Introduction to music videos

This post is focused around studying music videos to prepare to the possibility of music videos coming in in the component one exam. However, it also provides useful context and examples of how to approach making your own music videos

Two kinds of question!

1. Representation - how something is presented again by the producer of a media
2. Media language - the things which build a media product. Media language questions are analysis questions.

We need to prepare for two things:

1. looking at representational contexts in the set music videos
2. analysing unseen music videos using the textual analysis toolkit

What is a music video?

• A music video is an advert for a song 
• A music video is a visual interpretation of a piece of music 

Andrew Goodwin’s three varieties of music videos

1. Narrative - tell a story, sometimes featuring the performers, sometimes not. Often this is based on the lyrics
2. Performance  - dancing, singing, lip syncing, playing instruments, gestures 
3. Abstract - fanciful imagery that may or may not have deeper symbolic significance

Exploring music videos

France Gall - Baby Pop

• While this music video was released in 1966, it codifies many elements of music videos that are still used today, including:
• Use of lip synching combined with a fourth wall breaking direct mode of address is highly conventional of music videos, establishing a sense of connection between the performer and the audience
• The use of synchronised dance routines is also highly conventional, and communicates a sense of encouragement to the audience, inviting them to do the same!
• A range of shot types, focusing on close ups of the performer, and establishing Gall asd the star of her own video 
• A limited range of editing, focusing on straightforward cross cutting from location to location. Lacking modern techniques, it still establishes a sense of place
• The MES of trendy and then fashionable costumes allows the video to appeal to a young female target audience 
• A range of dance routines, although the performance is understated and simplistic
• Lip syncing, with the performer looking directly in to the camera in a direct address. Breaking the fourth wall is also breaking the rules of cinema. However it allows her to interact with the audience
• Her costume is highly fashionable, and extremely reminiscent of French popular fashion of the 1960’s. Helping her to appeal to 1960s teenage teenage girls, yet also young male audiences 
• A range of camera angles are used throughout the video 
• A range of interior and exteriors helps to maintain audience attention

Convergence: the coming together of two previously separate industries. Music videos combine music and film. 

The combination of music and television is highly profitable. In the 80s there was a shift from young people buying records to young people watching television. Therefore music videos allowed young people to have exposure to the music they were turning there backs on, and allowed record labels to PULL these audiences back to being profitable customers

Why music videos? 

• It creates a more entertaining product
• It allows the song to be advertised 
• It allows an artist or celebrity to be established 
• It allows a narrative to be constructed 
• It allows for the maximisation of profit by creating a memorable product that will target multiple audiences 

Lipstick - Orange Caramel 

• The MES of matching outfitters for the main performers symbolises friendship and unity. This is further anchored through the use of stereotypically cutesy hand gestures and dance moves which suggest that the target audience of teenage girls are engaged and positioned through this performance
• The MES of costumes creates a further sense of unity between the performers. However, they are differentiated between certain colourful elements. Furthermore, the costumes are bold and extravagant, which further reinforces the outlandish qualities 
• While the premise of the music video is highly conventional, the setting is saturated an a hyper intense orange, which clearly links to the band. Furthermore, the neon orange colours connote joy and youthful exuberance
• The performers are wearing tight, short costumes, and this combined with the attractive performers constructs a definite ideology of sexualisation. This reinforces certain societal standards for women, and presents an aspirational mode of address to the young female target audience

Orange Caramel  - Catalina 

• An ongoing theme is constructed through the MES of costume, which represents these young women as fish and simultaneously food products. This alarming ideological perspective is emphasised through the striking MES of cellophane being wrapped around the women, and the distancing BEV shot of them thrashing in synchronisation 
• The iconography of women being trapped and clearly in distress is not only highly referential of the horror film but also highly typical of a pop music video 
• The iconography of this video is highly stereotypical. The MES of chopsticks and rice is woven in to the costumes of the performers is very funny, and creates a stereotypical representation of south Korean people 
• The editing is fast paced, precise and extremely clean, which mirrors the tempo of the song. In this sense, the video looks like the song sounds 

Lingua Ignota - PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE

• The MES of the costume constructs a binary opposition between conservatism and liberalism. While elements of it make reference to religious costume, the sheer elements of her dress reveal her underwear, constructing a confusing and contradictory node of address. 
• The music itself is stripped back indie, and yet the lyrics are dressing and powerful. The music itself is mellow and soft, which is further anchored through the setting of bleak, empty, yet relaxing fields. 
• The video has been colour graded to emphasise the cold blue tones of the naturalistic setting, This constructs a miserable, unhappy, and depressing mode of address, which is further reinforced through the atypical dance routine, that emphasises emotion over a skillful set of practices