Types of Music Videos

There are 3 main types of music videos:

• Narrative
• Concept
• Performance

Narrative:

Typically, narrative based music videos are very cinematic and it often feels like you're watching a short film, set to a song which lasts 3/4 minutes. It can be known for narrative based music videos to include diegetic sound as a way of communicating information to the audience, mostly dialogue but can be sounds as simple as a car door closing. Narrative videos usually link the lyrics with visuals.
In the video below of "Treat You Better" - Shawn Mendes

The video itself is about a girl in a relationship which appears to be abusive and Shawn plays the character of the boy she should be with. The line "I know he's just not right for you" shows that Shawn has feelings for the girl and that he wants what is best for her, which isn't the guy she is currently with. The editing techniques aren't much different to what we used both last year and in our preliminary task this year, quick cuts between Shawn sining and what the girl is doing happens consistently. Also the lyrics have been matched with the visuals in the line "see it on your face" corresponds with a visual of the girl and the boyfriend pinching her face.

Concept:
Concept music videos revolve around a concept or idea that tends to be quite unusual or unique. The are highly likely to keep the audience's attention because theres so much to concentrate onscreen. Concept based videos can be an interesting way to represent the artist and even if the artist choses not to be in it then there is the opportunity to get creative and represent the artist in a way that their fan base isn't used to.

In this video "Heart Made Up On You" by the band R5, the band went in a completely different direction to what their usual videos are like. They gave this song a story, the idea (concept) being that Ross, the lead singer had fallen in love with a girl and had inadvertently dragged the rest of his band into a mess. Ross and his love interest in the video are seen carrying out a robbery in-between cuts of the band performing. The performance intended to be a distraction to the crime surrounding the band.  A lot of diegetic sound is included in this music video with the intended effect to make it feel more cinematic. 

Performance:
A music video based on a performance is exactly what it sounds like, its the band performing the song 'live'. Due to the simplicity of the concept, the location becomes far more important when planning. The choice of the location must fit within the genre of the song or else the audience will find that the visuals don't match what they are hearing. This will take away from the enjoyment the audience member when watching the video.

In the video below of "Wherever I go" by One Republic, it is purely performance based. The location is low key and the entire video is very simplistic and the only thing that really happens in the video is that the shot changes direction and switches between distance and close ups.

Narrative and Performance combined: 
Sometimes, artist make their videos by choosing to combine performance and narrative, sometimes all 3 types can be combined. The combination can be particularly useful if the narrative perhaps involves a concert or a reference to the artist themselves.

What is a Digipak?

What is a digipak?

• A digipak style of packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums.
• Digipaks consist of a book-style paperboard or card outer binding; with one of more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside.
• The term 'digipak' came to be used to describe all soft CD packaging.
• Digipaks were first created by MeadWestavco, their product called 'Digi-pak' is trademarked; however, as the design format became popular and began to be used by more and more artists and manufacturers. 
• Currently, digipaks are very common and popular.

How does a digipak benefit the artist?

• The front of the digipak has an aspect of what the artist is trying to represent, also what their genre is.
• The digipak is likely to have a theme and construct a message about the artist's image.
• This helps to enhance the artist's brand and increase their popularity.
• The digipak also helps the artist in enhancing their creative power, for example, it is likely that the theme of the digipak will follow the theme of the artists's album. Therefore linking the artist to their products in a  consistent way.
• All aspects of the digipak, the album, the music videos and the artist's brand are joint together. 
• The artist is benefited because their music is being promoted in the music industry and brings awareness and more popularity to the artist. 
• This means more album sales and a happier artist and more importantly a happy record label.

Key features of a music video - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin published his theory on the key features of music videos.

His theory stated that there are 5 key aspects to a music video:

• Technical aspect of a music video
• Star image, lots of camera shots making him/her the main focus and centre of attention
• Narrative and performance of the song
• Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in your head)
• Relationship between the song and visuals

Technical aspect of a music video:

Whilst researching i found out that according to Andrew the technical aspects of a music video helps hold it together through the use of mise-en-scene, special effects, sound and editing. 

Lighting and colour is known to help set the mood for videos and has the ability to create emphasis on significant parts of the song to create a dramatic effect and provoke a response from the audience. 

Mise-en-scene is vital to help the artist gain a higher level of credibility and make his/her's work look more professional.
When it comes to the song itself, the beats in it can help in the editing process because essentially you can cut to the beat.

Star image, lots of camera shots making him/her the main focus and centre of attention:

According to Goodwin, the star image is a vital aspect of the music video, the artist makes the video more appealing for the audience whilst bringing their own individuality to the video. 

Essentially, the star is what makes the video unique. 

This helps to promote both the star themselves as well as the music video.

Narrative and performance of the song:

Goodwin believed in his theory that it was highly important for the artist to be involved in the video by performing or acting out a role in the narrative. 

It can help with the realistic aspect of the video and make the audience feel more connected and entertained.

Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in your head):
According to research there are three main stages in identifying what the lyrics mean to an individual - 1st step: Analyse the music structure understanding the chorus and verses.
-2nd step: Analyse the main voice, the singer should have a unique voice to others and it will give the opportunity to form an identification that can be related to the star/singer.
-3rd step: This is to do with the story of the artist which is trying to be told through the song, it can establish them as the storyteller and the music video can aid this by linking the vocals (lyrics) with the visuals.

Relationship between the song and visuals:

Similar to above there are three (main) ways the music and visuals are connected.

-Illustrate: Music videos use certain images and shots to illustrate/explain the meaning of lyrics to their song and genre.

-Disjuncture: The content of the song is intentionally ignored as well as the genre in order to create a whole new set of meanings. Traditionally these music videos don't make a lot of sense and often are known to use abstract imagery.

-Amplify: Uses repeatability, which is where the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly throughout the video and essentially 'drummed' into our vision. 

Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos can traditionally be applied to most videos. 

Introduction to the task...

G324 Advanced Portfolio in Media

The production element and presentation of research, planning and evaluation may be individual or group work. If you work in a group, the evidence for assessment may be presented collectively but will be assessed on an individual basis for your contribution to aspects of the work, from planning, research and production to evaluation.

B R I E F

For this brief, you will need to produce a media portfolio, comprising of main and ancillary texts and a presentation of your research, planning and evaluation in electronic format (in this case blogger).

The portfolio will be produced through a combination of two or more of the following media:

• Video
• Print 
• Web-based
• Audio
• Games Software

M A R K S

As at AS this unit it marked out of 100.

• Planning and Research (20)
• Construction (20)
• Evaluation (60)