Context
- What is a music video? -
What is a music video and why do they exist?
A music video is a video that accompanies or promotes a song for an artist. They are usually for commercial reasons however they can carry messages and political statements. In the early years of music videos, they were typically about a narrative or had some sort of performance however in most recent years there has been a rise of political statements being made through music videos.
Political messages in Music videos
A great example of this is Childish Gambino's This is America which strongly shows the hardships and brutal racial motivated grievances suffered by Black people in America, especially in more 'ghetto' areas such as Compton, the Bronx and Detroit. The creative director of the video, Ibra Ake, spoke about how the video's goal was to 'normalise blackness'. The song had plenty of inspirations from strong black musicians such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Lionell Richie.
In an interview with okayplayer. Ake had stated “It’s, like, this is how we would like to dance, but we have to be aware of the danger and the politics of how we’re perceived and the implications of the history of how we were treated,” Ake said. “There’s all this math you’re constantly doing expressing yourself […] We’re trying to not have to explain ourselves to others and just exist, and not censor what our existence looks like as people.”
This is a quintessential idea of how a music video that has such a catchy song backing it can send these subliminal political messages and make the audience consider how current legislation and laws could be damaging certain minorities.
Another brilliant example of political messaging through music videos is Logic's 1-800 which tells the story of a young gay man suffering with suicidal thoughts after being disowned from his community. This contrasts This Is America in the way that although they both carry a strong message about society, one is a performance and the other (1-800) follows a more narrative based structure.
- The history of music videos -
The popular rise of Music videos started back in August of 1981 when the popular television channel MTV (Music television) first began airing their 24-hour platform.
They started with broadcasting The Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star (pretty self-explanatory what the meaning is). This was a turning point in music history where there was finally a visual accompaniment to music.
- Target Audience -
Every piece of media works better when the target audience is in mind and music videos are no exception to that. A target audience can be split up into so many different categories and music videos expand upon this because not only are they sorted by age, country, gender, sexuality, race etc. but they can also, and are most commonly, defined by the genre that the song belongs to and also the artist. Billie Eilish for one, is someone who has an extremely definitive and recognisable style to her music videos which is completely opposite to someone Scouse grime artist Tremz.
Billie Eilish - When the Party's over
Billie Eilish's 'When The Party's Over' has a very iconic look to the video. It's rather vague as it depicts a solitary Billie as she sits in an empty white room wearing all white. She lip-syncs the song while chugging a tall glass of a dark blue liquid before she literally begins to cry the liquid. Slowly but surely she gets covered in this dark blue liquid before it eventually consumes her at the end of the video. This reaches the target audience of mainly young teenage girls as it's poetic and vague and allows the audience to decide for themselves what it means. This reaches its target audience because a lot of teenagers will feel as if they seldom have a choice or room to decide for themselves about anything. Also, Billie Eilish is a young girl herself, she was 17 when this song was released, so there is a sense of relatability and identification through Billie. This is also why you see a lot of teenagers (not just girls) emulating and adopting her fashion and accessory choices.
Tremz - 6 shots
Tremz's 6 shots adopts a very distinctive that is associated with modern grime and drill music. It typically has an audience of young teenage boys who live in the UK or more urban areas. The people in these videos are usually seen smoking and holding knives and wearing masks and it has very strong associations with gang culture. They are also seen sexualising women or making comments about having sex. It's a completely separate discussion about whether this is ethical or moral (there are arguments for and against). It does reach its target audience as it does depict a life of sex, drugs and money which is typically something that a lot of the audience looks at and sees as desirable. I think that the cinematography and colour palette also appeal to the audience as the colours are dark reds and blues are seen as deeper and more fearless colours and the cinematography consists of constantly moving and changing shots which keeps the audience on their feet.
- the three types of music video -
There are three categories that music videos are split into. Although it is somewhat of a rule that they are split into these three categories, they often overlap one another and can be multiple categories and sometimes can be all three.
Narrative: When the music video follows a specific narrative that is related to the music video. For example a happy song could have a narrative video that has a bright joyful theme while a sad song would generally have a rather bleak story attached to it. I used the example of Kodaline's All I want (part 1) which follows the story of an introverted young mant trying to find love.
Performance: when the music video shows a performance of the song by the band/artist. This can often be back up by backup dancers to better define the artists music. I used the example of Zara Larsson's ruin my life music video as it is a perfect example of a performative music video.
Conceptual: A music video without a structured narrative. It often doesn't follow a story at all and can be seen as simply creative or abstract. They can have an overarching theme surrounding the video yet it can just simply be decorative. Young The Giant's Mind Over Matter is a perfect example of a conceptual music video with it's bright colours and effects and is also a good example of how sometimes these types of music videos can actually overlap with one another.
- 'south' by Wu Lu -
As a group presentation we looked at the song South by London artist Wu-lu. It tells the story of his adolescents in London and the problems he and his friends faced as a young black community
Concept:
We believed the concept was a music video to show the injustice and tribulations survived by the working class of London’s more deprived areas. It will show the complex social issues that have been fought against for years and will continue to be fought against until justice is served for those who need it.
The Director:
The director would have been responsible for all the of the stylistic elements of the production. He would have had a large focus on the overall look of the video such as the 35mm film rolls and grainy black and white look of the opening shot. I think the mix of found footage and 0ld photos stood really solid ground in demonstrating how class disparity has been an ongoing problem for a long time, I also think that the mix of him enjoying time with friends and family to then footage from the black lives matter marches shows just how how close the issue is to home.
I think that the director did a very good job at creating a feeling for the video. You can firmly tell that there is an injustice in place and that there is a rebellion rising against it. If I were to make a suggestion it may have been to keep the entire music video black and white, or the entire video to be colour. Going back and forth can seem a little clunky and confusing.
The Producer:
The producer would mainly make sure that all the cast members were in the right place at the right time. For example, you can see that there are multiple locations included in the video, meaning that this person would have to be in charge of the schedule and make sure that the cast is aware of where they need to be. In order to do this, it would be helpful to make a location list for the period of shooting to help keep on top of everything. It would also be helpful to add a list of times so there is a way to not waste any time as with big productions like this time can be very limited. In this video. there is also significant use of props which are important for the message the video holds. For example, there are many protest signs, megaphones and flags.
As a producer, it would be their responsibility to make sure all these things are on set every day of shooting. It would also be their job to allocate them to the right cast members. As a whole, the producer would have to make also help the director and almost work with them in order to keep the production process smooth sailing and easier for everyone else on set. Specifically, in this music video, it seems as if this is a very intricate style of video and could be quite difficult to shoot as a lot of the work done is during post-production. So it could be that almost the producer didn’t have a specific job during the actual shooting. However without a producer during the pre-production process would be quite difficult as when it comes down to the day of shooting the cast wouldn’t feel prepared.
Editing and post-production:
The editing process for this video looks as if it was the most significant part of this process. There is a use of colour grading and filters on specific shots. For example, there is repeated use of black and white filters on the protesting shots. This is very significant for this video as our group got the clear idea that this video is showing the clear struggles that people of colour experience in different parts of London. So the colour grading of black and white really helps to get that message across to the audience.
They have also used lots of old film effects that make parts of the video look like it has been taken on an old camera and give it that vintage look. This is significant because it gives the impression to the audience that they are saying that this social inequality has been going on for a while and things almost still haven’t changed.
They have also used a lot of colour transitions almost looking like an old tv set switching channels. Again this does give it that old fashioned look and I think they have done a very good job at doing so. These colour transitions also give the video a pop of colour as most of it is in black and white almost giving it a hint of positivity to the audience and could be an eye-catching feature for the video as repeatedly using black and white could be seen as dull to be constantly watching. The bright colours are also used at the loudest parts of the song which could represent the protest aspects of the video to show the ‘wildness’ that it can be.
- my song -
Sirine - Trusted You.mp3Sirine - Trusted you
The song that I was given for this project is Trusted you by Sirine Jahangir. It's a very good song. It's not a genre I'm entirely familiar with however it does have similar rings to artists such as Emily Kinney or Celeste.