1. Music videos demonstrate characteristics of the music's genre, for example bikini clad girls 'twerking' in R&B and Rap genre videos, or dancing across different backdrops in hiphop videos.
For instance, Chris Brown's hiphop song 'Loyal' features tons of dancing segmants some of which Chris Brown participated in himself.
For instance, Chris Brown's hiphop song 'Loyal' features tons of dancing segmants some of which Chris Brown participated in himself.
Another example might be Mumford & Sons 'I Will Wait' as it seems characteristically folk to have the music video set on a stage, with the band performing to an audience.
This helps to target more specific audiences. Someone who is looking for hip hop would obviously be drawn to a video which uses hip hop conventions within the video.
2. There is either an illustrative, amplifying or contradicting relationship between the lyrics and visuals.
Illustrative: Keri Hilson's Knock You Down lyrics 'Every morning I look at you and smile' (image below)
This has the effect of making the narrative of the song/ video far easier to understand. This kind of thing happens several times throughout the video and as a result the narrative is clear. The drawback to this is that audiences would struggle to come up with their own interpretations of the song, as what seems the 'correct' interpretation is shoved in their face through the video.
Amplifying: In James Blake's "The Wilhelm Scream" he repetitively sings about how 'I don't know about my love', 'I don't know about my dreams'. To amplify this lyric, the video has James Blake almost totally enveloped throughout the video in an ambiguous blur, as the blurriness would connote the feeling of 'not knowing' what/ who is behind the blur. It's as if Blake doesn't know who he is any more.
Contradicting: Carly Rae Jepson's Call Me Maybe is a song which reflects a hopeful woman who wants another man to notice her after she falls in love with him. The video comically contrasts her hopes with the reality that the man she is chasing turns out to be gay, instead giving his number to her male band member.
Contradicting lyrics and visuals could be used for comical mocking effect with its ironic contrapuntal twists.
3. There is either an illustrative, amplifying or contradicting relationship between the music and the visuals. This is similar to lyrics, but instead is dependant on the tone, speed or feeling of the music rather than lyrics.
4. The record label may have an inherent visual style which will be demanded to be in place within the music videos that are produced under said record label. Lady Gaga for example always wears quirky outfits and make up in her equally quirky videos.
This is because the record label may recognise the details that tend to get a lot of attention, and for Lady Gaga they believe that a lot of her appeal is in how strange her costumes and videos are. They use this and build on it to their advantage.
This is because the record label may recognise the details that tend to get a lot of attention, and for Lady Gaga they believe that a lot of her appeal is in how strange her costumes and videos are. They use this and build on it to their advantage.
5. There is often reference to the 'notion of looking' and 'voyeurism'. Voyeurism is the idea of looking at a scene or action while the subject is unaware of our gaze - in this trance, the gazer is the 'voyeur', which in a music video would be the camera as we gaze through the camera. It is said that the role of a voyeur can be pleasurable as seeing something we don't necessarily have permission to see can be exciting and interesting.
There are probably thousands of examples of this happening in music videos. Some of them even being in Carly Rae Jepson's Call Me Maybe - when we see her love interest taking his shirt off in his garden. More examples could be found in Rihanna's We Found Love.
There are probably thousands of examples of this happening in music videos. Some of them even being in Carly Rae Jepson's Call Me Maybe - when we see her love interest taking his shirt off in his garden. More examples could be found in Rihanna's We Found Love.
We see the mischief that the couple go through and watch their demise through drugs, something that would have been a much more private affair in real life but we could see it as interesting when we watch as a voyeur.
6. There are quite often intertextual reference to other texts such as films, TV shows and other music videos. It is not exactly surprising - the skills for framing, lighting and representing different moods and representations (AND MORE!) are needed in both cinema and music video areas - it is logical to think that there would be overlapping material from cinema which inspire music video directors (directors like David Fincher and Michael Bay even started out in music video!). This is probably less frequent than how often it is done in films and on TV, but it can still be noticeable. Intertextual references can be used by directors for comedic parody or even liken two texts towards eachother. An example of intertextual references being used is with Foo Fighters' 'Walk' - which is mapped after the 1980s film 'Falling Down'.
This can be used to relate ideologies of the film to the music video to say - 'We think the same'. Although I haven't seen 'Falling Down' it can be pleasurable to those who HAVE seen the film to witness and recognise the same set up within another text. Or, like I said earlier, it could be a parody of the 80s film.
This can be used to relate ideologies of the film to the music video to say - 'We think the same'. Although I haven't seen 'Falling Down' it can be pleasurable to those who HAVE seen the film to witness and recognise the same set up within another text. Or, like I said earlier, it could be a parody of the 80s film.
Another example of this is the well known Madonna 'Material Girl' in which she dresses alike to historical female icon 'Marilyn Monroe'. Relating the music video to a star of Marilyn Monroe's stature forces a comparison between Madonna and the actress. This would connote that we are meant to believe Madonna is equal in her glamour to Marilyn Monroe - promoting the artist and her music further as people spread the video through word of mouth.
7. Lastly, Andrew Goodwin stated that music videos would be either primarily performance based, narrative based or concept based and the conventions which are used differently in each of them. Of course, videos can be more than one of these at one time, but they are usually primarily one of them.
In a performance based video - a band might be performing in front of an audience or there might be dancing in the middle of the street in a hip hop video like Chris Brown's above. This would be good for highlighting the talents of the performers or for making a music video which retains a gig-like atmosphere. Sometimes there might be a dance routine (Gangnam style, anybody?) which people learn and re perform to friends. In PSY's case this was one of the reasons his song has been viewed so many times.
In a narrative based video, the montages of dancing and singing would be replaced by montages and sequences which follow a plot. Taylor Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble' shows two people in love but one of them always getting them into trouble. He knocks billiard balls out of their position while fairly huge and rough looking men are playing a game, which leads to a bar brawl in which he loses and is kicked repeatedly on the ground while Taylor Swift is held back. Narratives often help to give context to the lyrics of the song and also gives the director a chance to enforce ideologies and to tell a tale. They might sometimes make a video more engaging as consumers may want to see what happens next. In Taylor Swift's case, 'I Knew You Were Trouble' is a concerned headline and so when the start of the video shows a happy couple, audiences will know that something bad is going to happen and might stay to find out what.
In a narrative based video, the montages of dancing and singing would be replaced by montages and sequences which follow a plot. Taylor Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble' shows two people in love but one of them always getting them into trouble. He knocks billiard balls out of their position while fairly huge and rough looking men are playing a game, which leads to a bar brawl in which he loses and is kicked repeatedly on the ground while Taylor Swift is held back. Narratives often help to give context to the lyrics of the song and also gives the director a chance to enforce ideologies and to tell a tale. They might sometimes make a video more engaging as consumers may want to see what happens next. In Taylor Swift's case, 'I Knew You Were Trouble' is a concerned headline and so when the start of the video shows a happy couple, audiences will know that something bad is going to happen and might stay to find out what.
A conceptual video is fairly similar to a narrative video as it still gives directors the chance to enforce ideologies in their video. Rather than having an outright plot, there are abstract messages that need to be interpreted by audiences. A perfect example of this would be in the frequently mentioned James Blake 'The Wilhelm Scream' video. In fact, all of James Blake's videos are along the abstract line, including the existing video for 'Retrograde'.
Another music video which follows a conceptual base is Kanye West's 'Black Skinhead' which features imagery of the Ku Klux Klan, wolves, a chained necklace and a dehumanizing mask of black blurriness covering the face of the man throughout the video. It is up to audiences to interpret what the video means and what these images represent. With articles such as 'http://flavorwire.com/405339/deconstructing-the-imagery-in-kanye-wests-black-skinhead-video' existing on the internet, it's apparant that many of these videos would follow either a 'two-step flow' audience effect model. This is when those with the most access to the media and highest media literacy are given the role of having to analyse and explain the meanings to everyone else. Otherwise, the videos could be seen as following 'Reception theory' in that we illicit our own meanings from the text based on our own life experiences and culture.
(From Kayne West video)
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