Diversity of music videos
What Makes A Music Video Unique
There are many aspects which help to make a music video unique. This could be due to the different genre representation that the video wants to portray, as well as the representation of the artist and the style and structure of the music video and finally whether or not it conforms to Goodwin's theory.
There are advantages of being a diverse artists, one of which is that the music videos will be more memorable than others, for the simple fact that they are different. Also it helps to show an other side to the artists and that they can vary from their usual genre conventions and step out the box. An other advantage of a diverse music video, is that it conveys emotions in a different and unique manner.
Even diverse music videos have their disadvantages; one of which is that it may create confusion within its audience, so for example when Madonna released her music video for FROZEN it may have created controversy between her audience, causing some to lose interest in her music. This could have been due to the fact that it would have been harder to build a relationship with her audience and if not successful the revenue was most likely to fail, as there might have been only a limited amount of audience that would be interested in the diverse music video.
There are advantages of being a diverse artists, one of which is that the music videos will be more memorable than others, for the simple fact that they are different. Also it helps to show an other side to the artists and that they can vary from their usual genre conventions and step out the box. An other advantage of a diverse music video, is that it conveys emotions in a different and unique manner.
Even diverse music videos have their disadvantages; one of which is that it may create confusion within its audience, so for example when Madonna released her music video for FROZEN it may have created controversy between her audience, causing some to lose interest in her music. This could have been due to the fact that it would have been harder to build a relationship with her audience and if not successful the revenue was most likely to fail, as there might have been only a limited amount of audience that would be interested in the diverse music video.
One of Cunningham's known works is the music video for Madonna's FROZEN, released in 1998, which trials all the genre conventions, making it so a unique music video.
In this video Madonna appears to be singing about someone, who in some way has betrayed her. There is no evidence of this individual, although she refers to him as "you"; this could mean that she is directly sending a message to this person or that she is trying to involve her audience by using the second person.
Madonna, in this video, is represented in a totally different way, challenging her image as a glamours artist, as she is portrayed in a wicked manner. This video also breaks all characteristics of pop, as it is dark and gloomy; not much is going on in the video as Madonna is the only character showed.
This also represents Madonna as a diverse artists and designates her as someone who is not scared to show a different side to her, also helping to appeal to a different audience than who she normally does, as there is an electric and dark side to this video.
The song is about the person she loves having a "frozen heart" which is represented through her make-up as she looks very pale as if she was cold. As the lyrics talk about a broken heart, the colour black comes into place as it depicts danger and solitude, which is also depicted as she is on a deserted island on her own.
The low key lighting helps to capture this dreary and dim atmosphere, which is a representation of this dead heart.
This music video fails to conform to Goodwin's theory as the lyrics and the visuals cease to match, as her broken-heart is been represented by slow movements and the black iconography. Although there are some reference, to the lyrics and the visuals according and this is when she defines "love is a bird she needs to fly" and there are birds in the video which are flying. She associates love with herself, she needs to fly but she is stuck in this island and can't get away.
This is something that articulates the diversity of the music video as birds such as dove are usually associated with peace and love but in this video it has a different representation of darkness. Crows are birds which normally are associated with danger and death, in this video they represent the frozen heart which is slowly killing her.
The music video is performance and concept based as there is no explanation or elaboration for why is represented in this way. Lyrics such as "waste your time with hate and regret" would assume that she is relating it to a different individual but her dark and serious expression could let to the fact that she is the one that has many regrets and hatred.
There are many close-ups of the artist helping the audience to understand her emotions better and also helps to make them feel involved. Emotions of darkness, sorrow which relate to her dark soul.
This music video is considered to be diverse as it does not conform to any pop genre characteristics; her clothing as it is black and Gothic appearance it is not associate to pop where a short top and jeans would be warn instead. Her mannerism portrays diversity as it is unusual as Madonna is always trying to hide her face with a black face-cloth rather than trying to show off her beauty like in her previous and later music videos.
Madonna is sometimes showed more than once in the same shot, creating a senses witchcraft and darkness; all these characteristics would be unusual in a ordinary pop music video as it would be higher in verisimilitude.
This is a diverse music video as it doesn't follow the conventions of pop, as Madonna is represented in a totally way to her usual self. Some disadvantages of this video is that some people may fail to see the deeper meaning it has, as they just observe the video superficially as they are mainly entertained by simply watching the music video.
Michael Gondry is know for directing the music video for THE WHITE STRIPES' single SEVEN NATION ARMY released in 2003.
This video doesn't conform to Goodwin's theory as there is no link between the lyrics and the visuals, as it illustrates images of the artists as they zoom in through reacquiring endless triangles. The focus are mainly the artists as they are the biggest object in the frame, although there are some elements of the video which helps to relate it back to the lyrics; images of an army of skeletons is showed more than once. This is in order for the audience to relate better to the music video.
This music video conforms to his rock conventions as both artists are playing musical instruments; the drums and guitar are very popular in rock music.
The artists themselves do try to relate the optical with the lyrics as when they say "Want to hear" the artists covers his hear; this sort of movements helps to engage the audience but also helps them to memorize the song better as they can associate the gesture with the lyric.
Words such as blood and pounding imply danger and agony, which is depicted by the red stripes on the background. The style in the music video doesn't change as this pattern runs throughout the music video and for this reason the music video doesn't conform to the generic convention as the video is diverse and trying to make a statement.
This music video is considered to being diverse as it does not totally conform to it genre characteristics. One of which is that the artists are not clearly shown as there is a poor artist representation; it is hard to relate to them as the audience do not get an insight to their image. This music video can also be considered as diverse as there is no narrative or concept to it as it is only performance, not allowing to create a relationship with its audiences.
The facial expressions by both artists it is very serious as no emotions are shown throughout the music video, although lots of special effects such as earthquake and blink were used to create a hard rock mise-en-scene.
As an aimless elephant appeared in the video, this shows how diverse this music video is at it was not associated with either lyrics or visuals. For these reason this music video is classified as diverse as many of these characteristics would not be shown in a conventional music video.
After analysing Gondry's music video, there are certain elements which helps to convey the rock conventions such as the musical instruments but for our chosen genre this would not completely work as there aren't no recognisable instruments in our song. Although that the ongoing pattern could be interesting to use in our video as it could relate well to our dance-pop conventions. Admitting that this would not convey to the image we are trying to portray and as we are not an established band, it is important to connect with our audience with the use of close ups and clearer images of ourselves.
Instead Cunningham's video using connotations such as the birds flying and I do believe that it would suit our genre as we also are using different ways to portray isolation and voyeurisms by the use of masquerade masks and empty parks.
Madonna, in this video, is represented in a totally different way, challenging her image as a glamours artist, as she is portrayed in a wicked manner. This video also breaks all characteristics of pop, as it is dark and gloomy; not much is going on in the video as Madonna is the only character showed.
This also represents Madonna as a diverse artists and designates her as someone who is not scared to show a different side to her, also helping to appeal to a different audience than who she normally does, as there is an electric and dark side to this video.
The song is about the person she loves having a "frozen heart" which is represented through her make-up as she looks very pale as if she was cold. As the lyrics talk about a broken heart, the colour black comes into place as it depicts danger and solitude, which is also depicted as she is on a deserted island on her own.
The low key lighting helps to capture this dreary and dim atmosphere, which is a representation of this dead heart.
This is something that articulates the diversity of the music video as birds such as dove are usually associated with peace and love but in this video it has a different representation of darkness. Crows are birds which normally are associated with danger and death, in this video they represent the frozen heart which is slowly killing her.
The music video is performance and concept based as there is no explanation or elaboration for why is represented in this way. Lyrics such as "waste your time with hate and regret" would assume that she is relating it to a different individual but her dark and serious expression could let to the fact that she is the one that has many regrets and hatred.
There are many close-ups of the artist helping the audience to understand her emotions better and also helps to make them feel involved. Emotions of darkness, sorrow which relate to her dark soul.
This music video is considered to be diverse as it does not conform to any pop genre characteristics; her clothing as it is black and Gothic appearance it is not associate to pop where a short top and jeans would be warn instead. Her mannerism portrays diversity as it is unusual as Madonna is always trying to hide her face with a black face-cloth rather than trying to show off her beauty like in her previous and later music videos.
Madonna is sometimes showed more than once in the same shot, creating a senses witchcraft and darkness; all these characteristics would be unusual in a ordinary pop music video as it would be higher in verisimilitude.
This is a diverse music video as it doesn't follow the conventions of pop, as Madonna is represented in a totally way to her usual self. Some disadvantages of this video is that some people may fail to see the deeper meaning it has, as they just observe the video superficially as they are mainly entertained by simply watching the music video.
This video doesn't conform to Goodwin's theory as there is no link between the lyrics and the visuals, as it illustrates images of the artists as they zoom in through reacquiring endless triangles. The focus are mainly the artists as they are the biggest object in the frame, although there are some elements of the video which helps to relate it back to the lyrics; images of an army of skeletons is showed more than once. This is in order for the audience to relate better to the music video.
This music video conforms to his rock conventions as both artists are playing musical instruments; the drums and guitar are very popular in rock music.
The artists themselves do try to relate the optical with the lyrics as when they say "Want to hear" the artists covers his hear; this sort of movements helps to engage the audience but also helps them to memorize the song better as they can associate the gesture with the lyric.
Words such as blood and pounding imply danger and agony, which is depicted by the red stripes on the background. The style in the music video doesn't change as this pattern runs throughout the music video and for this reason the music video doesn't conform to the generic convention as the video is diverse and trying to make a statement.
This music video is considered to being diverse as it does not totally conform to it genre characteristics. One of which is that the artists are not clearly shown as there is a poor artist representation; it is hard to relate to them as the audience do not get an insight to their image. This music video can also be considered as diverse as there is no narrative or concept to it as it is only performance, not allowing to create a relationship with its audiences.
The facial expressions by both artists it is very serious as no emotions are shown throughout the music video, although lots of special effects such as earthquake and blink were used to create a hard rock mise-en-scene.
As an aimless elephant appeared in the video, this shows how diverse this music video is at it was not associated with either lyrics or visuals. For these reason this music video is classified as diverse as many of these characteristics would not be shown in a conventional music video.
After analysing Gondry's music video, there are certain elements which helps to convey the rock conventions such as the musical instruments but for our chosen genre this would not completely work as there aren't no recognisable instruments in our song. Although that the ongoing pattern could be interesting to use in our video as it could relate well to our dance-pop conventions. Admitting that this would not convey to the image we are trying to portray and as we are not an established band, it is important to connect with our audience with the use of close ups and clearer images of ourselves.
Instead Cunningham's video using connotations such as the birds flying and I do believe that it would suit our genre as we also are using different ways to portray isolation and voyeurisms by the use of masquerade masks and empty parks.
_cover.jpg)
This post demonstrates some understanding of how music videos are diverse. You have analysed the two music videos and have considered some of the conventions and micro elements, but more attention is needed on the style and how they are diverse in more detail
ReplyDelete