The purpose a music video in the digital age is promote the song. Music videos is used to advertise the song, so people are more encouraged to purchase the song, or album. Music videos is also used to promote other things such as merchandise. If the content of the music video contains a product and they see the artist using it, this would encourage viewers to purchase that item. For example, in the music video 'Party Rock Anthem', the artist was seen using headphones which is an example of advertising merchandise. These headphones can now be found in music shops such as HMV or online through sites such as Amazon.
Music video are now widely accessible. People who wished to watch a music video can access it through TV or online social websites such as YouTube. This makes it easier for the listener since they can listen to the music for free, meaning they're not forced to buy the song in order to listen to it. This does support piracy which as an overall result, will cause the record label to lose profit as listeners won't buy the song or album if they can listen to it for free online. Records labels did attempt to face the matter by
Music was not always this accessible. In the 1970's, people who wanted to listen to song for free could only access Top of The Pops since there was limited technology available at the time. Even this form of music video was limited since it's was shown as a specific time. Now, technology has enhanced, changing the ways music videos are made and distributed.
I'm going to analyse "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. The genre of this song is rock. The conventions of this genre tends to be a band representing the song. The editing tends to be quick and face paced in order to match the beat of the song. The performers are stereotypical male and there are usual a variety of close ups and medium shots to show each member and their instrument.
The music video doesn't really contain a narrative; a majority of the video is mostly based on the band but there is an element of other characters. The editing of this music video follows the stereotypical conventions since there is plenty of quick, faced paced edits to match the beat of the song. The pace of the editing does become much slower towards the end where the song becomes slightly calmer and it doesn't have as many beats.
"I'm the face that you have to face". The visual of this line is the singer being confronted with a line of people in official uniform. The shot used for this line was a wide shot; it's shows the line of people and the singer are facing each other, matching the spoken lyrics. The shot is has also used shallow deep to keep the main focus still on the singer. The visual and lyric shows some form of tension between them as it's clear that their opposite sides will clash.
The music video does match the typical convention of this genre since the editing is very fast paced and quick with in time with the beat; several shots and angles was used to focus on each band member.A frequent notion of looking was the male singer, presented through several medium shots and close ups. No iconography or record label was mentioned during the duration of the music video.
I'm going to analyse 'Let you go' by Chase and Status. The genre of this song is electronic. The characteristics of this genre tends to be characters in informal clothing, which is usual bright. Electronic music videos are stereo-typically set at night time. The song follows the typical conventions of electronic genre since this music video is semi based on night, following the life of the character. The character is dressed in formal clothing, which breaks the stereotype of characters wearing informal clothing.
The narrative of this song is based on the show 'The Jeremy Kyle Show'. The content shows the presenter hosting the show, talking down to contestants on the decisions they have made. The video then moves on to the personal life of the presenter. The presenter is performing many forms of 'negative activities' such as drinking, affairs and drugs; based on the events, it shows the presenter being a hypocrite.
The pace of this song is very fast; there are many edits, making the music video follow the typical conventions of the genre. The music video does match the music as the beats was in timing with edits.
There a majority of edits including straight cut as well as jump cut as well as a mix of camera movement and shots including tracking and close up; this being the frequent notion of looking, demonstrating to the viewer that he's main character. The collaboration of edits, camera shots and movements creates an emphasis on how crazy his life is.
This music video does preview the record label at the end on the song which is '2010 Mercury Records Ltd'. I could not detect any visuals which match the lyrics. The music video does contain a narrative but that narrative fits more to the purpose rather than the spoken lyrics.
