Purposes of music videos:
Music videos have many different purposes, below shows a spider diagram I made outlining some of the purposes of why an artist/band may make a music video to go alongside their song.
As shown above there are many different uses for music videos. One of the purposes that is becoming increasingly popular in modern days is synergy, which is when a song is used in a film and this is reflected in the video/song. A popular example of these songs would be Skyfall by Adele which was made for the movie James Bond: Skyfall. The idea of synergy is that as well as advertising the movie which the song will be used for, it also promotes the artist through the movie and through the song, as most of the songs that are used for movies are sang by popular well known artists. As well as in movies, songs have use in TV shows as well, for example the song 'I'll Be There For You' by The Rembrandts was used for the popular sitcom Friends, this song become more popular when it was used for the theme song for this sitcom. In the music video the band are shown singing with the Friends cast dancing and playing around them. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-gLRp5bSpw 21/04/2016 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6-c223DUU 21/04/2016 | Another reason music videos are made is often for promotion, many popular artists will work alongside less popular ones which helps the smaller bands/artists become better known. Or when two artists from different music genres feature in a song with one another, this often makes people watch the video/listen to the song as they're usually from very different genres and the target audience is increased. Potentially one of the most famous examples of this was the song called Airplanes which was released in 2010, the song was sung by B.o.B who is often known as a hip hop/pop artist, with Hayley Williams featuring in it. Hayley is a rock artist from a band called Paramore. This meant that the video attracted very different audiences and the video became very popular with 320 million views. |
Another reason an artist or band may make a music video is in aid of a charity. A good example of this is One Directions cover of One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks), the money they would usually have spent on a music video they gave to Sport Relief and went out to Africa to see how the money people donate is used, while they were out there they recorded a video to go with their song which shown them and some of the children in the areas where the Sport Relief charity helps children. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36mCEZzzQ3o 24/04/2016 |
Some artists make music videos as a way of getting their fans involved in the video. As artists wouldn't make money or be well known without their fans, often they will make videos at their concerts for one of their songs, this allows them to get their fans involved which makes their fans feel closer to them as artists. This also gives the artist/band a chance to 'give back' to their fans. A good example of a band/artist getting their fans involved of a video is Twenty One Pilots and their video for the cover of Can't Help Falling In Love. | |
| Another reason artists make music videos is to reflect back to the place where they originally came from/where their music career started out. Many artists do this as it helps them think back to where they came from and how they got to the place they are at now. They also do this to show their fans where they've came from and the journey they've been on since they started out as an artist. This gives them an opportunity to show their fans the journey they've been on as many people relate to an artist because of the journey they've been on and their music often reflects this. An example I've found of this is a song called Two Fingers by Jake Bugg...in the music video he goes back to Nottingham where he's from and spends time with old friends, this reflects on the songs lyrics. |
http://www.disruptivedigitalmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/mtv-logo.png 26/04/2016 | Entertainment plays a big part as to why bands/artists make music videos, there are many channels that solely show music videos, such as MTV and Viva etc. Without artists making videos these channels wouldn't have a place on television and therefore they wouldn't be able to make money. MTV has played a big part within the music industry and helping new musicians become better known, without the visuals of a song, the channel would just be like a radio station. It's important that artists continue to make the videos in order to promote themselves on things such as the television and for people who watch things such as MTV and Viva to give them entertainment. |
Music Video Deconstruction -
Halsey - Castle (The Huntsman: Winter's War Version): Style: Film Tie-In Explain your style choice/s: This song is from a movie and throughout the video we see small snippets of the film, The Huntsman: Winter's War, we can clearly see that this is what it is from by the use of scenery. It allows the film and artist to promote each other, the film by using parts of the film in the music video and the artist because it will be featured in the film so she will get recognition. What is the purpose? The purpose of the music video is for both promotional purposes of the artist and the film, this gives the audience a quick look at the film and the style of music within the film. As well as this it is also made for synergy, which is where songs are used within a film to create a bigger audience. Many people that enjoy a film often buy the soundtrack meaning the artist gets a bigger audience and some people that enjoy an artist that creates a song for a film will go and watch it. Identify, describe and explain the conventions used: Within the video there are many different conventions used, the lyrics of the video talk about a castle and how people are constantly trying to make her queen, but she doesn't want that. The lyrics also talk about how she is fed up of people trying to make decisions for her about her future and what she has got to do with her life. Identify, describe and explain the techniques used: At the start of the video there is a lot of low-key lighting, low-key lighting is used to create atmosphere during a video. As well as this, there are a lot of different camera shots throughout the video, ranging from long-shots to close-ups. As the video progresses the amount of close-ups increases, whereas at the start the shots mainly consist of mid-shots. Lip-sync is used throughout to make the singer, Halsey, appear like she is singing the song. About a quarter of the way through the video it cuts to a scene from the movie to add to the advertising of the movie that the song is from. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk0xkd8qs9I |
| Jessie J - Who's Laughing Now? Style: Postmodern Explain your choice of style/s: Within the video Jessie J plays many different characters, however all of the characters fit into the stereotype of what an average person sees such character as. To fit the stereotype of the people that they are trying to get across to the audience they over-exaggerate the appearance of the character by using hair and costume as the centre of focus. What is the purpose? Within the video Jessie J addresses issues such as bullying, the purpose is also for entertainment purposes as within the video the characters are over-exaggerated to create a better visual for the audience. However although the video is for entertainment it also has an important meaning behind it which is represented by visuals within the video. Identify, explain and describe the conventions used: There are many conventions used within the video, the lyrics for the song talk about when Jessie J was at school she was bullied for quite a lot of the time and is speaking to the people who bullied her and now want to be apart of her life. She is speaking to them people and saying "who's laughing now?" because of how far she's come despite people bullying her when she was younger. Identify, explain and describe the techniques used: The establishing shot of the video is a long shot showing the outside of a school which then cuts to a tracking shot of a girl walking down a school corridor. Within the video there are many close-up shots, mainly on other people within the video to show their significance to what is going on around them. The director of the video also chose to use tracking shots when the main focus of the video (Jessie J as a child) is walking down the corridors of the school. |
Moose Blood - Bukowski Style/s: In concert/post-modern Explain your choice of style/s: I have chosen these 2 styles as most of the video is filmed while Moose Blood were in concert, however there are also bits of the video where it cuts to the band doing everyday things and signs of Moose Blood's concert which is significant to them. What is the purpose? The purpose of the video is for entertainment purposes, as most of the video is of Moose Blood in concert or just being together as a band this also gives the fans of Moose Blood an insight as to what they do when they're not making music/in concert. Identify, describe and explain the conventions used: The lyrics of the song gives the feel that Eddy (the main singer of Moose Blood) feels confused by someone's absence from his life, hence the lyrics "I guess I'll never know why you closed the window". However the video doesn't reflect this, but overall the song is about somebody leaving and trying to change to make them see you as you were before. Identify, describe and explain the techniques used: Throughout the video it is mainly mid-long shots that are used, there is a couple of close-up shots used to show up close on something such as the drum kit at one point. The video doesn't really focus on them singing and it more shows places they've been, so lip-sync isn't really used throughout the video and green screening isn't used either. It is a range of video clips combined together made for a visual element of the song. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le5TRhx6uso 01/05/2016 |
Band Aid 30 - Do They Know It's Christmas? Style/s: Socially-conscious Explain your choice of style/s: I think this video would be a socially-conscious style as it is aimed at a sensitive subject that was directly affecting members of the world. When the ebola crisis came about this song was made to raise awareness and money for those people who had been affected by the disease or may become affected. What is the purpose? This video is for charity, as all of the donations from the video and sales of the single were donated to charity, as well as this it was to put a visual to the song, to increase the sales so the charity got more money and to raise more awareness, also it got a lot of artists involved that meant the song got more recognition. Identify, explain and describe the conventions used: The song is a remake of the 1984 hit single which was made for anti-famine efforts in Africa and surrounding areas, this song was remade to raise money for the ebola crisis that saw thousands of deaths across the African continent of the world. The lyrics are very hard hitting and talk about how the disease effected the people and how they probably don't even recognise Christmas because they had much bigger worries in their lives. Identify, explain and describe the techniques used: Throughout the video lip-sync was used as the majority of the video is of the artists singing the song, meaning that lip-sync would have been used to make it appear like they were singing while the video was being recorded. As well as this there was a range of different shots used, probably the best example is when they are singing the chorus and there is a long shot of all of the artists involved coming together to support the cause. At the start of the video there is a clip of some of the workers that were helping to stop the crisis to give more impact in the video. | |