Research: What is a Music Video?

Introduction: What is a music video used for?

A music video is a short piece of visual image that accompanies a song, they are used in order to promote an artists single ensuring that the audience become aware of the songs existence. They are primarily used as a marketing device, and without one a song is unlikely to become popular or reach the music charts. Therefore, a music video is necessary in order to support a song and encourage it to sell.

What is the purpose of a music video: What do they do for the audience and artist?

Music videos have many purposes such as:

• Encouraging and maintaining a relationship between the artist, audience and the music industry - Its vital that the audience is consistently engaged with the artist. If the audience doesn't stay interested this could be a result of the artist not being able to produce music videos which is one of the key players in keeping the audiences hooked, this is due to the increased competition that exists in the music industry. Music videos also maintain the strong relationship between the artist and their fans as it keeps them up to date in the music industry, relevant and popular. For example; the boy band 'BIGBANG' has increased their fan base from their music videos and other qualities, maintaining their relationship between the audience and them worldwide.

• To attract the audiences attention and entertain them - Music videos are viewed all across the world so its important that these music videos keep the audience happy and entertain them to make sure they stay committed to the fan base. Therefore, the artist must produce an exceptional music video to entertain and attract the old and new comers immediately which could potentially lead to word of mouth, widening their popularity and increasing the views the video achieves.

• To help sell albums - Music videos can also help an artist sell their albums. From the the music video, the audience can decide whether they like it or not, and if yes, they would want to buy the album to see more. Its unlikely that albums would sell if there is a lack of knowledge revolving the artists music.

• For the artist to reinvent themselves or make a comeback - Its inevitable that the music industry would shift to new ideas which could outshine older artists especially if they haven't made music for a while, creating a new music video of a high quality is likely to help the artist to make a successful comeback and allow the audience to get familiar with them again.

• For publicity - Music videos that stand out from others could contain controversial elements that could promote publicity for the artist through synergy such as; social media, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV.

• To promote a film - Many popular artists are likely to be requested to create a music video in order to promote an upcoming film which could encourage the views, also in addition a positive impact on the artist as their music video would not only be viewed by their fans but the fans of the movie. An example would be Alicia Keys music video 'It's on Again' for the film 'The Amazing Spiderman 2'.

Classic conventions of a music video

Music videos have many different various of conventions that are necessary in order to make a music video successful and meet the expectations of the target audience. Common conventions could include:

• Dancing - Choreographed dancing is a classic convention to music videos as it engages audience in the dancing which many like to learn. Its expected for the artist to have back up dancers to dance to some parts of the song.

• Lip syncing - Lip syncing is a common convention which allows the audience to establish the artist. Its expected for the artist to mouth the words to their song so it is as if they are singing the song throughout the music video. Lip syncing is effective as it makes it look more realistic.

• Narrative - Some music videos follow a narrative which has a clear structure of a beginning, middle and end. The narrative is often associated with the lyrics for example a love song would usually have a narrative associated with two lovers and their relationship.

• Artist - With the artists presence within their music video is a classic convention and is significant to the videos success as the audience are able to react positively making the assumption of the artists efforts for their fans. 

• Special effects and glamour - The special effects and glamour are a common convention of a music video as they encourage a videos professionalism making it visually appealing for the audience. The special effects can be achieved through editing and the use of mise en scene.

Synergy

Synergy is the interaction of more than one organisation or other agents to produce a combined effect greater. When producing a music video, the use of synergy is vital as its used for the artists advantage in enabling them to maintain a relationship with other media platforms. These other media platforms include radio, TV, print media, film and social media which support the artists success along with the music video. Furthermore, the use of synergy can increase the artists popularity and encourage their music to get viewed, the lack of synergy could result in the artists music video getting no views due to the audience having a lack of awareness about the videos existence.

Examples of synergy used:

Jay Park used synergy to promote his singles:

Interviews/ TV shows

Print Media

Commercials

Audience Impact

The impact of a music video can vary from different reactions from the audience however the artist wants to portray their music video.

BIGBANG - We Like 2 Party

• A particular impact on a music video could have on the audience is influencing their reaction which may be  positive or negative depending on how the artist wants to portray their music video. A positive impact may lead to the audience feeling happy about what they just watched which also may result in them buying the album. A negative impact however could be the audience reacting negatively due to the poor or lack of features and narrative development in the music video. As a result, this could also affect the way the audience perceives the artist which also could be negative too. For example, 'BIGBANG's music video 'We Like 2 Party' has a happy and positive vibe throughout the music video which allows the audience to witness their fun and quirky side making them wanting to buy their album and know more.

• Another way music videos can impact the audience is by evoking emotion. Depending on what type of emotion the artist wants to evoke from the audience for example the girl band 'The Ark' portrays their music video 'The Light' a sad and upsetting narrative. The song is sad so the narratives portrayal supports it so they are likely to feel the way the artist wants them to feel. The music video 'The Light' evokes sympathy and sadness due to the mothers daughter passing away in a tragic accident whilst on a school trip as many people in South Korea could relate to due to the Sinking of MV Sewol where many parents had lost their beloved children.

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• A music video could also be viewed controversial and have a negative impact on the audience such as Robin Thicke's music video 'Blurred Lines' which some accused of the artist encouraging rape culture through the lyrics such as 'the way you grab me, must want to get nasty'. In addition, the music video had content of naked girls running around. This had been described by some 'rapey'.

Technology Advancements

Due to our increasing technological advancements, it has also improved music videos in numerous ways such as:

• Visuals and sound quality has rapidly improved over time and has allowed the audience to view the video in high definition.
• Technological advancements has also led to audiences being able to view he music video from various of different websites whenever and wherever they are.
• These technological advancements has also allowed the artist to become more populuar, earning more money as there are apps out there such as iTunes that people are able to use and purchase their music.
• It also allows the audience to use social media such as popular social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share music videos online to all their friends and family making the views of the video go up. Because of this, the music video is able to reach an international audience and increase their fan base and popularity.
• Technological advancements has been beneficial as music videos are able to reach a mass, global
  audience making it popular across the world. For example, 'PSY's music video a South Korean solo artist reached over 40 million views with 'Gangnam Style'. This suggests that people globally have viewed it. As a result of todays technological advancements, artists like PSY are able to get more popular.

Despite the benefits technology advancements have on the music industry, it also has also caused some threats such as:

• Due to the technology advancements, independent singers are able to make more music efficiently and cheaper and therefore, covers of existing songs are being viewed more than the actual existing music video from large fan bases.
• Certain advancements allow people to listen to music whilst on the move without them having to watch the music video which could loose potential viewers.
• Apps like Apple Music, Spotify and Sound Cloud make it more difficult for the actual music video to gain views as you can listen to it on these apps without having to watch the music video itself.

Conclusion

In conclusion, music videos is an essential part of an artists success as they produce more and more, they are likely to gain more fans through this. Music videos are often viewed globally which is also another benefit as the artist is able to expand their fan base globally.
From my research I have done on the purpose of music videos, they have helped me get inspirational on some ideas for my own music video as I want to be able to follow the classic conventions in order to captivate my audiences attention. By following these main stream ideas, I know that there will be a large group of people who will enjoy watching my music video, making it appealing and entertaining at the same time. I will also take in consideration the audiences impact as I am aware now of the different genres and portrayals music videos can affect people. I want my audience to have a positive reaction when watching my music video as it will encourage them to show this to their friends and family making it more successful.