What is a music video - Miss Miller

What is a music video

A music video is a short film or video integrating a song and imager, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Most music videos are made for a marketing device to advertise the sale of the song and the artist. There are many different reasons why the artist creates a music video, these are: To tell a story (narrative), To show more about the artist (express themselves) , To build up a relationship with the artist, To buy into the artists lifestyle and to promote the artists song further.

There are three different types of music videos and these are:

Narrative  A narrative based music video mainly consists of a storyline relating to the lyrics and genre of the song. This is used to help the audience build a relationship with the artist, through gaining a better understanding of the song that artist has produced. It is also used so the artist is able to express  their thoughts and feelings through the storyline. A narrative based music video consist of a story, that is formed from the lyrics matching the visuals. The style relies heavily on imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow.
A narrative based music video helps the audience to understand the meaning behind the song. This is because sometimes a music video can have a hidden meaning or a message that is not clear. Therefore to ensure that the audience understand what the artist is trying to portray, a narrative based music video is used. An example of a music video that is easier to understand after watching the music video is '21 questions by 50 cent' once listening to the music video I personally had a small understanding of what the artist meant, but after watching the music video, I gained a much further understanding of what it was about.

Performance  Performance based videos features the band or artist performing to either the camera or an audience. The artist will usually mime the words of the song to show the audience a performance that they would expect to see live from the artist.  A typical genre that is performance based is the rock genre. It is also commonly seen within all genres but in parts of other based music videos, for example a video that may be narrative based, may also include some performance scenes. This is evident in the music video ' Miss independent by Neyo' . This is usually Incorporated to show the audience professionalism and so that the audience see the artist as a role model and idolise them.
Performance based music videos are Usually seen in the rock genre, this is because in the rock genre the artist or band, are usually very entertaining just in the way they play their instruments and sing, therefore do not need to construct a concept or narrative to entertain the audience.

Concept Concept based videos are sometimes unusual they are based around an idea.  They often concentrate on a specific editing technique. Most concept based videos will not just consist of one concept, there will be a few different concepts through out the music video. A concept video will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is involved in the music video. A concept can be anything, an example concept is in the music video from 50 cent - 21 questions, the concept involved here is living the criminal lifestyle. This is shown to the audience through the prison scenery and large amounts of cash the artist is hiding from the police. The concept keeps the audience intrigued and interested through out the whole music video. A concept music video is used to allow the artist to express themselves, as it the concept is normally something the artist is interested in or has been involved in. This then allows the audience to be able to understand more about the artist lifestyle and past. Overall concept based music video lets the audience build a relationship with the artist. 

Storm Queen - Look Right Through ( MK Remix ) Official Video 

The video i will be anaylising Storm Queen- Look right through (MK Remix), this song is from the deep house, dance genre.  This music video is a performance type and narrative together. The music video is a short film which includes dancing to the camera which the audience are able to relate to as they expect a performance type music video from this genre,  the audience expect there to be dancing and singing to the camera in a performance based music video, especially in the dance genre.. In this case there is no singing to the camera due to the artist wearing a mask, the mask connotes to the audience that the artist wants to hide he's identity. This is relatable for the audience as they may have been through similar circumstances, where they have wanted to hide their identity. The masked artist dances which is key to show to the audience because it is a conventional performance type music video. It also includes a slight narrative within the music video. The narrative is a short story: the story is a man waking up after, what the audience expect to be a one night stand, then putting on a front e.g the mask, and going back out with other girls, dancing and kissing. This story line was used because the target audience is 16-25 which this sort of situation is clearly understood and made aware of in the age group of 16-25. Therefore this narrative is very relatable for the target audience, this leads to the audience being able to build up a relationship with the artist and understanding the story line easily.. 

The codes and conventions within a dance genre music video are:

•  Dancing
•  Party lifestyle
•  Fun
•  Energetic
•  Relationships
•  Disco
•  Strobe lighting
•  Fast editing 

During the music video Storm Queen - Look Right Through
The majority of the codes and conventions for a dance genre music video, are present through out. A specific example is the (screen shot I have of the mans lower leg/ feet). The artist dancing to the camera is used to entertain and show to the audience that the artist is multi talented. The audience then look up to, and idolise the artist, because the artist is multi talented and they want to be like the artist, therefore idolise the artist and see the artist as a role model. This leads to the audience building up a relationship with the artist.

Also the disco type and strobe lighting was used once the song had reached the main chorus part of the song. The disco setting was dark and club like, which is what the audience can relate to, because the audience to this genre are people who go clubing and bars, which are stereotypical dark and disco like. There is fast paced editing to keep up with the fast beat of the song. This is so the song matches the music video and is easily relatable for the audience to be able to feel the speed and energy off the music video. Also the face  paced editing connotes to the audience that the artist lives a faced paced life style, which the audience respect and look up to because of the difficulties of managing a faced paced lifestyle.

In conclusion I have learnt a lot throughout learning what a music video is, which was unexpected as I didn't relies how many different types of videos there are, e.g Narrative, Performance and Concept. I also now understand the different codes and conventions of the different types of genres which we expect to see in music videos, as they all are fairly similar if they are in the same genre. Finally from analysing a dance music video I think there is a small possibility of making a dance music video within my group, if the nominated artist/band are willing to conduct a performance of dancing and singing to the camera, which is probably quite unlikely.

History of a music video - Miss Georgiou

History of a music video

A music video is a short film of video integrating an artists song. The most commonly known broadcaster of music video is MTV.  Music videos were watched via the television and youtube. The first music video to be released on MTV in 1981 "video killed the radio star"



Youtube appeared in 2005 and streamed music video for free with a mass audience of 150 million viewers a month, this led to music industry companies such as MTV attempting to implement measures to ban the content youtube was broadcasting. MTV has developed over the years by adding channels to suit the genres of the audiences such as: mtv dance, mtv rock, mtv classic and more.


The most watched music video the the music video "Gangnam style" this was uploaded to youtube on july 15th 2012 and up until today the music video has received  2,361,810,098. The reason for the music video being so successful is due to the matching dance that goes with the song. Therefor when the song is talked about amongst the public so was the dance, which lead to the public wanting to watch the video.






How people consume music videos

- YouTube
- TV (mtv)





YouTube is a modern platform for music videos and is the most commonly used by viewers to access a music video. The reason why YouTube is so popular is because it is regularly updated with the most recent and new videos, it is also completely free and can be used on most internet devices.
YouTube was founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim the website immediately became popular and was gaining an average of 20 million visitors per month. This meant YouTube would be a huge marketing platform for artists and bands to release their music videos onto. Various artists received millions of views on their music video, but one in particular was the music video "Gangnam Style" this music video is the most viewed video on YouTube and has over 2 billion views. The reason for Gangnam Style being as popular as it is, was due to it having a dance that the viewers could follow and relate to, also as the video came across quite comical to a huge range of ages, which meant that its target audience was not just the average 13-20 year olds, it now was targeting the mass audience and therefor was very successful.

Mtv was the first ever music channel which was launched in 1981 on the 1st August. Mtv released various different music videos relating to genre and artists, and this meant that it was the first platform in which these music videos were shown. At the beginning Mtv showed a range of various music videos all on the one TV channel, due to the public having different tastes and preferences Mtv launched more channels to target different audiences. This made it very easy for people to find there type of music video genre with the range of channels such as: Mtv Dance, Mtv hip hop, Mtv Rock. As Mtv became more and more popular they then began to create programmes on their channel firstly focused towards music and eventually aiming around a various amount of programmes that related to their target audience (teenagers) for example: 16 and pregnant. In the last decade Mtv has managed to globalise and now has hundreds of channels ranging around the world.

Budgets for music videos

The budget for music videos can range due to the different level of production included in the music video. It can also be based on the style of the music video as different styles will need a larger or smaller budget in order to create a more memorable and effective music video for the target audience. For example in a narrative style music video the budget may need be larger in order to ensure the the target audience will be able to follow and understand the music video.

The budget for the music video Thriller by Michael Jackson was $500,000 and this lead to be the most successful music video in 2009. It was said to be a watershed moment for the music industry. The budget was so high because within the song thriller, there was performance, concept and narrative and for the music video to be relatable and conventional to the pop genre it needed a high budget to make it achievable.

Technology, Special effects and The Development

The use of technology, special effects and the development in music videos have developed massively over the years, this is evident by use of technology used in todays music videos was not available in the previous years. Special effects have came a long way in developing, and are commonly used in most music videos. An example one of the most used special effect in a music video is CGI (computer generated images) and green screen. This is so the artist can crop out the background using green screen and add in images through cgi.

You are able to see the development in technologies by comparing two music videos, one from previous years in the music video industry and an up to date music video from the charts today.

Madonna 'Dress you up' is an example of a music video that was in the very early stages of technologies improving. As you can see the main technology used is editing, which was literally just cropping the recordings together to make the music video flow. There is no evidence of cgi or green screen. A video from todays charts moving 30 years on from when Madonnas official music video was released is 'lean on' by Major Lazer & DJ snake. Within this video you can clearly see a massive change in the quality of the video and there is evident use of both green screen and cgi. The video is mainly performance based with a lot of dancing and singing, with the use of new technologies the themes of the song and the artists thought and feelings are much easier conveyed through the visuals.

Target audience

The target audience of a music video varies throughout every music video as the artist usually has an idea of who they want to target their music video at, to try and gain the most viewers and publicity in that target audience. For example in the music video from Justin Bieber 'what do you mean'  was targeted at teenagers and young adults because the music video theme is about young love and relationships, which is a common factor between the artist and the target audience of being between 15-23.  It was also targeted at this target audience due to the narrative of the music video. The narrative involved rescuing a girl and the artist being heroic, this intrigues both the male and female target audience because the male would look up to a heroic figure being the artist. The females audience will want to be the girl being rescued therefore making the video relatable for the target audience.

Music genres


Music genres have changed massively over the years, some genres have failed and disappeared while other music genres have done well and are still going in todays music industries.  Music genres that have failed and left behind in the 1970s era are genres such as: disco, funk and punk rock. Some of the music genres that have carried on up till today are: Pop, Soul. There are also new music genres in the industry now that have came around in the last 10-15 years. Some of these music genres are: R&B and house. These music genres have become very popular due to the artists that are in this genre. Artists such as Rihanna, Duke Dumont, Drake are the artists that are making a big impact in the music audience to listen to the new music genres.

Overall this post will help me when i come to plan my own music video. Learning the history of music videos has helped me to understand the important parts of a music video and what should be included in order to capture the targets audience's attention. The technology improvements stood out to me the most improved and important in todays music videos. In order to create a successful music video the technology and editing techniques have to be at such a high standard in order to keep up with the other music videos in the music industries at the moment.