Music Video Conventions

What you expect to see in a music video

-Close ups on the band members/artist (especially the lead singer). This is so the audience can see the member(s) because they are the ones they want to see.

-Footage of them playing the instruments or singing (live). This is so that the viewer can see that they can actually play an instrument, these shots are normally close-ups.

-Long/Medium shots of the whole band or artist. These are used to set the scene and to show a bigger area.

-A Narrative to the song. This helps to show the nature of the lyrics and song, making it easier for the audience to understand or make questions about the video as occasionally the video has no link to the song at all.

-Shots to change with the beat of the music. This helps to set the mood of the video. This can results in rapid cuts between scenes, depending on the tempo. If the transitions between scenes are fast it means only straight cuts can be used, not fade in/outs.

-Interesting use of camera types and editing (low/high angles, pans, slow/fast motion etc). This adds an interesting element to the video. Music videos are also a way to show the best of the artists work meaning experimental and different techniques are used. for example the use of blue screen for special effects is used in the black eyed peas video.

-Interesting settings are used to make the singer or band look more glamorous for example, places like New York, California or London are seen in video.

Music Institutions - 4Music

4Music
Owned by - Box Television
Box Television also own-
Kiss
The box
Magic
Smash Hits
Q
Kerrang!

4Music is available on digital television like Freeview or Sky. 4Music is branded under the channel 4 name and replaced The Hits. The music channel broadcasts 24/7, teleshopping is shown from 5.30am to 8.30am week days and till 8am on weekends. The channel is funded by advertising, after three or four songs there will be a lengthy break where a range of different adverts are shown.

4 Music has a target market of mostly teenagers to late 20's. The music they show is mainly Indie-Rock/Pop. Artists such as The Killers, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Paolo Nutini, The Wombats and Mc Fly are played. As well as music videos, this music channel shows exclusive programmes and other programmes such as Orange Unsigned Act which is also shown on its sister channel, Channel 4.

Because 4 Music is linked to Channel 4 you get to watch similar programming, as well as this, presenters on the channel who hold interviews etc are the same as on channel 4 for example Steve Jones and Alexa Chung presented T4 on the Beach semi-exclusively on 4 Music, and then presented highlights of the concert on Channel 4. The result of this meant that 4 Music already has a fan base, people who watched T4, Hollyoaks etc on Channel 4 would also watch 4 Music. This is similar to magazines such as Kerrang who have created a TV channel to accompany their magazine, showing similar music that the buyers of their magazine would like to watch.

Box television is a British company which is half owned by Channel and half owned by The Bauer Media Group. They own the top music channels ; Q, Smash Hits, Kerrang! and Kiss as well as The Box and Magic. This means that they own a large amount of the market increasing their audience and profit. Owning such a large amount of music channels means they can survive with such low viewing figures. Music channel have such low view figures because once the song has finished the viewer will switch over to another channel to find a different song which they like. Box Television owning the biggest names means that the viewer will probably switch over to a channel owned by them.

4 Music figures are :
-Average Daily Reach - 1,295 (000's)
-Average Weekly Reach - 5,493 (000's)
(Results from viewings of at least 3 consecutive minutes)
-Average Weekly Viewing - 6 mins
- Total Weekly Share - 0.4%
(in comparison BBC 1 -20.7%)

Analysis of a Music Video - Beat It by Michael Jackson

You can view the video here-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkGOiS75Lwk

Beat It
Michael Jackson
Released - Feb 14, 1983
Length - 4:19mins

This Music video is different to other one of the same genre. There is a strong link between performance and narrative and is almost like a short film. At the beginning there is 22 seconds of footage which isn't supported with music, which is unusual for music videos, at the very least there is a beat running underneath the action. However, in this one it opens like a film.

There is a narrative to 'Beat It' which is about a fight that is soon about the start, word is spreading and the gang members are being rounded up. We follow the members through a diner, pool hall, and finally a warehouse where the fight is taking place. However, Jackson hearing this heads down to share his views on this unnecessary violence. His performance is strongly linking with the narrative as he dances and sings throughout the narrative sections.

We get many close-ups and mid shots of Michael while he is performing, this is typical of music videos as the fans want to see the artist up close and most of all they want to see them sing the song. This can be seen when Michael is alone in his bedroom, he is always the centre of the shot and not to far away from the camera. On the other hand we get a wider range of shots during the narrative sections, this is so the viewer can see everything that is going on. We get an even mix between performance and narrative throughout the video while Michael dances along to the warehouse. The cuts between each section of footage are straight cuts and they increase in speed to match the pace of music. This is especially dominant during the dance sequence, towards the end of the video as we see the dance from many angles and positions. These shot are now either mid or long shots so that the audience can see the whole dance group as well as Michael.

The lighting in this video is quite dark, there is no natural light, only light from street lamps and buildings which helps to set the mood of the video, gangs want to be hidden, and only having their faces lit like at 0:22, helps to show this. Near the end of the video there is more light this is so that the viewer can see the dance sequence. The type of music also helps to show gangs and their personalities, gangs want to look hard by fighting. By having loud electric guitar solos and drums for the bass shows this. Michael Jackson wanted to show that violence doesn't solve anything and used these techniques along with the lyrics to represent this.

Album Cover Analysis - La Roux

La Roux

Label - Polydor
Producers - Elly Jackson, Ben Langmaid

This album cover is quiet typical of the pop/indie genre. The artist(s) are usually featured on the front with very little in the background. Their style is British electropop synth and indie pop, the duo targets teens to early 20's.

This album cover for La Roux is interesting because her face almost looks like a painting as it has been softened and smoothed so much in editing. Elly is central to the cover with the light focusing on her face, darkening the corners, this draws attention to her and also allow the fans to see who sings the songs, even though there are two people in the band we hardly see the other person.

She seems to be gazing at something off the picture and has a very neutral expression. Her extreme and individual hair style helps to show her personality. This photo has been taken in a studio with a red background behind her, this also helps to divert attention to her. The title of the band and album is white, plain and block print at the top. However, i would of preferred the title to be at the bottom because there is empty space.