Music Video: Introduction

 Music Video introduction blog task

This week's work requires Media Factsheet #69: Music Video. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following 10 questions:

1) What is the purpose of a music video?
The purpose is to sell a product.

2) How has the digital age changed the production and distribution of music videos?
Audiences can now access them everywhere at anytime due them being on all devices that can connect to an internet connection.

3) Which three major record labels are behind VEVO? What is VEVO and why was it created?
The three main companies are: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media

4) What are the key conventions of a music video?
-Movement

-Narrative

-Band/Artist

-Lip-syncing

-Intertextuality

5) How can narrative be used in music video? Give an example of a music video that uses a narrative.
Narrative can be used to show the story/meaning behind a music video, this can be shown when a music video lyrics match what is going on, on-screen, an example given by the factsheet would be how the song: "I was a Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me shows a young man running away from the police to connote that he is an anarchist or rebel.

6) What examples are provided in the factsheet for intertextuality in music videos?
They show how there were music videos such as "Blink 182 - All the small things" had recreated a scene such as "Christina Aguilera - Genie in a bottle" or how the cheerleaders in "My Chemical Romance" made an obscure reference in "Smells like Teen spirit" by Nirvanva.

7) Why do audiences enjoy intertextual references in media products?
They enjoy seeing something they like being integrated into another form of media that they also enjoy, some of it may bring nostalgia towards a viewer and may find joy in seeing something that was a big part of their past.

8) Read the music video example analysis on page 3 of the factsheet. Select a music video of your own choice for each of the following headings and explain how each one links to the heading:

• Conventions (movement/narrative/artist)

There is a lot of movement in terms of dancing and how the main subject moves when he dances, there is also the element of him moving without physically moving such as the floor moving him. The movement of objects by themselves is a reoccurring motif/theme.

We can also see that he is singing/lip-syncing directly to the audience, which is the concept of direct address.

We cannot see the physical band performing so we can say that it is a soundtrack that he is dancing/singing to.

• Intertextuality

The music video has been referenced in other shows such as Robot Chicken, Family guy and a Japanese TV show, the song and the movement were parodied. Recently as of writing this blog, this video has become a popular meme amongst the internet community.  

• Representation

Jamiroquai is the main lead singer and the most prominent subject and a small segment where there are the people wearing white to blend in with the background to connote that they are not the focus in the music video, although there is a reoccurring motif of a bug, bird and moving furniture, he wears a dark blue shirt with a black top hat, by wearing these we can he becomes the most unique as there is no other person or object that is of dark blue colour, but as a result we can see that the colour most stands out when he is closer to the camera, but when he moves away he seems to blend in more the black parts of his costume.

• Audience

The genre of the song is of "jazz-funk", "pop" and a few more, however I think that the target audience would be around the young adults and up perhaps, but due to it's popularity as an  internet meme I think that it would be suitable for teens and up.

9) Watch the video for Ice Cube's It Was A Good Day (1993). How did this video set the conventions for later hip-hop music videos?

They set the conventions of costume and representation such as the bandanas and how hip-hop artists have a theme of gambling and gangs as the two colours separate colours were shown and how they were visiting the graves of their people. There is also the theme of crime as he mentions the police and how in the ending of the video he gets surrounded by a bunch of officers in cars and helicopters. 

10) How important do you think music videos are in the marketing and promotion of music artists today? Are music videos still essential to a band or artist's success? You need to form your own opinion here.

I think that Music videos are an essential part of marketing and promotions of music artists, if they do something that it very memorable and that no other artist has done then they will have a reputation and other audiences can look back on that and associate that with the artist, it also give the audience visual pleasure of looking at something.