What is a music video?
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.
Music videos are designed to capture the essence of an audio performance and interpret it visually. Some videos, particular those created during the 1980s, do follow a relatively linear path, combining staged shots of the band in performance with a subplot based on the song's lyrics. Others use the band members as actors in a short film, or leave the band out of the video entirely.
Music videos are designed to capture the essence of an audio performance and interpret it visually. Some videos, particular those created during the 1980s, do follow a relatively linear path, combining staged shots of the band in performance with a subplot based on the song's lyrics. Others use the band members as actors in a short film, or leave the band out of the video entirely.
Types and styles of music videos
The HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS
“A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.”
Music videos are primarily used as a marketing device – to promote the sales of music recordings.
The evolution of music video through the decades has been remarkable; from the illustrated songs to soundies to Mtv videos to YouTube etc.
This timeline below is an insight into music video industry
Music videos are primarily used as a marketing device – to promote the sales of music recordings.
The evolution of music video through the decades has been remarkable; from the illustrated songs to soundies to Mtv videos to YouTube etc.
This timeline below is an insight into music video industry
Analysis of music videos
I've chosen three different music videos of three relatively different genres and analysed how different artists have used the codes and conventions of their genre to create music videos
music video theorists
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Intertextuality
Intertextuality from AbiyaShah
Genre
Music genre is a category or type belonging to a shared tradition or a set of conventions. Music is divided in different genre like pop, rock , hip hop etc. Though there are a variety of genres but this classification is often subjective and sometimes genres overlap each other.
Music genre is very important and it could be very well noticed that the genre is the first label placed on the band. Most importantly it is used to target a specific audience and most of all it would be easy for both the maker and the viewer to easily categorize their work. Though not every band is able to stick neatly into the little space of its genre there are some music videos that follow up the pattern of disjuncture as stated by Andrew Godwin which means that the song intentionally ignores the content of the song and the genre of the music.Like for example: Can't stop by Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
However with passage of time new genres have arised by the development of new forms and styles of music and also simply by creating a new category. Although it is possible to create a musical style with no relation to existing genres yet the new styles appear under the influence of preexisting genres. The blend of more then two genres in music is often known as Fusion. Though it is influenced by other music genres fusion somehow has become a genre in itself. Instrumental fusion based on the experimental mix of rock and roll , country pop.
It is difficult to categorize fusion artists within a non-fusion styles. There might be many reasons but one of the biggest one could be the overlapping of one genre with the other. Fusion artists generally consider themselves part of both genres. A musician who plays music that is blues but is influenced by rock, for example, is often labelled a blues-rock musician.
Music genre is very important and it could be very well noticed that the genre is the first label placed on the band. Most importantly it is used to target a specific audience and most of all it would be easy for both the maker and the viewer to easily categorize their work. Though not every band is able to stick neatly into the little space of its genre there are some music videos that follow up the pattern of disjuncture as stated by Andrew Godwin which means that the song intentionally ignores the content of the song and the genre of the music.Like for example: Can't stop by Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
However with passage of time new genres have arised by the development of new forms and styles of music and also simply by creating a new category. Although it is possible to create a musical style with no relation to existing genres yet the new styles appear under the influence of preexisting genres. The blend of more then two genres in music is often known as Fusion. Though it is influenced by other music genres fusion somehow has become a genre in itself. Instrumental fusion based on the experimental mix of rock and roll , country pop.
It is difficult to categorize fusion artists within a non-fusion styles. There might be many reasons but one of the biggest one could be the overlapping of one genre with the other. Fusion artists generally consider themselves part of both genres. A musician who plays music that is blues but is influenced by rock, for example, is often labelled a blues-rock musician.
Finalising the music video genre
We, as a team, have agreed upon Indie Rock/Pop as a genre for our music video . It is a genre that is popular and trending among the youth and artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons.
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. |
The term indie rock, which comes from "independent," describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved.
The influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-punk and country. The terms "alternative rock" and "indie rock" were used interchangeably in the 1980s, but after many alternative bands followed Nirvana into the mainstream in the early 1990s, "indie rock" began to be used to describe those bands, working in a variety of styles, that did not pursue or achieve commercial success. Aesthetically speaking, indie rock is characterized as having a careful balance of pop accessibility with noise, experimentation with pop music formulae, sensitive lyrics masked by ironic posturing, a concern with "authenticity," and the depiction of a simple guy or girl. |
Codes & Conventions of Indie rock/pop music
Target audience
To understand more about our target audience and their preferences, we've created a questionnaire, as it would provide a guideline for the production of music video. The results are as follows:
Identifying primary and secondary audiences
Primary audience ARE the target audience. Secondary audience are viewers who fall outside the primary demographic, but may exert an external influence on primary audiences.
The primary target of a music video would be the people who are most directly involved with it.
For example, for our indie rock music video, it would be people interested in music and music videos, most likely teenagers and adults ranging from 12 years onwards to around early 30s.
Whereas, the secondary audience would most likely attract viewers due to a relationship with the target audience or the subject covered in the music video. Examples would include; people looking for inspiration or evaluation of the music video, peers doing the similar task, it might also include friends and family or a viewer etc.
The primary target of a music video would be the people who are most directly involved with it.
For example, for our indie rock music video, it would be people interested in music and music videos, most likely teenagers and adults ranging from 12 years onwards to around early 30s.
Whereas, the secondary audience would most likely attract viewers due to a relationship with the target audience or the subject covered in the music video. Examples would include; people looking for inspiration or evaluation of the music video, peers doing the similar task, it might also include friends and family or a viewer etc.
Audience Profiling:
Demographics and Psychographics of audiences
Demographic information is used in media marketing to classify an audience into age, gender, race and other categories.Demographics are broken into bands depending on peoples jobs or status.This typically involves age bands, social class, and gender. In the film and media industry, producers shape their media text or product around the demographics of a potential audience, suiting their needs and attempting to attract the most number of viewings/ ratings as possible.
The demographic segment for our particular genre- Indie Rock/Pop Music
- it attracts both male and female audiences. especially those younger in age
-a proper age bracket would be from 12-35
-It wouldnt fall into any specific social class as it doesnt target specific clause or topics
Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics. It is based on the assumption that the types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that persons characteristics and patterns of living.Psychographics can also be seen as an equivalent of the concept of "culture" when it is used for segmentation at a national level.
The demographic segment for our particular genre- Indie Rock/Pop Music
- it attracts both male and female audiences. especially those younger in age
-a proper age bracket would be from 12-35
-It wouldnt fall into any specific social class as it doesnt target specific clause or topics
Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics. It is based on the assumption that the types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that persons characteristics and patterns of living.Psychographics can also be seen as an equivalent of the concept of "culture" when it is used for segmentation at a national level.