Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Monday, 8 October 2012
Introduction
On this blog I will be discussing the theory around music video production. I will be covering things such as music video styles, techniques and the general purposes of music videos. I will be looking at existing music videos and discussing techniques used in preparation for creating my own music video.
Music Video Techniques
There are several different techniques used in music videos, most of which should be included in order to make a good music video.
Relationship between Visuals and Lyrics & Music - This is the first of these techniques and is probably the most important. All three styles of music video tend to use this as it is basically the whole point of a music video, to illustrate the song. The relationship should always be able to seen by the audience at some point in the video, in some cases it may only be a mild link and be quite unnoticeable by the audience but most videos have the link between the two. The video to "In Too Deep" by Sum 41 uses relationship between visuals and lyrics because throughout the video, people are diving into a swimming pool, relating to the title and lyrics "in too deep".
Genre Characteristics - This is another important technique in music video production. Basically music videos must always relate to the genre of music that the song is, purely so it makes sense. A pop music video wouldn't work well with a rock song unless it was like a parody video and that was the point of it. For example a rock video usually shows the band wearing dark clothes, playing infront of a crowd or just dark elements in general because it suits this type of music. In rap music videos it would usually includes things such as cars, girls, parties etc. The video to "Won't Go Quietly" is an example of this, it is an electronic/dance song and the video includes things such as clubs, strobe lights and lots of dancing.
Star Image - Star image is important in music videos, particularly for solo artists. It is a way of representing themselves as unique, something that artist is known for, whilst also being a representation of their music. For example Lady Gaga is known for being slightly "wild" and known for her unusual fashion sense, which we see in every video of hers. An example of this is the video to Pass Out by Tinie Tempah, he is known to be quite "wild" also and is probably of as a fun person. There are many close ups of him throughout the video and there are a lot of shots of him just generally dancing and enjoying himself.
Voyeurism - This is a very important technique in modern music. It relates to when somebody is described as a voyeur which means when they're looking at something that they probably shouldn't be and wanting to be there. The video to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift is shot in quite a voyeuristic way because it shows her ex boyfriend constantly being around her and almost following her when she wants nothing to do with him anymore.
Intertextual Referencing - Not an essential technique but is used in quite a lot of music videos. It basically means the video use context or reference from something such as a film or a tv program. This is used to show some creativity in music videos and can also be used to promote both the song and the film because people will recognize it and link them together. An example of this is the video to Year 3000 by Busted which uses references to Back to the Future such as the car that's been made into a time machine and the slightly crazy professor character.
Relationship between Visuals and Lyrics & Music - This is the first of these techniques and is probably the most important. All three styles of music video tend to use this as it is basically the whole point of a music video, to illustrate the song. The relationship should always be able to seen by the audience at some point in the video, in some cases it may only be a mild link and be quite unnoticeable by the audience but most videos have the link between the two. The video to "In Too Deep" by Sum 41 uses relationship between visuals and lyrics because throughout the video, people are diving into a swimming pool, relating to the title and lyrics "in too deep".
Genre Characteristics - This is another important technique in music video production. Basically music videos must always relate to the genre of music that the song is, purely so it makes sense. A pop music video wouldn't work well with a rock song unless it was like a parody video and that was the point of it. For example a rock video usually shows the band wearing dark clothes, playing infront of a crowd or just dark elements in general because it suits this type of music. In rap music videos it would usually includes things such as cars, girls, parties etc. The video to "Won't Go Quietly" is an example of this, it is an electronic/dance song and the video includes things such as clubs, strobe lights and lots of dancing.
Star Image - Star image is important in music videos, particularly for solo artists. It is a way of representing themselves as unique, something that artist is known for, whilst also being a representation of their music. For example Lady Gaga is known for being slightly "wild" and known for her unusual fashion sense, which we see in every video of hers. An example of this is the video to Pass Out by Tinie Tempah, he is known to be quite "wild" also and is probably of as a fun person. There are many close ups of him throughout the video and there are a lot of shots of him just generally dancing and enjoying himself.
Voyeurism - This is a very important technique in modern music. It relates to when somebody is described as a voyeur which means when they're looking at something that they probably shouldn't be and wanting to be there. The video to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift is shot in quite a voyeuristic way because it shows her ex boyfriend constantly being around her and almost following her when she wants nothing to do with him anymore.
Intertextual Referencing - Not an essential technique but is used in quite a lot of music videos. It basically means the video use context or reference from something such as a film or a tv program. This is used to show some creativity in music videos and can also be used to promote both the song and the film because people will recognize it and link them together. An example of this is the video to Year 3000 by Busted which uses references to Back to the Future such as the car that's been made into a time machine and the slightly crazy professor character.
Music Video Styles
There are three different styles of music videos that are generally used, these include:
Peformance Based - This is when the video focuses on the artists performance and has no real narrative elements within. It often uses close ups of the bands instruments and shows them playing them up close, often to show the bands talent. It is used by solo artists but is mainly done by rock/indie bands. I think this is generally used so the audience doesn't get distracted by a narrative and focuses purely on the song. An example of this is All My Life by Foo Fighters which more or less just shows the band performing at an arena and gives us the occasional close up of the band playing the instruments.
Narrative Based - When a story is told through the music video, often relating to the lyrics. It is essentially a short film but based on the lyrics of the song. It is done to help convey the meaning of the song and maybe just give the audience a little bit more to focus on when listening to the song. An example of this is the video to Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen which tells the story of her crush on her next door neighbour, who in the end turns out to be gay.
Concept Based - Where the video is only loosely related to the lyrics and the video is just something that's been put together, it rarely makes sense. It is often used more for fun purposes but can also be powerful and make the audience make their own interpretation of the video's meaning when there may not actually be one. An example of this is the video to Close Enemies by Example which has no real meaning behind it but we see lots of things happening that don't really relate to the lyrics, but the audience could make their own interpretation of the meaning behind it.
Peformance Based - This is when the video focuses on the artists performance and has no real narrative elements within. It often uses close ups of the bands instruments and shows them playing them up close, often to show the bands talent. It is used by solo artists but is mainly done by rock/indie bands. I think this is generally used so the audience doesn't get distracted by a narrative and focuses purely on the song. An example of this is All My Life by Foo Fighters which more or less just shows the band performing at an arena and gives us the occasional close up of the band playing the instruments.
Narrative Based - When a story is told through the music video, often relating to the lyrics. It is essentially a short film but based on the lyrics of the song. It is done to help convey the meaning of the song and maybe just give the audience a little bit more to focus on when listening to the song. An example of this is the video to Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen which tells the story of her crush on her next door neighbour, who in the end turns out to be gay.
Concept Based - Where the video is only loosely related to the lyrics and the video is just something that's been put together, it rarely makes sense. It is often used more for fun purposes but can also be powerful and make the audience make their own interpretation of the video's meaning when there may not actually be one. An example of this is the video to Close Enemies by Example which has no real meaning behind it but we see lots of things happening that don't really relate to the lyrics, but the audience could make their own interpretation of the meaning behind it.
The purposes of music video
Music video is generally used to accompany a song and is the producers way of illustrating that particular song. It can be used to help promote a song by using things such as sex appeal and using other celebrities. It can also be used to tell a story based on the lyrics just to keep the viewers attention. A lot of money can be made on music videos by using product placement, placing a product such as Coca Cola in the video to promote it and receiving money from Coca Cola to do so. Music videos have become more popular over the last 20 years and have evolved from just videos of the band playing a show into more detailed videos and the styles have developed.
The general purpose of a music video though is to illustrate the song as stated and often the video does relate to the lyrics, they can be done in different styles though in which the video doesn't relate to the song in any way. They can also help improve an artists popularity in other countries, because a music video on YouTube can be seen worldwide, it could be seen by someone in China and perhaps increase that artists popularity over there. Music video's are seen on music channels, something which has become bigger recently, MTV was the beginning of music video's on TV but has expanded to and music channels such as Kerrang, The Hits, 4Music, The Box and many more have spawned since, it all helps the cause of promoting the music and the artist.
Music videos can also be used to promote a film or possibly a TV series, mainly films. Sometimes a song is released by an artist because it is part of the film soundtrack and is used with the sole purpose of promoting the film, using clips of the film within the video to act as a trailer for the film and encourage people to watch the film. An example of this is "New Divide" by Linkin Park which is part of the Transformers soundtrack and has been used to promote it
Modern music videos often use something to make them memorable, there have been a lot of music videos in the past that people always remember and it helps make the song more memorable. An example of this is the video to "Gangnam Style" which has been incredible popular on YouTube due to the nature of the video and has really helped promote the song.
The general purpose of a music video though is to illustrate the song as stated and often the video does relate to the lyrics, they can be done in different styles though in which the video doesn't relate to the song in any way. They can also help improve an artists popularity in other countries, because a music video on YouTube can be seen worldwide, it could be seen by someone in China and perhaps increase that artists popularity over there. Music video's are seen on music channels, something which has become bigger recently, MTV was the beginning of music video's on TV but has expanded to and music channels such as Kerrang, The Hits, 4Music, The Box and many more have spawned since, it all helps the cause of promoting the music and the artist.
Music videos can also be used to promote a film or possibly a TV series, mainly films. Sometimes a song is released by an artist because it is part of the film soundtrack and is used with the sole purpose of promoting the film, using clips of the film within the video to act as a trailer for the film and encourage people to watch the film. An example of this is "New Divide" by Linkin Park which is part of the Transformers soundtrack and has been used to promote it
Modern music videos often use something to make them memorable, there have been a lot of music videos in the past that people always remember and it helps make the song more memorable. An example of this is the video to "Gangnam Style" which has been incredible popular on YouTube due to the nature of the video and has really helped promote the song.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)