Andrew Goodwin has a music video theory which covers the five main and key elements of music videos that people will want to watch and be happy to see.
Thought through beats
The first element is about seeing the sounds, Goodwin thinks the audience needs to see a correlation between the editing and the song. This means that cuts should be in time with the beat and everything that happens in the music should be relevant in the video. For example if it involves dancing and there is a drop in the beat of the song, then the dance should show a change as well. Another example would be how the chorus is shown for example there could be a repeat of a certain shot or clip to emphasise the tune or the beat. To do this we would need to analyse the structure of the song and plan out where we need to create repetition or change of direction, so that it relates to the song. We will also need to know what the song is trying to tell us and create a pattern in the music which we can convey into the shots. Seeing the sound is clear in this music video
Relationship between narrative and performance
This is about clearing up any misunderstanding of songs and making the meaning much clearer through the video. Its about telling the story the artist wants told and allowing the audience to understand what the real meaning of the song is because most songs are full of ambiguous meanings so the narrative can be told through the performance. This is wanted from the audience because a lot of people want to know everything about the song, so the meaning is a necessary for them to know, so that they can enjoy it even more. This is clear in this music video
Star's trade mark
Many of the most successful artists in the music industry has some sort of a trade mark, it can be their style, hair or something that features constantly in a music video for example Michael Jackson would be known for the one glove, this was his trade mark because by just seeing the glove the audience knew it was him. This means for our video we have to give our actor a very unique characteristic that will need to be obvious and ideally seen throughout the entire video or at the beginning and end, its just important for it to be repeated at least once so that its a clear trade mark. It would need to be more than once because as we are making only one video, there will be no previous knowledge of the trade mark so it needs to be defined more. The trade mark is very clear in this music video with Nicki Minaj's very unique hair and clothing style being her main trademark.
Multiple close ups of the main artist
This is about creating a connection between the audience and the artist. The close-ups create this connection because if the shot involves the eyes, it often shows them looking directly at the camera which an appear and feel like they are looking at you directly. This feeling then allows you to create a connection with them as you feel as they are talking to you. In many videos often female artists videos the close up can also be there to sexualise a certain feature which can lead to a fetishation being created. Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory relates to the close ups shown of women in many music videos. She suggests that music videos with females as the main focus force women and men to view the woman from a the male perspective, and even if both sexes are in the shot, the concentration will be on the girl by for example having her wear brighter clothes or more eye catching accessories, either way the viewer will be looking at the woman far more than the man. This music video is Bryson Tiller even though it is not a woman to show the male gaze it still has many close up shots of the artist.
Technical Aspects
The technical aspects is about the editing, lighting, mise en scene and the use of special effects. The lighting and the colours that are chosen to be focused on are what set the mood of the music video, for example when music videos are very dull or black and white it may often be suggesting that the song is sad or emotional. This can also be used to emphasise a certain part of a song for example when the beat drops in the song they can use the lighting to display this. The Mise en Scene is also very important because it shows the artist as themselves as it includes their clothing. The setting in the Mise en Scene is also extremely important because there needs to a relation to the lyrics to the location of the song in some way. The editing can also be effected by the bet of the song because if the song has very quick and sharp beats, the shots in the video should also be quick and the same would apply for a slow song, they should edit it in a way that makes the shots slow and flow well.
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