Music video research
Modern day Praise the lord – ASAP rocky and Skepta
I particularly like this video due to the editing and themes
of the video. The use of cuts between two similar shots in different places is
a good way of showing comparison between the cultures of London and New York. I particularly like it due the clever and
unique editing.
80's Walk this way- RUN DMC
I like this video for similar reasons as praise the lord. The
concept of this video is similarly trying to show two cultures, however instead
of cut shots it has the camera crossing through a wall to show two separate scenes one showing a rock performance and one showing a rap performance. the purpose of this video was to try to branch together the two cultures and try to make rap more accepted in the music scene.
90's
2000's - Heartless kanye west
I particularly like this music video due to the unique style as it is an animation. This means there were no creative restrictions on the video leading to many interesting effects being used
Styles of music video
In concert - Tupac "hit em up" live at the house of blues.
Animation- Kanye West "heartless"
Narrative- Rapman "Shiro's story"
Homage- Wiz khalifa "see you again"
Interpretive- Eminem "stan"
Impressionist- Jay Z "on to the next one"
Parody- PSY "gangnam style"
Purpose of music videos
Promotion
Music videos are very often to promote many things. One
example is simply promoting the song they are on. Many times a music video offers a song a much
wider appeal and many times artsits who
are relatively well known but not stars will produce videos to try to get their
first hit, one example of this is stormzy with the very simplistic video for
“shut up” portraying him performing in a park that resulted in him becoming one
of the biggest uk artists. Other times a music video can be produced for a
single in a way to promote an entire album, if a music video of an album single
gains lots of traction and exposure it can result in many people who didn’t
know of the albums existence becoming exited for it or listening to the rest of
the album if it isn’t already out, a prime example of this is Travis Scotts
“antidote” video having almost 300 million views in comparison to relatively
low views on other songs from the same album “rodeo” that have fractions of
that amount.
Synergy
Music videos working in synergy with other things happens very
often, many times popular films like black panther will have very popular
soundtracks from well-known artists, these videos from songs featured in the
film help the film as they are often linked to the film often including scenes
if any fans of the artist like the song they may want to go and watch the film,
however it works both ways as people watching the film who are not aware of the
song may go and watch the video.
Lable/ brand
A perfect example of a brand utilising the music video is
Cole Bennetts “lyrical lemonade”. Lyrical lemonade was a YouTube channel made
by Cole Bennett who looked for rising artists and worked with them to make
music videos when they couldn’t get labels or professional companies to do it
for them. This helped to blow up many artists including lil skies, comethazine
and YBN nahmir. Lyrical lemonade started to become much better known in the
community resulting in Bennett himself becoming more well-known on top of the
artists who’s videos were featured. Some videos on his channel have become
massive such as lil skies “red roses” and “nowadays” at 170 million and 240
million views respectively and YBN nahmirs “bounce out” at 150 million. Many
unknown artist have become stars due to the videos on his channel and the brand
itself has become huge having its own annual festival.
Genres of music videos
Hip-Hop/Rap
Many rap videos centre around things that are associated
with the lyrics, many things that occur through most rap videos are attractive
women, drugs and violence and often exclusively feature the artist and crew
behind them. However there are some standout artists who add to these features
in the rap genre such as Travis Scott known for his psycadelic editing and
effects over his videos, prime examples of these are the videos for butterfly
effect and Goosebumps. Many rap videos do not feature any narrative structure
however there are some standout artists such as Kendrick Lamar who often has
very symbolic videos that try to portray a message alongside his videos, a main
example of this is his video for humble.
Pop
Modern Pop music videos, much like rap, tend to be very
generic and similar to each other. Depending on the type of song they many
times either have a very simple narrative about the artist in love. If the song
is not related to love the video mostly consists of a simple theme of visuals
such as life of the star on holiday. The videos are often very simplistic and
child friendly as many songs will chart and will want as much exposure as
possible. Much like rap there are some standout pop music videos such as maroon
5’s payphone that has a full narrative of the main singer getting into a car
chase after a bank robbery that acts as a backstory to the song.
R and B
Many R and B videos are almost a mix of hip hop and pop.
They are often have very flashy videos and involve girls, however like pop they
need to be child friendly to get as much exposure as they can. They often
feature dances as that is a prominent part of the genre and many songs and
videos have blown up over their dance routines. Many of these videos have a
very professional industry feel to them.
Kanye West – Heartless
Kanye west is widely considered to be one of the most
influential artists of the 2000’s and early 2010’s. Many people believe that
most of the big artists of this generation are his protégés. He is now one of
the most famous artists, related to the Kardashians and well known for some of
his public outbursts.
The purpose of “heartless” is to portray a change in wests
public image. The album “heartless” was released on 808s and heartbreak
was a very different type of sound from him
and due to the experimental nature of the album Kanye needed to do anything he
could to promote the album and portray his movement into a more emotional
sound.
“Heartless” is an emotional soul song, released under GOOD music, and so follows some
of these themes. The video is in animation style which allows creative freedom
letting him show his emotions in the video as well as he does in his lyrics. The
main subject of the video is Kanye walking down a street looking distraught while
flashes of his past relationship flash behind him. This is a common theme in
soul videos as many are to do with the hardships related to relationships and
what happens when they end.
Eminem-Stan
Eminem is also considered one of the most well known however controversial artists of the early 2000's, known for his absurd and offensive lyrics that were often the appeal of his semi satirical songs. He was also known for his more serious songs that revealed his traumatic past.
Some of this anger was projected into his video for Stan, a song telling a story about a mentally ill fan of Eminem's who has an obsession with him. The video follows a narrative structure as it is a visual for the story in the song. The videos purpose is most likely to promote the song as the visuals accompanying it will make the video more accessible and the story easier to grasp, this will allow people to understand the song due to the music video and therefore become a fan of the song. This may have been necessary for Stan has many dark themes meaning some listeners may not have liked the video resulting in the need for more promotion for the video. The video can also be seen as a social commentary on both stalking celebrities and mental illness.
Blackbear & Gucci mane - Do Re Mi
Blackbear is an up and coming R&B singer who has had a fanbase from soundcloud for many years after finding fame after writing Justin beibers "boyfriend" and doing an aprenticipe with Ne-Yo
Eminem-Stan
Eminem is also considered one of the most well known however controversial artists of the early 2000's, known for his absurd and offensive lyrics that were often the appeal of his semi satirical songs. He was also known for his more serious songs that revealed his traumatic past.
Some of this anger was projected into his video for Stan, a song telling a story about a mentally ill fan of Eminem's who has an obsession with him. The video follows a narrative structure as it is a visual for the story in the song. The videos purpose is most likely to promote the song as the visuals accompanying it will make the video more accessible and the story easier to grasp, this will allow people to understand the song due to the music video and therefore become a fan of the song. This may have been necessary for Stan has many dark themes meaning some listeners may not have liked the video resulting in the need for more promotion for the video. The video can also be seen as a social commentary on both stalking celebrities and mental illness.
Blackbear & Gucci mane - Do Re Mi
Blackbear is an up and coming R&B singer who has had a fanbase from soundcloud for many years after finding fame after writing Justin beibers "boyfriend" and doing an aprenticipe with Ne-Yo
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