Music Video Techniques

Number of cuts 

Number of cuts is when the video has a lot of cuts to match the pace of the music this makes the video more engaging because if the song is fast there are more cuts and if the song is slow often less cuts, having more cuts makes it energetic for the audience. Below is a bad example of number of cuts the music video is called ' No Type' by 'Rae Sremmurd'  

This video above is an bad example for number of cuts, for example in music video there are too many cuts from 0.03 - 0.15 sec, this is the wrong place to put many cuts as the song is very slow at this moment, by using too many cuts at slow moments of the song creates a dual atmosphere, by creating dual atmosphere it creates bad image for the artist as the music video would not be entertaining this may mean the audience would get bored and watch other music video's..

The video above is an good example as we see cuts when the song gets faster for example at 0.24 sec the music gets faster so does the cuts, this makes the music more entertaining as their music is faster and cuts create an lively atmosphere, This make the audience watch this and be entertained as their song is fast and suits having lots of cuts. This makes the artist known for producing entertaining content this will increase amount of view for the music video.

This techniques is very important as you may not think it sets the mood but it does as by having more cuts it makes it more entertaining as there a different kind of cuts this keeps the audience watching however having less cuts with a fast song it makes it very dual and there is no energy within the music video this is why i be 

Camera language and shot variety 

Camera language and shot variety is when a music video has a lot of variety of shot this means that the music would have different shots like close ups, mid shot,long shot and extreme close. By having a variety of shot it makes it very exciting and entertaining

This music video above called 'Thinking out loud' by 'Ed sheeran' is an bad example as we see the artist and actor just dancing at 0.26 sec,this does not keep the audience engaged as it's very boring as the song is very slow and there is not that much action in the video. 

This music video is called 'sugar' by 'Maroon 5'  is very successful for using variety of shots and different camera language , in the music video we see the band go to different wedding and surprise the bride and groom at 0.58 sec , having lots of different shot adds more energy and also keeps the audience entertained. By using variety of shots they also show that the artist has put in a lot of time as there are lots of different shots, this makes the audience watch the video more often as it keeps them entertained.

This technique is very important as having variety of shots keeps the audience engaged and it also makes them re-watch the video, if the artist does not use variety of shots it creates an dual atmosphere which means the audience won't be entertained, The camera language helps the artist show the narrative or the message they want to send and it also keeps them interested as they know the video is going somewhere. 

Special effect

Special effect is when the music video has stop animation and editing effects, this means that having special features in the music video for example the below music video called 'IN2' by ' WSTRN' uses editing features for example there are animation on there hands at 0.41. 

The above music video is an bad example because it's not that creative as they only use special effects to out line stuff for example at 0.34 sec we see the house outlined this is not very creative or entertaining , this does not keep the audience entertained because it's not that different, the artist could have used better special effects to make it engaging and lively. This makes the artist not that popular as the music video lets down the song because the song is very entertaining but the music video is not

This music video called ' focus' by 'Ariana Grande' is an good example of special effect because we see range of different effects for example at 0.45 sec of the video we see the have effect which duplicates here face this keeps the audience entertained and engaged, it also creates an lively atmosphere. This is also makes the artist known for creating creative and different content.

This technique is very good to use because  you can create creative content this means the music video will be very unique and different compared to others and the impact on the audience will be that they'll be more in to the music video this will mean more people watching, however you may not want to use to many special effects because it can look cheap and tacky.

Green Screen 

Green screen is a type of special effect, green screen is often used to make the music video more unique and creative , however you need to professionally edit as it can look cheap and very tacky as its not realistic.

The music video above called ' What to say' by 'squeeks' is an a bad example of green screen as this artists has used the green screen throughout the video  for example at 0.36 we see the artist in front of building this looks unrealistic, this is why it's unsuccessful because its not realistic and it does not keep the audience engaged because the video locks very cheap and tacky shows us that it had a low budget to produce it,This impacts the audience because the whole video looks fake so it does not appeal to some audience this may leave artist with less views as they do not create creative content.

This music video above called 'Dark horse' by 'Katy Perry' is an good example of green screen  because the artist uses the green screen in a good way because she makes it realistic by using real footage as well and she does not use the screen consistently  for example after 0.25 sec the have real footage not any green screen,this is why the audience will like it, the artist creates unusual content this makes it more engaging and entertaining, this makes the artist known for creating entertaining music video.

Cutting to the beat 

Cutting to the beat is when there is a cut in the music video that is in time with the tempo of the song and on the beat. The purpose of cutting to beat is that it makes it more enjoyable and more entertaining. 

This music video called 'Me and my broken heart' by 'Rixton'   is an bad example because the cuts to the beats are all over and it is not clear where the beats come in for example at 0.56 the beats start to get disorientate, this means that editing is not clear as well.This sends a confused message to the audience are not sure when the cut to the beat is. This makes the artist reflect in a bad way because having to many cut to beat makes it annoying rather than entertaining.

t

This music video called ' Yellow flicker beat' by ' Lorde'  is an good example of cutting to the beat as we see the beat come in at 1.20 sec this makes it more engaging for the audience and i think it makes it more enjoyable, by making it enjoyable the audience like it more and it helps the artist be more popular. Cutting to the beat makes the song more catchy.

lip syncing 

This song called ' What do you mean' by 'Justin Bieber'  is an bad example of lip syncing because the actor who is acting like 'Justin Bieber' tries attempting to lip the song, at 0.21 sec we see the actor is reading slower than the actual artist, this makes the audience finding it unrealistic which means they would not find it exciting. This reflects the artist in a bad way because the actor is not saying the song at the right time.

This song called 'I really like you   ' by ' Carly Rae Jespen ' an good example because it's very realistic and the actor has practice very well and at 0.20 sec we see a male but a female is signing the song  e so this creates an twist and makes the audience more entertained and engage this will lead to them sharing as its very unusual as well. This makes the artist more known for creating different content and very unique aswell.

Record label task

Music Video Outlets

Social Media 

Example of an social media outlet can be many like twitter. These are websites which allows people to socialize and share media content around the world and give their opinion, this benefits the artist as they can become known round the world because these websites are global. Below is an example of social media website called twitter, on twitter you can advertise your song on popular pages like Vevo, they are known for music and they have 5 million followers around the world and below we have an video which has been advertised on vevo social media account the song is called ' what do you mean' by  'Justin Bieber', this allowed Justin Bieber's song to be more known more and viewed more as Vevo has a lot of followers

                                                                        Audience 

An advantage to the audience  is that they will be informed about popular songs online and they can also share if they like the music video  and to access social media websites is very easy as you only have to sign up which takes around 2 mins. An disadvantage to the audience would be that on theses social media websites there are a lot of annoying adversities on these websites and sometimes cyber bullying can happen on these social media websites as sometimes people make fake accounts to mock each other and this has a lot of impact on the audience as it could lead to suicide.

Institution

An advantage to the institution is that if the artist is not known globally they would  easily be able to post their music video onto their social media websites and if any users like it they can share on their social media websites this will lead to eventually the video going viral and this would make the artist known for the song, An disadvantage may be that the music video does not appeal to everyone, may have issues like language barriers they may not understand the video and this by sending the wrong message in a wrong way, people would reflect music video in a bad way.

Mainstream TV

Mainstream is non subscription TV this is called free view TV, Free view TV is all the free mainstream TV channels. An example of an music mainstream outlet would be Viva as they are a free to see and available 24 hours, they play all the latest music on this channel. Below we have a video of a song which has been played on mainstream TV, the music video is called 'Blank Space' by 'Taylor Swift'. By the music video being played on mainstream TV means that the song will be seen more as there are million viewers watching mainstream TV.

Audience 

An advantage for the audience would be that there free so no subscription needed, also viva is a channel that is on all night, they keep the audience up to date with music that is new. An disadvantage for the audience will be that Viva has adverts in between of the songs this means that the audience will have to watch annoying adverts and i will lessen the time of the music shows as adverts usually take up 15 mins of an 1 hour program. 

   

Institution 

An advantage is that they will be able to make a profit because they have adverts in between of the songs and if they keep playing popular music the mainstream audience like they would actually wait for the songs and this will mean them watching annoying advert. Viva is not a known company compared to channels like 4 music as they are more competitive and hold a bigger audience whereas Viva have a niche audience this means its aimed at a small group of people as they may be playing a specific genre of music on there channel.

Music channels

Music channels often specialize in music and some music channel aim at a specific genre for example channel aka is known for the grime  and RnB music video's and they usually show both unknown and known artist's on there channel. Channel aka has been been know for them specific genre's as they mostly show these genre of music on the channel. Below is an example of the music video's on the channel. Posting your music video on this channel would catch teenagers attention as they are the target audience for the channel.

Audience 

An advantage for the audience would be that the music channels allows the audience to see new music artists rather than old ones and by playing new artists music they the audience may like it and start to listen to it more. An disadvantage would that they only have few genre's of music this may mean that they are not aiming at mainstream audience, so all the audience may not like it this would lead to them watching other music channels that show the music genre's they like. 

Institution 

An advantage for the institution is that they will be able to charge money for showing the music video on there channels as unknown artist would be known if there video appeals to the target audience which are teenagers. An disadvantage would be that they may have less viewers if they do not keep up to date with the music.

Artist 

An advantage for the artist would be that they may be known for their music video as mostly teenagers in the UK watch channel aka this may mean they are able to record more music videos as they know they have audience that want to watch more. An disadvantage for the artist would be that if they show they need to show the music on the channel that is known to show the genre of music, for example if they put a heavy metal music  on channel aka the audience would change the channel as channel aka is not known for that genre of music.


Direct CD/ Special Edition CD/DVD releases 

Direct CD/ Special Edition CD/DVD is a disc which are keep able copies of the album or song, sometimes you may get special edition CD this means that it has an extra feature this may mean having a signed album by artist, these usually are purchased online and shops. An example of this would be buying a keep able album from amazon below i have a screen shot of an mix music album, it is special edition because has different artists music. Below is an video of the song that will be on the hard disc for the fans to buy.

Audience 

An advantage to the audience will be that the would be able to hold an actual copy of the music and can collect album and keep as a collection and by buying CD you have many extra features for example maybe behind he scenes with the artist. An disadvantage for audience would be that they have to pay more for the copy of the disc and if you bought the song from iTunes it would have been a lot cheaper.

Institution

An advantage to the institution would be that the would be able to make more profit as their disc version hold more features and the costs are more as it is very time consuming downloading a copy of the song on to the disc. An disadvantage would be that the people do not by CD copies as they are able to download it on to the phone cheaper, this would mean the copies of CD going to waste as there would be no demand as technology has expanded.

Streaming websites 

Streaming website is a website which is on demand,  this means that it can be watched anywhere and anytime. Streaming websites are available on most media platforms. An example of streaming website would be YouTube because you can music videos and a lot more anytime and YouTube is known globally.

Audience

An advantage for the audience will be that streaming websites are free and you can watch anytime and YouTube works around the world with internet connection, also YouTube is very simple to use as you do not need an account to see video's.  An disadvantage is that YouTube has advertisement before some video's, this is usually up to the user that uploads the video as they can chose if they want advertisement before the video starts, this is very annoying for the audience as sometime you cannot skip the advert and some times if it to long it allows you to skip ad. 

Institution

An advantage to YouTube would be that they can make greater profits as they have a lot of advertisements before videos, this means that advertisers pay YouTube every time they show the advertisement and many advertisers want to advertise on YouTube as billions stream videos on their websites. An disadvantage would be that the audience use another streaming website due to too many adverts this may mean YouTube losing a lot of viewers.

Artist

An advantage for artist would be that they are more known as billions watch videos daily, many people are very famous due to YouTube for example Diary of a badman which was created in 2009, it was not that known first as people wore talking about it  and more and more people watched it on YouTube, Diary of badman started off as one person expressing the feeling and also trying to make it into a comedy at the same time. Below is one of the episode.

Hamza Production is known in the comedy industry and is very famous on YouTube he has one million of subscribers this means that he must be really good, this tells us that YouTube can lead you to a life long career. An disadvantage is that there are lot of different things on YouTube so it's not based on specific genre and some of the video from the UK are restricted in other countries.


Artist websites  

artist website is an website that has information about the artist and also has albums and singles it also gives us extra features like tour details or blogs about the artist, this is a very good way to build relationship with the audience, you can also shop on there website e.g buying albums, An example of an artist page would be Beyonce, on the screenshot of the page we see the options on the page, we can listen to her music and find out extra details.Below is a song which can be watched on the artists page for example one of the song is called 'Irreplceable' by ''Beyonce'

Audience 

An advantage for the audience would be that they get to get an insight of a famous singer and get to find out extra details e,g like where she was born, An disadvantage for the audience would be that not that many people use the artist website, audience usually use streaming websites like YouTube as it take longer to find artist website due to fan pages.

Artist

an advantage for the artist is that they are able to express feelings on their own website and they can make more profit in a way as they can sale albums, having a artist means that you will be able to build relationship with the audience this may make they audience go to your concerts or gigs as you may be an inspiration. An disadvantage is that the artist may not get that many page viewers due to them going on streaming sites and another disadvantage is that artist website costs a lot to produce.

Downloading (legal and illegal)

Downloading is when you have a copy of the song on your phone and you can listen to whenever as it's downloaded you do not need internet connection, this means the copy is keep able. An example of an illegal download company would be video grabby as it free to download music or videos.

Audience 

An advantage for the audience would be that it is free to use so you would not need to pay and you could keep forever and you also do not need internet connection. An disadvantage for the audience will be that if your downloading video the quality may not be like the one on the streaming website and downloading illegally has a lot of consequences as you could be arrested if the institution presses charges. 

Institution 

An advantage for the company would be that the legal downloads from websites like iTunes makes the artist a lot of profit and they'll be able to fund new music videos. An disadvantage would be that illegal downloads cost the business a lot as they are stealing a copy of song, it costs roughly £4 pound per a song so if the majority of the audience downloading it illegally it means the artist lose a lot of profit. 

The Purpose Of Music Videos

To promote a new music video

Music video helps the video raise awareness because some people may like the video as it might have related to them and they will share on social media to the friend and this may lead the friends re-posting,

An example of this below, Ariana Grande has released a trailer of the song on twitter and it shows us the first 20 seconds of the song, this may catch the attention of some audiences as it may mean them re-posting on the twitter page, this may make their friends watch the whole music video on YouTube and it also creates free publicity as the audience share their 20 second footage on their twitter page this allows more people to see it and if they like they may watch it then re-post it again.



https://twitter.com/ari4fans

Another example of promoting a music video would be a music video called 'Dark horse' by ' Katy Perry'. This video has unique features throughout the music video foe example at 0.30 we see people painted in blue and there are many props which set the scene in a different time period by doing this they make more audience watch it because it has unique features.which the audience has not seen before this makes more people watch it by doing this they increase sales and views.


Create visual representation of an artist  

Another reason music videos are created because they want to Create visual representation in a music film it helps the audience and the artist because i believe it will help the audience see the style of the artist and it helps the artist get more promoted and also they would keep the audience engaged as the artist allows the audience to know about her lifestyle, this would mean more publicity for the artist.  Creating visual representation means the artist being in the music video, this helps the audience know more about the artist and this makes the audience talk more about the artist. An example of creating visual representation would be a song called ' irreplaceable' by ' Beyonce'.

In this video we see the artist (Beyonce) star in the video, a positive for the audience would be that they understand the song for example in the lyrics she says ' everything you own to the left' then we see the boyfriend carry the box to the taxi (0.29), this indicates that her boyfriend has cheated on her and now she is making him out. A positive for the artist would be that they can re create the scenes and send out the right message and get audience talking about it by doing this it builds attention for the artist. A positive for the audience is that they get to know what the artist experienced before she was known as a singer and it may also relate to them.

To extend play ability of  song and provide additional income from songs

To extend play ability means that more ways of listening to the music this will give artist additional income, how they increase play ability is through adverts on streaming websites and having unique story line. An example of this would the sing below called ' uptown funk by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars, this video has had over  billion views, this is mostly because there were two famous artist featuring in the music video this made it more popular and this meant both artists fans watching the music video.

How the music video has extended play ability is that in the music video we see collaboration of the artist Mark Ronson and the band Bruno Mars in the video, this song was a hit because of both artist as we see the artist and band dance together at 1.24 sec.An positive for the artist and band is that buy calibrating together means that both of there fans would be watching this music video this increases the amount of views this means more money for the record label.An advantage they get to ear a song which is by their favorite artists and band, this would make them watch the music video over and over, they'll also recommend it to others.

To create synergy of media 


Synergy means two businesses working together this may mean that a media company can produce the music video for the artist. An example of this would be that an artist making a song for a film like the fast and furious 7 where we see at the end of the film a song created for Paul walker by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. The purpose is often to help both media industry for example the artist may be well known  for being a song writer this may make the film more popular or there film maybe very popular this will make the artist known.

A positive for this is that the artist will always be related to the film and it also makes the artist more ' known because 'fast and furious' has been watched by billions worldwide. Another positive is that we know it was made for the film because at 0.36 sec we see shots from the film. Synergy helps media industry make greater profits because these song artist may be famous after writing a song for movies or the song may make more people watch the film.

To be art self

To be art it self means that the music is an piece of art and is very different to compared to usual music video's and they make the music videos are memorable as well. An example of this is' Naughty boy- wonder ft.Emeli Sande'  in this song we see the artist in the river surrendered by pink trees. The purpose of being art it self is so that the audience find it amusing and unique by doing this artist make them self more known and popular for the music video being a art piece.

A positive for the audience is that they may like the music video  rather than the song and if it's unique the audience will share the music video for example tree's are not pink (1:41) this makes the music video very unique and different. A positive for the artist would be that they would be known for the music video and they'll be more famous.


Overall i believe all these purposes are important equally because they are the reason why the music video are created there are other reasons why music video are created but i believe these are the most, i think that if an artist decides to make a music video they need to decide why they are making a music video and what message they want to send to the audience.