Music Video Production Task 1The Purpose of Music Videos

There are many different purposes for why Music Videos are made; one of the main reasons is that they are promotional material for music artists when they are releasing a new song for their latest album, this allows the fans of the artists to hear the new song and see if the visuals for the video are suitable with the music. Another reason that Music Videos are created is to give the song a new meaning, such as being a look back at their lives and career or being an allegory to something else; the Music Video can also serve as an extension to the song and to also tell a story, such as an experience from childhood or something that happened to the artist during other periods of his or her life.

One of the biggest reasons that Music Videos are made are so that the artist who wrote the song can make money off the song’s success; this is just another extension of income and if they get this money and the song is a big hit, then they can go on to write more songs and win awards for existing ones as the success of music video relies on the sales of the CDs that are sold containing the artist’s latest song. Another reason is that major artists can promote new upcoming talent, for example, Eminem using Dido on hit song “Stan”, which Eminem self-produced. Music Videos are made for the ever expanding outlet such as the internet and more high tech CDs; which is a form of Synergy, where two forms of media such as music and TV work together perfectly.

Nowadays; there are major label strategies such as VEVO having a partnership with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group in

order to promote new musicians and their music videos. Another reason that Music Videos are made is the impact of YouTube hits online; such as the video for the song “Gangnam Style”, which was the first music video to receive 1 billion hits online; which made the song and its artist well known one of the

biggest earners that year. Original reports from Quartz that Korean artist PSY had made $8 million exclusively from YouTube for Gangnam Style from hits on the website.

Another reason a music video is because of the active audience, who can actively look for the music videos that they want to watch; Word of mouth is also important in the promotion and success of the video, especially on the social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The more controversial Music Videos can help a musician to become famous by creating a buzz within the fans of the industry and therefore it is viewed more times on the internet; the Music Video may become so successful by winning awards and making a lot of money that it gains a cult following among its fans, Music Videos can be used to extend the popularity and style of any well-known musician and can cleverly complete change their image. Michael Jackson, one of the greatest artists of all time; knew the importance of Music Videos for his music and used them to enhance his public image and fan base and created some of the most well-known music videos of all time; with Thriller, his most famous Music Video; having 300,065,502 views on YouTube.

Music Video Task 2Music Video Comparison

In this music video task, I will analyze two music videos, which are completely different each other regarding music and video styles. The first of these is Peter Gabriel’s 1986 hit “Sledgehammer”; this

video uses many different art styles such as Stop-Motion and pixelation along the narrative of the song, during the lyric interpretation of the song; the music video fits in well with the images on screen, for example, Gabriel sings about a “Bumping car bumping” causing two stop motions cars appear and bump into him. The music video uses surrealism to show the difference between reality and illusion; it is a fun video with a mix of miming and lip synch while the animation takes over certain aspects of the music video. Aardman Animations, who would later go on to create the Wallace and Gromit shorts and Shaun the Sheep, did the animation of the music video; which is is filled with animated musical innuendos but it was still a groundbreaking music video for it’s time.

The second music video I will look at is “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC which was released in the band’s album “The Razor’s Edge” in 1990, this video was

recorded and shot in 1990 at Brixton Academy in London. In comparison to Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer”; this music video is completely live action and as well as live footage of the crowd surrounding the stage while the band performs; this would be an easy video to be part of unlike Sledgehammer; in which Peter Gabriel had to lay a sheet of glass for 16 hours while the production crew shot the video frame by frame. There is a number of camera angles and movements in the video including the use of panning as the camera pans through the crowd of cheering fans and it also follows guitarist Angus Young as he performs on the guitar through the use of a low angle; it also uses POV shots to make the viewer feel that they’re actually at the concert. The strong guitar riffs through the multi-images such as the drums and guitars going in synch with the music, these images help to guide the narrative of the song while consolidating the song’s meaning; the fans that make up the crowd were using lip synch to interact with the band as they are performing and get involved with the song as it is being produced.

Links:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/sep/10/pickardofthepops.petergabriel.sledgehammer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM