G324 - Independent Learning - Music Video Fact Sheet

We were given a music video fact sheet about various different elements of music videos (Conventions of music videos overall, what to expect in music videos for a specific genre and the purpose of music videos). From this I took a few key points and made notes about them to help myself when it came to creating my own music video.

The Purpose Of Music Videos In The Digital age:

The purpose of a music video is to sell products, the song featured in the video, and connected products. For example the album the song is from, the film the song is on the soundtrack for, merchandise or an upcoming tour. It's an unusual form of marketing as the audience has full access to the product that's being sold as they hear the entire song, essentially "getting" the product that's being promoted.

Development of new media technologies means that music videos are more accessible at any time. Videos can be uploaded to video sites (e.g. YouTube) and viewed using portable media devices (e.g. Mobile Phones, ITouch devices) allowing audience to see and hear the song whenever/wherever they like.

These new technologies were considered a problem for the music industry as audiences were not as interested in buy physical copies of song if they could listen to it free. At first record companies fought against the music videos being available online and they attempted to prosecute those who uploaded them for copyright infringement. More recently however, the music industry have realised the attempts to monitor sites such as YouTube are expensive, time consuming and a waste of time. Now most record companies allow music videos to be online, but under certain conditions.

Conventions Of Music Video:

Movement is essential to a music video as it usually complements the rhythm of the song.
Music videos often have a narrative. The storyline may relate to the lyrics as a way of illustrating the song, or it may be independent from the song to tell a different story.
Most music videos feature the band or artist. The artist will either be featured performing their music, acting instead of performing, a combination of both or sometimes the artist is represented in some other way, for example animation or an actor playing the role of the artist.
Intertextuality is also used, this is making a reference to the genre in general and to other music videos.

Lady Gaga - Performance shot - You And I

Some music videos are parodies of the conventions found in certain genres. A very recent example of this parody style is within Lily Allen's music video for her song Hard out Here where she comments on the portrayal of women in music videos and the media in general. Mocking the expectations of women and including over the top examples of voyeuristic looking are the ways in which she emphaises her point she is trying to make through the lyrics of the song and the video that has been paired with it.

The video opens with shots of her having surgery and being judged for not being skinny. Even though she's had 2 children.

Mocking the conventions of displaying wealth using big cars and being surrounded by half naked women. Which links to the next photograph from Snoop Dogg's video for his song Drop It Like It's Hot.

Music video and genre:

Most music videos rely upon clothing codes and conventions of behaviour associated with the genre of music. Fore Example Hip-Hop videos often include low-rider cars, the "hood", basketball courts and gang colours. In later hip-hop videos women in skimpy clothes or bikinis were shown, the videos also became exaggerated to feature yachts an other symbols of financial excess.

Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell Williams - Drop It Like It's Hot

Musical genre	clothing	behaviours	Video settings
Hip-Hop	Baggy, caps, gold chains	Rapping, driving through the "hood"	The "hood", expensive locations
Metal/Rock	Dark, leather jackets, studded belts	Playing electric guitar	Live performance
Punk	Tight, black jeans	Skate boarding	Live performance

Foo Fighters - The Pretender - Rock genre