Research - Music Videos

I am going to research a range of music videos and also album covers of successful contemporary artists in order to ensure my research informs my decisions and that the research I carry out actually matters. Most music videos follow a narrative that is informed by the context of the song, for example, Ed Sheeran's "A Team" centres on a vulnerable young girl who is forced into prostitution to provide for herself, and we see this in the video, many of the actions carried out on screen happen in conjunction with the lyrics in Sheeran's vocals. However, some music videos choose to use graphics and other effects to create meaning. Some artists choose to use cameo appearances to gain exposure to the video. Ed Sheeran can be used as an example again: in his hit "Lego House", Rupert Grint portrays Sheeran's on screen persona - this gained attention and therefore caused the song to gain exposure, this is something that must be considered for my project. Essentially, cameos in music videos are used as a marketing technique to promote the song. Performance Video music videos are videos that omit the use of a narrative and instead document the band performing the song in an environment of some sort.

Some videos choose to feature a narrative and intercut the band performing in between to keep the video interesting and also highlight important areas of the song - the way this usually works is the narrative will be featured during the verses of the song (some intercutting is probably included to keep to the pace of the song) and the song/video culminates in a shot of the entire band performing the song, whilst there may still be some shots of the narrative referred to to match the lyrics. This relates to some research I have been doing into the views of Andrew Goodwin who is a media theorist who has voiced many opinions on music videos and pitched many ideas, his thesis suggests that music videos contain a number of key features which distinguish he music video from a form. These features are as follows:

- There is a distinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics

- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals - again, the visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the music

Particular styles/genre of music could possibly have their very own music video style and iconography - this can be seen in live stage performance/performance video in very heavy rock e.g. Guns N Roses

- Record labels/companies demand that there are a plethora of close-ups on the main artist/vocalist in order to make the artist more marketable as a brand

- The artist may develop their own star iconography in and out of their music videos, which, over time, becomes their star image and their identity as a brand - something that will certainly inform my ancillary texts

- There will be elements of voyeurism and especially in context/case of women, but also in terms of looking e.g. screens that are within screens, binoculars etc. However there will quite probably be many references to the undressing and sexual exploitation of women and sometimes men.

- There will be intertextual references to the work of others, most probably to other music videos, films, TV texts and footage regarding current affairs.

Steve Archer who is a singer/songwriter and also a producer also shares many views on commonalities amongst music video texts. he beleives that the key elements of music videos are:

The Music

This goes without saying, the tempo of the music video usually dictates the way in which it will be edited (conventions state this) however, some producers choose to subvert this convention to provoke a certain reaction from the audience. The editing can at times stress certain sounds from the background depending on what juncture of the song they are working on i.e. in Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" when a series of quick cuts are being used to capture Slash during his guitar solo, the guitar noise is amplified to reinforce the importance of this.

The Lyrics

Lyrics are the base of the music video, it is likely that the actor in the narrative although they may not imitate word-for-word what is being sung by the artist, will reflect the general mood of the song/subject matter. The video will aim to encapsulate the mood of the song/subject matter although it is rare for the song to illustrate all of the lyrics as a whole in their entirety - this allows directors/producers some creative freedom to embed their own interpretations/connotations in the song to construct meaning.

The Genre

Although the confines of genres have become blurred in recent years, some are still easy to categorise. Some music channels make a concerted effort to only broadcast certain genres of song/video - after watching a number of videos on Kerrang! I have found it easier to distinguish between different genres of music videos. It has also become clearer to me that genre is not only established through Mise en scene, but also the themes in the video, camera work, editing style and performance.

Intertextuality

This is one of the main factors which allows a text to be categorised as 'postmodern' - most music texts (as with many texts in the eyes of Julia Kristeva) are based or at least make reference to other texts, the collective term for this is intertextuality and supports Kirby Ferguson's notion that "Everything is a Remix". Not all audiences are able to spot a reference (which won't necessarily mean that they are not gratified by the text) however, it is a general consensus that more pleasure is gained from the text by those who recognise the reference as they get more of a sense of empathy and therefore have a closer connection with the text. This is important and could go some way to informing my text and ancillary texts as in the current climate where so many brands are competing for consumers to buy into a narrative or an ideology, those who understand references and can more easily comprehend intertextuality and the references embedded in the text and will therefore be more flattered this. In the current society, within a culture constantly regurgitating pre-existing materials through pastiche, bricolage and intertextuality, it is of paramount importance for the audience to gain some form of engagement with the text.

It is then not much of a suprise that many video directors resort to cinema as a direct source of references: Lady Gaga's "Telephone" featuring Beyonce made heavy references to Tarentino's "Kill Bill" and the audience gain pleasure from this because they feel involved with the text, as if it is somewhat personalised, it is both incorporating elements of pastiche and intertextuality in order to engage the audience further.

The Editing

In order to make the text more appealing, some producers feel the use of sophisticated after-effects can benefit a video to offer the audience pleasure, this can be derived from colourisation, split screens and at times CGI film effects. The tempo of the songs usually dictates how the majority of the video will be edited - fast songs incorporate a number of intercutting techniques or straight cuts to keep the action flowing, whereas more slow and emotional songs use more smooth and sensitive transitions to establish a more calm and gentle mood, editing fundamentally enhances the effect of the song. It is said that artists who reach to a broader demographic use slower transitions to increase audience appeal, one example being Dido.