Key Media Concepts

Key media concepts from BethandVicMedia
  

Rough Cut 1

                

This is our first rough cut of our music video. There are a lot of things to change about and to add to it such a transitions, effects ect. This cut has a lot of sloppy and choppy transitions which don't go well with the song we hope to create smooth transitions between shots to flow with the song. We also hope to add some different effects to make the video visually interesting. We are willing to test as many rough cuts as we can in order to get the perfect music video.

Contact Sheet

Contact Sheet from BethandVicMedia

These are the photo's we have took of our artist to feature on both the digipak and our advert. Obviously there are some which worked better than others, we managed to take a lot of varying photos so we can pick and choose which we feel are the most appropriate for our final products.

These photos haven't been edited yet, we have just took them straight from the camera and uploaded them into a contact sheet. We thought our photo shoot was very successful as neither of us have photography skills, but the photographs worked out great.

Our artist - Olivia Shotton wore an outfit which portrayed our simplistic look that we were trying to achieve. We wanted our artist to present an upset girl, which she did brilliantly. Our photo shoot relates to our video as the facial expressions, locations, makeup, costume are very similar.

One of the issues we had when carrying out the photo shoot, was that some photographs turned out blurry, such as DSC_0461, when we came across this problem, we simply re took the image. Scenery was the most important part of our photo shoot, we tried to incorporate this within the background of our images as much as we could. We incorporated a large amount of greenery and nature as we could, without taking the main focus away from Olivia. Our photographs used mostly close-up and medium shots, which have worked out well to fit in with our digipak and advert.

We really like the photos DSC_0434 to DSC_0439 because of the orange leave imagery in the background of the photographs. We also like the ones that were took at Wynyard Hall which capture the leaves crawling over the walls and bridge.


                         
 
                                                              Final Chosen Images


                                                                  Front of Digipak:
 

                               
                                                                  Inside of Digipak:

                                       
                                                                Back of Digipak:

                                         
                                                                           CD Tray:

                                           
                                                                             CD:

These are our chosen final images which will be used within our digipak and advert. These images will be edited slightly to make them more effective. We hope to use software, such as photoshop in order to enable us to change the colour and saturation of our images, which will make our product more visually effective.

Album Artwork Moodboard

In order for us to create our own digipak, we need to know an overall understanding of digipak conventions. We also need to take inspiration from more specific album artwork within our chosen genre of pop. Above I have collected some existing album artwork to create a mood board, which will hopefully help to give us idea's when we are creating our digipak.

We have looked at both female and male artist's that fit into the pop genre, as it would be irrelevant to look at other genre's as this wouldn't fit in well with our work.

After researching a variety of digipaks, I have noticed that the majority of the ''pop'' artists utilise their name at the top of the album artwork and the title of the album underneath this. By placing the artist's name at the top, this focuses all attention on the artist's and represents them as the 'star'. Most pop genre album artwork also uses an image of the pop singer - like Ellie Goulding - Halcyon album and Beyonce - 4 album which are shown above. Whereas others, such as the script album has been kept plain and simple, identifying the bands name and title of the album but not presenting their appearance. This may have been done because The Script are a male band and they are less focused on image, unlike female artist's. The band maybe wanting to present themselves as being 'low key' and 'mysterious'. The text which has been used to present their band name however, is bold and large which makes the digipak easy to be recognized.

On our own album artwork, we hope to use an image of our artist - Olivia Shotton. This image will mainly use an extreme/close up shot of the artist which will initially draw all attention and make her the main focus of the product. We will then present the artist's name and the album title on the front of the album cover too. We hope to use various editing techniques in order to change the colours and saturation of our images - in order to make Olivia the star image of the product.

From all of the research which I have carried out when putting this album artwork mood board together, I have noticed that all the digipak's have been created and designed very neat and tidy. Most digipak trends use things which are positioned in the centre of the frame or in line with other elements of the CD. All of the albums have a distinctive 'star icon' representation about them, which matches not only the artist, but the individual album itself. To present the 'star icon' image many factors contribute to this such as; use of the use of colour, visual effects, pose that the artist is portraying and many more elements.

Every album artwork have a carefully considered colour scheme, which complement certain aspects of the product. For example, in Beyonce's album '4' the black fur clothing which she is presented in, complements the use of the black text in the artist's name and title of the album. Which makes the album more eye catching to the audience as it stands out well. Rihanna's album 'Loud' uses a very bright shade of red - which is presented through hair colour and also lipstick, which may link to the album name as this colour is can be labelled as 'loud'. This bright red colour which has been used, gives the album a sophisticated, fun look and presents her as a down to earth female to the audience.

Animatic

                                                    

This is our animatic for the planning of our music video. Although the visual doesn't match the song exactly, this is roughly the story board that we would like to follow. Our story board includes, what shots we aim to use and what will be going on at each part of the song.

Call Sheet - Photo-shoot

Call sheet photo-shoot - from BethandVicMedia

This is a call sheet for our photo shoot. It includes the length of time we hope to have our photo shoot completed by, our shooting date, location of photo shoot, casting, props, camera equipment and wardrobe. This will help us on the day we carry out our photo-shoot as we can use it as a guideline to help us in many ways. 

Photo-shoot Planning

Above is photographs that I have taken from Google Images to identify our chosen location of Wynard Park which we have decided to carry out our photo-shoot at. This is the best location for us, due to the beautiful green scenery that we can capture in the background of our photographs. When taking the photo's, we aim to get as much forest, tree, green imagery in the background, in order to relate to our music video, as this type of imagery is seen throughout our whole music video. When we go to take the photo's, we are hoping that the weather is nice - maybe sunny, as if the weather is bad this might make our photo's turn out bad too. If the weather doesn't turn out as nice as we hoped -  we may have to reschedule as our photo's won't turn out as successful as we thought they would.


 Front Cover of digipak:

We aim to set of to Wynard Park dinner time-ish on Wednesday 27th November, in order to have plenty of time to capture our photo's - also if various photo's need to be shot again, if they haven't worked out as well as they could.

Another thing what we have to keep in mind on the day of our photo-shoot, is the appearance of our inspirational artist - Ellie Goulding. We are trying to recreate her simplistic, beautiful photo's and in order to do this, our artist - Olivia Shotton doesn't need to be over done with make-up, she need's to keep it to a minimum standard to reveal her natural beauty - like Ellie Goulding has in our three inspirational photographs of her that we are using.
 


Inside of digipak:

On the day of our photo-shoot we are aiming to capture three perfect photo's to be used on the front, back and inside of our digipak. We then intend to use one of these three photographs to create our magazine advert, promoting the album. We have decided to use leaf/forest imagery on the actual CD of our music video, so we may have to take these images on the day of our photo-shoot.

Our artist needs to be wearing casual clothes and a minimum standard of makeup, this is what we will need to inform her before the day of our photo-shoot, in order to avoid complications/risks. The reason why our artist needs to dress like this is to present her natural beauty, which is what we are trying to create within our portfolio.



Back of digipak:

The songs that will be included within the CD will be presented here. Although this is the case, we initially want to create a visually interesting photo which relates well with our music video.

Photoshoot Progression

After researching inspirational photographs of Ellie Goulding we have found the perfect three photos that we will use to recreate and be used within the front, back and inside of our own digipak. Our chosen location to take our photo-shoot at is Wynyard Park, as this has the best green scenery which will relate to our music video best as it possibly can, due to forest, park and greenery scenes being used throughout the duration of our filming. We have decided to carry out our photo-shoot on Wednesday 27th Novemeber as this is the most convenient time for all three of us. To double check that our artist is able to attend this date, we have emailed her, fortunately she is able to attend on this date. One thing that we have to consider when carrying out our photo-shoot is the appearance that Ellie Goulding represents. We are trying to re-create her simplistic yet beautiful photo's and to do this we will have to keep our artists make-up to a minimum standard to reveal her natural beauty, like Ellie does. In order to make sure that we have access to camera equipment on the day that we are wanting to carry out our photo-shoot, we will have to put our name down on the camera booking sheet outside of the editing room, to make sure we get the correct equipment on the date that we need it. We hope the weather works out well on the day we go to do our photo-shoot, if this doesn't work out we might have to reschedule.

Inspirational Photos - Digipak

Inspirational photos – plan of photo from BethandVicMedia

Inspirational Video's

Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball:

This video gave us the inspiration to create a simplistic video. We love how the background of the whole video is just plain, clean white. We particularly like the beginning of the music video when a close up of the artist is used, in this particular video it highlights her emotion, this is something we want to incorporate into our music video. Another thing that we want to take from this video is the basic two locations. We don't want to over complicate our video, like this our song has a meaning behind the song so too much action would take away the meaning if we are not careful.

The Script - Breakeven:

In this video we love the use of black and white, we think this makes the video visually interesting. The action in the video switches between the band playing and the narrative. This is effective as it isn't boring. If we were using a band in our music video we would follow this. As the songs we are looking at includes one artist we thought it would be better just to concentrate on the narrative.




Beyonce - 1+1:

Again we love the simplistic approach to this video. This video focuses entirely on Beyonce with varying shots. We feel that the song has a strong message, about love. Similar to the songs we are looking at. The video is visually interesting, it follows a strict colour scheme.We enjoy the styling in this video, Beyonce is following her 'Star Image' of a attractive female, all her asets are highlighted. The video is beautiful to watch, intriguing you to the star.




Ellie Goulding - Burn:

We love the use of location in this video. We feel that it is a fun video, the use of lighting is something we have picked up on focusing on particular on the small lights in the field, we think something similar to this would look visually interesting. We again love the use of natural lighting. We are swaying towards an outdoor setting due to this video.

Storyboard

These are photographs of our story boards. Within our storyboard, we have drew a sketch of the actress, what shot would be used in this particular scene and also what will be going on in this part of the music video. Our storyboard will help us when we are carrying out our filming for our music video, as it will be a guideline for us when remembering what goes on at each part of the song.

Shot Count - Beyonce - Run The World

For this task I chose to use Beyonce's 'Run the World' video. My choice was influenced by my previous research on Beyonce's videos. The video fits in with the genre I am looking at. During this task I had to count the shots that are used throughout the video. During the full video I counted 152 differing shots including medium shots, close ups, long shots and establishing shots. All these differeing shots are used to portray different scenarios. Due to this task I now know the typical shot count for a pop/R&B music video would be, and that I also have to use varying shots to make the video visually interesting. 

Music Video Narrative Analysis - Beyonce - Irreplaceable

Music video narrative analysis from BethandVicMedia

Magazine Advert - Beyonce 4

Mag advert from BethandVicMedia

Digipak Analysis - Rihanna - Loud

Digi pack from BethandVicMedia

Music Video Analysis - Beyonce - Run The World

Run the world[1] from BethandVicMedia

Digipak Analysis - Calvin Harris '18 Months'

Digipak analysis calvin harris from BethandVicMedia

Equipment Faults

When we arrived at our location - Hardwick Park, we began to unload our camera equipment which consisted of a camera and a tripod. When putting the tripod together we noticed a fault, on one of the legs of the tripod, the hatch was broken in two which unabled us to move the tripod leg to either make it higher or lower, depending on camera angles. This was a major fault which took effect on our filming. Due to this error, we were not able to use the tripod at all and we had to film our music video by hand. Therefore parts of our music video might of been shaky, due to us filming the video by hand, whereas if we had the tripod to use our shots could of been a lot more steady.

Recce Shots - Hardwick Park

These are some recce shots which we took during our filming at Hardwick Park. Looking at the photos this shows why we thought this location was a successful place to film as it fits well with the meaning and genre of the song. The recce shots particularly portray the scenery and greenery which we used within most of our filming.

Filming Progression

After visiting our chosen location of Hardwick Park and carrying out a trial of test footage, we have now arranged to do our filming on Sunday 10th October, as this is the best days for all three of us. When carrying out our filming on this day we plan to go early in order to give us plenty of time to get all of the filming done and to re-film if we don't think certain parts have worked as well as they could. In order to carry out our filming on Sunday, I will have to put our names on the booking sheet outside of the editing room, to make sure I have access to a camera and tripod before I finish college on friday to be able to film over the weekend. We hope to get the majority of the filming done on this day, if we don't we will have to organise a day where we are all free to do the rest of the filming.

Test Footage

As we were not very much aware of the location, we decided to visit our chosen location before starting our filming progress. We brought a camera with us to film various parts of our favourite locations and scenery. We then put all these together into one file and added our chosen song 'Your Song' to the footage. We both believe that this setting - Hardwick Park, fits with the song very well and also the meaning. When we visited this location we got some great shots of the birds flying, in which we hope to re-film when we go to visit again and use in our final music video. Our overall visit to this location was successful and we have decided this is our final chosen location to carry our filming out at.

Audience Research Video Feedback

 This is our audience feedback, in which we produced into a video instead of just handing them out on a paper questionnaire. From this feedback from the public, we have found out some major elements and opinions upon the Pop Genre. When interviewing the public, we had to select people who liked the Pop Genre as if they didn't, they wouldn't of had a lot of knowledge on the genre and our audience research wouldn't of been as successful as it could of been. We can now use this video to help us in the production of making a successful Pop music video.

Audience Research Questions

Me and Vic plan to ask members of the public the following questions for our audience research. We will ask our members there favourite music genre out of the following; Pop, Indie, Rock and Rap. We will not ask any further questions to those who do not choose 'Pop' because this is our chosen genre and they will not have much knowledge if they don't listen to this type of genre.


Questions:


On a scale of 1-10 how aware are you of the Pop music Genre?

What is your favourite pop artist/band?

What are the typical items you'd expect to see in a pop music video?

What would you expect a pop artist to wear in their music video?

What typical locations would you associate with the pop genre?

Would you prefer a pop music video to have a straight forward narrative, no narrative or a less clear narrative?

What would you expect a pop artist to be doing in the music video? Performing and dancing, acting out the narrative in front of the camera, or both?

What is your favourite music video?



These are questions which will use when asking the public their views on the pop genre. One of us will read the questions out to public members whilst the others film the conversation on a camera.

Change Of Location

Originally we decided to film our music video at Wynard Park, after visiting our chosen location we both wanted to research other possible locations as we thought that Wynard wasn't the best location for us to film at. After researching we then found a perfect location with the best scenery for our music video which was Hardwick Park - in which we chose our final location to here.

Filming Progress

As already mentioned we were hoping to film on the 23rd of October in the colleges studio facility. Unfortunately our actress had to attend an educational visit which was organised last minute. This resulted in us not filming the studio scene. Due to this we may have to play around with some other ideas, as we will not be able to access the studio over half term.

Final Logo

This is the final logo, which we are using as our company record label. I think that our logo is very much different to other record labels as it is unique and unusual in it's own way. The bright colours which have been incorporated, are very eye catching and will draw the audience towards it. I think that our logo fits well with our chosen genre of pop, due to the style, font and colours that have been used.

Casting

Initial Idea's

Institutional Research - Columbia Records

Record Label Idea's

Record label idea’s from BethandVicMedia

Record Label Ideas

To create our record label logo, we used Photoshop. Firstly we drew an outline of a triangle using the tools from the software. We then began to create various sizes of triangles within the base triangle. We used the Polygonal Lassa tool to carefully draw around each individual triangle and then to colour them in, making sure that we didn't go over the lines. The usual trends of logo's are normally plain, so we wanted to base our logo around a shape, first we initially decided upon a square but we thought that this would be to simple, in which we then decided upon a triangle. We added bright colours to the different triangles in order to make our logo stand out to the audience and to make it unique and quirky. After we had finished the image which was going to be incorporated into our logo, we then went on to research different styles of font, in order to get the best effect for our style of logo and to fit into the Pop Genre as best as our logo could.

Call Sheet - Castle Eden

Call sheet castle eden from BethandVicMedia

This is a call sheet we have created for the planning of filming our music video. It includes, length of time we hope to have the music video completed by, the date we hope to shoot, location we have agreed to shoot at, casting, props, camera equipment, wardrobe.

Call Sheet - Studio

Call sheet studio from BethandVicMedia

This is a call sheet we have created for the planning of filming our music video. It includes, length of time we hope to have the music video completed by, the date we hope to shoot, location we have agreed to shoot at, casting, props, camera equipment, wardrobe.

Camera and Studio Booking

Studio and camera booking from BethandVicMedia

Risk Assessment

Risk identified from BethandVicMedia

When focusing on the planning on our music video so far, we produced a risk assessment sheet, in order to identify any major risks that could take place when we are carrying out our filming. It would be good to look out for these risks in order to make our project the most successful as it can be. We have analysed the risks in terms who is responsible for them and how we can also overcome these risks. 

Request For Permission

After deciding the artist and song that we were going to use within our coursework, we emailed the artist's record label requesting permission to use the particular song of our choice. Unfortunelty, I could not find the record label 'Polydor' email address or twitter account, in which i had to use Facebook to contact them and ask for this permission. I explained that the use of the song would be for educational purposes only.

Lyric Analysis

This is our lyric analysis, in which we have memorised and organised what will be going on in each line of the song, within our music video. We have decided to choose two locations to take part in our music video, one of which will be the use of the studio within college grounds and the other will be at Castle Eden, focusing initially upon forest, enclosed areas. Within this lyric analysis we have used a lot of close up shots initially to focus upon the artist's emotion and to put a message across to the audience. The reason why we are portraying the artist's feelings and emotions so often within our music video, is so the audience understand the meaning and concept of the song. 'Your Song' is a sad song, which gives us an idea that the artist is missing someone, preferably a person who she used to be in a relationship with, as we can identify this by the lyrics which are used within the song.

Lyric Breakdown

Before we start to think about the initial ideas of what we intend to do with the music video and what we want the music video to achieve, we have broken down the lyrics of the song of our choice "Your Song" by Ellie Goulding which we hope to use in our production of making a music video. Within this lyric breakdown we have noted down exactly when each line starts and ends. This will enable us to work out what would best fit where within the song which varies from different types of shots, choreography of the music video and much more.

Lyric breakdown from BethandVicMedia

After creating a lyric breakdown of "Your Song" by Ellie Goulding, I then went to focus upon the meaning of the lyrics and the story behind them by analysing various lines of the song. In my opinion this song has a sad melody due to its slow beat and gentle sounds, this song may have a meaning of the artist, Ellie,  missing someone who she used to be in a relationship with,  a person who she used to be close to and shared her life with, in which she is creating this song to reminisce on old memories. From lyrics such as " How wonderful live is now your in the world" paints a picture of how the Artist's life changed when she met this specific person and how happy it made her. Other lyrics like "Yours are the sweetest eyes i've ever seen" shows how the Artist is reflecting back and reminiscing on memories and thinking about what she loved about this specific person.

Track Choice

We have decided to produce our music video to the song "Your Song" by Ellie Goulding. The english recording artist Ellie Goulding covered "Your Song" for inclusion on the re-lease of her debut album, titled "Bright Lights". Produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, it was released digitally in the United Kingdom on 12 November 2010. The song was featured in the Christmas 2010 TV advert for the department store chain John Lewis.

The genre of this song can be described as "indie pop" , "indie folk". The song is slow-paced and combines a sad melody and gentle sounds with the Artist's calming voice singing as the song progresses, the song lasts for a total of 3:10 minutes. Lyrically, the song is effectively describing the heartbreak of a broken relationship and the meaning and understanding of what it feels like to miss somebody and reminisce on those memories in which the Artist shared with her former boyfriend. We wanted to choose this track, as we believe we can use a range of techniques to create a visually interesting video. The emotion portrayed in the lyrics ignites many ideas, which we can develop into the video.

Song Ideas

Firstly we decided to create a mind map of Pop & R&B song choice, we came up with many artists such as; Kanye West, Beyonce, Katy Perry and much more. Then we decided that our two final artists which we were thinking of using within our music video was The Script and Ellie Goulding. We then began to research both of the artists as it was so hard to choose which one we wanted to use. We researched various songs by both Artists and then decided that we wanted to do the remake of 'Your Song' by Ellie Goulding, in which Elton John had originally sang.

Timeline of the Technology and Music Industry

Timeline of the technology and music industry from BethandVicMedia

I then carried out research on on how the technology and music industry has changed over time. I researched from the 1800's up until 2003. This research has informed me how the industry has drastically changed as the years have progressed. From vinyl records to cassette tapes and now the use  of iTunes. All in which have one thing in common, the ability to listen to music.

Nine Frame Analysis

Nine frame analysis – kanye west – runaway from BethandVicMedia

Shot Count - Ellie Goulding - Burn

                 

For this task, I chose Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' music video. The reason for me choosing this song is because Ellie Goulding is my favorite artist and I have enjoyed focusing my previous research upon her. This particular music video fits well with the type of genre that I am looking at. During this task, I had to count the number of shots that are shown throughout the music video. During the whole music video I counted 189 different shots which all differentiated from long shots, establishing shots, extreme and close up shots and medium shots. Some of the shots were changing at a more slower duration where as some shots where sped up and changed from one to another very quickly.

Digipak Analysis - Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

Here is Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' digipak. The style of the artist and her genre of music is shown through the colours that have been used on the packaging. The CD inside of the digipak is meant to look like sweets - the idea of candy canes. This makes the overall digipak seem fun and interesting compared to many of the other artist's CD's that you see. This not only appeals to women who see Katy Perry as a star icon, but also to the younger generation due to the bright colours and sweet like looking imagery.

The leaflet which is found inside of the digipak includes a baby pink candy floss cloud throughout. This particularly enforces the vibrant and fun pop feel to her specific genre of music. The image which is inside of the digipak shows the artist - Katy Perry dressed up as if she has been crowned prom queen, or a princess. She is wearing a crown on her head, like she has won the title of a queen or something along them lines. The reason for using prom as a source of imagery, is to link with the title of the album 'Teenage Dream' and this is what teenagers will mostly remember of their teen ages and memories of school. Every teenage girl who went to the prom, would of been thrilled to receive the prom queen crown. Katy is using this to make her admirable to her fans. By using sweets through her genre of Pop, this adds a sense of narrative and even maybe gives away hints on what type of songs her album 'Teenage Dream' will include.

The font that has been used on the leaflet inside the digipak is printed in candy cane theme imagery - by the use of the colours red and white. The spiraling text again represents the artist's younger target audience. By using the theme of sweets throughout the digipak this has made it seen as if the album is 'good enough to eat'. The leaflet also displays an image of Katy Perry herself, making her to come across to the audience as a sweet, down to earth girl. The clothing and makeup that has been used within this is bright and fun which reflects the artist's personality.

The song listing which is presented on the back of the digipak, is in a red font to make it eye catching and appealing to the audience. The light pink clouds in the background also help to make the back of the digipak stand out also. The font is bold and pretty much chunky, also for the same reason and to create a sweet like look about it, like the artist continually has done throughout the packaging. The names of the writers are featured in blue, which also draws your attention to this part immediately. The barcode is positioned in the right top hand corner.

The image where Katy Perry is presented on the front of the digipak, displays Katy Perry is no clothing, however this has been contrasted with the baby pink coloured clouds surrounding her, which makes her nudity acceptable. The reason that Katy is seen naked comes from the idea that she is seen as a female sex symbol. Her makeup and hair portray her as a pin up girl and her distinctive styling is what normally draws peoples attention to Katy.

Ellie Goulding - 'Fabulous' Magazine Article

Ellie goulding magazine article from BethandVicMedia

Ellie Goulding - 'Lights' and 'Halcyon' Album Cover

Lights and halcyon magazine advert from BethandVicMedia

Personal Skills Audit

Personal skills audit from BethandVicMedia

What is Music Genre

                                                                What Is Music Genre?

This mind map below goes into further detail about different types of music genres and their sub genres.

Genre is a key concept which is used in the media, particularly in the music industry. When you plan to create a music video you have to consider this. Everyone has varied tastest in music, this could be due to their age, personality, gender or just their preferred choice of sound. During the proccess of creating a music video, we will need to pick carefully a song belonging to a particular genre of music, then go on to produce a video according to that genre's conventions and target audience.  A music genre is  conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genres can be split into many different categories, examples such as 'Indie', 'R&B', 'Rap', 'Pop', ect. All these varying genres have different trends that change over a period of time. There is also something called 'Sub Genre', this is where the many genres can be broken down even further, an example of this would be Rock, which is a main genre, Metal is a sub genre of Rock because it takes influences from Rock. 'Thrash Metal' is a sub genre of Rock & Metal because it takes influences from both to create the unique sound that became 'Thrash Metal'. 

The Brief

The brief for my A2 Coursework Portfolio in Media is to create a promotional package for the release of an album to include a music promo video, together with two of the following:


A digipak for the album's release, 6 panes
A magazine advertisement for the digipak

This project is divided into four sections; Research, Planning, Construction and Evaluation.

Purpose of a music video

What is the purpose of a music video?

The purpose of a music video is to...

1.  Sell the song and invoke a reaction so it leaves you remembering the song.

2. To give the listener a better understanding of the song.

3. to entertain - to show of other talents the musician may have, for example; dancing or acting).

4. To sell CDs and DVDs to viewers. Creating a memorable visual for the song increases its chances to sell.

5. Marketing for the purposes of exposure and expansion of the artists profile.

Despite all of these being factors in why a music video is important, some people argue that the end result still has to serve one purpose; promotion. The music video is a promotional tool for the artist. It sometimes serves as a conduit to attention from a label, but more often it is a catalyst for CD sales or artist song downloads.

Types of music videos:

There are 3 types of music videos; Performance, Narrative and Concept based.


Performance Based Video:

These are music videos that feature the artist/band/group performing the song through most if not all of the video. It's probably the easiest to do on a budget provided you can get a suitable location for filming.


Narrative Based Video:

A narrative based music video contains mostly footage that attempts to tell a story through the moving image. Usually involving actors, the story is sometimes linked to the lyrical content of the song, but this isn't always the case. This type of music video tends to be popular for a song that's featured in a movie and you will often see scenes cut into the music video.

Concept Based Video:

This is a style of music video that is based around a single concept or idea. These types of videos tend to be fairly unusual or utilize a particular editing or filming technique. It's not often you get a purely conceptual music video as the commercial world demands things to be a bit more accessible.  

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