Key music video features

There are 3 key features that are found in most music videos:

• Illustration - This is when videos use images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics or the genre.

             

• Amplification - This is when images are constantly shown throughout the video and are drummed into our vision. 

             

• Disjuncture - This is when the meaning of the song is not reflected by the music video.

             

In some music videos we only get the gist of the meaning of the song and tend to make up our own idea of what is being told.

Goodwin says that music videos should ignore common narrative as it is important in their role of advertising.

Music videos should have coherent repeat ability.  Narrative and performance should work together as it makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without losing interest.

The artist who is both the narrator and the participant helps to increase the authenticity, but the lip sync and other actions will still be the heart of the music video.  The audience need to believe this is real.

Music videos are always made to be memorable too.  The more memorable and weird the video is, then more people are likely to watch it.  Examples of this are Ok Go's 'Here it goes again' and Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way'. 

The Ok Go video was able to get 1 million views on Youtube after just six days of it being posted.  This is because it is extremely different to other music videos, as not many people are on treadmills throughout their video.

                             

An example of of a well known song and music video is Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

It is really important in the music industry because it had an impact in sales as after the video was released the song went to number 1.  It is also regarded as a Work of Art in its own right.
I agree that this video is an art form as ti was very well edited for its time, plus the mise en scene and lighting was very creative.

                           




The 1975

Illustration:

The 1975's video for 'Robbers' is an excellent example of illustration.  It uses the same themes that the song portrays such as drugs and love.  Through the video we see the lead member (Matty Healy) of the band taking drugs and also has a girl with him throughout.  This follows the story that is being told in the lyrics.


           


Disjuncture:

The 1975 also have a music video that shows disjuncture, 'Settle Down'.  In the video we see  Healy walking around the streets in which he grew up, as well as a story line involving two younger boys.  This has nothing to do with the actual lyrics of the song.  It was later found that the video was showing a dream he had had when he was younger and he thought that 'Settle Down' was excellent to show it.