Music video importance

Henry Vines

Codes and conventionsWhat are codes and conventions? There a way of constructing meaning in media texts

It can be two different things: technical and symbolic

TechnicalHow equipment and technology are used to construct meaning.Camera- different angles, shotsEditing- pace and styleSound- digetic/ non diegetic

SymbolicMeaning created beyond what is obvious to seeFor example, specific facial expressionsMise-en-scene

The reason for codes and conventionsCodes and conventions are a firm set of rules / way of doing things

Can slowly adapt

Shouldn’t be challenged on too great a level

The reason for them:1st it allows the audience to become familiar with a certain genre as they come accustomed to the look of the video2nd it insures that a certain text works well and goes with the genre

Codes and conventions specific to music videos

Styles of music videosMusic videos can be categorised in terms of style

These are:

Performance- Band/ artist playing

Narrative- includes story

Mixture- both performance and narrative based

Camera

Camera angles and shots can really determine the genre and type of video b

A rap video is slow and longer shots and also they normally film it from low to make the rapper look more authoritive

A rock music video has normally really quick and short shots

Editing and sound

There are many different editing techniques used in music videos

Music videos usually featuring jump cuts

Footage is usually edited to suit the genre

Choosing to include diegetic sound

Mise en scene

The Mise en scene varies massively depending on the genre of music

Props- performance of equipment, band merchandise.

Costume- they vary massively for example a rapper would be wearing low jeans and a hoodie with lots of bling but a rock artist would wear skinny black jeans with dark clothes and boots

Location- some rock videos would be filmed in a dark woods for example and a rap artist would film it in a club

Andrew Goodwin

Analysing

Andrew states that there are 5 key aspects of analysing a music video

Thought beats- seeing the sound in your head

Narrative and performance

Star image

Relation of visuals to the song

Technical aspects of the video

Thought beats

First step- you look into the music and interpret it

Second step- The artist having a unique voice, for example I will always remember Eminem's voice when I hear the song

Third step- The story that the artist is saying, for example if the artist was telling a story of a murder you would imagine the murder in your head

Narrative and performance

Goodwin says that we all interpret the story of the song and believe there's a different story behind them and we interpret lyrics differently

The music video should be exciting and should go with the narrative to make the viewer excited and want to watch it more

When the actor in the music video is the artist it also makes the music video more authentic. Goodwin believes that miming is still the most popular thing in music videos nowadays

Star image

Star image is a very vital part of making music videos

Stars want to obviously look unique and out there to make the audience remember the, if an artist didn’t look special in a video it wouldn’t really bother me and I wouldn’t really remember it that well where as if they were wearing something ridiculously colourful then I would remember the video much better

Relations of visual to song

There are three different ways in which artists promote music videos and make them more popularIllustrate, amplify, disjuncture

Music videos set to certain images to illustrate the meaning of their song

This where the meaning of the song is completely ignored

Repeatability- meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly reinforced and shown through video and drummed into our brains

Technical aspects of the music video

Technical aspects hold the video together

Speed, camera movement

Importance of music videos

Chris ParrChris Parr talks about the importance of music videos

He says that it gives you an entry point to listen to the music when you might normally not

He also goes on to say that if you stopped someone on the street and asked them if they like country music they would say, no. But if you say have you heard of this artist they would say yeah I love that artist because they have a visual recognition of he artist

The relevance of what Chris Parr says

Its relevant to the topic of this presentation is that the things that he mentions open up doors to listen to the music more as people will watch the music videos on YouTube and will watch them on tv, therefore having more people listen to the song and maybe even more people buying, as when I see a music video and really like the music with it I will go out and download the song and when I listen to it ill think about the music video

Purpose of a music video

Promote the artistMusic videos definitely promote the artist, for example

Like I said earlier if I like the music video which goes to the song ill either listen to or download the song so when I listen to it I visually imagine the music vdeo

Extend artists income

It also definitely extends the artists income as loads of people including myself would buy the song or even download the music video because they like the video so much

Sales of a particular song due to the music video

A particular song which profited from a music video is lad gaga telephone as lots of people really like the music video and think it is fascinating so they bought the track

Artists popularity ratings due to music video

PSY- Gangnam style

The song by PSY would never Have got so many downloads and buys if people didn’t hear about the music video as the music video is so good and funny that people would tell friends about the music videos and tell them to watch it then they’d tell more people to watch it and then they might want to download the song

Comparison of videos that aren't as popular

Videos which aren't as popular don’t ever sell as well compared to good music videos, for example the word of mouth wont spread about the song and people wont be like ‘ wow have you seen this music video, go and watch it’ and then it carries on from there it will definitely spread by word of mouth less than a song with a good music video