In this blog I will be talking about the purposes of different music videos and also the codes and conventions of different genres of music, aswell as the different styles and techniques used in production.
I will mostly be using Hip-Hop songs as examples as my aim is to show videos that a lot of people have never heard of let alone seen, in order to portray the different styles that artists follow all over the music industry.
Purpose:
There are many reasons why an artist or producer would create a music video however the most common reasons are to promote the artist featured in the video and to make money.
Creating a video to a song/beat gives the audience something aesthetic (something to look at) which gives them another way to remember the song. It adds a lot of character and makes the song unique.
Although music videos and beneficial to a song there is a lot of pressure as they can either make or break a song. Fans have a lot of critisism on music videos as a video cannot please everyone. A good video can boost the sales of a song by a huge percentage however a bad video can rapidly decrease the number of sales.
Other reasons why music videos are made can include sending a message to the audience, promoting an artists appearance or simply for entertainment reasons.
Promoting the band or artist:
If you are an artist that is 'up and coming' in the music industry, a great way to get known is to appear in an already successful artist's video in order to get yourself out there.
A good example of this, (although not very well known to most people who aren't interested in Hip-Hop!), is 'Pusha-T' featuring in rapper 'Birdmans' song and music video 'What happened to that Boy' in 2003. After this song Pusha-T became a lot more well known as Birdman was the founder of the record label 'Cash Money Records', featuring artists such as 'Drake', 'Lil Wayne' and 'Nicki Minaj'. This obviously got people looking at the video as Birdman is very well known in the rap industry. This was beneficial to Pusha-T as he got more and more interest by both fans and other producers, artits, composers etc.
Baby ft. Pusha-T - What Happened To That Boy
Since this rise in fame, Pusha-T went on to be a very well known rapper and eventually singned to Kanye West's record label 'GOOD Music' in 2010 and featured in songs such as 'Runaway' and more recently 'Mercy' and 'New God Flow'. He is currently working on an album named 'My Name Is My Name' which is due to release on July 16th 2013 which wi;ll feature artists such as Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar among others.
Featuring in a song is a great way to get noticed, however if you can create something that goes global, you automatically become known worldwide.
A great example of how a music video has became the most watched video on YouTube of all time is of course PSY's Gangnam Style.
Before this song PSY was not well known around the world but it was the genius behind the iconic dance move which swooped the planet! The video has had 1,636,846,816 views and that number can only get larger as the days go by! This is an astonishing figure in itself however his new song and music video 'Gentleman' broke the World Record for the most views in 24 hours! This proves that a good music video can not only boost your career, but also shows that once you are well-known, people will still watch your latest videos, intrigued to see the new sensation!
Making Money:
Although artists write music for enjoyment a large majority of their motivation is to make money. Although a song itself can generate a lot of money, music videos are a great way to make a lot more money as they can be used for advertisement. The video is more than likely going to be uploaded to YouTube, which is a great idea as so many people now use the internet and YouTube to watch videos. Money can be generated from YouTube views, however the majority of that money will got to both the owner of the channel and also the record label that the artist is signed to. Also, YouTube have a lot of advertisement before the video which can make both the artist and YouTube a lot more money. Music videos are more likely to make money from appearing on TV channels such as MTV. This is because MTV can pay for an exclusive video or one that no-one else has seen yet. Videos can also make money from brands that have allowed the artist to portray them in the video.An example of this, even though it is only a few sesonds in the video, is A$AP Rocky's music video 'Goldie'. There is a lyric in the song 'My Martin was a Maison, rocked Margiela with no laces' which is refferening to the clothing brand Martin Maison Margiela. In the video at 0:32 it shows a pair of Margiela shoes being set on fire. A$AP Rocky must have either asked Margiela if he can use their shoes in his video or they would have approached him about it as it would be copyright and he could be sued.
Also, throughout the video, A$AP is wearing a 'Comme des Fuckdown' hat, a brand which he is linked with through advertisement.
A$AP Rocky - Goldie
Sending a message to the audience:
A lot of songs that artists make have their own personal messages in them which there are portraying to the audience very basically and vaguely. However there are some songs which the artist want the audience to understand their message clearly and portray it even more in the video.
The message can be a good postive message or a very bad, sometimes shocking message. An example of a negative however touching message is in Kanye West's song 'Through The Wire' in which he raps about how he is was in a fatal car crash fracturing his jaw in 3 places, which he luckily survived and shares his experience with the audience by writing a song about it 2 weeks later. The video is a series of photographs and video clips from things such as stages of his surgery, his family and his career so far.
He directly addresses the audience several times in the song, saying things like
'Y'all don't really understand how I feel right now man,'
'I really apologize how I sound right now man
If it's unclear at all, man
They got my mouth wired shut for like I don't know the doctor said for like six weeks
I had reconstructive surgery on my jaw
But I'm still here for you all right now yo'between his verses to let the audience know what the song is about.
Kanye West - Through The Wire
Styles of Music Videos
Different genres of music result in different styles in music videos.
For example Rock bands tend to usually use live in cocert footage for their videos and Indie bands try to tell a story in their videos. Both of which are effective in their own way.
However the music I personally listen to (Hip-Hop), the videos tend to have no storyline but instead are very creative and tend to use animational features, showing just the artist as the main focal point in the video. The main styles of music videos are Performance, Concept, Animation and Narrative.
Performance:
Performance music videos are usually footage of the bands/artist live in concert or just in an empty space in front of a camera.
It is a clever idea for a video as it sells themselves even more by showing the audience what their shows are like, and this is more likely to sell tickets on their tours/gigs if people like the look of the video.
These styles of videos are usually used by Rock Bands as this is the style many of them have chosen to use. I feel that it works perfectly for this genre of music as their performances are extremely lively and filled with a lot of drama which is perfect for a music video as it keeps the audience interested in what is happening on-screen.
A good example of a performance music video is Swedish House Mafia's song 'Don't You Worry Child'.
The video shows the group doing a live show in front of thousands of people. It has lots of different angles and shots which makes the video look like a proper, planned out music video. It is a very clever video as it involves clips of the crowd dancing along to the song. It its the song perfectly as it is a very lively and 'dancy' song and this is portrayed in the video with people dancing long to the song in the crowd.
Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child
Concept:
Concept music videos are usually a story which is told in a confusing and mixed up way in order to keep the audience interested. They are usually fairly depressing and sad. This is a technique used as a way of keeping the audience watching as they want to know what happens at the end. The story is normally broken up by things such as filler clips to take the intensity off of the depressing scenes.
A good example of a Concept music video is Alt-J's song 'Breeze-blocks'. It shows a man and a woman getting chased by a gang and the boyfriend gets beaten up in front of her. At the end the boyfriend gets up and takes the gang on on his own, defeating the gang members for his girlfriend's safety. It is very clever as the video matches the song as in something big would happen on the drop of the beat.
Alt-J - Breeze Blocks
Animation:
Animation music videos feature characters that have been either animated or a drawing, cartoon etc. that usually tell a story. They are very clever as you can literally create whatever you want however you want to.
Animation music videos are usually used for Indie music genre as it shows creativity and is unique. However, Kanye West uses the technique extremely well in his song 'Good Life'.
It uses animations to explain what he is rapping about for example he says 'watch the money pile' as he piles up an animated pile of money with his hands. He continues to match the lyrics with animation throughout the video which would be a lot easier to see if you watched the video!
Kanye West - Good Life
Narrative:
Narrative music videos tell a story, which is not always related to the song featured in the video. Most of them are about love and do not contain a lot of lip syncing, if any at all.
The video usually involves two people, most commonly it would be a man and a woman, showing both his and her half of the story. Obviously, it is more likely to show the main characters part of the story, and this can even be the artist of the song acting out the story. This is clever as it makes the video easier to relate to as it is the writer of the song in the video, therefore is more realistic.
A good example of a Narrative music video is another one of Kanye West's songs - Paranoid. This video is about a woman (Rihanna) driving away from a man (Kanye West) really fast through a series of different scenes in order to escape him as she is paranoid. The video has hints in it that Rihanna is paranoid as she looks very scared and keeps looking over he shoulder etc. There are certain shots in the video that allow the audience to know that she is escaping Kanye West as there is a particular shot where his eyes are all white staring down the lens of the camera. I feel that the video is suitable as it acts out a story and does so very well.
Kanye West - Paranoid
Music Genres:
There are many different music genres including Pop, Indie, R&B, Hip-Hop/Rap, Rock and many, many more!
Pop:
Pop music is more than likely aimed at younger people (not to say that old people don't like it too!) as they are very upbeat songs and the videos are usually about 5 young men with big hair jumping around with some sort of instrument in their hand and overly lip syncing to show the audience they are singing along (when in fact they are not). There is usually a lot of paint and crazy things happening in the video and the group/artist are dancing around and having a great time.
One Direction - Live While We're Young
Indie:
Indie music is usually aimed at fairly basic individuals who enjoy listening to 'unique' music and wearing skinny jeans with tight T-shirts (so mainly younger people). The music video is mainly narrative as they all seem to tell some kind of story whether it be romance or love. The videos can be depressing but can also be upbeat. It is a fairly broad music genre in my opinion.
Hip-Hop/Rap:
Rap videos don't particularly fall into a certain style of video, they just involve the rapper in the middle of the screen miming the words surrounded by girls, money, cars and gold. This is done to show the audience what lifestyle they live, and how much money they have. I myself prefer these videos to any other genre, as I like Hip-Hop because i am interested in that sort of thing. I prefer it because it is simple yet effective and because of how rich they are their videos are made by awesome editors!
Rick Ross Ft. Drake and Wale - Diced Pineapples
Although I don't like the song, I think that this music video is very clever. The video is filmed very well and the editing is also good. There is a lot of slow motion in the video which makes it look good and professional.
again, it is a narrative style as it is about Drake's life before he was famous and includes him as a kid, obviously an actor, playing football for a team in Toronto. He also works in a supermarket and shows him getting promoted to night manager. It then shows his life now in his private jet, a Bentley, lots of gold and girls! I think that it is very clever and works well with the song as the chorus is 'Started from the bottom now we're here'.
Rap videos don't particularly fall into a certain style of video, they just involve the rapper in the middle of the screen miming the words surrounded by girls, money, cars and gold. This is done to show the audience what lifestyle they live, and how much money they have. I myself prefer these videos to any other genre, as I like Hip-Hop because i am interested in that sort of thing. I prefer it because it is simple yet effective and because of how rich they are their videos are made by awesome editors!
2 Chainz ft. Drake - No Lie
4 Music Videos that I like
Kanye West Ft. Big Sean, Pusha-T and 2 Chainz - Mercy
My favourite video without a doubt has got to be another Kanye West song - Mercy.
It is so creative and i have never seen anything like it before. The editing in the video is incredible and must have taken ages! The video appears to be one continuous shot with the four artists in the song (Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha-T and 2 Chainz) appearing in several different places at once in areas around the scene.
The main line in the chorus is 'Lamborghini Mercy' so it is very fitting that the video is shot in an underground car park with a black Lamborghini park in the middle of the screen. The camera is constantly moving and the whole video is in black and white. I feel that it looks extremely stylish and suits the song perfectly. The video is literally the artists rapping there verses in one take which I have never really seen in a music video before as there is almost certainly always at least one filler shot in basically every other video.
The video doesn't really fit into any of the styles i mentioned before however if i were to compare it to one it would be performance as they are singing their lines however not to a crowd. They are just rapping along looking straight down the camera at the audience and moving around the scene. The entire video in my opinion looks very modern and works well.
Rick Ross Ft. Drake and Wale - Diced Pineapples
I like this video as it is very stylish and easy on the eye. The sunny scenes make the video have a positive vibe to it. Again, it doesn't really have a massive relation to any of the styles but i would probably compare it to narrative as it sort of tells a bit of a story.
It is about Rick Ross, Wale and Drake at their homes on a sunny resort, both with women and showing what they do while they are on holiday. It is a very relaxed song and this is perfectly demonstrated in this video, plus the filming is top notch!
A$AP Rocky - Peso
I like this video as it is very simple in the way that it is filmed but at the same time looks very professional. It has quick cuts from shot to shot and has slow motion in it which gives the video both a quick feel as the cuts from shot to shot are on the beat and a slow feeling obviously because of the slow motion.
Again, I would compare it to a narrative style because, even though there is no actual story-line, it is about him and his friends in their hometown Harlem doing what the would have done before they got famous and rich. I like it because he is sat in American diners and goes into supermarkets which even though he is rapping about cars and gold. It is clever as what is happening in the video is very opposite to what he is rapping about.
Drake - Started From The Bottom
again, it is a narrative style as it is about Drake's life before he was famous and includes him as a kid, obviously an actor, playing football for a team in Toronto. He also works in a supermarket and shows him getting promoted to night manager. It then shows his life now in his private jet, a Bentley, lots of gold and girls! I think that it is very clever and works well with the song as the chorus is 'Started from the bottom now we're here'.
