What is a music video

Media A2 analysing a music video

Music video-  Rihanna ft. Drake: ‘what’s my name’

The music video which I have chosen to analyse is ‘what’s my name’ by Rihanna ft. Drake. This is a narrative based video, but it also has some performance based aspects included in the video as well. This mixture of more than one genre type of video has become more common over the years and is shown well in this video.

    The start of the video is of Rihanna, this shot is a extreme close up  of the lower half of her face, the camera then zooms out to show her whole face, this is still a close up. The propose of this would be to convey to the audience the expression on Rihanna’s face, in a way this sets up the narrative which is to come in the rest of the video. The look on her face illustrates her to be to be in a peaceful mood, this is conveyed through the Rihanna’s eyes being shut and she tilts her head back there is a slight smile on her face which then suggests the calmness. In some ways this then reflects the purpose of the song being; that Rihanna loves being with her boyfriend and they make each other feel special, by then having each other they feel complete, and she talks about how they can’t help giving in to each other. This therefore justifies the idea of Rihanna being calm at the start because she is happy with everything in her life right now in relation to her love life. The music also starts instantly. 

The second shot is then of a different location of what looks like a skyline of buildings, the locations switch continuously to different shots of New York city; this is also set early morning as the start of the day. This would also connote the idea of the start of a  new day and the start of a story. The next significant shot is inside a corner shot type place. The audience then sees a close of money being up onto the counter to pay, the camera then moves up and then the audience sees Drake his eye cross over to Rihanna. It is then clear that he will be playing a main part in the narrative of the song. This would be the main part where both of the main characters have been established for the rest of the song.  This conforms to the stereotypes, codes and conventions of a music video for R&B videos where the majority of the video is narrative based. This therefore conforms to the generic conventions of a R&B music video. This tells the audience that something will be going on between these two characters. As Drake turns around he then kicks off the main lyrics of the song, he is singing to Rihanna although he is doing this it is still made out to be a narrative while the story line is going on. It is also made obvious that he is talking about Rihanna when the camera shot then moves to her when he is describing what she looks like and so on. The narrative begins to move forward more when he moves over to her and hugs her from behind and where it looks like he is talking to her, he is still singing. The editing of this song is all in sync, this is shown where Drake stops singing and gets pushed away by Rihanna that is one example where everything moves with the beat.

    Most of the shots in this song is made up of close up and extreme close ups right the way through the song. This is created to connote the passion the couple has for each other and it also just further to illustrate the affection both of the characters are showing for each other. I also think that this is one way of moving the time forward in the song as once the cameras have zoomed out there has been a change in time.

    The purpose of this music video is to show the relationship between Rihanna and Drake and in some ways to show that they have a normal relationship just like any other couple and to show that they are not always in the spot light of the media. As this video conveys them as being normal people not celebrities. This is conveyed where at the start of the video where both of the characters are in a shop which looks like an off licence and they are in there just buying normal products such as milk, this conveys that they do live normal lives and do stuff for themselves. This could also illustrate how the couple could have met. It is then later conveyed again further on in the music video where Rihanna is walking down the street she is just walking like any other normal person on the street. Again conveying that the couple lead a normal relationship as well as normal lives. I think that there is another purpose to this that this narrative shows how much the couple love each other; the video also illustrates the couple being affectionate towards each other. This then links to the lyrics to the when Rihanna says lyrics such as, “baby, you got me, and ain’t nowhere that I’d be, than with your arms around me, back and forth you rock me, so I surrender” these lyrics makes it clear how much the couple love each other and how the two easily give into each other. Again showing the purpose to be conveyed is the love relationship between the two.  

Some of the conventions of an R&B music video are evident throughout this R&B music video.  One of the conventions which are evident in this music video is the choice of using a narrative and performance based music video as this is something which occurs commonly throughout R&B music videos as there is usually some aspect of the artist performing to the camera this is usually done to help them to connect with their audience. Then the narrative is usually used to convey some of their wealth or to try and convey some of the lyrics and visuals again to try and help the audience to understand the purpose of the song. This is evident in this song where Drake and Rihanna first meet when they are in the off licence then later in the narrative they are both up against the fridge where they are intimately looking into each other’s eyes. During this time they are unaware that there is a camera watching them, this is just one of the occasions which help to convey a situation where people wouldn’t really watch people that are having a moment to themselves. But there are also performance based aspect of this music video as well this is where Rihanna is singing and dancing down the road and she is looking into the camera to do this. This is an easy way for her to connect with the audience as it appears like she is singing to them and thus making them feel more connected to the song and could encourage them to want to watch the music video. This is a typical convention of an R&B music video and this is just one example of where this has been used other examples could be Beyonce, Jay Z, Rick Ross etc. Another conventions which is also followed is the one to where to have both a male and a female in the music video showing off some of the expensive items which they may have this. This is evident as there is Drake in the music video throughout even though he only sings at the start of the song; he continues to be part of the narrative. The use of expensive items is a little more subtle this music video as it is more about their relationship but where there are a few close up the audience can see the branded jumper which Drake wears during some of the music video, and in some of the close up shots the audience can see the chains and the jewellery which is worn by both of the characters. Then throughout some of the music video the characters are both shown drinking wine, this could again illustrate the wealth of the character that they can afford to drink wine in the middle of the day. These are just two examples of where some of the conventions of R&B are evident through this music video.

     The purpose of this music video is to give the audience something to watch while they are watching the music video. But music videos have a whole range of different purposes some of which being the to provide the audience with something to watch so that then the music video gets stuck in their mind and could encourage them to want to watch the music video again. Other purposes could be to try and convey something about the artist, and portray themselves how they want the audience to see them and perceive as a person and artist. This could thus lead to the audience becoming attached to the artist and listen to more of that artist’s song. Another purpose to have a music video is so that the artist can sell themselves as a brand so that they are perceived in a certain way and if they are seen indorsing a brand for example then this could easily promote their brand for example Rick Ross and the rest of the Maybach Group all drink ‘Cronic’ in their music video this promotes that brand of alcohol. This could also be done if the artist has their own brand for example if they have a perfume out and in their music video they have themselves putting on that perfume; this is something which Britney Spears has done. A music video can also target a new audience as well if an artist has generated a style this could attract more people to want to listen to the music and could lead them to want to watch the music video. Other R&B artist do this to just match the lyrics to the visuals and tell a story of the visuals with the song most of the time the lyrics will match the visuals which will then either tell the audience about the artist or about the purpose of the song, this can this just provide entertainment for the audience. Other artists do this to convey a moral or a meaning of a song, to convey a moral so something which they have become to learn and something that they want to show to their audience or they could be showing that or if they want to tell their audience about something which has happened to them in their life and they want to tell their audience about it or tell them about the lessons that they have learnt. This could then make them seem like a good person and they could want to convey them as being a good person this could then encourage people to want to listen to their music and like them as well.

Music channel information

Music channels information

 

MTV

The target audience for MTV is aimed towards the age group of 13-30. This is because there is a range of different subsidiaries this is to target more than one target market and apple to more people. This music channels plays a whole variety of different types of music genres. This is done through all of the different subsidiaries labels, which MTV has. Some of the genres they play are; rock, classical, base, R&B, dance, and pop are a few which convey the type of music genres they have. Some of the different artists which the channels play are, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Flo Rider, Beyonce, Linkin park, Green day, Justin Bieber, Swedish house mafia, the wanted, Michael Jackson, Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, Jay-Z, Adele, little Wayne, Bruno Mars, and 30 seconds to mars are just some of the artists which appear on the subsidiary labels. Some of the subsidiary labels which are part of MTV are MTV hits, MTV dance, MTV classics, MTV base, MTV vintage, MTV live, VH1, and VH classics these are all of the subsidiary which are from MTV and distribute the music by MTV. These subsidiaries are created to accommodate all of the different genres of music, which MTV plays. This helps MTV appeal to a broader audience and appeal to more than one target market. The logo, which MTV uses, is a very simple and bold logo. I think that this is used to help connect with all of the different music genres, which are played through its subsidiaries. Because MTV appeals to so many markets it wouldn’t appeal to all audiences if the logo were slightly biased towards one genre more than the others. This is why it is so simple and uses generic features, which appear in all target markets and music genres.

Vh1  

VH1 is a music video, which appeals to people between the ages of 25-30. This is because the type of music which they play is not always mainstream and sometimes plays music from different time periods, which again vary slightly in genre, not as much as MTV do but there is still a variation of different genres played. Some of the artists who are played on this music channel are ed shreen, Nikki Minaj, main stream, Flo rider, pink they play a lot of main stream music but this s also mixed with non mainstream which allows them to appeal to more of a broad audience. This is a diverse range of just some of the artist, which is MTV. Through these channels very often the channels advertise advertisements for the other channels about what stuff that may be happening and events, which maybe be, coming up which have a reference to these channels. The types of music, which is played on these channels are diverse, although they do have hourly programs for example top ten, and power ballads. I think that this would make the channel slightly different in terms of what they play and the genre, which they are trying to reach. The logo, which is used for Vh1, is colorful; this colorfulness would remind the audience which it is trying to appeal to of the 80’s. Whereas the box, which is used as part of the logo, would connote the idea of different music channels which are played on the music channel.

 

The box  

The box has the target audience of people between the ages of 13-20; a lot of the music, which is played through this channel, is mainstream and usually the most current stuff which is out. The type of music, which is played on the box, is mainstream and is a Varity of different music genres. Some of these genres, which are played, would be Indi, R&B, pop, rock, urban and so on. The box plays just about anything new current and mainstream no matter what the genre is if the song is in the charts then the box plays it. Some of the artists which are quite mainstream at the minute and have been played recently on the box are; Rihanna, Chris Brown, Plan B, Connor Mianhard, Tinchy Strider, Rita Ora and Kings of Leon and may more these are just some to name a few, it is clear from the list above that this is a very varied range of music and that the channel plays songs from all different genres. The box does use a form of branding it does this through channels such as 4 music, Kerrang, magic, and kiss these channels are all subsidiary of the box and it’s to unusual to see adverts for each channel played on the other channels, for example watching kiss, then during the adverts before kiss comes back on there is an advert for the top 50 film songs on magic. This is done to promote the other channels and try to boarded their audience, for example a family of 4 there may be a young teenage girl watching kiss, but then the advert for magic comes up and the teenager mum might be watching the TV with the teenager, the mum might see the advert for magic and might decide to watch it. This would become way of promoting each other channels which are all part of the same subsidiary. The font which is used for the box is simple, bold, pink and white. This would target that innocent teenager that maybe watching mainstream music, it is so simple in order to represent all of the mainstream music which is played on the box.

 

Scuzz

Scuzz is different to the other mainstream channels as they appeal to a niche market. Due to this there is no actual age range, which this channel would appeal to as it spread across such a wide range of different age groups. Scuzz plays only a few genres all of, which are very similar to each other in one way for another. The age range for this channel would be from anyone who likes this genre of music and weather the music is old or mainstream the audience will vary. The genre of music, which is played on Scuzz, is rock, heavy metal, and punk this is a niche market as it only plays a few genres compared to some of the other music channels. Some of the artists which are played through this channel are entry Shacary, you me at six, slipknot, linkin park, and Foo fighters. These are just some of the few of the artists which get played on this channel it is clear from the list above that these are all artists from the same genre. Although this is a niche channel it does also use a form of branding which are through the channels Vault, Chart show, Flava, and tiny pop some of these channels are also part of a niche market but some of them are also mainstream. The logo, which is used for Scuzz, represents wires and leads through the use of colour as they are a grey and dark brown colour. These colours then go along with the codes and conventions of this genre of music, of heavy metal using grays, blacks and whites to convey the darkness of the music.

Kiss

The target audience for kiss is people between the ages of 16-25. Again this is because the range of music is very mainstream and the type of artists which are played through this channel target people between the ages of 20 to around 25 as well as people around the ages of 16 or 17 as the artists and the tastes in music is similar. The genre of music, which Kiss plays, is a Varity of dance hip-hop, R&B and urban music. This music is all mainstream but doesn’t play every music genre only the mainstream songs of a few music genres such as the ones which I listed above such as hip-hop and dance. Although they will sometimes show music which is not so mainstream but still of the same genre, but this is usually only played for around 1 or 2 hours an example of this would be old school hip-hop classics. These are usually shown during none peak times of the day, so for example this may be in the morning. Some of the artists who get shown on Kiss are; Rihanna, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Chris Brown, Jay-z, Kayne West, Weily these are just some examples of the artists which get played, it’s clear that they are all of a similar genre of music. Some of the subsidies of Kiss are magic and heart, this is a form and branding and one way of the channels being able to advertise itself in more than one way and not just through the Kiss channel but to be able to appeal to more of a broader audience and advertise the channel more. The logo which is used for Kiss is all blue, which represents calmness, the logo is also very youthful, the graphic which is used on it represents a stylish ‘k’ letter for Kiss, this also then follows the laid back, and some of the mellow dark conventions hip-hop and urban culture.

1

Why do you think MTV is broken down into different channels (base, hits, dance, rock, classic?
I think that this is so that they can then appeal to a range of different target audiences. Also MTV own most of the music channels, which allow the channel to show more varied music.
Why do you think music channels are important in appealing to a target audience?
I think that music channels are important to appealing to target audiences because; this is one way of exposing a music video and creating a fan base and a target audience. This also helps to establish a target Market and promote the artist. Makes the audience remember the song; this could encourage them to want to watch the song again or listen to the song again.
Why do you think there are a variety of music channels?
I think that there are a range of different music channels to reach a broad range of different people and target markets. This is because not everyone likes the same music and in order to accommodate all of the broad range and appeal to everyone taste more than one music is made. If all different genres were on the same channel then less people may be likely to watching the channel, as the likely hood of a song they like would come on.
What have you learnt from analyzing music channels and how will it help you with your own production?
I have learnt all of the different conventions of a music video. I have also seen all of the different diverse videos that have been created and the reasons behind them. I have learnt the stereotypes of music videos, what makes a good video, what makes a bad video, and what develops a new market, what makes an audience remember a video. From doing this I have been able to see what things would be good to put into my own music video, and what would make our video standout. For example having a performance-based video may involve a certain dance, or a narrative telling a story, or a concept conveying a metaphor.

 

Goodwin's theory- Alex Clare

A2 Media studies

Music video 2

Alex Clare- too close

Goodwin’s theory  

The music video, which I have chosen to analyse, is, Alex Clare, too close. This video is a concept-based video, which also has elements of performance included.

    This video has aspects of the alternative rock elements within the whole video.  Some of these being that there is a heavy base line, which is stereotypical aspect of alternative rock. I would say that apart from that this is the only stereotypical code, which is used in this music video. Otherwise I think that this video challenges the stereotypes of an alternative rock video. Some of the ways, which this video challenges, the stereotypes would be; that the video itself isn’t a DIY video as it is a concept based video rather than a stereotypical performance based video. He also doesn’t use any instruments nor has any footage of anyone playing an instrument. This again challenges the stereotypes and makes the song different compared to the stereotypical conventional alternative music video.  This music video still appeals to a target audience, because it still contains some generic conventions during video, another reason why people might still watch this would be because this is a concept video it is different and not something, which is currently being done by any other artist right now. This would make this video stand out as the audience would be left with questions by the end of the video this might give them an incentive to want to watch the video again as there may be certain aspects of video which the audience may want to see again or what may interest them. I think that these aspects of the video, which would appeal to this audience and would make them, want to watch the video again and be interested by what is happening during the video. 

    It is clear that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. Even though this music video is a concept-based video, I think that this works well with the lyrics, as they can also be screen as a metaphor. This is clear with one of the lyrics ‘it feels like I’m to close to love you’ the camera then cuts to a scene with the two fencing players fencing against each other. This could be seen as a metaphor as the fencers are almost too close to each other and they don’t want to be so they are fight the need to be too close to each other. This is also what the lyrics are about of the song further developing this relationship. This is also different to the typical stereotypical video, which is sometimes used in songs about relationships between two people. I think that this is because quite often I’ve noticed that a lot of them tend to be narrative based, I think that’s why this video looks different.    

   

    The song is in sync with the editing, as they both move at the same speed. This is illustrated where the song gets faster and more up beat the fencing becomes a lot faster and aggressive.  This is also apparent at the start of the song where the song is really slow and the edited is also slow. An example of this is used at the start of the song where Clare looks up at the camera this is moves slowly as the same beat as the song. This engages the audience as the beat and the editing match, in some ways in keeps the audience in suspense and warns them that something is going to happen. This is done through the use of the camera shots and angle used, the music also helps to alert the audience that something if going to happen, an example of where this is used would be at the start of the song where Alex looks up and the music is slow the editing is slow and the camera show used is an over the shoulder angle, this lets the audience see what direction Alex is looking in. thus informing the audience that something is going to happen in that direction.   

    Close ups are used throughout this music video; this conforms to Goodwin’s conventions. This is used throughout the whole video; from the start of the song is a good example of where this is used. The first shot is of Clare looking into the distance, and the camera based on his shoulder. It is then used again for the next shots where there are close ups of the fencing mans hands, of him putting his gloves on and getting prepared. Other close ups used at the start are of the fencers mask. This all happens before the artist actually starts singing, as well as this most of the close ups happen before the audience actually get a look at the characters from a long shot or any other different angle. This can connote to the audience that all these close ups will all be more important later on in the song. Other close ups are used when the characters are moving and the camera show the footwork.

    It is clear that in this music video that the video conforms to stereotypes, codes and conventions of Goodwin’s theory of the notion of looking. This happens throughout the whole video, the characters don’t ever look into the camera once, and don’t have any awareness that there is any kind of audience watching or that there is a camera on them. One example of where this is significant is at the start where the fencers are getting ready to fence each other and they are putting their fencing gloves on, as this is not a task that would usually be watched.       

    There is one convention that is not conformed to and that would be the intertextual references, as there is no promotion of any brand or anything that could be seen as branding or promoting. Everything used in the video doesn’t include any brands. Everything, which is used in the video, tends to use its own unique style, for examples the fighters outfits, these are different to what the tradition dress of this would look like.

    This music video is split into all of the different style of music video the first being concept as this would be the main one. Most of the video is concept by about 60%. The second being largest style for this music video would be performance based and this takes up about 30% of the video. This then leaves the remaining 10% of the video being narrative based. This is because although the video is a metaphor it still tells a story to the audience watching, and they can also figure out what the story of the song would be from watching the video. The reason why most of the video would be concept based would be because the whole song is a metaphor and this is clear once the audience listens to the song the will be able to hear how the lyrics link to the song in terms of what the two main character are doing as they are almost fighting with each other to avoid getting close to each other, this is the metaphor of the song and Clare has decided to show this physically with the characters he has used. The reason why 30% of the video would be performance is because throughout the duration of the video including the start and finish the camera often goes back onto Clare just watching him singing, this happens frequently between shots of the fighting, this then shows a representation of Clare as a character and how he wants to be prescribed by his audience. Throughout this whole video it shows Clare to be a casual person, this is shown by the way he is dressed. This then furthers the idea of Clare selling his voice more than him trying to sell him as a brand.         

 Have looked at where Goodwin’s theory is evident in this music video this has now allowed me to decide where I might want to use any of these conventions within my own music video. Having analysed this music video above I think that I might include a narrative and a concept based music video. I would also like to link the lyrics and the visuals together, as I think that this helps the audience to understand the artist better and get into the mind of what the artist is thinking and how they wanted the visuals to be and how they want the audience to see the song. I also want to genre characteristic to be evident within the music video I produce I think that this is important as then this can appeal to my target audience more and the genre of the music video is more evident. The last conventions of Goodwin’s theory which I would like to include is to have some type of intertextual references depending on what type of narrative which I chose to have I would like it to have some sort of intertexual for example just showing off a brand a little bit in a subtle way and not making it obvious as I think that this could look good. But of course this all depends on what song I chose to do and the genre of music which I end up doing as well.