The Purpose of Music Videos
We've all most likely seen a music video in our lifetime, weather it is on TV or on YouTube we've come across them. Most people just see music videos as another exponential way to listen to their favourite music especially with the internet now sitting as the figure head of all calculus media. Although this is the case, many people just generally enjoy watching certain music videos for their alluring visuals and plus, they are most likely going to see their favourite artists on screen, unless the music video is fully narrative with no need for a visual performance of the band.
This also works vice versa, music videos have a certain beguile to them, captivating and enticing people. For example; and this has happened to me many times, you could be watching a specific music channel and a new music video could play forth on your screen and you’ll be depicted to change channel because of how grasping the video is, even if you do not like the music/artist you will still be incapacitated by the visual elements of the video.
To me, as well as being a form of entertainment, I see music videos to be an eminent use of seductive propaganda. Now when I say propaganda, I do not mean the kind that was used by Joseph Goebbels in WWII, I simply mean suggestive advertising. These advertisements range from one of your favourite artists wearing a certain piece of clothing that you may or may not like. It could even be the music itself, as I was saying earlier, if you have a music video and your music is suitable for a specific music channel then that means that you can most probably rack up a few, if not many fans. That is why now; when a new artist arises they release a music video to gain more recognition by marketing themselves in the correct way. Another way artists draw in an audience is by appearing attractive, just to draw in people that don’t even care for the sound. For example, take Niki Minajis new music video “anaconda”, it has 331 million views and in my opinion the “music” if I can call it that, is abysmal. The only reason the video has gained so many views is because of its celestial content. The inevitable truth is that, sex does sell. Although prancing around half naked shaking your ass may not grant you a whole lot of respect, it does rack you up a whole lot of hits on YouTube and once it’s viral everyone will be sharing/talking about that one specific music video.
Music videos can also be used to place forth messages that prolapse with modern/past affairs. This is also another form of marketing because as long as whatever is being talked about around the world, in the news or on social media ties in with what the artist is trying to portray in the video it will automatically get conversed with all the scrutiny the other topic is getting.
Joe Hahn is known for his role in Linkin park as the DJ (turntablist) but he is also known for his directing as well. Linking both of these key skills together, he has collaborated both his band and directing skills together. Joe has directed many music videos for LinkinPark, all of them becoming instant successors scoring millions and millions of hits on YouTube.
Linkin Park: The Catalyst - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51iquRYKPbs
In this music video Joe uses a different range of visual techniques to encapsulate his audience. The video would be bracketed as a per formative piece because of the videos main focus is the band playing and also acting. Although this is the case there are also narrative segments implicated into the video as well. The narrative is very ambiguous and I would see these segments as more of an archetypal extra that adds to the effect of the music video. The theme of these segments are based around revolution, we see masses of people fighting and we also see these figures wearing gasmasks. To me it is metaphoric and correlates with what is going on in the world right now. The people fighting are to perceived as me and you, working class “ordinary” people and the gas masked figures are to be perceived as the world elite.
The theme of the video are ambiguous but they work well with one another, also the visual use of smoke throughout the whole of the video works even better. Smoke can be viewed in many different ways and I think what Joe Hahn was trying to do was to let us, the audience inherit the video in our own way. Smoke can be tied in with the idea that revolutions can latterly consist of physical revolt and this ties in with war, war ties in with weaponry, weaponry ties in with explosions and explosions tie in with smoke. The visual implication of the smoke gestures many things but it also looks great for a per formative piece, it allows the band a figurative source of freedom because there is no green screen or specific mark that they have to be anchored by. This also brings up the movement of the cameras, during the course of the video only some shots move slightly and when they do move its at an incredibly slow speed. I think Joe Hahn did this to encapsulate the movement that’s being captured in his shot, not by his shot. The fact that there is so much movement going in the shot and that the cameras are moving so slowly works really well in my opinion and it has an alluring effect.
Slipknot: The Negative One - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgA7KIwKlOE
In this music video Shawn sets the scene by introducing us in an eerie manor, the first thing we see is a light in a dark room rapped in rags. This then transitions into a montage of shots that anticipate the full image of two silhouetted girls. There is no footage of the band playing, it strictly persists of visuals of the girls prancing around in a possessed manor and there also many prolific images of ritualistic objects; such as a goat head, so on and so forth. This is why I would class the video as a post narrative video, and I say post because there is no definitive story, it is more an artistic visualisation, similar to Joe Hahn’s ‘The Catalyst’. Although the style is similar the topics/theme is completely different. In the ‘The Negative one’ the theme is very dark and vague impersonating a ceremony/ritual. The ritual looks mostly pagan but there are satanic implements that could hinder a second thought. This allows Shawn to get really artistic, visually and creatively. Furthermore, I think Shawn’s aim is to portray the girls in a carnal way, showing them in such of a way that they are animals and that we as humans are equal to the other beings that stroll this earth, this is why the goats head is used throughout and why the transitions always switch between the girls and something that is carnivorous. Moreover, the girls (when dressed) are wearing linen that is drenched in water to formulate an alluring sex appeal. As I have mentioned before sex does sell but I think that Shawn is not trying to portray this in that way. Linking to the carnal purpose of the video, sex is a big part of life and we, as animals should embrace our instincts.
The shots used range from a different variation of techniques and the cuts are extremely fast, syncing with the beats of the music. Most shots are still but some are tracked, the camera moves slowly, zooming in at the same time setting an engaging feel for the music video.
Emmet Malloy & Brendon Malloy aka ‘The Malloy’s’
Metalica: The Unnamed Feeling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTU6NLovI_Q&list=LLps_3UZPobyhpoGTyZY78dA&index=5
In this music video the Malloy’s portray many different topics that clash with modern issues in the world right now. The issue they are showing in the video is mental illness, we gather this from the first scenes when words flash up on the screen, such as; psycho, stress, I’m scared, depression, anxiety etc. This sets the theme of the music video and we instantly know what to expect without too much being shown on screen.
I would class this music as a performative/narrative music video. The reason I class is it as both is because although we see the band playing we also see different clips of people in different situations dealing with different mental illnesses. The different clips/people correlate with every one of the different illnesses that are mentioned at the start. During the live performance we see a mixture of many different shots used. There are at least two angles of each band member whilst we see them performing. This works well because it gives us as viewers an in depth view of the band performing. One of the things I like most about the video is how every scene transitions. The Malloy’s implemented a recurring transition that works perfectly. The words that flash up in sync with the music make the whole video flow well and the affects used on the text conforms well to the rest of the footage.
