Music Videos

This music video, 'Could This Be' by Noisia is very effective. The animated video shows an aeroplane travelling throughout the song, being synchronous with specific beats. For instance, this is seen at the start of the music video, when a heavy beat drops and the plane is seen to crash through, what I would interpret to be glass. As the plane is travelling it is witnessed to be falling apart before another plane is postioned, changing the scene from sky to land. Again, the plane is seen to crash synchronous with heavy beats leading up to the mass explosion at the end of the song. Another reason why I feel this video is successful is due to the age of technology. With this video being released a year ago, this means that the video-game representation is a frequent site to the band's target audience. However, the downside to this, I feel is the missing site of the band itself, loosing connections with the audience.
 At the very start of the music video, 'Better Energy' by Moones, there is diegetic sound as a man is seen clambering amongst objects in the ocean. This soon changes, when the starting beat of the song drops, leading to a change in location. At this point emphasise is placed on the image of the band, sebcluding them to a single island. From this point on, a combination is seen between animation and reality, captivating the audience with unrealistic scenarios. However, I feel this keeps the audience interested due to the extraordinary realm of occurrences. At the end of the video, following Todorov's theory, equilibrium is again reached by showing forms of death, like that at the start of the music video.
 Subtitles begin by presenting 'Easy Way Out' by the artist Gotye. Again, like the music videos above, this appears to be highly animated, even including the artist as an animated character. This music video I feel is very effective in creating connections with the audience due to focusing around a daily routine, something which everyone can easily relate to. Towards the end of the music video, death becomes the central theme therefore, interlinking with the aesthetics of the song, death being the 'Easy Way Out'

What is a music video?

'Music video is not primarily a commodity form but a promotional one' - Goodwin 1992 '

A short, moving image product, shot for the express purpose of accomponying a pre-existing music track, usually in order to encourage sales of the music in other formats - Fraser 2005

'They now provide pictures for songs in our heads. Goodbye imagination...all kids have to do is watch and listen, stare straight ahead. No need to think, to embelish, to create, to imagine. The electric fix is in' - Saltzman 1984

What is a music video?

1. Part of a construction of the image of a particular band or performance (constructing stardom)
2. A creative artefact
3. Marketing for other media products such as films (eg. 'Rule The World' by Take That, promoting the film 'Stardust')
4. The main reason music channels exist 1981 - The launch of MTV. The very first music video shown was 'Video Killed The Radiostar' by The Buggles

My favourite music video

To date, my favourite music video is 'Can't Hold Us' by the artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. One of the reasons why I like this video, is due to the story it tells. Unlike most music videos, this appears to fit more to the purpose of a short film being around seven minutes long. Not only this, but the video achieves in showing a range of different ethnicities and genders in and amongst a variety of astonishing locations. Also, a significant amount of bewildering animals are shown, making me personally want to experience the sensation of which the artists are involved within. Finally, the video futher shows the faces of the artists, establishing names with faces, as well as promoting their album 'The Heist' throughout the video.