Music Video Instruction Manual

Intro What is a music Video? What are they for?

Types of Music Video Performance Narrative Concept lryic parody

Music Genres and their characteristics pop Folk Hip Hop Rock

shooting a music video Foo Fighters- the pretender

Goodwin’s theory

Bibliography

Contents

Music videos first originated as place holders for when bands and artists couldn’t perform, this was seen on Top of the Pops. Since then, they’ve started to be seen as creative outlets in their own right. They became a certified medium and helped cre

What is a music video?

ate the channel we all know and love, MTV. After a while MTV stopped showing music videos as YouTube was created and made it easier to publish the now credited directors work. Music videos and now reviewed as a valid form of media.

The purpose of a music video The overall purpose of a music video is to promote the artists

music. It also adds income to the artist, the production compa-ny and the music production company. A music video also helps to set the genre of the song that’s been filmed. Music videos can be distributed all over the world on the internet and television, You Tube has helped to raise the popularity of music videos.

Types of Music VideoThe Classic Style Music Video, they are the artist(s) performing the song. However, it can be shot in different locations to make it a different style of performance video. How it’s shot, where it’s shot and how it’s lit are important decisions to make because it will influence the outcome of

Performance Video

the video. E.G It could be in front of an audience on a stage, making it a live stage performance. In a studio, making it a live lounge video. A good example of a performance video is Billie Eilish’s ‘Ocean Eyes’. For this song, there were two videos created, a dance-based performance video and a song performance video. Both of these can be classed a performance as they show the song being sung and danced to, without the appearance of a narrative structure. It can be said that all music vid-eos can be seen to have Performance video characteristics. However, you are also able to say that there is no such thing as a true performance video as there will always be something that can be classed as another style of video.

Narrative VideoThese have a beginning, middle and end; like a story. They often follow a main character(S) (often the artist(s)) trough a storyline. This allows directors to tell stories they want, how they want and even in the genres they want. You can tell a story from start to finish, like Drake’s ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’, or show parts of what seems like a bigger story, like the 1975’s ‘Robbers’. You can even create an alternative narrative. Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)’ is a classic exam-ple of a narrative music video. These videos follow a narrative structure to tell a story.

TGIF follows Perry’s character Cathy as she goes her neighbours party. She starts the video with her braces and head gear revising for school. When she goes to the party, her friend takes her upstairs to give Cathy a makeover. Cathy then goes downstairs to join the party. This Video can be classed as a narrative video as there is a clear storyline that it is following. This style can be seen in many of Katy Perry’s Music videos.

Concept VideoArtistic expression. That is the best way I could describe a Concept video. There’s an idea behind it or theme that drives the visuals like Childish Gambino’s Sweatpants. These can be fun to create as there are no rules that have to be followed. This type of video is often connected to an artist or group that isn’t considered mainstream. For example, you wouldn’t have seen One Direction with a

Concept video. Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’ is a strong example of a concept video. The video uses different visual aids to help get a meaning across to the audience. The song was created to highlight everything wrong with America. The meanings range from gun violence to racism, as well as giv-ing the audience a lesson in history.

one moment is when Childish Gambino shoots a man playing the guitar, whilst moving to the correct position to shoot the character, he uses similar dance moves to the Jim Crow caricature, thus high-lighting from the start what this video is about.

Lyric VideoThese videos have more of a practical purpose. They are often used as place holders whilst the mu-sic video is being made, a video used until the artist(s) is ready to shoot, or a less expensive option. Lyric videos solely include graphics and originalfonts that make up the lyrics to the song. Those are the basics and can be seen in Jodie Abacus’ video I’ll Be That Friend. Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ lyric video was released in early January 2017 and served the purpose of giving people the new song, whilst buying time for the production team to create the full music video, released later in January 2017.

animated VideoA video can be classed as an animated video if it has any form of computer-generated design. That includes old fashioned cartoons, CG like Toy story, Stop Motion like Wallace and Gromit or filming

in front of a green screen. Animation is limitless when it comes to adding something into a music Video. Lil Dicky’s ‘Earth’ gives the audience a colourful adventure around the earth. With an important mes-sage behind the song. Lil Dicky used comedy to convey his message, whilst also using huge starts from the music industry to aid him. Animation allows creators to give the audience something never before seen and allows anything to be possible.

Codes and ConventionsofPopPop music has one of the largest fol-lowing of all the music genres. However, in order for music to be classed as a certain genre there is a list of rules of it has to follow. Pop music tends to have bright colours when being filmed, whether it be costumes, sets or makeup. As well as this, you would often see the performers in mainstream fashion, that would often be given to them by compa-nies to promote their brand. Pop music would often give emphasis on having fun, this usually falls under being at parties. The pop genre has evolved so much over the years, however, one part that has stayed constant is the heavy emphasis on performance. You would most likely see the artist(s) performing the song to the camera in a pop music video, although this isn’t the case for some artists. Pop music, especially by Male artists,

It is likely that in some pop videos, there would be a choregraphed dance routine, however this can be used in most genres of music, and is more of a performance video convention. Pop would often use exotic and glamourous locations, this adds to the effect and gives the audience some-thing to focus on other than the artist(s). Love plays a large role in pop videos that follow a narrative structure, as love is something that most, if not all people can relate to; therefore, opening the son to a wide fanbase.

will more likely objectify women in their videos, however this is changing with the times. Sometimes pop music will draw inspiration from other existing media formats, such as movies, television and even other music, this is seen in Ariana Grande’s ‘Thank You, Next’.

Codes and ConventionsofFolk

Folk music is a genre that is very similar to country. It usually is filmed in a rural setting, to fit with the tone and history of the genre. Folk is one of those styles of music that will almost definitely have acoustic instruments. You will often see the artist(s) with an acousticguitar. There is also a greater emphasis on community and togetherness, as the his-tory of folk music shows us that it was used to pass the time by people in small rural villages. Folk tends to be less image conscious when it comes to the public, they’re just there to sing and have a good time. Editing styles of folk have stayed fairly sim-ilar over the years, there has always been vintage filters and natural light to give a calm effect.

Codes and ConventionsofHip HopHip hop is one of the easiest genres to spot. It usually takes place in an urban setting, and would often have Dj-ing, rapping, breakdancing and graffiti in full view. You would see low angle shots with the artist(s) leaning into the camera. A fish eye lens is an important feature of hip hop, it distorts the view and allows the audience to see everything. There will also often be crowds of people dancing to the song being performed, and like pop, there would also be some form of objectification. Early hip hop showed a large base of political awareness; however, this has given way to gangster rap which focuses more on sex, drugs and violence.

Codes and Conventionsofrock Rock music is one of the oldest forms of modern music. There have been many rock artists throughout time. These videos tend to have dark colours and emphasize on black. Rock tends to have a large performance element and usually shows the artist(s) on instruments. There is usually occult iconography including long hair. They usually wear band t-shirts and leather jackets to add to the effect they give the audience. Rock usually is filmed in dark, dirty locations and usually are shot from low angels.

Hip Hop

rock

Shooting a music videoThere are many ways to film a music video, below you can see a bird’s eye view of the set of the Foo Fighters ‘The Pretender’ and the different camera shots. The likelihood of these shots being shot on different cameras is very low. Instead, the band would have performed the song multiple times so that the crew could get the different angles they needed. Here is a step by step guide on how to create a music video.

1. Set up your camera in the position and angle you want, according to your shot list.

2. Have the artist(s) perform the whole song.

3. Move the camera to a different position.

4. Have the band repeat the song.

5. Repeat all these steps until all the shots you need are recorded.

Goodwin’s Theory Andrew Goodwin developed a theory which can supposedly be applied to any music video. Here are his main 8 principles:• Link between lyrics and visuals• Link between music and videos• Genre Characteristics• Intertextual References• Notions of looking• Voyeurism• Demands of the record label• Performance based, narrative based, or concept based

Link between lyrics and visualsThis means that whatever the singer is singing, the visuals would usually create the narrative flow of the video.• Illustrate, Visuals explain the meaning of the lyrics• Disjuncture, the song is completely ignored by the video• Amplify, the images of the video are manipulated and repeated to put across the meaning of the lyrics.

Link between music and videosSimilarly, to the first principle, this means that the visuals of the video would match the music behind it. For example, with a heavy metal song one would expect there to be dark and quick cut visuals. If this was not the case, this would form a contradictory relationship.

Genre CharacteristicsThis means that all music videos would show the conventions and stereotypes of their given genre.

Intertextual ReferencesReferring to when a video references another piece of media, such as film, Tv or another music video.

Notions of looking/ VoyeurismThis refers to when the camera portrays men or women seductively, or if the artist makes eye contact with the camera. It can also involve how the characters look at each other within the video, as this can all affect the relationship with the viewer. This is most common in pop music.

Demands of the record labelThis means how the record label what the star to be seen in the public eye, so that the artist appeals to a certain demo-graphic. This is when voyeurism may be used, to create sex appeal to a certain group of people. Or the label could want the artist to be viewed as unique, such as Lady Gaga.

Performance based, narrative based, or concept basedGoodwin believed that it was important for the artist(s) to take a leading role within the video. Theses usually fall into three main categories:• Performance based; the featured artist(s) perform the song.• Narrative based; the artist(s) play leading characters in a story that forms a narrative• Concept Based; the video is likely to be unique and just do its own thing

https://www.epikmusicvideos.com/blog/100-types-of-music-video-production.html

Bibliography