Group: Music video essay

“Music videos are simply a tool for promoting an artist”. With reference to two music videos, how far do you agree with this statement?

The two music videos I have chosen to compare are The Foo Fighters – The Pretender (Sam Brown, 2007) and C2C- Down the Road (Thomas Tyman, 2012). I chose these two music videos, as they are very contrasting in their style, for example The Pretender is performance video and is illustrative, whilst 'Down the Road' is represented more artistically as a narrative, with creative editing and camerawork used throughout.

• Goodwin’s theory compares relationships between music, lyrics and visuals as well as looking at the genre characteristics. For the Foo Fighters music video has very conventional characteristics for the rock genre. The location is an abandoned air craft hanger, leaving a big environment, but the focus is on the band and their instruments. The camera switches between CUs of the artist and LSs of the band, and is the purpose is a video supporting the idea of rebellion. The lyrics do have a relationship with the visuals, as the cutting rate slows when the music quietens then increases when the music becomes more intense. In comparison, C2C is of an indie genre, and their video supports a more disjunctive approach, by matching the music well with the visuals, but does not involve many lyrics, so does not focus the visuals around them. Its use of editing makes it artistic, through the use of post-production it changes the set used and edits the colour that is used, compared to Foo Fighters who keep a more basic colour scheme.

• Barthes use of semiotics explores the meaning behind the music video, decoding signs, which act as signifiers throughout. In Foo fighters for example, the red water used at the end may connote blood that is shed when fighting for a belief and rebelling against a greater power, but the fact that it over comes the antagonists in the music video suggests that nothing is undefeatable, no matter how well prepared they are, the lyrics to the song also back up this belief. In C2C’s video also can be seen as a promotional video for skateboarding, by focusing the video around a famous skateboarder, and highlighting the trick performed, so will target and younger demographic who will enjoy the visual art of the video.

• Barthes, mythology (1957), states that narratives are decoded by the audience, through the use of narrative codes. The music video is the visualisation for the sound, so it is way of using synaesthesia of the director and portrays the song visually. Foo Fighters’ lead singer Dave Grohl has a very recognisable voice in his songs, which is seen as his fingerprint, and encourages the idea of ‘grain of voice’. They also feature a first person mode of address which is conventional in a mainstream music video, as the audience enjoy engaging with that artist during the performance. This is contrasted in C2C’s video where we on-look as the narrative progresses, which makes it more artistic, as the audience enjoy the editing used rather than the artist’s performance. It also uses narrative fuzz, as it is not clear to the audience what happens in the video, so causes them to re-watch the video, to try and decode and understand the narrative.

• Dyer’s theory is about the role of stars in music videos, and how they are constructed and merely commodities used, through the use of paradoxes. The first states that the star must be ordinary and extraordinary simultaneously. In Foo fighters, the ordinary is achieved through para-social intimacy and the costume they wear; it allows the audience to feel like them and feel like they can be them or be with them. They are perceived as extraordinary through the use of location, as not many people will ever have the opportunity to be in their position, so makes them appear out of reach to an audience. C2C is represented as ordinary through the use of skateboarding which to many people is easily accessible to try, however in the video are more extraordinary due to the baron location used, and the manipulation of time from editing, which makes them appear distant to the audience, and more extraordinary to watch. The second paradox states that the star must be absent and simultaneously present. The two videos are completely contrasting, as in the Foo Fighters; the audience is positioned with the artist, in a first person mode of address, whereas the C2C video, the artist is absent, but instead is replaced with a performer even though we can hear the artist’s music.

• Women are not used in either of the video, so all attention is on the artists or performers used, which makes the audience’s attention on the narrative rather than any other visuals used as aesthetics to please the male gaze. The Foo Fighters video conforms to many values, in that it carries a message to stand up in what is right, which challenges beliefs in society, which is to conform, but is very conventional for a music video. The C2C’s video is a challenging art form, which due to the manipulation of time is very abstract and disjunctive, but is not challenging values or beliefs, but yet trying to show a way for a director to represent the music as a form of art, which overall would help promote the artist.

• In conclusion I believe that music videos are a way of delivering a message to an audience, and can also be seen as a piece of art proven by the two music videos used, however ultimately I do believe that music videos are just a way of promoting an artist, as an interesting and creative music videos can attract an audience just for the video, with the music only there to anchor the visuals, which is consequently easy for artists to promote their music and become well known.