Music
videos and what they contain are based on the typicality of the genre of music.
For example, Pop videos will contain choreographed singing and dancing, to
reflect the upbeat tone of the song, whereas, a Metal video would typically
show the band performing, as Metal is seen as about the music itself, and the
meaning behind it. Also, Goodwin’s theory depicts the idea that the content of
the video is usually reflective of the lyrics, or deeper meaning(s) of the song
itself. This is done via contrast, and direct links, for example, Korn’s ‘Spike
in my Veins’ is about the media, and its stereotypical reflections, and to add
to this, the video for the song contains screenshots of controversial news
stories, which makes the video appear to be a protest video.
As
well as the lyrics, the overall tone of the song is paralleled with the overall
look of the video. For example, if a song is very upbeat, such as a pop song,
the video will incorporate bright lighting, with colours that have positive
connotations. On the other hand, a song with a darker meaning’s video might
have dark lighting, and a more serious theme throughout the video. An example of this is the Netsky remix of
‘Everyday’ by Rusko. The songs positive tone is reflected by the ‘rave’ shown
in the video, where everyone is happy, and dancing, which has positive
connotations. A contrasting example of this is ‘Mein Herz Brennt’ by German ‘Neue
Deutsche’ band, Rammstein, the overall dark outlook of the video is reflected
by the dark lighting, and the serious expression shown by the characters in the
video.
In
addition to this, there is a need, by the record label, to have lots of close
ups of the band/ artist as a form of marketing. This is because artists become
very marketable, and having them appear dominantly in a video instantly makes
the artist and therefore, the video more recognisable to viewers. This could
lead to further sales of albums/ singles, which will result in a boost in
revenue for record labels. An example of this is Justin Bieber who is very
marketable and is therefore, shown through lots of close ups. However, a
contrast to this is Sia, who is never shown via her face fully in a video, but
this is her own, successful, marketing technique.
Through
most videos, the ‘Male Gaze’ stereotype is acted upon. Because of this, it is
very popular to sexualise women in music videos, across all genres. Where it is
stereotypical of genres such as Rap, or Pop music to sexualise women, it happens
in all genres, even unexpected ones, such as metal, as seen in the original
video for ‘Engel’ by Rammstein. In the video for ‘Engel’, the female is presented
as mystical, yet sexual, as presented by her blue contact lenses, pet snake,
and bikini outfit.
Some
videos include intertextual references within them, to other forms of media,
such as films, or games. This is mainly done through promotional material. One
main example of this is Aerosmith’s ‘Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing’. This song was
capitalised upon by the creators of the film ‘Armageddon’, as, being the films ‘theme
song’, the video for the song included clips from the film, and the narrative
of the video, was parallel to that of the film, and integrated well. Another
example of this is Linkin Park – ‘What I’ve Done’. The video for this song
includes clips from Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’, which the song appears in,
and is used as a form of promotional material for the film.
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