Conventions of Music Videos - Luke

Music videos are primarily produced for promotional or artistic purposes, with the main aim of selling music. In order to know how to create a music video that successfully promotes a band or artist, I need to know what the key conventions of a music video actually are and how they are used successfully to promote the artist. I have researched into what makes a music video and with the help of Andrew Goodwin's book 'Dancing in the distraction factory', came up with a list of the key features that define a music video.
He states that:

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals ( illustrating, amplifying or contradicting lyrics)

Within the majority of music videos there are very strong links between the lyrics and the visuals. The visuals of the music videos usually reflect what is being said or portrayed with the lyrics of a song, and the visuals of a music video can be used to further highlight the feelings of the artist or meaning of the lyrics. A very clear example of where the visuals illustrate and amplify the lyrics is in the video of the song 'Payphone' by Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa. In the main performance parts of the video we see the lead singer standing in a payphone singing the lyrics "I'm at a payphone trying to call home all of my change I spent on you" through the phone, fully illustrating the lyrics.
Another music video that shows a clear link between the lyrics and the visuals is for the song 'Dancing On The Ceiling' by Lionel Richie. The main lyrics for the chorus are "Oh, what a feeling when we're dancing on the ceiling" and at this point, the video shows Lionel Richie actually singing and dancing on a ceiling, illustrating the lyrics with almost comedic effects.

Given that these parts of the music videos fully highlight and link to the lyrics, it has to be noted that these links do not feature throughout the whole course of the video, and there are other aspects including performance and narrative in the videos. This links in well with a quote that Andrew Goodwin made in 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory' saying that "Key lines may also play a part in the visuals but rarely will the music video simple illustrate the lyrics fully."

There is a relationship between music and visuals (illustrating, amplifying or contradicting lyrics)

Another of the main conventions of music videos is the link between the music and the visuals. The pace and beat of a song will generally have an impact on the way that the video is cut end edited together. Goodwin mentions this in 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory, saying that "Music tends to make use of the tempo of the track to drive the editing and may emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as guitar, keyboard or drum solo". An example of this link would be where a song with a very fast, upbeat tempo such as 'Omen' by The Prodigy features very quick cuts to emphasise that beat and pace of the drums within the song.

A video with a much slower beat to it such as 'Undercover Martyn' by Two Door Cinema Club. This video also makes use of the tempo of the music and links to the lyrics music through the use of very long cuts and steady camera movements, in stark contrast to that of The Prodigy's music video.

 

Particular music genres have their own music video style and iconography

Different genres of music all feature their own very different video styles and iconographies. There will usually be different types of video for the different types of genre. For example, rap videos may feature strong references to sex, materialism/wealth or anger, with cuts between both performance and narrative and rock music videos will focus a lot more on performance, with many close ups of the band playing their instruments and singing. There may also be some music videos that feature neither performance or narrative aspects, but only concept based ideas to make the video, which end up looking quite strange or unrelated to the song when watched. The music video for the song 'Monkey Drummer' by electronic musician Aphex Twin makes full use of this concept based music video.

A great example of a rap video that presents the stereotypical features of either sexualisation, materialism/wealth, or anger within the video is 'Otis' by Kanye West and Jay-Z which features very expensive cars and attractive women, conforming to the stereotypes of rap videos.

A rock video that makes use of the stereotypical performance based music video is for the song 'Take Me Out' by Franz Ferdinand. There are many close ups of the band playing their instruments and the lead singer Alex Kapranos singing throughout the video which, again, is a major sterotype associated with the filming and construction of rock music videos. Andrew Goodwin also menntions in his book that "There is a demand on the part of the record labels for close ups of lead artists/vocalists" and this is clear to see in the Franz Ferdinand video. The lead singer Alex Kapranos features a huge amount more than other members in the video and is shown in various different close ups singing and playing the guitar. This gives the band a head representative that the public will easily recognise, helping to make them seem more like a brand which would convert into more sales, making money for both them and the record label.

 

Artists may develop their own star iconography in and out of their videos which over time becomes part of their star image



There are many artists within the music industry that create their own individual star iconography to try and help them to stand out from the crowd and become better, more well known artists. Lady Gaga is one of the most obvious artists that has incorporated her own star iconography to create her own star image. She is known for wearing costumes that you wouldn't normally expect somebody to wear such as see through tops, strange hats and dresses made out of meat. She is very individual with what she wears and this only adds to her star image. Star images add to the credibility of an artist and help to keep the artists instantly recognisable. Another artist who has created her own star image to make herself stand out from the crowd is Nicki Minaj, who has incorporated brightly coloured costumes and hair into her star image. Below is a music video by Lady Gaga that fully shows her different style that she has incorporated into her star image:

 There is likely to be reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women but also in terms of systems of looking ( such as cameras/windows which give the sense of looking)

Music videos are now not only about representing the music as they were when they first started being made, now there is a lot of sexualisation within music videos, which is primarily used to attract the male gaze. There are many videos that have been created with the male audience in mind, including voyeurism to attract this male audience to songs and artists. A couple of artists that use this system of looking and voyeurism within their music videos are Eric Prydz in the video for 'Call On Me' and Alex Gaudino for the video to 'Destination Calabria'. As you can see in the Eric Prydz video below the use of voyeurism is clear with the use of the women wearing basically nothing and the inclusion of different camera shots and angles to emphasise the performers' bodies, reflecting the male gaze.
Another artist that uses systems of looking within her videos is Rihanna, most noticably in the video created for the song 'Rude Boy'. There are various sexual references within this song and the video incorporates the lyrics and uses systems of looking to create an extremely sexualised theme. The lyrics "Tonight I'mma let you be the captain, tonight I'mma let you do your thing, yeah" are paired with the gaze of Rihanna into the camera to represent an alluring desire within the male audience watching.


I decided to pick out the main features of music videos and create a spider diagram so that I can easily see what needs to be considered when I come around to creating my own video: