Purpose of Music Videos free essay sample

Purpose of music videos Music videos are everywhere we turn on the TV, the internet; social networking sites, even your friends are talking about newest video releases. A music video is a short film or video which lasts approximately 3 minutes, and it usually accompanies a song. Music videos were originally designed to promote the sale of music recordings. They did not start to become popular until the early 80s. 1981-1991; music videos go mainstream. MTV launched Video killed the radio star which played 24 hour music. By the mid 80s it grew to play a popular music. Some important artists of this time were Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna. In 1983 Michael Jackson released an influential and successful music video for the song Thriller. The video lasted nearly 14 minutes long and it cost roughly $500,000 to film. Also in 1995, another video of this, Scream was released and it cost a shocking $7,000,000 to produce and is the most expensivest video of all time. We will write a custom essay sample on Purpose of Music Videos or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Madonnas Bedtime Story cost $5 million and is the second expensivest music video. With the arrival of high quality colour videotape recorders and portable video ameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the new wave era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, compared to the relatively high costs of using film. Music videos are created for many purposes, the main purpose is to promote the artist. By creating a video to go with a song will make more viewers interested as they want to watch the video and then after a couple of times hearing the song they might decide they like the music and then go on to buy the album or download it, this then resulting to a rise in sale figures. Also by watching videos, you become familiar with the appearance of the band or artist. There are many different camera techniques used in videos. They use different angled shots, some being close up as this give face recognition and wide shots as you get to see the whole scene and what is happening. In some music videos, they use live concert footage. This makes the viewer more involved with the band and you can see all the fans and the experience of a concert. Animation Some music videos are entirely animated however a lot are only partial because of he costs and expenses. E. g Linkin Park Breaking the Habit (Rotoscope) uses full animation in their video. Although animation can be fun to watch there are some disadvantages. One of them is that it can be hard to portray the band members in a realistic light therefore making it harder for the audience to identify them. Animated videos take a lot longer to produce as they have to hire more than one person to do the animation. Michael Jacksons video scream cost $65,000 as it was computer generated and made it seem like he was in a spaceship. The advantage of this style of video is that there isnt a lot of effort gone into finding a location to film on which saves time and money. A narrative is a storyline related to the lyrics in a song played out against the song. So the narration of whats going on in the music video is the lyrics being sung. The advantage of having a narrative is you are able to show the audience a greater meaning and depth in a song. The disadvantage is portraying your storyline in a style may uninterest the audiences original view on the song as you are giving them too uch detail making is less interpretative. E. g the music video a little piece of heaven by avenged sevenfold(americian hard rock band) quotes the first line of lyrics- before the story begins, it is such a sin as this is the first line of the lyrics it had already self declared that this song is going to be a story. I think this video succeeds in selling the bands image ad style of music. By using techniques in this video, it makes it more interesting for the audience to watch. Some of these techniques include; animation, close up, cut to the beat. Globalize Some music artists use exotic images in their videos to promote their work across different countries with the hope that is appeals to a variety of people. Other artists use international images to target a global market. If you are a successful globalized artist, this means you are most likely to be noticed wherever you go and you will be making a lot more money. Editing techniques There are a lot of music videos that use editing techniques like dissolve and fade in and out. An example of this is Kings Of Leon-use somebody. This uses fade in and fade out, this makes a connection between the two pictures. Overall there are many processes in the making of a music video and I have now realised how much time, effort and money is involved in this industry. And I also understand the purpose of the music videos and how it draws the audience in and how they can relate to the emotions of the song. It also allows the public to get a visual image of the song and band, and the more dramatic a video is the more likely the audience are to remember it and this gets publicity which is vital for making a profit and contributing to the success of the song which is its purpose.