For another piece of my secondary research I have analysed a magazine article from Media Magazine: ‘How to Study Music Videos’ by Pete Fraser, which gives an insight into music videos, giving views and opinions from himself as well as comments from Andrew Goodwin, taken from his book ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ and touches upon Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ which I will mention and evaluate later on within this post.
“Pessimists often complain that music video television has made pop superficially image-based.” – This quote from the article suggests that from some people (in this case pessimists) perspectives that music videos through TV are mainly based on the artists image. Often referred to as ‘Star Image’ which is where artists use music videos mainly for publicity, giving an overall negative view on music videos.
Additionally Andrew Goodwin a pop music theorist, prior mentioned within my secondary research interestingly compares pop singers to “stand up comics in the way of a personal trademark or signature dominating the performance.”
An Image of Nicki Manaj showing her unique ‘Image’
Goodwin, also claims in his book ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ that a good music video is:
“A clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations.” These quotes mentioned within the article suggests that Goodwin views a good music video in other words as a ‘short film in which the visual aspects enhance the audiences enjoyment and overall quality of the original piece of music’.
The Media Magazine article also goes through the steps which are deemed, from Pete Fraser’s perspective, essential to look for when judging the quality of a music video:
1) Synaesthesia – “Seeing sounds in you’re head”
The comments within this article state that “The basis of visualising images comes from a psychological process called synaesthesia” This is highly significant as “synaesthesia” can be seen as highly crucial when planning a music video, therefore through learning this information and understanding the definition of such process’ “where you picture sounds in your mind’s eye” I will potentially be able to utilise this process when imagining creative ideas for my own music video.
An Image showing an artists illustration of Synaesthesia
It is also stated within the article that “This idea is absolutely central to understand music video as they build on the soundtrack’s visual associations in order to connect with the audience and provide additional pleasure.” This therefore means that the process of synaesthesia has been credited as part of the criteria for a successful music video.
Roland Barthes also commented within this article about his theory of the ‘grain of voice’ which depicts the importance of a singers voice within a music video being more recognisable and influential to an audience, which in his point of view can be seen as or more important that other instruments such as the drums or base guitar. Meaning visually to support music which is heavily lyric based the music videos therefore focus heavily upon the star image of performers.
Additionally “if songs are stories, the singer is the storyteller and this obviously makes music videos stand out on TV, as they feature a first person mode of address rather than the invisible fourth wall of television narration.” This gives the lead singer as a result more screen time during these videos, heightening their publicity in the media industry. A given example within the article being that “Michael Jackson’s yelp is a trademark sound that instantly sets him apart from other singers”.
Michael Jackson’s individual image and Star Persona
The musical aspects or “arrangement of the song” can be analysed through looking at the “tempo and structure of the song in terms of verse and chorus.” Which is crucial when planning or evaluating a music video to ensure that the choice of shots within the video suit and compliment the structure of the song.
2) Narrative and Performance
Within this article it is stated that “music videos should avoid a classic realist narrative, and that is their role in advertising. Music videos need to have repeatability built into them. We need to be able to watch them repeatably in a more casual way, with a looser approach to their storytelling.” This is significant as this advise can be taken into consideration when creating my own music video whilst keeping in mind the use of narrative relative to the chosen song.
Some of the essential criteria when judging and also creating a music videos have been commented as:
- Cuts between a narrative and a performance
- Authenticity of the performance
An Image showing a dance sequence with the music video fro the song ‘song bird’
As these are said to be essential within the creative processes, when creating a successful media product. Additionally further criteria were also named as:
- A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance
- An extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the repeatability factor
These extra pieces of extra criteria and aspects of narrative music videos are key to analyse when constructing a music video in terms of considering the consumers point of view, in order to create a visually interesting and engaging music video using a variety of techniques.
3) Technical aspects
This includes camerawork, movement and angle, mise-en-scene, editing and sound.
Broadly, the technical conventions can be summed up as follows:
(i) Speed – “Speed is visualized by camera movement” therefore fast editing, such as within a montage, help creates pace within the video, along with digital effects.
Camera – Movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers.
Editing – Fast Cutting and montage editing creates a visually engaging experience necessary for music videos, “with the images occasionally moving so fast that they are impossible to understand on first viewing and thus need to be viewed several times” thus ensuring repeatability.
A Variety of shots which are cut between in a total of 4 seconds, showing quick cuts to suit the tempo of the song ‘Uprising’ by Muse
Post Production digital effects – Ultimately used to enhance the overall quality technically of the video, examples are as follows:
- Colour grading images – To enhance the visual effect of a shot
- Split screens – To create an engaging visual effect
However it is importantly noted within this secondary resource that “Not all camera movement is about speed” although camera work can be used to slow pace to follow the tempo of the song.
(ii) Beats – Often the video will attempt to time the cuts to go with the beat or the key rhythm, to create a link between the music and the visuals, enhancing the appearance of authenticity in a piece, specifically if this piece involves lip syncing.
(iii) Lighting and Colour – These can used to emphasise key moments and highlight moods to consumers. This can also include using methods from lighting live performances for dramatic effect.
An image showing the lighting in a live performance
Colour can also be used to show a development in the song – “going from colour to black and white or vice versa when the chorus comes in” showing visually a change to follow a change in the music to enhance the audiences understanding.
(iv) Mise-en-scene – Setting for music videos is important, often to guarantee the authenticity .
Additionally the mise-en-scene for a majority of music videos helps to emphasise the authenticity of the performances which actually leads to in-authenticity whereby the techniques of lip syncing and pre recorded tracks create a less authentic video compared to an authentic live performance.
Green Day Lip Syncing
- CGI also impacts upon the concept in-authenticity used, especially for dance songs, “which don’t rely so much on being ‘real’ like rock, soul, rap acts”. Which is something to consider very closely when choosing a genre of music for a music video.
Costume is also important when analysing and also creating a music video as the chosen genre will impact upon the costume due to the pre determined conventions of different genres.
To conclude i believe that this secondary resource, along with a further post which i will include to give further details on some of the extra information given within the resource such as ‘meta-narratives’, have benefited me by giving my detailed insights into specific techniques fro understanding music videos and therefore through being able to correctly analyse music videos, from the information within this resource i will be able to identify the correct techniques into the construction of my music video and enhance the overall quality of the piece and my understanding of music videos as a result of this preliminary research.
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