What is a music video?

What is a music video?

Genres
Rap - Eminem
Pop - One Direction
R&B - Usher
Hip hop - Beyonce

The purpose of  Calvin Harris & Neyo's song - Lets go
1. Promoting a party lifestyle
2. Narrative
3. Promoting the artist

The purpose of a music video:

• Its a market tool - for promotion

Many artists use a music video to promote themselves

• It can attract a target audience

Boybands such as One Direction and JLS use music videos to attract young girl - teenagers as their music videos are universal

• It helps identify an artist/group

The wanted showed their names at the end of their music video 'Glad You Came' to make the audience aware of their names

• It can be a representation/short narrative of the artist

For example in Jessie J's music video 'Who Laughing Now' she is showing how she was bullied through the lyrics and visuals

• Shows the audience what the artists lifestyle is like

Usually artists within the hip hop and r&b genres have a music video to present what their lifestyles are like. For example in Flo Rida's music video 'Club Cant Handle Me' some iconography used are; champagne bottles and lots of money. By using this iconography Flo Rida is showing his audience how expensive his lifestyle is.

• Shows the different generic conventions of a genre/music video

An artist such as Beyonce dances through her whole video for 'Single Ladies' as she is showing her audience the dance genre conventions

• Makes the song available to a wider audience instead of the usual target audience

An example of this are artists such as; Adele and Emeli Sande they use music videos to reach a wider target audience

• To make the audience remember the music video

An artist which created a music video which is popular is Michael Jackson's music video Thriller, this is rememberal as during this time the graphic are high quality.

• To show more about the artist

Eminem is a popular artist for showing within his music video's more about his life.

• Builds a relationship between the audience and artist

A music video which shows that the artist wants to build a relationship with the audience is Taylor Swift's 'Love Story', throughout this music video the artist builds a relationship with her target audience - young girls and teenagers - as she has lots of close ups and eye contact with the camera. Also the artist builds a relationship with her audience by showing that she is a relatable artist.

Music videos are split into 3 categories:

• Performance - this is where throughout the music video there is singing and dancing. An example of a performance based music video is Beyonce's song 'Single Ladies', as throughout the music video the artist is dancing and singing to the song.
• Narrative - this is where throughout the music video the artists is telling the audience a story. An example of a narrative based music video is Justin Bieber's song 'As long as you love me', because throughout this music video the artist is telling a story about him and his girlfriend.
• Concept - this is where throughout the music video the artist is selling the audience an idea/theme/ideology. An example of a concept based music video is Christina Aguilera's song 'Beautiful', as during this music video the concept behind the video is that everyone is beautiful regardless of how they look.

In Christina Aguilera's music video - 'Beautiful' - it contains all 3 elements. 

The music video contains:

The performance category as the artist is singing throughout the music video

The narrative category as throughout the video there are different images of different people

The concept category as everyone is beautiful