A music video is a short film that integrates a song with imagery, and produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of the music video date back to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920s, they again came into prominence in the 1980s when the channel MTV (originally "Music Television") based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these kinds of videos were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip". Music videos are meant to encapsulate the essence of an audio performance into a visually interpretable one. Some videos, particularly those created during the 1980s, do follow a relatively linear path, combining staged shots of the band in performance with an ongoing subplot based on the actual meaning of the song.
types & styles of music videos
TYPES 1.Narrative Based Narrative based music videos usually tell a story based off of or implied in the lyrics of the song and then visualized and dramatized in the video. Sometimes , they feature clips from actual movies. They establish a clear relation between the lyrics and the visuals of the song. The actors are either acting according to the story or the artists are visually performing the song, But the main focus is still on the narrative aspect of the video. Narrative based music videos require the viewer to understand the lyrics of the song in order to be understood , since these lyrics are visualized it makes it easy to convey the meaning of the song. Typically, the actor is shown having a dilemma of some sort and the movie progresses as they then try to solve that dilemma.
Some examples of narrative music videos;
Daft Punk - Instant Crush
Eminem - Stan
Coldplay - The Scientist
2.Performance Based Performance based music feature only, or heavily emphasize the artist or band performing the song. This includes dancing, lip syncing, live concerts or musicians playing music instruments. Performance based music videos mostly build a relationship with the audience to show off the star identity. These videos don’t have any specific message for the audience or there is no concept or idea behind the song, it's mainly just a visual interpretation of the bands performance meant to compliment the song. There is no connection between the lyrics of the song, as we can just see well dressed artists performing on their song. These types of videos mostly include close up shots of the artist and the artist making direct eye contact with the viewer. Performance based music videos are the most common among all the three types.
Some examples of Performance based music videos;
The Smiths - This Charming Man
The Strokes - Reptilia
Audioslave - Like a stone
3. Concept Based Concept based music videos are based on a specific concept or a theme. The concept can be magic, supernatural, historical, religious, scientific or any other idea which is based on a concept or a theme. Mostly concept based videos intrigue a specific class or target audience, according to the idea of the music video. These videos are not as easy to understand as the other two types are and they are more difficult to produce. However, they are usually quite open to interpretation and that is one of the reasons a concept based video can appeal to an audience member. Concept based music videos can be very interesting if the content is fully understood by the viewer. The unusual content of the video is what attracts most of the people.
For example;
MGMT - When You Die
Mac Demarco - My Kind Of Woman
Joji - Will He
STYLES
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Animation Animated music videos have an animated film, or cartoons, with the soundtrack playing in the background. These videos usually don’t have anything real to show to the viewer, even though the song is produced by the original artist. The animations in the videos are designed by using different softwares and these music videos are usually cheap as they are entirely digital.
Impressionist An impressionist music video can be used to show a particular theme to the audience. It includes random and peculiar shots and images to express the theme of the video. Abstract features are mostly used in an impressionist music video.
Thirty Seconds To Mars - The Kill
Allusion It is similar to intertextuality to some extent. An allusion music video gives reference of another thing sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. It depends on how the audience see the video, and how they make a connection between the video and other similar things they have seen before. For example, 'The Kill' by Thirty Seconds To Mars , which references and alludes to the settings and characters from 'The Shining'.
Eminem - Without Me
Intertextuality References used from some other media product, some mythology, history, or any other existing thing is taken and shown in this type of music video.
Sia - Chandelier
Interpretive Interpretive music videos can be interpreted by the audience in many ways. Each person can see this video in a different way and understand a different meaning according to their mentality.
Cold Play - Up & Up
Surrealist Similar to impressionist music videos, surrealist music videos are very abstract and may not have a relation with the music itself. A surreal music video contains artificial, unreal or supersticious elements in it. A surrealist music video gives a very dream-like effect to the audience.
HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS
1926–1959: Talkies, soundies, and shorts In 1926, with the arrival of "talkies" many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts (produced by Warner Bros.) featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs. Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia, which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music. The Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theaters. The oldest example of a promotional music video with similarities to more abstract, modern videos seems to be the Czech "Dáme si do bytu" ("Let's get to the apartment") created in 1958 and directed by Ladislav Rychman.
1960–1973: Promotional clips and others In the late 1950s the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, and the Belgian Jacques Brel to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries, and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented. In 1961, for the Canadian show Singalong Jubilee, Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-synching, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and the location shoot "videos" were to add variety. In 1964, Kenneth Anger's experimental short film, Scorpio Rising used popular songs instead of dialog. In 1964, The Moody Blues producer, Alex Murray, wanted to promote his version of "Go Now". The short film clip he produced and directed to promote the single has a striking visual style that predates Queen's similar "Bohemian Rhapsody" video by a full decade. It also predates what the Beatles did with promotional films of their singles "Rain" and "Paperback Writer", both released in 1966. In the same year, the Beatles starred in their first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester. Shot in black-and-white and presented as a mock documentary, it interspersed comedic and dialogue sequences with musical tones. The musical sequences furnished basic templates on which countless subsequent music videos were modeled. It was the direct model for the successful US TV series The Monkees (1966–1968), which similarly consisted of film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs. The Beatles' second feature, Help! (1965), was a much more lavish affair, filmed in colour in London and on international locations.
In 1965, the Beatles began making promotional clips (then known as "filmed inserts") for distribution and broadcast in other countries—primarily the USA—so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances. Their first batch of promo videos recorded in late 1965 (including their then-current single, "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out"), were fairly straightforward mimed-in-studio performance pieces (albeit sometimes in silly sets) and meant to blend in fairly seamlessly with television shows like Top of the Pops and Hullabaloo.
1974–1980: Beginnings of music television The Australian TV shows Countdown and Sounds, both of which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of music video clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts. In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show which screened on Sydney's ATN-7 on Saturday mornings; this was renamed Sounds Unlimited in 1975 and later shortened simply to Sounds. In need of material for the show, Webb approached Seven newsroom staffer Russell Mulcahy and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips (e.g. Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin"). Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a full-time director, and he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus, Marcia Hines, Hush and AC/DC. As it gained popularity, Countdown talent coordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum and producer Michael Shrimpton quickly realized that "film clips" were becoming an important new commodity in music marketing. Despite the show's minuscule budget, Countdown's original director Paul Drane was able to create several memorable music videos especially for the show, including the classic film-clips for the AC/DC hits "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" and "Jailbreak".
In 1980, the music video to David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" became the most expensive ever made, having a production cost of $582,000 ($1,671,487 in 2016), the first music video to have a production cost of over $500,000. The video was made in solarised color with stark black-and-white scenes and was filmed in multiple locations, including a padded room and a rocky shore. The video became one of the most iconic ever made at the time, and its complex nature is seen as significant in the evolution of the music video. Probably the most significant music video of this era was Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which debuted in 1975. When “Bohemian Rhapsody” rocketed to the top of the charts in Britain, the band were on tour and couldn’t perform on the British music show, Top of the Pops. They recorded this, for the time, special-effects-packed video to play in their absence. On the video’s 40th anniversary, Rolling Stone noted “Its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air.”
1981-1991: The Start of MTV and mainstream music videos The music video giant,MTV, launched on 1 August 1981 with The Buggles’ video, which had first aired two years previously on Top of the Pops in lieu of a live performance. The message of The Buggles’ hit — that advances in technology could pre-empt a cultural shift — proved prescient when the pop artists who created the most talked-about videos (Madonna, Michael Jackson) began to dominate the musical landscape. This climate of publicity in exchange for great visuals was established by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in 1983.
Thriller acts as the origin story for what we recognize as music videos for major artists today: high production values (by the standards of the time), Hollywood directors and a clear narrative. It was also ludicrously expensive to make in comparison to the other videos of the time — it cost over $500,000 to make at a time when most videos cost in the tens of thousands to produce. The full 13-minute video debuted on MTV as part of an exclusive deal MTV struck with MJ’s team and was played 3-5 times a day, something which increased MTV’s audience tenfold. In 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. Despite this coming over 20 years after the video’s initial release, it marked the first time a music video had received this honor.
1992–2004: Rise of the directors In November 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Two of the videos directed by one such director, Romanek, in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which allegedly cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost a reported $5 million. From this, "Scream" is the most expensive video to date. In the mid to late 1990s, Walter Stern directed "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.During this period, MTV launched channels around the world to show music videos produced in each local market.
2005- Present: The Internet takes over Because of platforms such as youtube and other streaming sites being introduced, music videos rapidly regained their popularity. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go may exemplify this trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online (OK Go repeated the trick with another high-concept video in 2010, for their song "This Too Shall Pass"). The 2008 video for Weezer's "Pork and Beans" also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels.This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself. Vevo is a music video website launched by several major music publishers in December 2009. The videos on VEVO are syndicated to YouTube, with Google and VEVO sharing the advertising revenue. Most major record label produced bands have their own vevo and use it as the main source of music video propagation. Youtube also spawned a new type of music video known as lyric videos, which was aimed to display the lyrics of the song for the viewer to understand while listening to the music. It also started a trend of independant film makers making lo-fi hip hop music videos.
music video theories
Music Video Theorists
Andrew Goodwin
Sven E Carlson
Carol Vernalis
andrew goodwin
He was of the belief that every audience looked for 5 key aspects in a Music videos
Thought beat
Narrative and performance
Star image
Relations of visuals to the song
Technical aspects of the music Video
Thought Beat Andrew Goodwin explores the concept of 'seeing sound' - Thought Beats, the idea that music videos and the narrative, including the beat and rhythm, are correlated through the use of specifically timed and spaced cuts, frequent shot taking and other filming techniques. For our music we’ll have to explore the structure of verses, the chorus, look at the speed of the beats throughout the song and consider how we’d highlight the difference throughout our video. Finally we’d have to look at the voice of specific artist, as all are extremely unique and establish an image and a trademark or a specific form of identification.
Narrative & Performance Goodwin also suggests that humans also need visual aid to completely understand a story and so, songs alone fail to paint the full picture of the story being told.We only tend to get a gist of the meaning of the song and then tend to make up our own idea of what is being told. Narrative and performance work hand in hand it makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without loosing interest.The artist acting as both narrator & participant helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. The whole thing should be made to look as real as possible.
Star Image Goodwin suggest that the star image of an artist plays a very vital role in a music video. They help in making the music video look more appealing to the audiences and bringing a sense of individuality to the video by the way the artist is portrayed. An artist defines himself, the costume, moves and appearance all work coherently to form the star image of an artist. This help to promote the artist/star’s image in public and also helps to promote the video and build a fanbase.
Relations of visuals to the song There are three ways in which music videos work to promote a song; 1.Illustration: Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics & genre, this is the most common 2.Amplify: This is similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision 3.Disjuncture: This is when the main theme of the song is completely ignored
Technical Aspects Technical aspects hold the music video together through use of camera work, movement, angle, mise- en -scene editing, sound and special effects. Speed, camera movement, editing , cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colour help set moods and emphasise key moments of the song for dramatic effect Mise-en-scene, the setting of music videos is vital, it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism . Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat or rhythm making the video more entertaining.
Sven E Carlsson
He believes that there are two categories that music videos are able to fall into; Performance Where the audience is able to visually see the performers singing , dancing or playing their instruments throughout the video.
Conceptual Conceptual videos are when the audience watch something other than the artist throughout the video, usually a visual representation of some sort of idea pertaining to the song
Carlsson believes the performer is often made into a materialization ‘commercial exhibitionist’ this is where the performer is made into almost a selling item; someone that fans often aspire to be and these scenes will be extremely high in quality and have a gloss to them. Another type is the televised bard, which is a singing storyteller who uses on screen images instead of inner, personal images.The third and final type is the electronic shaman, sometimes the shaman is invisible and only his/her voice that anchor the visuals
Carol Vernallis
Carol Vernallis is known for her theory about music videos. Carol Vernallis theory is based around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is made. These main concepts are: • Narrative • Editing • Camera Movement • Diegesis
Narrative Whatever is happening on the screen reflects the choice of lyrics that the artist is singing. The narrative may not always be completed and be partial with the video appearing disjointed, disconnected and appear in fragments. If the music video though is left uncompleted it can leave to many questions about the narrative that won’t always be answered throughout the video. Finally, the video may have a theme or narrative, it is probably displayed in a montage style, rather than in a clear focus. Editing A convention of music editing is that the video may break conventions of continuity editing. The editing may also becomes visible to the invisible style of continuity editing. In other words, the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinction to that the video. For example the audience may see: • Jump cuts • Breaking the 4th wall • Cutting with the lyrics • Extreme changes in pace • Slow motion Camera Movement Establishing shots are definitely one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently in a music video as well as close up shots. The style of framing of the video again is quite distinctive to the video and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics. Extreme shots are known as master shots and they are quite commonly used. Diegesis More commonly known as the plot. Diegesis is the world of music videos, it is a narrative of the music video. The diegesis will usually be revealed quite slowly. The actions in the video and some frames will appear more important than others due to the way they have been shot.
STAR IMAGE
A star's image becomes a readily recognised sign that is used in many different media forms. Stars can use the fact that their image has meaning by allowing it to be used for advertising purposes. One such example could be;
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he was one of the most popular entertainers in the world, and was the best-selling music artist during the year of his death. Jackson's contributions to music, dance, and fashion along with his publicized personal life made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.
The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. His music videos, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of over 66 million copies worldwide. Jackson's other albums, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling albums. He is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, and was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Dance Hall of Fame as the only dancer from pop and rock music. His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records including the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time
Stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people", experiencing real emotions etc. It helps if their image contains a unique selling point, they can be copied or parodied because of it. For example, michael jacksons fancy clothing, hairstyle , white gloves and his signature moonwalk differentiate him from other performers and add to his 'Star Image'.
Jackson at the White House being presented with an award by President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, 1984
Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, set in 1984
One of many identical statues, based on Diana Walczak's original HIStory statue, positioned throughout Europe to promote HIStory
Jackson has been called the King of Music Videos. Steve Huey of AllMusic observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances, simultaneously breaking down racial barriers. Before Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American. Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition. The media has commonly referred to Jackson as the "King of Pop" because, throughout his career, he transformed the art of music videos and paved the way for modern pop music. For much of Jackson's career, he had an unparalleled worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian works. His music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster and steered its focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence numerous artists of various music genres. He is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by Guinness World Records.
The music video for 'Black or White' was critically acclaimed for spreading a positive message of anti-racism and acceptance as well as representation for many different cultures.
Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as member of the Jacksons and in 1984 as solo artist. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other halls of fame, including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as a Jackson 5 member) in 1999 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. In 2014, Jackson was inducted into the second class of inductees to the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame; his father Joe Jackson accepted on his behalf.
inter-textuality
Intertextuality is the term we use to describe the ways that texts and their meanings are shaped by other texts. Intertextuality is when a media texts refer to each other by title, scene, character, or storyline. The interpretation of these references is influenced by the audiences’ prior knowledge of other texts. Intertexuality is important to writers, directors and audience. 'The Simpsons' is an animated show which is widely known for its frequent and barely subtle references to pop culture.
intertextuality in music videos
Blur - The Universal The music video for Blur's 'The Universal' is clearly inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'. The whole video contains references to the classic, even the setting it's placed it resembles the korova milk bar from the movie. So the music video is essentially a reimagination of the movie. Damon Albarn's eye makeup is also a clear nod to the main character of A Clockwork Orange , Alex. The whole band is also dressed in white, same as the 'Droogs' from the movie. Essentially, a link between the two media is established through the use of clothing, similar design elements, the acting of the lead singer and even the classic-esque nature of the song itself, referencing the main characters fondness towards Beethoven and other classical music.
My Chemical Romance - The Ghost of you Another reference to a classic movie, 'Saving Private Ryan', 'The Ghost Of You' is clearly inspired by Steven Spielberg's classic hit. Themes of war , loss and grief are laced throughout the entire video, from the ballroom scenes to the war on the shore-side scenes, it is clear what the director of the video, Marc Webb, had in mind. The outfits of the band members and the intense war scenes in the music video are comparable to the intensity of the movie itself. All of these themes and references work in conjunction to effectively convey the idea that the music video is a rendition of Saving Private Ryan.
Thirty Seconds To Mars - The Kill In the music video for 'The Kill' It is obvious what is being referenced but it is done more subtly as opposed to the previous 2 videos mentioned. The long hallways, the characters and mise-en-scene all make it apparent that the video is inspired by, if not based on, Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'. The same style of editing is used as with the movie, that is: fast cuts and sudden timeskips. Overall due to the mise-en-scene, allusions to the movie characters and editing techniques, The Kill successfully (and subtly) references to The Shining and creates meaning.
VOYEURISM
GENRES OF MUSIC VIDEOS
Music genre is a category or type belonging to a shared tradition or a set of conventions. Music is divided in different genre like pop, rock , hip hop etc. Though there are a variety of genres but this classification is often subjective and sometimes genres overlap each other. Music genre is very important and it could be very well noticed that the genre is the first label placed on the band. Most importantly it is used to target a specific audience and most of all it would be easy for both the maker and the viewer to easily categorize their work. Though not every band is able to stick neatly into the little space of its genre there are some music videos that follow up the pattern of disjuncture as stated by Andrew Goodwin which means that the song intentionally ignores the content of the song and the genre of the music. Like for example: Can't stop by Red Hot Chilli Pepper. However with passage of time new genres have arised by the development of new forms and styles of music and also simply by creating a new category. Although it is possible to create a musical style with no relation to existing genres yet the new styles appear under the influence of preexisting genres. The blend of more then two genres in music is often known as Fusion. Though it is influenced by other music genres fusion somehow has become a genre in itself. Instrumental fusion based on the experimental mix of rock and roll , country pop.
Music is usually referred to as an art form so it is almost impossible to encapsulate so many different artistic impressions and paint them under the same roof. Because of this, new genres and sub-genres are emerging everyday and it's getting harder and harder to categorize them as time passes. That being said there are a few definitive and popular genres that capture a very broad spectrum. -Rock/Metal -Pop -Indie -Hip Hop/RnB -Dance -Classic
FInalizing the music genre
After much decision and keeping in mind the type of music videos that go along with any particular genre, my team and I agreed that for our final music video project, our band will be of the Alt-Rock genre.
Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a style of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. In this instance, the word "alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream rock music. At times, "alternative" has been used as a catch-all description for music from underground rock artists that receives mainstream recognition, or for any music, whether rock or not, that is seen to be descended from punk rock (including some examples of punk itself, as well as new wave, and post-punk).
The name "alternative rock" essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture, although this could be contested ever since some of the major alternative artists have achieved mainstream success or co-opted with the major labels from the 1990s onwards (especially since the new millennium and beyond).
We chose Alternative-Rock because it usually takes on more controversial topics and concepts which are relatively unsung about in the mainstream. Complemented by its heavy sound, Alt-Rock would be the perfect genre to tell an intense story. The whole vibe of the music and how it is perceived is very pivotal to the impact caused by the video and its concept. Already having experience shooting narratives based around unusual topics due to various film making competitions me and my team participated in, we were convinced that our talents would be most exercised in a setting like this. So , it was clear what genre we wanted to make our video on.
codes and conventions of alt-rock music videos
Pearl Jam - Jeremy
Incubus - Drive
Audioslave - Like A Stone
The artists usually wear casual clothing , though it is usually a darker color palette with lots of blues, blacks and browns.
The video usually shows a narrative as overlayed with performance shots of the band.
The themes depicted are usually much darker as compared to genres like pop or dance. These include drugs, violence , mental illness and domestic issues etc.
The focus is usually on the song and the performance with the narrative acting as an explanation and gives meaning to the song lyrics.
Usually very drastic lighting creating a very deep contrast between the darks and the lights.
Editing styles shift along with the pace of the music, with the more intense parts having faster cuts and many effects overlayed on top
The whole vibe is very 'edgy' and dark. This feeling is also conveyed in the location of the shots, usually being shot in dark or run down or abandoned areas.
taking a survey
audience profiling and identification
Primary audience is the "main body" of viewers -- the average, also known as target audience. Secondary audience is viewers who fall outside the primary demographic, but may exert an external influence on primary audiences. The primary target of a music video would be the people who are most directly involved with it. For example, for our music video, it would be certain people interested in music and music videos, most likely males and the age group of around (16-25). Whereas, the secondary audience would most likely attract viewers due to a relationship with the target audience or the subject covered in the music video. Examples would include; people looking for inspiration or evaluation of the music video, peers doing the similar task, it might also include friends and family of a viewer.
Demographic information is used in media marketing to classify an audience into age, gender, race and other categories.Demographics are broken into bands depending on peoples jobs or status.This typically involves age bands, social class, and gender. In the film and media industry, producers shape their media text or product around the demographics of a potential audience, suiting their needs and attempting to attract the most number of viewings/ ratings as possible.
The demographic segment for my particular genre - Alternative Rock - it attracts both male and female audiences(even though dominantly male), especially teenagers. -a proper age bracket would be from 16-25 -It falls into the middle class social division as the themes explored are usually the type which affect middle class families. Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics. It is based on the assumption that the types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that persons characteristics and patterns of living. Psychographics can also be seen as an equivalent of the concept of "culture" when it is used for segmentation on a national level.