Assignment Understanding Music Videos

Understanding Music Videos

Task 1

Purposes:

 The purposes of music videos is to either tell a story or to get a point across to other people. They are also made to promote a certain or a few products to help the brand along with their products selling. They even have merchandise to sell of their own so making the music video with the merchandise in would maybe boost their income.   

Promotional 

Justin Bieber (Never say never)

Promotional music videos are used to promote. Promotion is used to sell the song which is used to provoke a reaction so that the audience will remember the song. In this music video its Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith singing/ rapping together. In between different bits of the song it shows a film called Karate Kid, which stars Jaden smith in. This is promoting the film and includes a song which will be remembered as its ironic to the film.

This is another sort of promotion included in a music video. In this music video it's promoting the Dr. Dre Beat headphones. Dr. Dre was with Death Row records but then they decided to leave. They then founded in an Aftermath Entertainment. After that a new joint venture with Interscope. In 2008 Dr.Dre had introduced Beats electronics. They introduced Beats headphones, earphones and speakers. They used their products in the music video because it's brand new product with the headphones being wireless. They do this so that they can promote that product in a different way along side doing an advert for those products.

Included in this music video Puma shoes are shown a couple of times during the dancing scenes of the video. This is promoting their brand new shoes that they bought out in the making of the music video. Puma would of asked them and paid them to include the shoes in the video for promotion. All of this is called product placement.   

Income

The more views it gets on YouTube for  example will earn more money. From selling the music on iTunes or selling the CD's instore. They would get roughly 75% profit from whatever they make from iTunes. Michael Jackson Thriller had over $500 million sales. From this Michael Jackson had over $120 million from the sales. The purpose for income is so that the artist can expand on what they can do next for maybe their next album or single. It can also boost the confidence up for the artist to carry on what they are doing.

Outlets

For the music video to be played on a music channel or any other channel their company who made the music video would have to pay the music or other channels for the song to be played on their channel. This is also classed as promotion for the music video so more people would listen to it and download it. Some people don't just like the artist, they may like watching the video maker to see what else they have produced. The video makers would usually make different editions to attract new people for a wider audience.
  Once a video has been officially made public, it can spread to other people. For example, someone can like a video on Facebook which has a YouTube link which you could click on. This could lead for them to look at the other things that have been produced on YouTube to see how good they are. This would possibly make a wider audience for that artist. YouTube is an easier way to watch videos from.
  Eventually making a DVD of the band or artist would make a wider audience for people who collect or are the fans of the band or artist. More downloads would be possible from the album and DVD they have made. Meaning more sales, more money.

Synergy

This music video is synergy because synergy is when two companies combine to make a video. One of the examples for synergy is a music video which may have been made to increase the publicity for a film for example (James Bond Spectre). If the film is successful it will increase the sales of the song and soundtrack. From it being Synergy that's starring in it with a popular music video would help to maybe expand their audience and could possibly increase themselves in the industry.   

Producers' Strategies

Major Label will help the bands/singers a lot more than if they were independent. For example if they went away on tour, the record companies would promote them by using their music videos.
Before making any music video, the producers will do audience research to figure how to market it and how likely it would be to be successful. Usually the producer would help to fund for the music video when they have a full understanding of what direction they are going in. The producer would also make sure the video is released where and when to make it more successful. Usually the producer may include product placement or references to popular culture. Usually its more successful when the producer has strong ideas for backing up a video.  

Task 2

Most artists have a particular style of music video and have to chose what style would be used to fit into their song.

Animation

This is the music video for King of  my Castle by Wamdue Project. The style of this video is animation throughout the video. We don't see the artist performing and there's no footage of themselves. This video can be considered as Japanese anime and from comics called Manga. The song is quite old but people who watch anime would be interested in watching it and people who listen to that sort of music would make it have a wider audience. As its an older song people who are currently in there late 30's early 40's would listen and know the words to these songs.

    Techniques:

• Special effects- Such as turning it into anime to target more people as anime is becoming a popular thing.
• Camera angles- Have been used in the video and also shots. There is close ups, mid-shots and wide shots.   

Live Performance

https://youtu.be/eOofWzI3flA

The style of this music video is that it is live. It includes himself (Skillex) at the start preparing for the night time showing at a club. He then puts on a live performance for everyone showing what is would look like if you was actually there. It gets the reaction of the crowd and it also shows Skrillex behind the DJ stand. The style of the music video is that it includes alcohol and has used locations for party or clubs which have been used to style Skrillex video.

   Techniques:

• Camera angles/Camera shots/Camera movements - When a camera movement took place you were able to see all the angles of the scene surrounding Skrillex. For example you were able to see him on the DJ and then see the reaction of the crowd in front with the camera movements. The music was a faster pace in the middle of the song so different shots were shown quicker. At the start of the music video the pace of the song it slower than it is in the middle of the song so the shots were slower and longer to watch. Also you get the build up of everything at the start to what is turns into in the chorus with the faster beat.
•  Special effects- There was no lip syncing involved as the whole video is like a vlog of what he did during the day and night. It feels more realistic that way. They use a fish bowl camera lens to fit more into the shot. Special effect were added to the night time bits. The editing made the heads turn quick and they used a multi-image to add effect. 

Parody

In this music video it take the original song and then changes the lyrics to make it more humorous. This is so they can take the mick of out the song and the actions they may do in the original music video. Key of awesome changed the lyrics to what he thinks the dancers would be feeling and acting so they reenact the dances and action in the original video. He sings about what he thinks of the song himself.

   Techniques: 

• Camera shots-  The camera shots used were wide shots, long shot, mid shot and close up shots.
•  There were different camera angles used as there is a part where the guy lip syncing while led on the floor and there also dancers which are dancing in the background of the video but far away.
•  The effects used in the music video was when the karate man was talking to the guy led on the floor telling him what to do. Only his face was shown next to the guys head.
• Lighting- The lighting for the whole video is really bright as it is set in a white and well lit room.  

Pastiche 

In this music video they created a unique music video. Its pastiche because nothing has changed in the lyrics but is a comedy music video for people to watch. Not what normal people would do in those situations. Robin Schulz doesn't show up on the video as he's a Dj and most DJ's feat someone to be in there videos. Most of their music videos are normal and no so crazy as this one so its not there typical video they would make. Unlike Oliver Heldens, which he makes crazy music videos all the time. Not one video is made by Oliver that isn't crazy.  

   Techniques used in the music video were different camera angle and shots, lip-syncing and camera movements. At the start of the video the guy featuring (Francesco Yates) was shown while lip syncing the words to the first bit of the music. It then cuts to a police officer sat in his car also lip-syncing the words as he driving along. The camera shot of that is the camera is shooting from the bonnet of his car pointing into the car. What the police officers doing while driving is not normal. It occasional goes back to the guy stood there singing. Close ups, mid shots, wide shots are used in the video.   

Narrative 

This music video is a narrative because the video is giving you a story that also goes with the song. In the video it shows the breakdown of relationships which sometimes includes domestic violence. This kind of video would be based on a true story from peoples past or current relationships. In the video there is a meaning in the lyrics. Rihanna "Just gonna stand there and watch me burn," From this, the video cuts to a girl sitting there in a room who is set on fire, using computerized effects to cause this to happen.

Techniques:

• Camera shots- The shots are dark as everything is down. There references to domestic violence which is a down subject to talk about. Mid shots close ups and wide shots are used in the music video.
• Camera angles/movements- The movements are quick to make it have more of an effect and showing the audience how tense domestic violence can be. Side view and behind the head views are used to show it from different points of view.
• Lip syncing- Rihanna and Eminem both lip-sync their bit of the song as they are both featured in it including shots of couples who are going through domestic violence. The character acting also use some of the lyrics to make it more effective. For example when Eminem raps, the women says "Im leaving you" and the man reply's "No you ain't".
• Lighting- The lighting for the whole video is dark as its a dark subject to talk about.

Homage

Homage is similar to homage but homage is used to show respect or tribute to something. Tonight, tonight by the smashing pumpkins made this music video to pay respect to George Melies early silent film, The Voyage to the moon. Tonight, tonight includes a similar narrative to the film with the face in the moon and the aliens who blow up next to hot characters.

Techniques:

• Camera angles/ Movement- There's close up, mid shots and wide shots included in the video. They are quick moving videos like they are in the film The Voyage to the moon.
• Lighting- Its quite a dull music video but camera back when George Melies made the film wouldn't of had the setting button to change the exposure etc.
• Special effects- They used some sort of cut out for the boat/ plane that was flying into the sky at the start. They changed the singer to make him fade in the sky and some sort of green screen would of been added to some parts of the video. For example when the people jump out of the plane/ boat the background is dropping with them to make it look like they are falling at high speed.
• Lip-syncing- Lip sync is always used when the singer is shown in the music video.

Surrealists

Take on me

Surreal music video are videos that are so strange you don't know whether to believe its real or not.

   Techniques:

• Camera angles- The camera angles used are mid-shot, close-up and wide shots.
• Camera movement- There is a part where they are both looking into the mirror one is a real image and the others not, its drawn. The camera then swing round 180 degrees to swap the person with the real image into a drawn image.
• Lip-syncing- Lip syncing is only used a few times within the music video with the man singing in the mirror to the women.  
• Cutting to the beat- When the beat gets faster the drawings get faster and so do the real life shots to make it more enjoyable to watch.

The video is different and is unique so I think it would be more successful than others.

The lyrics "Take on me" meaning he wants you to take him on so he can show you what he is like. This is shown in the music video when the police are chasing after him. He has confidence.  

Interpretive

Rihanna (Russian Roulette)

An interpretive music video means something that looks like something else in a different meaning. The producers of the interpretive music video want the audience to make their own interpretation of what they think the music video is about. The song is called Russian Roulette. This gives the audience a clue of what the song is about. The video shows a women (Rihanna) being locked in A Russian prison and with that happening the guards aren't that nice to her. This gives the audience different interpretation of what could be happening but they can decide what they thing is actually happening. They also don't have a clear understanding why she is there and where she is. 

    Techniques:

• The camera shots/angles- They  repeated a lot using the Mid-shots, close-ups and wide shots. The angles in the video make it very tense and gives a creepy side to it alongside with the camera movements used. Its a slow movement but sometimes its speeded up to add the quickness of it all.
• Only occasional lip-syncing happens during the whole video as some of the lyrics go with what is happening during the time of the song playing.
• Most of the music video cuts to the beat to make it more dramatic and short.
•  Some effects were added to some of the shots to get two different point of view from different times, making one video faded and one video being more clearer.

  They also added lighting to the lonely women on the floor showing she's in a dark room with only her in it. Including with this there are lighted quick flash backs showing what she went through.

Techniques

Camera Angles: The camera angles are crucial in a music video as it shows emotion, as most music videos they talk about how they feel. Its either in the words of the song and or the emotions on their faces. It can also make you feel like your in the same atmosphere. Camera angles and camera movement come together to create the best music video.



Camera shots: Close up, Mid-shots, Wide shot and Long shot. These are the most popular camera shots used, as there is others that aren't as popular. Camera shots are used to to see the main part of the video and what it is focusing on.

(Pillow talk) Zayn Malik

Lip Sync: Lip sync is when the singer is singing at the same as the music being played. Most times the singer makes it looks like the singer is actually singing it when they are not. Here is a bad example of lip syncing.

This is Zayn Malik - Pillowtalk. In the whole of the music video he doesn't put any effort into the singing when he gets more powerful, he stays the same tone and doesn't make an action to make it seem or look powerful.

(Cudi the kid) Steve Avoki

Cutting to the beat: Cutting to the beat can make the music video more enjoyable. Plus is makes it look like it has time and effort put into it. It makes it more enjoyable for the audience. This music video includes cutting to the beat on some parts, not all the time. It makes it more enjoyable to watch and leads to you memorized in the music video while listening to the song.

Ellie Goulding (On my mind)

Lighting: The lighting can be one of the main parts of a music video. A dark lighting shows its a warm welcome from the band or artist. Bright white light shows its cold music video. In this music video they have included a pinky purple coloured light to the background of the video to make it more loving. The next shot after the pinky colour, was a blue light colour making it a colder colour. They also chose them colours to match certain things in the video. For example, when they are sat in the hair dresser Ellie Goulding and the girl next to her are wearing red clothing matching the colour if the lights.

Special Effects: Special effects can be added to a music video just to add a bit of something else into it. Making it more entertaining. This music video continuously shows special effects. I think they have used special effects in this music video because she was on her on throughout the music video. The budget for the video doesn't seem that high, so I think its a low budget music video.

(The right song) Oliver Heldens

Multi-image:

is used in this music video theres different images used at once but the same image. Like its been copy and pasted and shown more than once. This can be played using special effects to make it more interesting.