash when the homophobic community learn of their relationship. No one is seen singing or lip-syncing throughout the video and only the characters are seen. There are a lot of moving shots and the main focus of the video is that it is supposed to go with the lyrics. The genre of the song is rather unusual in the sense that it is a combination of 3 obscure ones. Therefore it is hard to say if it follows conventions, however, there is no sign that makes it look like the video is promoting the artist, although the song and video may be filled with the artists beliefs and worries, there is no indication or presence of the artist at all in the video. In this way it does not follow convention and sets it apart in that area, as most music videos either have the artist the main focus of the video, or at least a part of it.
Weapon Of Choice - Fatboy Slim
Weapon Of Choice is a song by Fatboy Slim, it was released in 2001 in the album "Halfway Between The Gutters And The Stars". This is a 'House/Big Beat song. The video is conceptual as it has no observable purpose. This video also starrs another famous actor, this time it's Christopher Walken. Instead of lip-syncing, this video simply has him dancing energetically in a big empty hotel lobby. The songs lyrics have no connection to the video and it seems like it was just done for humour purposes. However, conceptual videos do have some meaning, it just may be that the audience don't know it. The artist himself has said that the video makes sense to him and does have a meaning that only a few people wil understand. With most conceptual videos, it is left open to interpretation so the viewer decides what it means, and this video seems to follow that convention. As with the Carly Rae Jepsen video featuring Tom Hanks, this one is also humorous, other than that, the video does not offer much analysis due to its simplicity and conceptuality.
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Sweet Emotion is a song by Aerosmith, it was released in 1975 in the album "Toys In The Attic". The music video however, was released in 1991. This song is from the 'Hard Rock' genre. The music video alternates between narrative and performance. When the video was first released it sparked a lot of controversy, the video depicts a phone sex conversation between a "26 year old" male and an "attractive young woman" this is later revealed to be false as the male is actually a teenager and the female is an overweight mother who is ironing whilst talking. The whole idea is a reference to the 1983 film Risky Business. Between parts of the phone conversation, the band can be seen performing in a basement, which further fuels the convention about 'Rock' music videos and the artists desire to portray their talent. The video is considered a narrative due to the fact that there is some sort of explanation of a story during the conversation. The performance aspect of the video is usually when there are longer notes to sing and the audience may think that this is more impressive. It strongly follows the conventions of a video of the genre, however the plot of the video is extremely unique.