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Thursday, October 3, 2024

Preliminary Research

Here is my preliminary research on different types of music videos. At the start of the project I want to research on variety of music video genres and getting to know in depth about music videos in general, here are my thoughts on a few. This post is written by me (Chelsea). 


To get a head start before class, I decided to conduct a music video research in general. Even though I am already familiar with music videos and have seen a lot of them, especially recently during this age, I was still curious about what they are, why they are so important, and what their goal is. Below is the first video I watched titled, "The Power of Music Videos". 


The 11-minute video above covered discussions on why music videos matter, and the typical music video elements which includes choreography, narrative and experimental. Below are my notes summarised from the video:
  • A music video is a way to take a song and help people visualise a way they have never done it before.
  • A music video can tell a story (narrative), performance (dance), or to turn into a moment that lives forever to be watched decades later (time capsule) & to create something iconic.
  • A good music video leaves a little bit of something up to interpretation, whereas a bad music video will simply just take the lyrics and visuals word for word; what the lyrics are saying as they are saying it (e.g. Jake Paul's music video).
  • Music videos can be experimental concept videos ("what did I just watched") which includes many metaphors or striking imagery, or just simply vibes (having a good time). 
  • Teenagers want to listen to mainstream artists because they want to be perceived as mature and cool

I also did another supporting research regarding the 3 types of music videos, which will aid me to decide what type of music video I want to execute for the final project. All the information I gathered is summarised bellow: 

1.) Performance
  • Focuses on the artist or the band's performance (such as acting, dancing, lip-syncing, playing musical instruments, etc) in the music video (this can be on a stage, in a studio or a creative setting) with their song playing in the background, this lets audience focus solely on the performance and highlight the artist or band's presence
  • Normally don't convey any message or depict any ideas, but they do typically feature performing arts like dancing, clubbing, or partying, which emphasise the band's or artist's performance over the story behind the song. 
  • Example music video: Harry Styles - As It Was (2022) 

Despite its symbolic visuals, nearly all of it shows the artist (Harry Styles) running, dancing and emotionally reacting towards the camera. This emotional performance is linked to the movement and choreography. Furthermore, there is no storyline in this music video, and instead the artist uses his body language and movements to convey the song's emotion, which explains why it is a performance based music video. 

2.) Narrative
  • They have a narrative or tells a story and leaves a message for the audience, hence it requires them to use both of their auditory and visual senses to understand the lyrics and story behind the music video and the song.
  • Includes actors or the musical artist themselves acting or singing according to the story.
  • It presents a sequence of events or a storyline with characters, conflict and resolution that reflects upon the lyrics which often makes it engaging to audience.
  • Example music video: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste 

It tells a clear and cheeky revenge story (starring the artist herself, Sabrina Carpenter) with a playful tone. There is a progression of events and not just random visuals which makes it a narrative based music video (storyline: cheating → revenge → triumph, structured from start to finish like a short film).

3.) Conceptual 
  • Based on an idea or visual concept rather than a literal story or performance, they are often artistic, symbolic or experimental
  • Usually based on the artist's vision, it can be seen as a way to expand their creative vision with the song, this what makes it attractive from its uniqueness which can sear into the audience's brain because they will get fascinated to try to understand the music video. 
  • Tend to have a niche audience since they are rare (difficult to make) and harder to be understood by audiences therefore they may need to use their vision more to actually understand the meaning behind the music video and song.
  • Contains possibility for multiple meanings as it is open for interpretation by the audience as they do not have a clear or specific timeline and usually does not relate to the lyrics.
  • Example music video: Grimes - Shinigami Eyes 

This is a conceptual music video because it focuses more on the concept with strong visual identity rather than a story. The concept revolves around futuristic, cyber-fantasy visual with no clear plot or performance which may be confusing for some audience, but this what creates the artist's identity. 

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During our first class, our teacher presented us a variety of music videos from various genres, including pop, indie, R&B, rock and Indonesian pop. We tried to used our prior knowledge to recall the conventions of each genre on our own before viewing. After viewing, We were instructed to proceed with filling in the remaining blank tables. Below is my research table: 

Here is the link in case the file is not viewable: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s8TiKQbYPsdqS438OjMShqzNk2zRD4ECDAzHke2Obsc/edit?usp=sharing

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Doing this research alone is not enough; while analysis is crucial, particularly in the representation section, it primarily consists of me expressing my thoughts about the music videos of each convention. To improve my comprehension, I need to conduct additional research that explores deeply into the conventions of various music video genres gathered from various resources. Below is the summarised conventions (from different sources) I've made on Coggle:

View link: https://coggle.it/diagram/ZvLAHH7OTta-k6S0/t/music-video-conventions/df2ba9da91774944891572e8ccfdcc3da0c962ce7a823830712b45f3149c3065

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As the preliminary research table is quite simple and straightforward, it is easier to fill in the blanks. I have the basic knowledge that music videos have many genres that differentiate with one and another, however after filling this one table that must use my prior knowledge about what I think the conventions are for each genre, it made me realise that I haven’t actually master this yet completely since I can only think of the conventions from the back of my head. After this research, I also decided to conduct an individual research about the differences between all those genres as well as the main types of music videos gathered from different resources so that I can fully comprehend and help me to choose which possible genre I will be working on for my project. One of the most challenging part of this preliminary research is the representation part because critical analysis skills are needed to decode the internal meaning and issues that are discussed in the music videos, as most of the music videos shown shows it subtly, since we’ve done this together as a class, I did not finish that part hence I continued myself at home, which was easier because I can always refer back to the music video to analyse anytime. Moreover, the music videos are chosen by the teacher, however I did not have any problems with this because I am able to enjoy every single music video (there are some music videos I recognised and some I didn’t but nevertheless I'm still very interested to watch them). If I had to choose one music video that piqued my interest less than others, it would be The Beatles music video because it is quite long, repetitive, and lacks narrative flow, whereas I've always been interested in music videos with creative visuals and a storyline, but I still respect the fact that this music video is a tribute to the band's members.

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