Music videos have a lot of techniques in them; the techniques can work well with them or fail and not work well. Using techniques like having lots of cuts makes sure that while the viewers are enjoying the video they either are completely focused on the video by making the camera change or switch between shots or also they music video can create emotions that will effect the viewer.
Large number of cuts
Most music videos have a change from one camera on one side of the stage to another camera on another part of the stage, aka a cut, this is used to keep the audience interested as if the music video was in the space and didn't move, not a lot people would like it but this could be wrong as 'Lazy song, (Bruno Mars) ' has got over 400 million views on YouTube so far. The technique is used in most video, and most songs have over 100 cuts, which is about 2 cuts per second. For example Bruno Mars - treasure has about 150 cuts in the whole song as it too cuts twice every second, I think that the intended effect was to try and go with the beat as at almost every beat there was a cut. The technique worked well as it looked really cool and fit in well. The impact it has on the viewer is helps them keep to the beat, and it keeps the audience engaged in the music video.
A song that doesn't to this well as they don't have many cuts in the video is candy by Robbie Williams, this song has about 60 cuts in the song, so that's about half a cut a second, this uses pans instead of cut, The impact on the on the viewer is a point of view so they feel like they are in the music video. The song helps Robbie Williams to show off his talents.
Special effects
Special effects in a music video are things that are unnatural like smoke and mirrored effects this is done, for mirrors as there is only on artist and they may want to add more than one, for example Outkast- Hey Ya has more than one André 3000 (the singer) as he is copied so be can pretend to be all eight members of The Love Below group. This effect makes the audience think 'wow, this is really cool and high tech,' bearing in mind this song came out in late 2003 and was really cool at the time. At 1:30 the camera zooms out and all of the band is shown.
Cutting to the beat
Cutting to the beat is when a cut a happens as soon as there is a beat yet doesn't over cut the song which doesn't make the song look cool, it keeps the audience up with beat. A song that does this well is Rizzle Kicks -Down With The Trumpets as it cuts to the beat sometimes as keeps this going and keeps the song seem different and unique. It represent the artist be making them seem more interesting and engaging. Not a lot of songs do not cut to the beat. This happens a lot like a 1:04 in the song.
Varied camera Language
This is when there are different camera angles for example a high angle, a low angle, a close up,a bird's-eye view and a worm's-eye view. This is used to make the music video look different and not be the same angle each time, this also is used to show if the artist wants so seem small as if they were a child or a make themselves seem bigger as if they we're an adult, using the technique can make the audience like they are in the music video and are older/younger than the artist. For example in the song Kanye West - Runaway, he is seen from a high angle a couple of times, this is used to make the audience feel strong and for him to seem weak and that they are looking 'down' on him. This works for Kanye west as he is in the song, was having thoughts about his old relationships. A song that doesn't have a varied camera angles is Eminem - Slim Shady. This song uses the same few shots from 40 seconds in.
Green screen
Green screen in a music video are things that are unnatural like someone dancing in space. This is done so that they filming crew doesn't have to go far away to film anything because they can just use a green screen, a blue (or green) background in front of which moving subjects are filmed and which allows a separately filmed background to be added to the final image which doesn't cost much to set up and can be done by anyone. A song that does this is Kanye West - Bound 2 as they use a green screen for the background. The effect it has on the audience is that it makes the audience believe that the artist is where they are pretending to be. In this song uses the green screen to show that he is riding a motorbike and switches between him driving alone then cuts to him with Kim Kardashian sitting in front of him. A song that doesn't do this well is Kanye West - Bound 2 because it is pretty obvious he is in a green screen as no one can drive a motorbike and look at a woman sitting in front of them without crashing, a song that actual does this well is Diane Birch - Valentino.
Lip-syncing
Lip-syncing is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. The term can refer to any of a number of different techniques and processes, in the context of live performances and recordings. In the case of live concert performances, lip-syncing is a commonly used shortcut, but it can be considered controversial, it is also used if the artist/singer has lost/hurt their voice. Most music videos are lip-synced so because the artist/band may not have the passion they had before when making the song for the first time. An artist, in my opinion that does this the worst is lady gaga - Poker face as she doesn't really show off her talents but the best would be Lloyd - Dedication To My Ex (Miss That), He really shows the audience his talents even through lip syncing.
In this section I will be going over the different music conventions, an example, an explanation and animation pact on audio audience of style. Animation Animation is when a music video is created using images being created and then recreated only being changed slightly and continued, when played it images will look like they are moving. An example of this would be move your feet junior senior as they use animation throughout the whole video.
The reason this is done is because the artist may not want to be seen and/or they feel like they are ugly and also they may not think they appeal to the song and the record label could ask they to be animated. For example in the same song the artist duo is represented as cartoon man and kid. But in real life they much older. This is because it is such animated and energetic song that 2 grown men may not have been right for it. The song uses this convention well as it keeps to a silly 8 bit cartoon feel which suits the song pretty well.
As - live
As live is when a music video is a concert but it is fake, this is done to make the artist/band more appealing to their audience, the song usually has the artist and/or band on a stage dancing, playing their instruments and singing (lip-syncing). This is done in the music video, Outkast - Hey ya, through out the video the artist plays most of the instruments and dances around and it is staged as a concert and at the same time being filmed and being shown on television, the music video featured a live performance by a band, all eight of whose members are played by André 3000, which was to mimick the Beatles' 1964 performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Narrative
Narrative is when there is a story line to the song and this can get the viewers involved and actually make them care fro the actor/artist. this is done in bob - magic as we see him in a story line.The story is simple, B.o.B the artist is trying to wake himself up from a dream. He was also performing with rivers cuomo in the video on a stage at a wild party. In addition, Paul Iacono from the MTV show The Hard Times of RJ Berger is featured dancing on stage. The video was directed by Sanaa Hamri.
Intertextuality
This is when a music video uses idea/footage from another form of media e.g. animation and movies.This is used in a song called Pokemon 'catchatronic', in the music video all of the shots/scenes is from the animated show and continuously using them and making a song that has over 1 million views on YouTube. The song is done well as through out all most all the voice and sound effects are from the show which reminds the viewers of the different scenes of the show and make them want to re-watch the episode earning the company even more money.
Interpretative
Interpretative is when lyrics match up to some degree of the lyrics, for example if the artist says 'Catching that cat down the road,' then you would see him running down the road catching, in the song slim shady- Eminem, what ever he sings about, it comes up on the video. At 03:16 eminem says 'He could be working at Burger King, spitting on your onion rings,' and on the screen he does exactly what he said. Then at 3:18 he says 'Or in the parking lot, circling,' and again he is coping the lyrics and projecting them onto the screen, The reason this is done is so that the viewer can have a better visual representation of whats happening so they can remember that scene a lot more.
Impressionist
This is when a music video's images match the mood and/or the pace of the song but does however match the lyrics. This is done so that the song doesn't just seem like an ordinary song and so that the music video can be a hot topic for viewers to talk about as they then after hearing the song thinking its going to have a music video based on how the song sounds so if the song is slow paced then the viewer thinks the music video is going to be slow paced but instead have a random unique music video like the one below. In this song (firefly by owl city), the mood is kind of childish and the lyrics use larger words that a child would not know or know of. The song
Surrealism/abstract
This is when a music video have an element of surprise and becomes unexpected. This is done to make the audience through word of mouth tell their friends/family about the surprise and make them watch it, and then the loop continues for a very long time, till everyone hears about it. In the music video wreaking ball by Miley Cyrus, before watching the music video the song sound pretty normal but after seeing it the music video then becomes a topic that everyone talks about as it spreads via mouth to mouth and social networking sites like facebook and twitter.
The purpose of a music video is to earn money from the song, and also create a feeling so it leaves you remembering the song and if the song is narrative, to give the listener a better understanding of the song, it is also to give a visual representation of an artist. For example just listening to a song like I need a dollar by Aloe Blacc you would just think the song is about a man who is on his last legs and has no money and he tries to get somewhere,where as instead of his travels to las vegas showing him doing multiply thing including him thinking about what he has done, finally after hitching a ride the makes his way to las vegas, he finds a dollar coin on the floor and spends it on a slot machine and wins, the story line relates to the video as the video.
Music video meanings
Some music videos have no meaning but it random, gangnam style was a huge song as no knew what it meant as it was in Korean which made it even better when a English copy came out and everyone listened to it over and over again, but everyone could do the famous dance that Park Jae-sang (Psy) does and made him the 'King of YouTube'. The biggest reason this song was so famous was because of the dance, the dance made it's way into every bar, party and club as it was easy to do and everyone knew it. The Music video i
Promote a new music video.
Some artist promote their/other music videos that are coming out in the near future. Lots of artist/bands are born from social networking sites such as twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Myspace. Lots of artist became big such as the arctic monkeys on Myspace, Rebecca Black on YouTube or lady gaga on twitter, one of the biggest celebs on twitter, with more that 40 million followers,
She tweets about gigs and albums she or people she likes's albums, she does this so she can, get lots of fans in the UK the retweet this as she says UK monsters which is where they live.
A tweet from lady gaga
Video release event
Sometimes the video release can become an event in itself. For example Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' was a huge deal when it came out and has over 150 million views on you tube, the song thriller was the 1st song to be a 13 minute short film and was like a story that intrigued the audience.
Fanbases
Other artist use the internet to raise awareness for area the artist is unknown in. this could get them more views and more fan and ever create a fan base.For example Arctic monkeys, a band from Sheffield used Myspace to become famous by word of mouth, (Passing information from person to person by talking) used Myspace to connect with people out side England like the USA and Japan.
To create a visual representation of an artist
This allows an artist to be seen whilst not actually performing. A song like this is would be Kingdom skank by Gunva B. This is done if the artist does not want to be seen and possible prejudged.
Different emotions
The reason the artist does this is because they may want the listeners to have a different emotion to the song and see the artist for what they really are. They also enhance the artist's band's representation as all you can hear is them.Using this method could could communicate the energetic and styles of the artist.
A song that does this would be moves like Jagger, he puts 110% in this song.
Reinvent Themselves
Using different emotions, the artist can really reinvent themselves, for example Miley Cyrus when from being a star on Disney channel, a kid's TV channel to dancing around practically naked on YouTube, in her song Wreaking ball at 42 seconds into the song. This is done by making a music video as different to what the media know them to be as possible, so they can attract a newer audience, so for Miley Cyrus this could attract more mature teenagers instead of the young kids around 9 years old.
Some artists try to appeal as being even more talented with their songs Bruno Mars does this well in his song, 'when I was your man.' He showed the whole world that a song could be amazing just on piano and brought a whole generation into loving piano and playing his song on their home pianos.
To create synergy with other media sectors
Some music videos even become so huge that TV shows copy them or makes jokes about them. One example would be American dad, a show about a father who works in the C.I.A, Stan and his son Steve do the thriller dance In the episode May the Best Stan Win This could mean that that song with over 150 million views is so big that they had to dance to it.
Another example would be the Simpsons,(an American adult animated sitcom created by Matt Groening that has been been running for 25 years as of 2014), In the episode 'behind the laughter,' they sang the song boogie and made up a remix for it, and used it twice using the same lyrics but just adding Christmas in the respective places.
Leading to darker places
The music video may also leap into being about darker things such as rape, drugs, suicide, Bulling and love/lust. The artist does this so that the audience and get a different perspective on what is happening. a song that does this is superchick by hero as the song is about bulling.
To be art in their own right
The music video can be become memorable and even be more remember than the song come times. an example is again Miley Cyrus, as her wrecking ball music video is a big video on YouTube at the moment and many people listen to the song, the video idea then becomes an idea for others to use as they're own videos like coping the video on a webcam website like omegle.com.
Product Placement
The music video could also pioneer a new use for technology, This is called product placement, or embedded marketing, this is any form of visual commercial communication consisting of the inclusion of or reference to a product, a service or the trade mark thereof so that it is featured within a program". Product placement stands out as a marketing strategy because it is imperative to attach the utmost importance to "the context and environment within which the product is displayed or used This could as simple as using the item in the video , for example blurred lines had beats pills through out the song and that convinced a lot of fans to go buy the beats pills to listen to the song.
A 1 Direction toy at Argos
Other Some Music video are frequently played to keep the artist in the public eye so that they can sell more products like CDs and toys or other products endorsed by the artist. This can be used to increase the fan base and to earn a lot of money as the product are usually brought and can be quite expensive. For example this is a one direction toy from Argos which cost 70 pound usually. Having a product like that would make a lot of fans want to buy it, to show their loyalty to the artist.
Story lines
A lot of music video have a story to them, this is to interest the viewer and make them what to know what/why this is happening to the actor/artist.The story line could involve the artist in any way the director of the music video would like to, meaning the video could end up with the main character passing away or having a happy ending, In the music video for Trouble Maker by Olly Murs, is about him randomly constantly running into the same girl again and again, while she tries to keep her jobs but losing them for disagreement on how customers should be treated, the music video uses a story to keep the viewers watching the music video as the artist makes money from the views that the channel gets.
Here I will be talking about the different music video outlets; this will include; mainstream TV, music channels, direct CD/special edition CD/DVDs release, streaming websites, artist website and downloads. I will talk about them in detail and go over what the pros and cons they have. Mainstream TV Mainstream TV is TV channels such as channel 4 which is free for the general public.
Mainstream TV
Channel 4's Logo
Here are some pros and cons about mainstream TV.
First of all everyone can see it by this I mean that anyone in the UK can turn on a TV and watch channels 1 to 5 practically for free.
Another pro would be that the channels have easy access and they have a lot of viewers, this is because everyone who has a TV can watch it.
A pro for maybe parents would be that all the music in clean so there would be no foul language and/or images of a sexual nature.
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft. T.I., Pharrell
But nothing is perfect in this world so here are a couple of cons.
First of all Technology has evolved a lot from what it was, before there was 5 channels but now there’s over 900 different channels showing different content such as movies and kids TV shows this means that the first 4 channels could be come obsolete as there are not really any Music programs on them as they have split and became there own shows. Also there are adverts about other shows on that channel or other products/services and the songs they do play not be the full version or may be the clean version and cut out some of the song.
And lastly the song/channel maybe not be available.
Music channels
Music channels like 4 music and Box are channels that play music as shows and usually require a TV box that cost money to keep. A good thing about music channels is that they don't have many adverts about music and they don't really play cuss versions of songs rather they play the clean versions. Another fault the music channels have is that they cost money to watch, meaning that the viewers are obligated to play for something they may not watch everyday.
Box Television channel.
Directs CD/special edition CD/DVD
Direct CD/special edition CD/DVD releases this is any DVD that has music videos on it. For example 'Pop party' Cd's come with a DVDs that plays the music videos.
A good thing about this is that there would no adverts are extra content.
a con about it would be that they cost money to buy and can be scratched to a point of they not working and not being able to used.
Streaming websites like YouTube let the user watch full music videos and such, because of this CD's become outdated as they cost money while as Streaming does not (most of the time). These can be good just to stream them but can be bad as they could have adverts/pop ups and cant show all images of a sexual nature. A pro of it is that the user can watch lots of them for free and can be re watched.
Pop party 7 case
Pop party 7 disk
Artist's websites
Artist's website is a website that is all about an artist such as Jessie j and Chris brown, a pro of these websites are that they are usually free and can be watched by everyone but they have ads and can try to force the user for the website.another pro is that they are of a high quality. Also the artist uses their website so they play their song and not have to pay money from Mainstream TV or CDs. This is Selena Gomez's website, on this the user can listen on her music for free as many times as you want.
Selena Gomez's website
Downloads!
Downloads are when the music videos is got legally e.g. iTunes or illegally through websites like YouTube converters.A pro would be that they are free (illegally) and can be a high quality but the legal way cost money. A con would also that an illegal way could land they user in jail and could be a bad quality.
The best way to watch music videos would be on streaming as it is practically free and could be a good quality.
On the left is a you tube converter website and on the right is the iTunes. iTunes is the best legal way to get music. youtubeinmp4.com is the best way to get music videos and the MP3 versions of the songs, this in my opinion is the best way to get music for free.
Youtubeinmp4.com
I Tunes (downloaded version)
Streaming
The impact that streaming has made on mainstream TV is that it is quicker to do as you can just type in a song and it will come up as a posed to waiting for it to come on mainstream TV but downloads have one upped streaming websites as instead of having to actual go on the website the user can just download it off the internet/iTunes for free/ small fee. CDs had made an impact on mainstream TV as there again is no need to wait when you could just listen to the song over and over again but CDs were blown out of the way when the artist's website started populating the internet letting the user listen to the song over and over again.
