What is a music video?

Music videos are created for a number of reasons. Music videos a few decades ago were mainly used to showcase the talent of the artist, therefore an artists image was absolutely fundamental in creating success.

However, nowadays music videos are centrally used as a marketing tool. An artist may create a music video in aim to promote the single itself, then the next step is people becoming aware of it's existence, therefore engaging a wider audience whilst encouraging others to share their opinions and speak about it, thus increasing it's popularity. This means more people will listen to the song and will be subconsciously persuaded to listen to more of the artists other works, thus increasing the artists success simultaneously benefitting the audience as they become more interested and therefore the entertainment value is also risen. 

 Another purpose of a music video is to allow audiences to buy into the artist portrayed lifestyle. Although this purpose fulfils that of a similar nature to the above point regarding successful marketing tools, instead of promoting the song, the artist will at some point in the video promote a product/brand. This encourages the target audience to buy into the artist’s lifestyle, leading them to believe that if they were to buy this product/brand they would become more like the artist themselves. However what they are really doing is making the product more successful as they would be selling more, therefore benefitting the company/product/brand more so than the artist as the frame time used to promote the other thing loses time for the artist to showcase their talent. Despite this, it does in some way benefit the artist as it suggests the brand would like to be associated with the artist which therefore displays the fact that they are successful and have 'made it' within the industry.

Music videos are also used to present a short narrative whilst suggesting a snippet of the artists representation and image, an imperative tool used throughout the industry. Manyartists may want to create a music video in order for their fans/target audience to have a deeper understanding of the artist themselves. This may be mainly evident in a performance style music video. This may lead to the target audience liking the artist more and then encouraging the success of the song. It may also make the target audience want to be more like the artist as they have learnt something of them which subconsciously promotes the artist themselves as people are trying to be like them.

Attracting target audience, no matter the size (mass or niche) is imperative in succeeding within the music industry, and is mainly reliant upon the record labels efforts to the artist (how much time, money and resources they invest) A music video has many ways in which it can appeal/attract to a target audience according to the genre of music and the artist themselves. For example, if Justin Bieber was to create a pop song, his music video to this track would not appeal to his target audience if he were to promote money, drugs and the derogatory exposure of women within the video, as these are conventions often seen in the genre of hip hop. Instead if he were to have himself perceived to be treating females in a flattering manner and were to have his top off, this would attract his target audience as most of this consists of teenage girls who would therefore see him as desirable. This expands his fan base making it grow and therefore so does his success.

If an audience remember/can recall moments within the video/ it's style/content, the music video is considered a success. A video can be either unambiguous and simplistic or completely different and deemed to be ambiguous, creative, innovative and thus suggested to be addressed as dynamic and diverse. Either overall style can be effective and successful, as long as it is relevant for the audience to relate to and executed properly/professionally. For example, although the video to Thriller by Jackson was released over a decade ago, it is remembered by audiences on a global scale due to it's iconic choreography and elaborate costumes/location/make-up, also due to the strong narrative and performance elements embedded throughout. Due to audiences being able to recall moments of a certain music video it makes the genre and artist successful as they have had an overall effective impact upon their target audience, whether that be mass or niche.

It is absolutely fundamental that some sort of connection/relationship is built between the audience and artist, especially in the past decade as technology has developed, leaving a gap within the online market for the artist to share their art form/opinions/phatic talk with their fans upon social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and most recently; share photos of their lifestyle/performances upon Instagram. In regards to music videos, it is also important that there is some form of interaction within, whether this be eye contact with the camera/showing clips of their performance (with audience members recognised within the crowd) A present interaction within a music video encourages a relationship built between  artist and audience and  therefore appeals to the target audience as they feel included and important in the artist’s life and will encourage them to continue watching the music video continuously and therefore are listening to the song boosting its success.

Audiences are able to understand more about the song if the music video follows the narrative style and relates/is parallel to the lyrics. This is very important and much like the other purposes of a music video, increases the artists success. This purpose relates to the idea of the relationship built between the audience and artist as it allows the audience a deeper insight therefore understanding also into their tool of expression: their favoured art form.

There are 3 main different styles used to determine music videos. They lay under the categories of concept, narrative and finally performance. They all adopt varying elements and certain characteristics are also identified through all 3. Although some videos may have no literal meaning, others may be figurative and hold more symbolic connotations. Some videos may be purely performance or purely concept whilst others may chose to combine 2 or 3 of the styles to create an innovative, inspiring and thus successful pieces of art accompanied by audio. We as an audience can identify these 3 styles through a percentage, for example the video to One Direction's 'One Thing' is 100% performance from the boy band whilst the music video to James Blunt 'You're Beautiful' is a combination of all 3 elements (possibly a 25% concept, 25% narrative and 50% performance split) However a director choses to split the 3 styles/choses to use which ever style, it will no doubt fulfil the aim of engaging and entertaining audiences.

A concept music video often promotes an idea or movement which may or may not go against the ideals of society. It frequently is used to encourage the audience to become open minded to a situation or idea i.e. homosexuality. A music video which follows this style more so than the other elements is Christina Aguilera, 'Beautiful' because it explores social differences and presents them to be normalities, an issues we as an audience can identify and relate to.

The next style of music video is narrative which is traditionally embedded within the majority of music videos.

A music video that has a narrative may be used to allow the audience a deeper understanding of a track as the lyrics and narrative often correlate in order to create this.

An example of this is The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars which has an almost equal split between both narrative and performance. Although it has the performance element, the lyrics tell the audience a story of the artists typical 'lazy' day in which he will do a number of things. The dancing men dressed in monkey costumes act out this story, therefore acting as an informative and entertaining narrative which works effectively (on a very low budget too!)

Finally, the most popular music video style is performance. This consists of the artist simply performing the song with the music video which is used to show the actual artist within the video in order to appeal to the audience. The video to Who You Are by Pop artist Jessie J is very simplistic yet effective. The artist is shown in one location of a hotel room, looking into the camera and performing. This shows her expressing her inner emotions embedded within the poignant lyrics of the song and also shows her raw talent for acting as a role model to many young people. A large percentage of this video is elapsed of the artist performing to the camera in a very raw and emotional way. This video does not rely on hundreds of different shots from different angles but instead relies solely on one mid-shot which means it is consistently expressing the artists emotions of struggling to come to terms of who she is, as hinted in the song title. The singular mid-shot repeated throughout depicts 

 

Jessie J is a popular singer songwriter who emerged into the music industry in  recent years after posting videos of herself displaying her talent on YouTube. Jessie J's music can be associated most frequently with the pop/dance-pop genre with mainstream hit songs including Domino and Laserlight which reached Number 1 and 5 in the UK Official Charts. Who's Laughing Now is the artists 4th video released and is very different to her previous videos as it captures a sense of her reality growing up, being told constantly that she isn't good enough and tells a poignant story.

Purpose 

 As the lyrics to Who's Laughing Now promote self-empowerment, the main purpose of the video is to present the artist to be relatable and addresses the serious issue of bulling and revenge in a satirical manner. The video also promotes two particular brands: Swatch and Christian Loubuiton. The are many shots which focus on the watch and are worn by different characters in the video (played by the artist herself) The artist herself plays a teacher who wears a purple Swatch watch, a dinner lady who wears an orange Swatch watch and appears as herself wearing a black Swatch watch (in aim to colour co-ordinate with the various outfits) Christian Loubuiton heels are also worn by Jessie in the teacher role which promotes the expensive brand and allows fans to buy into her lifestyle and may inspire others to become successful in aim to invest into particular brands often associated with artists in the music industry.

Style 

The video filmed at Kings College School acts upon the three categories of style: narrative, concept and performance. The narrative involves Jessie at school who seeks revenge on her classmates who teased her about her physical appearance in the supporting lyrics: "you've got teeth just like bugs bunny", insinuating that she adopts traits of a cartoon animal. The plot thickens as the song develops. As the song title is "Who's Laughing Now" it is a message for all her classmates, which bullied her and would like to know the artist now she is a huge global success. The is evident in the lyrics spoken by her ex-classmates "I'm proud of you! Oh my God, babe, your voice is like... wow!" in which she responds with the song title and a raised middle finger (which is only visible for a split second, subtle enough for children not to notice, therefore is not censored or blurred)

The concept of the video sells the audience the ideology that despite bad childhood experiences and people not believing in your ability, you can make something of your life, be successful and remembered for all the right reasons. In the artists autobiography, she states "I'm not a arrogant or cocky person, but I needed this one-" "not only to acknowledge the people who have supported me but to thank the non-believers who tried to hold me back and failed" in response to Who's Laughing Now.

A strong performance element is also fluent throughout with various shots of the artist miming and using hand gestures to communicate her message. The artist herself also plays a variety of characters, which are exaggerated from realistic expectations in aim to be humorous and present herself to be an artist who isn't overly serious and wants to have fun. Lastly, there is also a girl actress who plays young Jessie who performs throughout, causing havoc and creating carnage on a rampage around the school.

Codes and conventions 

Emil Nava has directed every music video for Jessie J to date and has also worked alongside artists such as Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith and Rita Ora and is also respected for directing television advertisements for L'Oreal. It could be argued that the video for Who's Laughing Now follows the codes and conventions of the pop genre. This is due to the use of bright, vibrant colours which juxtaposes the harsh reality of bullying and 'growing up' The classroom is presented as a fun environment whilst presenting stereotypes of various groups of children within schools including the 'popular preppy girls' dressed in pink (the group which victimise young Jessie because she didn't fit their 'criteria') and the mischievous boys causing trouble.

The video however breaks conventions of a generic pop video because it is rare for an artist to play different characters. It also doesn't fit the common codes because it is set on location in a primary school whereas many artists have their music videos shot in studios, which again is arguably evidence that Jessie J is like no other artist in the industry. 

Audience appeal 

The video itself has a huge audience appeal. Firstly, it is humorous and tells a story of the artists childhood. It is also evidence that many people can become stronger once experiencing bullying with the artist being a successful example. A relationship can also be formed between the fans and the artist as they are further engaged within her life as she is presented to be a relatable individual unlike many other industry artists. The lyrics harmonise with the visuals effectively as it tells the audience the story of a young girl (the artist) at school and how she doesn't fit the stereotypes amongst her classmates. A close-up shot is used of young Jessie's face rising from her desk followed by a mid-shot of Jessie as an adult, also appearing from her desk. This distinguishes how she has become stronger and mature over time and reflects upon her time at school, putting herself in a vulnerable psychologically to return, therefore appealing to a vast audience.



By becoming knowledgeable about what a music video really is and breaking it down into it's key components and styles, it will help me when it comes to the stage where I must produce a creative production piece: a music video of my own as part of a group. 
Conducting this research into music videos will help me in the long run because I will know how to execute a video in regards to the traditional stylistic elements traditionally used within the process. It has helped me to identify the particular styles with ease and allowed me to realise that each style is usually linked to the genre of which it is promoting for example a high performance element embedded within a video tells me that it conventionally belongs to the Pop genre.