Music videos are used to promote the artists through the songs they produce. The music video can be just as important as the song in regards to making money for the artist, it also evokes an image of the artists personality and beliefs which helps the audience make a judgement on them.
Most music videos are anti-realist because the artists are aware that they are appearing in it for the purpose of their promotion to the audience. There are three elements which a music video can entail; performance, narrative and abstract. Music videos often show the artist/ band performing to their song, this is purely to entertain the audience. Narratives are used to illustrate the lyrics; they produce a story which is relevant to the song and give an amount of continuity to the music video. Abstract music videos can also be described as “arty”, they may not make immediate sense to the audience however messages can be portrayed to the viewer through codes and conventions, these videos follow no specific structure as they do not need continuity.
Music videos have existed since around the 1960’s when Bob Dylan created a short film for his first single “Subterranean Homesick Blues” which consisted of one continuous shot of Dylan holding up cards with song lyrics written on them whilst his song was being played. This is regarded as one of the first music videos and it helps promote his message through the emphasis on the lyrics.
In 1964 Richard Lester directed a documentary style film on The Beatles which included them running away from fans whilst their song “Hard days night” plays in the background. The Beatles did this as they were becoming increasingly popular worldwide and found it easier to produce a film which incorporated their songs than travelling from country to country to perform them. The film was therefore played all around the world and helped create a well-known brand and image of the band.
The Beatles continued to produce short films to promote themselves through their songs however the videos were used to challenge traditional values and beliefs via portraying the lyrics the way The Beatles interpreted them; they deconstructed the English language to criticise authority as seen in the Magical Mystery Tour – I am the walrus.
David Bowie - Space oddity is an example of a video consisting only of performance, therefore other aspects were taken into consideration to emphasise the song lyrics such as lighting, mise-en-scene and cinematography; the song is futuristic in the way it talks about traveling into space, therefore lighting was used to make David Bowie look alien-like.
Music videos are just as important as the songs in regards to popularity with the audience, Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody evidently shows this. They spent £5000 on the video which enabled them to produce a high quality product in the year 1975 and ensuring that the visuals were structured precisely around the arrangement of the song. The song stayed at number one for nine weeks, every week the video being shown, therefore this is proof that the audience can be swayed to like an artist/ band not only for their songs but for the videos they create and how this portrays the artists.
The early 1980's saw music videos becoming more important to the audience than the actual song. Peter Gabriel - Sledge hammer, is an example of this as the music video exposed a whole new style of narrative and performance to entertain the audience with, in comparison to previous videos Sledge hammer stood out due to the use of new effects such as animation and clever use of editing therefore the video took months to compose.
Beautiful South - Song for whoever, is a mixture of performance and narrative, they used humour in their video to emphasise their opinions on the music industry, implying that it was a joke. Therefore this is self-reflective because the band was aware of itself as a media text.
Symbolism is used in the music video of REM - Losing my religion. It shows the interpretation of the lyrics in its visual form by using connotations within the video to give it a deeper meaning, for example, the milk shattering at the beginning represents the belief system in religion being shattered, milk may have been chosen as the liquid in the jar because it is white which implies innocence and purity.
Radiohead - Street spirit, is in the form of an abstract media text, there is no clear narrative to the music video hence it does not follow any signs of continuity.
An artist can use music videos to re-invent themself, a classic example of this is Madonna whom frequently changes her appearance and personality in them, for instance, when comparing her persona in the media text "Vogue" to that of "Die another day" it is evident that she is emphasising a different aspect of her personality which may appeal more to certain audiences. Also, in the case of George Michael, music videos can be used to address issues that the artist has encountered in their personal life which plays on their own media image to show the public their opinions.
Music videos do not only have to revolve around the song they are creating a visual image for, they may be turned into a short film which includes an actual story line. In 1984 Michael Jackson starred in a short film for his song "Thriller" which cost around one million dollars to produce, however this was the largest selling point of the song therefore it was money well spent in terms of popularity with the audience. Codes and conventions were used in the video to give off a stereotypical horror film theme, furthermore, intertextual references were made which is where one media text refers to another; for example, Vincent Price, whom is renowned for his roles in horror films, narrates some of the lines in the music video which is in the genre of a horror.
Oasis - The importance of being idle, also uses intertextual references within its music video. Codes are the individual aspects within a media text which give meanings, many were used in this video to refer to the era of the 1960's; a very political time due to the uprising of the British social realism which showed the working class life style in a realistic manner for the first time as they were previously never represented authentically. The colour is black and white which implies that colour television was not yet invented at this time, the clothing is another factor which represents the era the video was based in and the location in which it was set is very similar to that of the soap Coronation street which first appeared around this time.
Certain types of songs have specific codes and conventions belonging to them, Blink 182 exposes this in their music video "All the small things" and makes a parody of all types of music videos by overly exaggerating their codes and conventions and as a result undermining them. The "boy band" stereotype is belittled as Blink 182 are seen to be soaking wet with tight clothing on to attract the female audience however when the camera pans out we realise that what we thought was rain is a hose pipe which is being used to clean a bus.
When comparing music videos from when they first started being produced with that of nowadays, it is evident that there is a colossal difference in not only technology but style and values as well, aspects such as mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing have all improved over the years therefore so have the quality of music videos.
With the creation of the internet, it has become much easier to view music videos via well-known websites such as “YouTube” which offer fast and high quality viewing. It allows people to consume as many music videos as they want, and enables them to browse at their leisure which is the definitive difference between the internet and music video channels such as MTV. This has had a major effect on the music industry as armature artists are able to record their own songs and videos, and then upload them on to YouTube which helps bring awareness to the audience and promote their band, this can consequently make them become big names within the music industry.
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