Research: The purpose of a music video

what is a music video?

A music video is a short film integrating a song and visuals, they’re mainly produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s.

Conventions & elements of a music video:

A music video contains a number of different elements:

•  Performance based music videos.  This is when the artist or group performing in the music video.
•  narrative based music video. This is when some form of story is being portrayed to the audience
• Thematic music video. This is where the artist priorities the music and song over the lyrics.
• Symbolic music video. This is where a particular music video is based around a conspiracy theory or religion.
• Visually stylish. ‘ Artistic’ and the use of Mise en scene, costume, body language etc.
• Rhythmic
• Experimental, yet there is conventional use of camera/editing
• pace
• Lighting

A classic purpose of any music video would be to entertain the audience. By having a music video, the artist offers a extra feel to the song by adding visuals and therefore entertaining the audience.

A music video would also be a marketing tool to promote the artist or song in order to gain popularity. The reasons behind a music video could be that there could be high demand for the making of a music video following the song being released beforehand.

This is a music video by the artist Chris brown. The incredible visuals and creative choreography throughout the video enhances the entertainment purpose of the song and also the lyrics are being mirrored through the video. The music video also related perfectly to the flow of the song as the action is upbeat as well as the audio. By entertaining an audience its a simple way to market the song as they are more likely to buy the record because of the entertaining visuals.

Many other artists use music videos to express their image/personality. In these kind of music videos the lyrics do not exactly have to match the visual as their costume, body language,facial expressions and actions can all represent their image.

Tyler the creators music video shows his wild unusual personalities also featuring friends from his group odd future. By creating videos like these it allows the audience to feel more connected to him as a fan. furthermore by releasing a video like this and showing off his personalities it makes him special and different as an artist which can be seen as his unique selling point.

furthermore there are also artist who use music videos to connect to their political or religious views. Many of these videos would be so controversial, that they wouldn't make it on TV or become mainstream because many people would be against it.

Lowkey is an artist who is against the united states government therefore he uses his lyrics to express his opinions. The visuals in the music video can also help us understand exactly what he mean in his lyrics as he says "is it Obama nation or an abomination" whilst saying this he shows the USA attacking other countries. his video are also less likely to become mainstream because most people who listen to rap prefer to hear about cars, women and lust however because he is a controversial artist he will have a much smaller audience.

Synergy

Synergy is the strategy of synchronising and actively forging connections between directly related areas of entertainment for an overall outcome. It is when promotion on different media platforms occurs. A music video is one strand of this. Music videos play a massive part within Synergy as it allows an audience to be attracted therefore giving it success. radio interviews, film soundtrack also allow the song to be promoted.

Audiences Impact

The audience also play a big part within music videos as it is the audience who are left to watch these videos of our favourite artists and decide on whether they deserve success and further on ratings.

Technological Advancements

With technology advancing year by year, the future of music videos is very bright. Music videos are now filmed using the latest high definition cameras and are directed by famous directors who put time and effort in these videos which are now being made into short films for the audiences approval and excitement.

The use of a director help to create an interesting narrative around an artist single which can then be used by others such as; commercials, blockbuster films etc.

Technologies are often seen as a threat by copyright owners because they encourage piracy by making digital copies easier to obtain. In response, major record companies have come up with new devices designed to protect original material, and lobbied to reinforce legal protection.

Conclusion

Identifying the purpose of a music video has allowed me to start thinking of the planning stage in which i will attempt to create a conventional music video. This research has allowed me to come familiar with the different conventions in which allows a music video to be successful. I've also learned how to use the use of different micro-elements to change the audiences perception of the music video in hope to make them feel differently about it.