What is a music video?

I have decided to analyse all of the components of a music video, hat it is, what makes it good or bad etc. to strip it to its most basic form as a product, a music video is a short moving image accompanying a song. The video will usually follow a narrative and tell a story related to the theme of the song, however some are not related at all and are purely for entertainment.

A music video can also be used as a promotional tool to promote the song itself or the band. Music videos can become more popular than the song, or at least significantly reinforce the number of consumers of the song. For example the song Call Me Maybe is a pretty basic song about love following the girl meets boy and falls in love story line. However in the video there is a twist at the end which reveals the boy to be gay, leaving the girl in a state of confusion. This comedic event is not in the actual song, therefore by watching the video as well the consumers get an extra level of entertainment.

Here is the music video for Call Me Maybe on Vimeo




Sometimes a music video can have a specific purpose, perhaps to convey a certain idea or story without mentioning it in the song, or it sometimes has a video which in no way relates to the song itself, but is there for entertainment purposes. A recent example is "Wont look back" by Duke Dumont. The song itself is somewhat about love, it is clearly a woman talking about how someone else makes her feel. However the video is three men robbing a store, wearing politician masks, with pogo sticks as weapons. They then proceed to escape on the pogo sticks as they are individually tracked down by a policeman on a segway who takes them out one by one. Personally I cannot find a link between the meaning of the song and that of the video, therefore the video is just there for entertainment.

Here is the video on Vimeo



Music videos are usually released to boost the sales of songs, this is because it just offers another way in which the song can be consumed, therefore widening the array of people that are able to consume the product. On iTunes it costs £0.99 for a song, and £1.89 for a music video, so if the song is successful then people will want to see the video for that extra level of consumption and entertainment. Most if not all music videos for songs nowadays can be found on streaming sites primarily YouTube.

Deconstruction of Call Me Maybe shot by shot

I am going to analyse the aspects of the music video Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. In doing so I will have a better idea on how to recreate the video ensuring I keep my parody similar to the original video. Firstly I will do a shot by shot analysis of the entire music video. I will then use this almost as a structure for my version of the video in order to keep it a similar length and to keep the scenes as accurate as possible.

22/01/15
I never did this deconstruction as I found that it would've been of no use to me. I did however use the original video to construct my storyboard frame by frame. I simply watched the video pausing after every cut and drawing a new shot on my storyboard for each new shot. I added notes about effects such as slow motion or blurring, also camera angles and movements such as panning. The storyboards proved incredibly useful during the shoot as I used them as a guide for which shot I needed to film next. This kept everyone on task and helped me organise filming.

31/03/15
Oops, forgot to upload it here. I have added a new post containing an Emaze I made analysing my storyboards.

Audience types

Here are some different types of audience my products may be viewed by. I have taken into account that my main product is a parody music video and will be distributed using modern digital means rather than traditional means such as CD and radio etc. 

• Passive= The product is received by the audience, but they choose not to engage with it. 

• Active= The choice is made by the audience to consume the product, and to actively engage with it. 

• Preferred= The target audience whom the product itself is aimed at. 

• Oppositional= A potential target audience who require persuasion from the industry.

• Traditional= Stick to safety and familiarity by watching videos on TV and buying CDs. 

• Hedonist= Take risks by watching/listening to new, different and challenging conventional music videos/music. 

• Post-modern= Use new ways of watching music videos/listening to music, such as streaming and parodying etc.

Being a parody music video it will very much apply to a post modern audience because post modernism is about taking old things and putting a twist on them to make them appealing to a modern, younger audience. I am also hoping to hit the active audience because I am relying on people voluntarily getting involved to help me spread awareness of my products, because I wont be using any above the line advertising due to the scale of my products.