Since music videos are a tool for marketing and publicising an artist's music above all else, record labels demand certain things to make them effective. Any given artist will have to sell their music on an image, whether it is their own image, most common in pop artists who use their appearance and sex appeal, their reputation, with artists like Marilyn Manson, or some kind of gimmick or motif.
Most artists will use a combination of all these factors, however. Gorillaz, for example, have animated characters of the band members as their motif or image, as well as their reputation, to help sell their music. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, markets
herself hugely based on her image and her costumes, but also on her eccentric reputation. The Red Hot Chili Peppers use their own image in most of their videos and use sex appeal to a certain extent, but they also use motifs, specifically the logo that is present on most of their album covers and in most of their videos.
Motifs can also be less obvious things, like a continued style or theme throughout the artist's work. Coldplay, for instance, are famous for having videos that seem very simple but use some kind of clever editing to create a unique concept, like in Yellow, where the video is just the singer walking on a beach, but the editing is used to give the interesting effect of time going by and day changing to night while he walks.
Voyeurism and the notion of looking are both very broad themes that almost every single music video contains. Voyeurism can be used to sell the artist's music through sex appeal, like in the video for Beyonce's Single Ladies, to make a statement, in Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed, for instance, when the video shows crowds looking in on her as a caged animal, parodying the public's voyeurism of her as a famous person, or to enhance the message of the lyrics, like in Robbie Williams' Rock DJ, where he uses a shocking and controversial video to amplify the message of his lyrics - that being a sex symbol can go too far.
Voyeurism can also be present through watching something happen from the point of view of an observer. This isn't very common, as most music videos will have the singer directly facing the camera and addressing the viewer, but it can be used - such as in Pink's Who Knew, where we watch a story unfold between the two characters without feeling like we are involved in it.
The notion of looking can include many techniques and is something that is present in almost every music video. The most common use of it is through direct or indirect address. The characters or band members will often purposefully look into the camera a lot (direct address), and sing to the audience, or not look at the camera (indirect address) to create a feeling of distance and voyeurism.
However, the notion of looking can also be demonstrated using props. Shots of the artist or character reflected in a mirror, for example, are part of the notion of looking. Screens, such as televisions, are also a commonly used prop that indicates the notion of looking. REM's Bad Day is made to look like the whole video is being watched through a television screen, for instance. Props like cameras, telescopes, binoculars or magnifying glasses all also show this idea. It can even be included through the use of any prop or scene where the viewer is looking through something at the artist, like in The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Can't Stop, when we see the singer's head through a long pipe.
Branding is a key aspect of selling not only an artist's music but also their image. An artist with a recognisable brand will sell a lot more merchandise, which will in turn be recognised and make sure that people are constantly reminded of them.
A good example of branding is The Red Hot Chili Peppers. They sell huge amounts of merchandise, as well as music, largely due to their simple and instantly recognisable, unobtrusive, and stylish logo - a red asterisk.
Some of their merchandise, like this wristband, simply uses the logo and assumes that people will know what it means. This works because they are so popular and have one main logo that is widely known.
Other products, like this cap, use their logo but include the band's name, so that anyone who doesn't know the logo will be able to recognise the merchandise. This also helps get their name out to people who haven't heard of them before.
They do also, however, have merchandise with different logos. The wristband below uses a stylised version of their initials. Although their normal logo is effective and popular, varying the design of their merchandise allows them sell more products.
Another artist that sells merchandise is Janelle Monae. However, she is a new artist and has only very recently become widely known. Her merchandise doesn't have one strict logo that is used, like The Red Hot Chili Peppers'products, but she does use the image on the cover of her first album on some of them, like the shirt below.
There is also other merchandise on her website that promotes this album, and continues the surreal sci-fi theme of the shirt and album cover. The poster below, for example, is a spoof film poster that has a very strong sci-fi theme and fits with the idea of androids. The idea of it being a film poster also reflects the narrative form of the album, with each song on it telling part of the story.
There is also merchandise, however, that doesn't follow this theme. The shirt below uses a different colour scheme to the blues and blacks of the Archandroid products (black, white and red). Although this makes the merchandise not follow one clear theme, it allows for more choice.
Another way of branding merchandise is to have a common style, rather than a logo or themes relating to each album. The Silversun Pickups are a band that uses this method, with all of their merchandise having a similar abstract, artistic style.
Most of their products, like this beanie, include heavily stylised text of the band's name alongside abstract, flowing images of nature.
The bag below continues this style, with an abstract and flowing image of nature alongside the stylised text with the band's name.
The shirt below follows the same style and uses the same font for the band's name, but takes the flowing abstract swirl patterns much further and uses them as a design for the whole shirt. Although it is very different from the other merchandise, it uses the same style of design, giving it a collective identity.
Another part of Goodwin's music video theory is based around the relationships between the lyrics, visuals and music. All three work in synergy to entertain the viewer and to convey the message of the song.
The music will always have a link with the visuals. In some videos, such as Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, this is accomplished by cutting between shots in time with the song's beat, and in others by changing the pace of the action in the shot when the pace of the music changes. The song Golden Retriever, by The Super Furry Animals, for example, changes the band members into strange costumes and has bits of fur flying around in the shot when the music speeds up. Most performance based videos will also have the band members speeding up their actions in time with the music.
There will also be a link between the lyrics and the visuals, to help demonstrate or add meaning to the lyrics. The visuals can illustrate the lyrics, for example Owl City's Fireflies has a toy robot dancing on the line 'teach me how to dance'. It can also amplify the lyrics, which is generally more subtle, like in [EXAMPLE].
As well as these links, however, the visuals can also contradict the music, the lyrics or both. The lyrics, for example, are contradicted in Can't Stop, by The Red Hot Chili Peppers in the first line. The singer says 'can't stop' as the shot cuts from one of the band members running to one of his motionless head. The music can also be contradicted by having bright and happy visuals when the song is in a minor key, or slow motion when the song is at its climax, which is quite a common technique.
On top of the links between these three aspects, there are certain things present in the visuals that fit with the music's genre. Every genre will have characteristics, although these can be purposefully broken to give the band a unique image or to make it seem like they are 'breaking the mould'. Rock videos, for example, will almost always be performance-based, while RnB videos will very often have backup dancers. Artists that cross the boundaries between genres, like Janelle Monae, will usually try to break the conventions of the genre they are most associated with. In the music video for her song Tightrope, for example, Janelle Monae has a very strange mix between a narrative and concept-based video, with lots of characteristics of older genres of music, despite the very modern RnB feel that the song has.
Janelle Monae's site has a lot of images and moving sections. It uses more colours than most websites, particularly black and white, orange, and different shades of pink. These multiple colours help to reflect the complex and varied nature of the music and her style and are extremely eye-catching.
The main page has a simple and stylish logo and a very simple but bold font showing her name. It has easy-to-see links to the different sections of the website, such as music, videos and photos.
All of the important text, like the artist's name and the sections of the site that most people will be looking for, are in a bold, sans serif font, and are white on a dark background. This makes them stand out and makes the website easy to navigate.
The latest and most sought-after updates on Janelle Monae, like her latest releases, new music videos and new projects. These are in a slide show to save space and add some motion to the website.
The website includes a simple player for listening to the artist's songs, making it easy for someone looking at the website to get a feel for what her musical style is and to decide if they are interested in buying it.
I think the website could actually be improved by having a link to buy each song on iTunes while it is playing, since people who are interested might be put off by not knowing where to buy it.
An interesting feature of the website is the prominent 'Sign Up Now' button, which allows fans to automatically be updated via email when the artist has any news. This is very easy to do and helps to build a list of people who are interested and who can be targeted as an audience for the music.
Continuing the theme of allowing fans to easily follow Janelle Monae's progress and remind them about her on a regular basis, the website has a blog of her latest news and apperances, which can be subscribed to using RSS.
The Adjusters' website is extremely simple, without any animations or interactive sections. They use a lot of white space, and some muted reds and blues but no other colours. The website contains all the information needed, but doesn't look very professional because of the blocks of text and the bad design of some aspects, like the font.
The simple banner is, however, very effective. It uses a lot of white space, making it clear and easy to read. There are three different types of font used, making sure that the band name stands out from the rest of the banner. A basic but attractive logo is used to draw the attention of users to the band name and the links. The links do give a fairly clear way to navigate the site, but they are not as intuitive as on Janelle Monae's website.
The main page includes a succinct and interesting summary of the group, although the way it is all in one paragraph and in an unattractive font makes it less effective. There are no colours or images, just black text on a white background.
There is a simple news feed on the site, with the latest update shown on the homepage and the rest on the news page. However, there aren't options to subscribe to the updates by email or RSS, like Janelle Monae's website, so their usefulness is limited.
The bottom of the page has an email address to contact the band and a copyright notice. Although these are not features that make the website more interesting, they are important features to include in any website.
Beirut's site has a seemingly simple design, with all the content fitting onto one page. It has an old-fashioned and artistic feel to it, resembling a framed painting. The colours are all muted or black and white, adding to the old-fashioned feel and reflecting the music - inspired by traditional folk music from around the world.
One of the few splashes of colour is surrounding the band name, making it stand out. The rest of the colour is in the simple, animation that has a hand-drawn or perhaps lino-cut feel. The balloon moves across the 'painting' and the waves move, adding a dynamic feel to it and drawing the attention of anyone browsing the site.
A song from the band's latest album starts playing as soon as the website opens, and can be paused or controlled using the options in the top left. This gives an immediate taste of the music and hooks casual browsers in the first few seconds, but allows the music to be stopped by those who are simply looking for information.
The top edge of the 'painting' also has links to different areas of the site: the same typical sections as other artists' websites. These stand out in contrast to the light sky in the scene and can be clicked to open the desired page. The interesting way that the site works is that each section opens without navigating to a new page. Instead, the content of the frame simply changes, leaving the music playing. This is a clever and effective way of getting around the problem of the music stopping when a link is clicked, and also makes the site stand out as interesting and different.
Since one of the possible ancillary tasks was to create a promotional website for a band, I researched web design basics. Some of the things which I will have to make sure I consider are:
Planning the website before making it
Designing it with the target audience in mind
Getting volunteers to test the website before releasing it
Making sure the navigation is simple and intuitive
Using simple fonts that every computer will have
Limiting the amount of images and other media that will increase loading times
Creating an interesting and eye-catching homepage to grab people's attention
I will also need to consider the conventions of typical promotion websites for artists, and make sure that I only break them knowingly, in order to achieve a particular effect. Including all the information and features that the audience looks for on a band's website will be key, so I am aiming to include Web 2.0 features like links to Myspace, Twitter, YouTube and other social networks.
Other important things to include on the site include:
A concise artist biography, or 'about' page.
News about the artist and live performances
Clips of the music that are playable
Videos of the artist, including the music video produced in the main task
Photos of performances, album covers etc.
Options for buying the music, with links to iTunes, Amazon and other sites.
Intertextuality was described by John Stewart as "incorporating, raiding and reconstructing". It causes nostalgia in the viewer, making them instantly like and relate to the video, as well as giving new meanings to the ideas taken from other media.
Music videos will often use some form of intertextuality - borrowing ideas from or parodying other media. Some, such as Shania Twain's Man I Feel Like a Woman borrow ideas from other music videos - in this case, Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love.
Others use intertextuality with films, especially narrative-based videos. Many film directors actually started out directing music videos. David Fincher, for example, is now a film director and has directed films like Se7en, but started out by directing Madonna videos.
Madonna herself also used intertextuality in many of her videos. Material Girl, for example, has heavy intertextuality with the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It parodies and takes ideas from the dancing scene in the film and uses very similar costumes and scenes.
Tupac and Dr Dre's California Love also uses intertextuality with films, this time with the Mad Max trilogy. The films were extremely popular because of their unique setting, and the music video borrows heavily from this, creating a dystopian, junk-filled, futuristic desert setting.
Intertextuality can also be with television, like The Beastie Boys' Sabotage, the video for which is a spoof cop show, parodying how overly serious they are. REM's Bad Day also has intertextuality with television, as the whole video looks like the TV news. The presenters all lip-sync the lyrics of the song and the events shown on the news follow the lyrics.
George Michael's Freedom also uses intertextuality, but this time with fashion. The video stars lots of famous models, who will be instantly recognised by most viewers. This helps give the models publicity and add familiarity to the video.
An increasingly common form of intertextuality is with video games. Californication, by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, is an excellent example of this. Most of the video actually looks like a video game in the style of Grand Theft Auto, where the player controls the members of the band. Conventional aspects of video games are mixed with the conventional aspects of music videos and the band's star image motif - their asterisk logo - to draw in their target audience of mainly young men.
Robbie Williams' Let Love Be Your Energy also has intertextuality with video games, because of the 3D animated characters it uses instead of real actors or performers, and the surreal, fantasy narrative and settings it uses.
Andrew Goodwin theorised in his book, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992), that there were three main types of music video: performance, narrative and concept.
Performance videos are based around the artist or band performing their song, with the recording dubbed over. This is most common in rock or indie videos, such as Green Day's American Idiot, although it is present in many narrative videos, such as Katy Perry's California Gurls,where the artist sings the lyrics during the narrative.
Narrative videos are based around a story or message, and often use techniques from from films or TV shows. Videos like Taylor Swift's Love Story use narrative, often to tell a story about something close to the artist's heart, in this case someone she liked.
Concept-based videos come up with an interesting or artistic concept and revolve around it. Most videos that use this are mixed with performance or narrative, although OK Go's videos for Here It Goes Again and This Too Shall Pass are purely concept-based.
The cover includes a picture of the artist, but it is a silhouette, showing that he is not worried too much about his appearance and doesn't try to use it to sell his music. More than showing his appearance, the image of him is included to have a human in it who is interacting with nature (the tree). The fact that the cover is very uncluttered and uses natural, simple images shows that the music will probably quite simple and relaxing and that the artist is concerned with the nature and the environment.
The colours are extremely simple, with just yellow, black and white used in the cover. This reflects the simple nature of the music, and the warm yellow shows that the music will probably be upbeat and happy because it has connotations to sunshine and happiness. The yellow and the black in combination give the idea of it being evening, as the sun is setting and creating silhouettes of the tree and the artist. This also relates to the title of the album - 'In Between Dreams', because sunset is an 'in between state' between day and night.
The typography is very simple and unobtrusive, with a basic sans serif font in black and white and fairly small. It is in the top right corner so it doesn't draw attention too much, keeping the image simple and effective for attracting the kind of listeners who enjoy simple, peaceful music. The two lines are also slightly unaligned, which seems to be a convention of album covers.
Melody Gardot - My One And Only Thrill
The main feature of this cover is the image of the artist, showing that her appearance is an important part of her image and how she markets her music. It is also not obscured like the Jack Johnson cover, but made to stand out by muting the colours of the background to make the bright blond of her hair stand out and draw the listener's attention to her face.
The colours used in the cover are predominantly dark and grey, especially around her face, showing that the music will probably not be upbeat, but will be darker and more focused lyrically on her personal troubles. The fact that her name is in blue, a rare point of colour, also emphasises how she uses herself to market her music, by drawing attention to her name and face.
The image shows an old and empty looking place, filled with columns, which is a fairly unusual image and adds to the idea of the music being less happy and more about conflict.
The typography is very simple, with both the album and artist name right next to each other, differentiated by colour. A strip of dark grey is used along the top of the cover to put the artist and album name on, clearly showing them and drawing your attention to them.
Belleruche - The Express
This cover is very simple, with a lot of white space. This fits with the simple, laid-back image that the band has. The images are mainly abstract when you first look at it, since the abstract, floral designs are in bright red. This gives the impression of music with an abstract, experimental or different feel, which the music has. The only other image used is a piece of sheet music. This signifies how Belleruche's music takes aspects of traditional jazz music, which uses sheet music, and mixes it with experimental or different types of music.
The main colour used is white, with most of the cover white or light grey. The splashes of red in abstract shapes make the creative and experimental theme stand out, while the blue and red (traditional, primary colours) bands at the top are less abstract shapes, showing the traditional influences.
Only one font is used, and it is simple, sans serif and bold. The main text is also in white, contributing to the overall stripped-back, simple feel. A lot of the music has a slower, quieter tone to it than lots of modern music, so this helps to give a sense of the simplicity of the music.
Outkast -ATLiens
This cover is very cluttered and action-packed, showing that the music won't focus on simplicity like Belleruche's music. It is in the style of a comic book, showing that it will probably be aimed at a younger target audience. The images of aliens link to the name of the album, which is itself a portmanteau of 'aliens' and 'ATL' (Atlanta). These work together to give potential listeners the idea that it might deal with themes of alienation, and with life in Atlanta. The cartoon images of the members of the duo show them dressed in clothes that are typical of rap and hip hop music, instantly showing what genre of music it is.
There are lots of different colours and shades used in the cover, but the main ones are blue, green and a splash of red. The blue and green give the cover a calmer feel, despite how cluttered it is. This represents the more laid-back feel of the album compared to Outkast's previous album. The splash of red indicates emotions like anger that are explored in the music.
The fonts used both have a 3d effect to make the text stand out. 'Outkast' is in a very bold and clear font so that it is easy to see, and fans can recognise the artist's name immediately. This helps to sell the music on the artist's image and reputation. The font used for 'ATLiens' is the kind of font normally used for horror films, reinforcing the idea of the aliens on the cover being a theme.
The Duhks - The Duhks
The cover is very simple, with only one image and the band's name. The image shows the band members, which shows that they might sell themselves partly on their image. They are mostly smiling or laughing, showing that the music will probably be simple, light and happy. The bright sunlight behind them also reinforces this.
There is a large range of colours used, although the bright sunlight makes them all look fairly muted. The main colours that stand out are red, blue and yellow. This helps to give it a bright and simple feel, as they are primary colours.
Only one font is used, and it is a smooth, curved but serif font. It mixes the upbeat and modern nature of a rounded font with the traditional feel of a serif script - similarly to how the music incorporates traditional folk but tries to be upbeat and modern. The font itself is multi-coloured, adding to the bright feel.
This video's purpose is clearly more than just to entertain or attract the attention of viewers. The artist himself states at the start of the video that he is aiming to show the violent nature of the culture of his native Africa through the video. Throughout the video there are references to African culture, but every positive aspect is contrasted with a negative, violent aspect.
Guns, explosions, death and violence are all present throughout the video, as well as the music itself having a loud, 'violent' feel to it, with the chorus being shouted. But despite the presence of these aspects, the people in the video are all singing, dancing and cheering, showing that it has become such a part of everyday life that they can put up with it and even be happy amidst it.
The colours used go in phases, with objects of one colour floating onto the screen gradually until it is predominantly filled with that colour. These colours are usually warm colours like red and orange to show the blood, anger and violence, but the artist's clothes are pale blue - associated with calm, and the peace that he says 'drives his art' at the start of the video.
The whole video is based on lots of different images and videos on top of each other, as if they are paper cut outs, which often multiply, merge or do other unexpected things. This, coupled with lots of fast movement and colour change, gives the video a strange, frantic feel.
The video generally follows the content of the lyrics, with some of the lyrics even being incorporated into the video, such as the words 'holly days' being painted on a wall, then replaced with 'hell days' as the artist uses these lyrics. There are also times when the video portrays what the lyrics are talking about, for example when he says 'this is Africa', things traditionally associated with Africa like lions are shown, and when he talks about death, he appears to kill himself and carries on rapping as a ghost.
Lazy Eye – The Silversun Pickups
Although the video is performance-based, with the band performing the song in a bar, it also has lots of aspects of a narrative music video. It is filmed using continuity editing and eyeline matches, making it look exactly like a clip from a film or a TV show. Following Goodwin’s theory, the music fits with the emotions and mood of the video: when the boy in the crowd smiles at the girl and she doesn’t smile back, he becomes angry and storms out, with the music suddenly becoming much louder and the vocals closer to screaming.
All of the characters, the setting, and the lighting have been used to give the video an old-fashioned punk feel to it, which fits the style of music and the image the band is trying to present. The lighting also changes throughout the video, starting dim and red during the song’s intro, and then becoming brighter throughout, until the girl goes outside at the end and it is in daylight.
The lyrics also relate to the content of the video: “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life, but it's not quite right” relates to when the boy sees the girl and smiles at her but she doesn’t smile back. Many of the lyrics are about looking at or for people, which is a theme throughout the video, with all the characters looking around or staring at one another. This is expressed through lyrics like “blind”, “the same ol’ decent lazy eye, fixed to rest on you” and “straight through your gaze”.
There are also lots of close ups of the lead singer of the band, as per Goodwin’s theory, and some of the other band members. This helps to promote the band’s image, which is obviously something they use to sell themselves, and to help the viewers identify with the band.
Tightrope – Janelle Monae
This video is a very unusual narrative-based video. It starts with text on the screen as an introduction, setting the scene as the futuristic ‘Palace of the Dogs’, inhabited by androids, where dancing has been forbidden. It then shows the dreary everyday life of the inhabitants during the intro, where the music is quiet. The artist then comes into the video and begins dancing in secret as she starts singing and the music picks up. As the video progresses, the story unfolds and the number of people dancing goes up and up as the music becomes fuller and louder. In the end, however, as the music is slowing down, we see the artist being taken to her room in between fades to everyone dancing, and she lies down, it having all been a dream.
The mise-en-scene, specifically the costumes, is important in establishing the strange, science fiction factor of the video – the artist and almost all of the other characters wear very old-fashioned black and white outfits like waiters or bartenders wear, and the two figures trying to stop them dancing are wearing long black robes with hoods, and have mirrors for faces.
The music seems slightly unusual in the video, because it is most similar to modern soul or R&B. Videos for this style of music are usually not narrative, but performance based. They typically focus purely on the artist singing or rapping, and having effects and dancers in the background. Janelle Monae has subverted this convention to give herself an alternative feel and attract a different audience to typical R&B.
The lyrics relate to the video in a number of ways, including talking about ‘doing the tightrope’, referring to the dance they are doing. The lyrics also talk about the dancing being suppressed, saying “they love it or they hate it, you dance up on them haters , keep getting funky on the scene”, which is the main character encouraging the others to dance.
The camera angles and editing are also used to tell the story, with low angle shots up at the nurse who tells on the dancers and the mysterious figures. Match on action is used when doors are opened and other actions that would normally cause a pause in the movement happen, in order to keep the video moving with the flow of the song. While the artist is dancing, there are points where the camera actually follows her movements, such as doing a slight wiggle when she wiggles her leg. As the music builds up, there are lots of fast cuts to different dancers and different body parts, particularly the feet and face of the main artist. This video has a lot of jump cuts, making it look much more like a typical music video than Lazy Eye.
This blog is a record of all the planning and research done in preparation for my A2 Media Studies coursework.
The specification is a music video, along with a choice of two ancillary tasks (to be chosen from a website, a cd cover and a magazine advert).
I will use the blog to collect all of the research I do into music videos and the theory behind them, as well as analysis of existing music videos, website and CD covers.
The blog will also contain all the ideas I have for possible music videos.
There is also other merchandise on her website that promotes this album, and continues the surreal sci-fi theme of the shirt and album cover. The poster below, for example, is a spoof film poster that has a very strong sci-fi theme and fits with the idea of androids. The idea of it being a film poster also reflects the narrative form of the album, with each song on it telling part of the story.
Melody Gardot - My One And Only Thrill
