RM - Introduction to Music Video and their Common Conventions

In the first lesson of our A2 Media course we saw a range of music videos from different genres including Buggle's song "Video Killed the Radio Star", released in 1979, which was the first music video shown on MTV. Another music video we saw "Thriller, released in 1983, by Michael Jackson. This video is effectively a short film. We also viewed some Albanian music videos as well as some videos produced by last year's year group.

Here is Buggles's music Video for "Video Killed the Radio Star."



and here is the music video for "Thriller" by Michael Jackson



As well as this we learnt some of the most common conventions used by artists in music videos, these include:

• Music videos are performance based, narrative based or a mixture of the two. A performance music video is where the artist is focused on the artists playing their instruments. Narrative based music videos contain a storyline. This story line can be linked into the lyrics of the song.
• For a metal band the videos are short takes. These videos also contain performance and narrative elements.
• Lip-syncing is also a key concept for music videos. This is where the artist mimics the lyrics instead of actually singing them. However not all artists do this.
• The front man/women tend to be the main focus of the band, who stares into the camera to connect with the audience.

As well as this we were put into groups and had to decide which we both thought was the best music video and what we thought was the worst music video. For the best music video we decided it was "On Melancholy Hill" by the Gorrilaz because it followed on from their previous single "Stylo".

For the worst music video we chose "Friday" by Rebecca Black.