Music Videos are now a respected genre of the music industry. The ultimate purpose of the music video is to encapsulate the audience and keep them watching throughout.
Typically the length of a music video is between 3-5 minutes. The reasoning behind this is a mixture of different reasons. Economical (money saving) reasons play a key part, as each producer of a music video has a budget they have to conform to and the shorter the video the less money has to be spent. Another reason of equal importance is again revenue based. The producer ideally would like to get a maximum amount of videos in a co fined amount of time as more money is made this way. It is much easier to do so if each video is of a shortish length.
In the modern era, music videos are very much at the forefront of the entertainment industry. Music videos have become the huge hit they are today, due mainly to the fact that the majority of people in the UK and America own a television set and a form of cable or satellite entertainment, and are therefore are able to watch the music channels that come with it. Music companies see music videos therefore as a very profitable market due to the vast audience it can show it to.
For all the positive attributes that are found in the music video genre, there are certain aspects that are flawed. Firstly, due to the short length of the music video, there is no time for relevant characters to be developed in the video plot. Instead characters of persona are created, in which we as the audience are left to make our own opinions up about said characters. The plot is also weak to accommodate the short length of the song.
In general a music video is usually incorporated by an artist to employ a narrative and a message. This message is usually portrayed through its use of coherent clips and editing. Because of the short length of a music video, the clips predominantly make little sense on their own. The message is understood however when the clip is merged with the rest of the clips to portray the message.
Music videos are perceived by many as one of the most diverse art forms. Its genre's differ from the mythical and mysterious, to the gangster lifestyle or even just simply Horror. A mythical and mysterious music video, can be shown by many examples. An example could be if it was set in a gothic mansion, another if it was set in post apocalyptic time period.
Ritual celebrations are one of the most used ideas in a music video. Time and time again directors use the same ideas for a music video that they feel complement the song. An example of this is a house party or a party on the beach. This idea has been used on numerous occasions by artists and their directors as it seems to be successful with a global audience. Bands such as Deaf havana, Katy Perry and 50 Cent have all used a ritual celebration in one of their music videos as it seems to sell.
Finally there are other features in music videos that aren't always well recognised, but usually pop up quite regularly in successful music videos. These features include; Camera shots into bright lights, sun and fire, to give off a sense of importance and grandeur. Breaks in the films short narrative so that the artist can be shown singing their song. If the song is being used as soundtrack for a film, the music video will almost always show clips of the film, as a promotion technique. Finally you will see regularly in a professional music video, the artist or band cross cut footage from their narrative based music video, into footage from a live concert or festival where they have performed. This technique is used so the fans can relate and reminisce, as well as advertising the bands live tours.
Written by Sid.
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