Monday, 30 November 2009

Shooting Schedule

I filmed my music video over the February half term. I have created a shooting schedule which includes the dates I have filmed in, the locations I've filmed in and the cast who is in the clip.

The dates I have filmed on are;
During February half term
16th February
22nd February

I filmed a few shots on the 16th February and then I filmed the rest of my music video on the 22nd February.

The locations I have filmed in are;
Sarah's House- 16th
Sarah's Auntie's Bar house- 22nd

The cast who is in my film;
Sarah

I filmed the opening sequence on the 16th of February at Sarah's house and then I filmed the rest of the music video on the 22nd of February at Sarah's Auntie's House, I filmed the rest of my music video here because Sarah's Auntie has a bar house which include a bar and pool table which I needed for some of my shots in my video. I got all my filming done over these two days in the February half term, I did this so that when I got back to college I'd be able to concentrate on getting my editing and ancilliary texts finished. I used a college camera to record my music video as I didn't have my own video camera.
I used just one cast member for my music video, the reason I did this was because I knew that Sarah wouldn't let me down and I also knew that she also had a music video to produce to, so she would understand the need to get the music video recorded and edited.

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Cast, Location & Prop Lists

Cast List;
Sarah- GaGa
I choose Sarah to be the artist in my music video as I knew she would be reliable and wouldn't pull out of the video at the last minute.

Location List;
Sarah's House.
Pool House with bar.
I choose to use a pool house with a bar as I wanted a bar scene in my video. I filmed my opening sequence at Sarah's house as I wanted to use a bedroom which had access to a phone.

Prop List;
Costume and make up
Bar
Pool Table
Snooker Cue
Mobile Phone
Chair
Bar Pump
Bed
Telephone

Animatric



To make my animatric, I took still photographs of my storyboard and then loaded them into Windows Movie Maker. I added all my photo's into the movie maker and then added my photo's into the toolbar at the bottom of the program. To make my photo's into an animatric, I just played the photo's back as a video.
For my opening shot, I used a title sequence off Windows Movie Maker. I then just added one photo one by one and then played the photo's back as a video. My final film will last longer than my animatric and the reason for this is that on my animatric I don't have any music, but on my final film I obviously will have music.

Friday, 13 November 2009

Main Idea

I am going to base my video on Bad Romance by Lady GaGa. My video is going to start off in darkness, the lights are then turned on and as the lights are turned on Bad Romance starts to play. Danni is going to be lip syncing to the song throughout the video. Danni is going to be trying to steal Sarah's boyfriend in the video, so she is going to be singing Bad Romance to the boyfriend.

As the chorus begins to play the dancers in the video will come out from behind the curtains and begin dancing to Bad Romance.

Danni will be acting as Lady GaGa, but instead of using Lady GaGa as the artist on the credits of the video, I am going to call Danni just GaGa. I'm going to be using GaGa instead of Lady GaGa as to not cause confusion and give people the impression that the real Lady GaGa is in the video.

The dancers who are in my video have made their own dance to Bad Romance as they all study dance at college and all know how to get the choreography right, as I wouldn't know where to start if I had to make up a dance to the track.

I have chosen to use Bad Romance as I really do like the video to the track, I like all of Lady GaGa's video as they don't really follow the normal conventions which a music video normally has, also the video's are usually a bit wacky and random

Idea's

Before I make my music video, I came up with a few ideas for the video.
At first I was going to base my music video on The Killers 'Mr Brightside', I was going to use the song as my backing song for my music video. My first idea was to have a unknown band performing the song in a rehearsal hall or at a band practise, I decided not to do this as I didn't really like the idea and also the band who was supposed to be performing the track wouldn't be in my music video unless they could perform their own track. At first I thought this was a good idea, which leads us to my second idea. Having the band perform their own track at either a gig or a rehearsal hall. But when I thought this idea through, I realised that it wasn't the best idea for a music video because the sound wasn't going to be good, the lightening wouldn't be good and the band wasn't reliable either and also the song which they wanted to perform wasn't really what I would say was a apporiate song.

Finally I decided to have my music video based on Lady GaGa's Bad Romance video. I am going to use Bad Romance as the song that is playing in my music video and base my video on GaGa's video. The reason I choose Bad Romance is because I like the song and I also like Lady GaGa's videos. I like the way her videos are set, the dance routines and the randomness of her videos.

In my video, I am going to have one of my friends lip syncing to the Bad Romance song whilst trying to steal a boy off a girl. Danni (who is lip syncing) is going to be singing Bad Romance to the boy while he is trying to get away from her and his girlfriend is glaring at Danni. Also because one of my friends does dancing at college, she has agreed to be my video as a dancer along with some of her friends. The dancers will be dancing behind Danni lip syncing to Bad Romance.

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Research Questionnaire

I have made a questionnaire to find out what type of music people prefer, how often they watch music videos and what their favourite music video channel is.

What genre of music do you prefer? (Please tick)
Pop (....)
Rock (....)
Dance (....)
Indie (....)
RNB (....)
Hip Hop (....)
Electro (....)
Indie Rock (....)

How often would you say that you watched music videos? (Please tick)
Never (....)
Hardly Ever (....)
Occasionally (....)
Most of the time (....)
All the time (....)

What is your favourite music channel? (Please tick)
MTV (....)
NME (....)
Kiss (....)
4 Music (....)
MTV 2 (....)
MTV Dance (....)

I asked a group of four people to complete my audience research questionnaire for me. The questions which I asked the group are shown above.

I wanted to find out which music genre the group preferred, how often the group watched music videos and what the groups favourite music channel is. I asked these questions to gain an idea of how often people watch music videos on what music channel.
Two out of the four people prefer rock music, only one person preferred indie music, one person preferred indie rock music, one person preferred dance music and one person preferred pop music.
Three out of the four people occasionally watched music videos. And one person watches music videos most of the time.
The group of people all preferred different music channels, one person preferred 4 Music channel, one person preferred NME music channel, one person preferred MTV music channel and one person preferred MTV 2.

My findings show that different genres of music are popular, the only music genre that proved dominant was rock music. This finding also reflects people's choices when it comes to preferred music channels as NME and MTV 2 were people's preferred music channels. NME and MTV 2 both show music videos of the indie and rock music genre. All the people who took part in my questionnaire all watched music videos occasionally and one person watched music videos most of the time. This shows that people watch music videos even if it is from time to time.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Conventions

I'm going to research the conventions of a music video.

In a music video, the way things are shown describe the genre of the music video. Music video conventions can vary depending on what the genre of music is. Some conventions that apply to all music videos is the artist/band is shown performing the song, the lyrics are interpreted within the narrative of the video, the pace of editing fits into the beats of the music and what the artist/band reflect the mood of the song. Also close ups are used throughout the video, mainly on the lead singer of the band as this is usually the member that most people know. The band/artist make eye contact with the audience/camera, to give the audience virostic pleasure. The music video usually has 'extras' in the video, for example 'Mr Brightside' has two Amercian stars in the video who are involved in the narrative of the video. Also the video is also shot in more that one location and there are quick editing cuts between the performance and the narrative. In the video, there is usually a reference to the notion of looking, for example in Mr Brightside all the actress' costumes are quite sexy and the dance they do within the video reflects the Moulin Rouge! film.


'Mr Brightside' fits into the indie/pop music genre. I researched the conventions of both indie and pop music video to get a better of idea of what to include in my video.
The conventions of an indie music video are;
The video is usually shot as a live performance and is usually shot on a stage. The structure of the video is mainly performance based.
The conventions of a pop music video are;
The song is usually performed straightforwardly, either on a stage or in a good location. The emphasis is mainly on the performance. The narrative of the song is usually interpreted within the music video.
'Mr Brightside' has both indie and pop music video conventions. The Killers are shown performing the track, but also within the video a narrative story is been told. Fast pace editing cuts are used between the performance and the narrative. 'Extras' are used in the video too, these 'extras' are used in the narrative story of the video. Brendon Flowers, the front man of the band always makes eye contact with the camera, by doing this he is also making eye contact with the audience. Close up shots of Brendon Flowers are used in the music video, this is because Brendon Flowers is the front man of the band and he is the most well known member of the band. The audience know who he is, that's why he is shown the most in the video. Another reason why Brendon Flowers is shown the most is because he is involved in the narrative story and he is the main character in the narrative story. The location of the music video doesn't really change, the video is shot in a dance floor location, the video does cut to a balcony. But apart from that the music video doesn't really change.


The conventions of the Bad Romance music video by Lady GaGa are;
The artist is shown performing the song within the music video, the lyrics of the song are interpreted within the narrative of the video.
The video is shot in more than one location, the different locations are all different rooms within one setting and the pace of the editing fits to the beat of the song.
The artist makes eye contact with the audience, by making eye contact with the audience it gives the virostic pleasure. This means that the audience can watch the artist without the artist knowing that they're being watched.
The artist is the main focus of the music video and close up shots are used to show that she is the main focus.
The structure of this video is both performance and narrative based. The artist performs a dance routine to the song with her extras who are as well as extras the backing dancers. The narrative side of the video is how the lyrics are interpreted in the video.
There is also a notion of looking within the video, as the artist and all the dancers are in quite revealing costumes.

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Bad Romance- Lady GaGa

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance
Rah rah ah-ah-ah!
Ro mah ro-mah-mah
Gaga Ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance
Rah rah ah-ah-ah!
Ro mah ro-mah-mah
Gaga Ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance

I want your ugly
I want your disease
I want your everything
As long as it’s free
I want your loveLove-love-love
I want your love
I want your drama
The touch of your hand
I want you leathe-studded kiss in the sand
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love
You know that I want you
And you know that I need you
I want it bad
Your bad romance

I want your loving
And I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!)
I want your loving
All your love is revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance

Rah rah ah-ah-ah!
Ro mah ro-mah-mah
Gaga Ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance

I want your horror
I want your design
‘Cause you’re a criminal
As long as your mine
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love, uhh
I want your psycho
Your vertigo stick
Want you in my room
When your baby is sick
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love

You know that I want you
And you know that I need you
(‘Cause I’m a freak bitch, baby!)
I want it bad
Your bad romance

I want your loving
And I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!)
I want your loving
All your love is revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance

Rah rah ah-ah-ah!
Ro mah ro-mah-mah
Gaga Ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance

Work-work fashion baby
Work it move that bitch crazy
Work-work fashion baby
Work it move that bitch crazy
Work-work fashion baby
Work it move that bitch crazy
Work-work fashion baby
Work it I’m a freak bitch baby
I want your love
And I want your revenge
I want your love
I don’t wanna be friends
J'veux ton amour
Et je veux ton revenge
J'veux ton amour
I don't wanna be friends
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
(I don't wanna be friends)
Oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance
(I don't wanna be friends)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
Oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh!
(Want your bad romance)
Caught in a bad romance
(Want your bad romance)
I want your loving
I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
All your love is revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Want your bad romance)
Caught in a bad romance
(Want your bad romance)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
(Want your bad romance)
Oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad romance

Rah rah ah-ah-ah!
Ro mah ro-mah-mah
Gaga Ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance


Bad Romance was written while the artist was on a tour, the song talks about exploring the good and bad side of a bad romance. The song also refers to some Alfred Hitchcock films such as 'psycho, vertigo stick, rear window'. The lyrics change to referencing fashion during the intermediate bridge 'work-work fashion baby'. The inspiration for Bad Romance was a love monster and this is one of the paranoria's the artist experienced whilst on tour.

LIIAR for 'Mr Brightside'

Language- This music video has all the conventations that music video's are supposed to have. If it didn't have the regular conventations, then it wouldn't be a very good music video. This video has a narrative and the lyrics of the song reflect the narrative. This video also has shots of the band performing the track, the audience can see that the band is performing the track and not 'micky mousing'. Also the audience can gain viristic pleasure from watching the band perform the track. The narrative of this video has lyrical interpretation, the Mr Brightside video shows a love triangle. The lyrics of this track also interpret this. For example, 'but she's touching his chest, he takes off her dress now, let me go'. From these lyrics, the audience can interpet that a love triangle is going on. Also the love triange is shown within the narrative, Brendon Flowers is trying to get the attention of Izabella Miko.
Close up shots of Brendon Flowers are used throughout the video, Brendon Flowers is the front man for the band so it makes sense that he is the most shown member of the band. Close up shots are also used to catch the reactions of all the people involed within the narrative. This video uses fast pace editing to cut from the narrative to the performance. The editing within this track are also on the beats of this track.

Insistutions- The record label who manges The Killers is Island Records/Lizard. Island Records is a subsidary of Universal Music Group. The genre of this music video is post-punk revival/indie. Mr Brightside has two music video's, the first music video they shot for this song is the UK version and is a basic music video. It just shows the band performing the track.The reason the UK version of 'Mr Brightside' is a basic music video is because the music video was the band's DIY attempt at making a video. When the band signed up to Island Records/Lizard the band produced a second version of the video, this version of the video is the band's Amercian version of 'Mr Brightside'. The American version (the second music video) has a narrative and includes American stars such as Izabella Miko and Eric Roberts. The American version was shot by Sophie Muller and won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video in 2004.

Ideology- The video is based on the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, in the video there is a dance scene which looks like it is inspired by the film. The video has a burlesque theme. Again inspired by Moulin Rouge! There are two versions of this video, one was done on a low budget when the band didn't have a major record label. The second version has a bigger budget and has Amercian stars such as Izabella Miko and Eric Roberts. The front man Brendon Flowers, Izabella Miko and Eric Roberts are all in a love triange. The lyrics of this song are all about a love triange. So the narrative fits in with the lyrics.

Audience- The audience can gain viristic pleasure from this music video as the band is also seen performing the track. The audience can also relate to the lyrics of the song, as a love triangle or falling for someone after kissing them happens to everyone. It's not an everyday occurance, but it is something that happens to a lot of people. I don't think that 'Mr Brightside' has a set audience, I think that the track appeals to a younger audience (fitting in the age range of 16-25) and a older audience (fitting in the age range of 25+). The reason I think that 'Mr Brightside' doesn't have a set audience is because the video and the lyrics don't fit into the pop genre, so the track isn't too tongue in cheek. The video and lyrics are serious, but don't the band don't take themselves to seriously, so I think that the band and the track appeal to a wider audience range.

Representation- The lyrics are represented within the narrative. The audience can see from the lyrics and the narrative of the music video that Mr Brightside is about a love triangle. Brendon Flowers has fallen for the American actress Izabella Miko, but she is also involed with the American actor Eric Roberts. This is shown in the video, Izabella Miko is playing with both the men's affections. The Mr Brightside lyrics can be interpreted as a girl playing with two different men's feelings.

Friday, 16 October 2009

Third music video textual analysis


The third music video I looked at is Just Dance by Lady Gaga.

'Just Dance' is taken off Lady Gaga's debut album 'The Fame'. 'Just Dance' features Colby O'Donis. It was released on the 8th April 2008 by Interscope/CherryTreee record label. The song has a dance-pop music genre. The music video for 'Just Dance' is directed by Melina Matsoukas.

The song is about being drunk at a house party, the video shows this. In the video a house party is going and everyone at the party seems to be stumbling about. The lyrics also represent the narrative, for example 'What's going on the floor? I love this record baby but I can't see straight anymore. Keep it cool, what's the name of this club? I can't remember but it's alright'. The lyrics show that the artist is drunk at a house party and doesn't know where she is.
The song starts off with the lyric 'red one' which is often mistaken for 'red wine', but it actually refers to the producer of the track, Red One.

From watching this music video, the audience get the feeling that everyone in this video is on sexual display. All the people featured in this music video are shown dancing around provocatively at a party. The artist is shown in an scantily clad costume, at one point she is shown in a small swimming pool playing with an inflated killer whale.

This music video has inter textual references, for example throughout the video and on the single cover, the artist is shown with a blue lightening-bolt sticker across her face. Which is a tribute to her music idol David Bowie. When the video starts up, a close up shot of Lady Gaga with a blue lightening-bolt sticker across her face, again a tribute to David Bowie

This video is mainly narrative-based and the lyrics represent the narrative.
The conventions of the Just Dance video are;
the video is both narrative and performance based. The lyrics are represented within the narrative, the lyrics give the impression that the artist is intoxicated at a house party and the narrative of the video shows this. Both the artist and the extras in the video perform a dance routine within the video.
There is a notion of looking within the video as again just like in the Bad Romance video the extras and the artist all wear revealing costumes at different points in the music video.
Again, this video gives the audience virostic pleasure as the audience can watch the artist without the audience actually knowing their being watched.

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Second music video textual analysis


The second video I am going to look at is Bad Romance - Lady GaGa.

Bad Romance is taken off Lady GaGa's album 'The Fame Monster'. The song was written by Lady GaGa and produced by Redone who produces most of the artists songs. Bad Romance was released on the 25th October 2009.

Bad Romance is composed in a similar tempo as most of the artists other songs, it has sing and tell verses and a full mouthed chorus, the song talks about the good points of a bad romance and also references to Alfred Hitchcock are made throughout the song ('I want your psycho, your vertigo stick, baby your sick). The location for the video is a white bathhouse, the artist is being held hostage by a group of supermodels. The supermodels drug her and appear to sell her off as a sex slave.

The song was written whilst GaGa was on tour in 2008, the song is about the paranoia's the artist faced whilst on tour. One of those was a love monster who inspired Bad Romance.

The 'Ra-Ra...' start to the song is similar to GaGa's song Poker Face. The song starts off with GaGa singing 'Ra-Ra...' followed by the sound of drum beats and a keyboard. The chorus is full throated and the bridges are all in a sing and tell format.

The lyrics talk about the joys of being in a bad romance and exploring the joys of been in a bad romance, this idea of a bad romance then changes during the bridge where GaGa is singing about fashion (Walk Walk Fashion Baby). The references to Alfred Hitchcock in the song are ''I want your psycho, your vertigo stick, Want you in my rear window''. Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window are all films made by Alfred Hitchcock.

The video was directed by film director Francais Lawrence. The idea behind the video is that GaGa has being kidnapped by supermodels who plan to sell her to the Russian Mafia. The video starts off with GaGa sitting on white throne, wearing a golden dress. GaGa has her finger on iPod speakers and as soon as she presses play Bad Romance starts to play. Sunlight starts to pan across the walls of the bathhouse activating the fluorescent lightening , a sign is shown with the words 'Bath Haus of GaGa' written on it. A group of dancers crawl out of white egg shaped pods. The centre pod has the word 'Monster' written all over it, Lady GaGa emerges from this pod wearing a similar outfit to her dancers. As the chorus of the song starts up, the dancers grab hold of GaGa and force vodka down her throat. As the second verse starts, GaGa is seen wearing a diamond encrusted outfit dancing for a group of men, the group of men all make bids for her. As the chorus starts for a third time, a man is seen sat on the bed unbuttoning his shirts and GaGa walks towards to him. GaGa is seen taking off her jacket and sunglasses, the bed then suddenly combusts with the man still start on it. The video ends with Lady GaGa sat near a skeleton.
The video uses a range of different conventions such as;
the video has a narrative structure, the lyrics are interpreted in the music video. The video also has a performance structure, both the dancers and the artist perform a dance routine within the music video.
The artist is the main focus of this music video, close up shots are used to show that she is the main focus.
A notion of looking is used, the dancers and the artist are in some revealing costumes at different points in the video.
The audience can gain virostic pleasure from watching this video as they can watch the artist without the artist actually knowing that the audience are watching.

Monday, 5 October 2009

First music video textual analysis


To get an idea of which codes and conventions a music video uses, I looked at a few different music video's.

The first music video I looked at was 'Somebody Told Me' by The Killers.

The video is directed by Brett Simons. 'Somebody Told Me' is written by Dave Keuning, Ronnie Vannucci Jr, Mark Stoermer. It is taken off the band's debut album 'Hot Fuss'. The band's record label is Island Records/Lizard King. The genre of the song is indie and it was released twice in the UK, once on the 15th March 2004 and the second time on the 10th January 2005.

This video has a reference to New Order's Crystal music video which features a fictional band named The Killers miming a track in front a LCD screen showing random colours and logos. It was from this music video that the band got their name from.

I decided to look at this video because it's the type of video that I want to produce. The video doesn't really have a lot going on within it, it's a simple video. The band is just basically The Killers performing their track, this is giving the audience viristic pleasure. As the audience are able to see the band perform the track.

Music video's have five main aspects. This music video shows some of these aspects within the video. The video shows the band performing the track. The video doesn't really have a narrative, so the second aspect (the narrative) of music video's doesn't really apply to this video as there is no story to the video. Also the video doesn't respect the lyrics, so the third aspect of music video's (representing the lyrics) doesn't really apply to this video either. The video does interpret the lyrics though within the video. As every now and then in the video a girl is showing dancing and the song is about a girl. The video also represents the lyrics with visual imagery too, as once again as the band sing about a girl and a girl is shown dancing on the screen.

The video starts off with the band members shadows on the screen, a straight cut is then made to the band playing their instruments as the song begins to play. Straight cuts are made to a big t.v screen which shows the members on the screen as well as seeing them in the music video's. As the track begins to play, the audience can see the band performing on a set, but behind the band is the t.v screen which shows Brendan Flowers on the screen. Brendan Flowers is the front man for The Killers, the audience will know who he is. More so than who the other band members are. Bright lights are used throughout the video, mainly on the band members faces. It's as if their faces are being blurred out. Also throughout the video the band members shadows are shown performing the track. The set that the band are performing on has a desert feel to it, the band are performing on sand, but the audience can see that the track is being performed on a set. Medium shots are used throughout the track and close up shots to show the reactions on the band members faces as they perform the track. At one point during the video, on the screen the name 'Killers' is shown on the screen, the name is shown going back to front across the screen. As the video ends, the lights come on and the band are performing in a desert like set again. But the audience can see this.

The video has edits on the beat of the track. As the pace of the track changes, so does the video. As the band play their instruments, the edits change. There are no solo's within the track. The pace of editing usually changes as the drummer plays.

To sell this music video, the band's record company uses the band's front man Brendan Flowers on the screen more than any other band members. Brendan Flowers is also the band member who is shown more in the video than the other band members. Mainly because he is the front man of the band and he is also the main singer in the band. It makes sense that he is the member shown on screen more, as more people know who he is. He helps to sell this video as he is the most popular member. Also across the screen, the band's logo is shown scrolling across. This also helps to sell this music video. This is the one of the first music videos that the band did, The Killers' video from their third album, the first single taken off the album 'Human' also has the same desert feel that this video has.

A notion of looking is once referenced to during the video, this is when a girl is showing dancing near the screen. The girl isn't really dancing provocatively, but it does link into the video. As the song is about some body's boyfriend looking like a girl, so the dancing girl does fit into the video.

The video is more performance-based than anything, the video doesn't really have a narrative story to it. It's just the band performing the track.

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

History of Music Video's

My brief;
-A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the three options:
a website homepage for the band.
a cover for its release on DVD/CD
a magazine advertisement for the DVD/CD

The two options I've chosen to do are;
a cover for its release on DVD/CD
a magazine advertisement for the DVD/CD

The purpose of a music video is to promote the band/artist/music produced. A music video is also used to promote an artists song, it gives the audience something to watch as well as listen to. Sometimes an older song is promoted by an advertisement or a TV program. For example, the song ‘Singing In The Rain’ was made popular by George Sampson using the track to perform a street dance to on Britain’s Got Talent. The song ‘Singing In The Rain’ was then made into a dance track by ‘Mint Royale’. The song got to number one in the UK chart because of the publicity of Britain’s Got Talent.
The function of a music video is to give the audience vioristic pleasure, this gives the audience a chance to watch the band/artist perform the music produced. Vioristic pleasure means that the audience enjoy watching the band/artist, but the band/artist do not know they are being watched by an audience.
A music video has five main aspects;
A music video shows the artist performing the track. In some cases the band/artist mime in the music video. This is called ‘Mickey Mousing’
A music video usually has a narrative. Usually a performance mixed with a narrative story.
A music video has lyric interpretation, the lyrics are represented in the music video.
A music video also interprets the lyrics with visual imagery.

LIIAR of a music video;

Language- The camera shots and editing help to make up the language of the music video. Close up shots are used to show the front member of the band. The most well known member of the band is always shown the most in the video. The reason for this is the most well known member of the band is usually the member that the audience know. The editing in a music video represent the beat of the song. Also the editing in a music video cuts from the performance of the track to the narrative story of the music video.

Institutions- Music video's are produced by many different media institutions. Different genres of music videos have directors who are familiar with that genre of music.

Ideology- The ideology behind a music video is to promote the track. Music video's are usually narrative based, performance based or both.

Audience- The audience of a music video is generally an audience who are fans of the band performing in the video.

Representation- The lyrics of a song are usually represented within the narrative of a music video. The narrative story of the music video will have some reference to the lyrics, so that the audience will be able to understand both the lyrics and the narrative story of the video. Sometimes in music video there is inter textual references to either films, TV programmes or other music video's, the audience may or may not be able to spot these inter textual references.

History of music video's;

A music video is used to help advertise a music recording. Music video's started to really come into place in the 1980's, when MTV decided to base their format around music video's. VH1 also decided to base their format around music video's.

The term 'music video' became popular in the 1980's, before then music video's were called 'filmed insert', 'promotional (promo) film', 'promotional clip' or 'film clip'. Music video's use a range of different film techniques such as animation, live action filming and abstract film.

In 1926, musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts (1926-30) were produced by Warner Brothers and featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. These musical short films had an influence on Michael Jackson's music video's, as many of the dance sequences in his video's are based on dance sequences from Hollywood musicals. These include the John Landis clip in Thriller and the dance 'fights' in Bad.

In 1964, The Beatles starred in a feature film called 'A hard day's night' directed by Richard Lester. It was a black and white mock documentary film. This music video had an influence on the style and visual vocabulary of this music genre. The Monkees (1966-68) was similar to The Beatles 'A hard day's night'. The Monkees TV series had film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs.

In the 1970's Russell Mulcahy made music videos for several UK music acts, such as XTC's 'Making Plans for Nigel' (1979) and The Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star' (1979) which also became the first music video to be played on MTV in 1981.

In the late 1970's Top Of The Pops was created. The BBC had strict limits on the number of outsourced videos TOTP could use, therefore a good music video would increase a songs sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week.

In 1981, the U.S video channel launched MTV, airing 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. The era of showing music videos 24 hours a day had begun. By the mid 1980's music videos played a central role in music marketing. Acts such as Adam and the ants, Madonna and Mylene Farmer owe a great deal of success to music videos.

In 1983, the most successful music video of all time was released, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. This video set new standards of production, costing over $500,000 to film, the video was a starting point for African Amercian artists played on MTV, earlier such videos were rare because MTV had initially launched itself as a rock-music oriented music channel.

In 1986, channel 4 launched 'The Chart Show'. The program consisted of just music videos without any presenters, using computer graphics to link the music videos. The show was moved to ITV1 in 1989.

In 2005, the website YouTube was created, the site made viewing music videos quicker and easier. In 2007 the social networking site MySpace began showing music videos, the website had a profound effect on viewing music videos. Many artists began to see success as a result of videos mostly been shown and viewed online. The band Ok Go are a result of this, having two songs gaining fame through the videos of these songs. Both were shown online and became well known.

MTV also streams music videos online as well as AOL, who launched AOL music, featuring a collection of music videos. At the launch of Apple iTunes Store, free music videos were provided in high quality to be watched via the iTunes application. The iTunes Music Store has now begun selling music videos to be used on the iPod Video.