Assignments

• Music Video Purposes Assignment

1. Childish Gambino - Bonfire (promotion for the artist)

There are many different purposes and needs for music videos one of those would be promotion for the artist, this is where the artist makes a video for one of his songs that gets him or her exposure as a music artist. An example of this would be Childish Gambino - Bonfire, this song was the artist's first addition to the music industry and he wanted to make a big impression on his listeners. Donald Glover a.k.a Childish Gambino was previously a stand up comedian and actor and came across as the funny man type but he decided to take a different path to shock his audience with his music video choice. Even though he is a mainly excitable and positive character Donald Glover made a gloomy and almost scary video involving the afterlife (as seen by the noose in which Donald Glover looks up at and was previously hung from 27 seconds in to the video) and a hint of racism to make a very vague message for his fans to figure about for themselves. Also the music video itself had very peculiar camera movement such as the quick camera pan to follow Donald Glover running in the forest (1:40) and a soft fog to add more mystery to the set design. Additionally the post production made Bonfire stand out from the traditional colourful music videos, there was an extreme high contrast and increase in shadow strength for a very demonic result making the fire from the "Gambino Camp" very bright and bold and making the trees and grass very dark and dull. All of the features gave the artist of Childish Gambino and big name instantly all because of this surprising music video to kick start his career so people could then see what the future brings for Childish Gambino, he now has seven mixtapes, two EPs and three studio albums. and one of them being No.1 on the Billboards top R&B charts. 

Shot from "Bonfire" of Donald Glover look up at a cut noose.

Donald Glover: Weirdo (2012)

2. Gotye - Somebody that I used to know (promotion for the album)

Additionally music videos have other purposes for promotion such as the album that contains the song that is being played in the video in question. For example in 2011 the artist Gotye released his new album "Making Mirrors", the artist clearly had a song in mind that would be the big single for the album so he decided to make an artistic and clever music video for it to go with. This song is called "Somebody that i used to know" and the music video is very interesting, the video itself contains the artist standing behind and blank canvas and singing the song as (through stop-motion) the wall becomes and big painting and he is painted to blend perfectly with the shapes and colours of the wall. However, although this may seem as just a clever original video idea it is actually a metaphor about the history of the artist's relationship with a close friend. The video shows that the artist is hiding from the fact that he was partially to blame for his relationships ruining through to painted wall and when the featured artist Kimbra (representing his close friend) steps out of the hidden painting to confront him of his ignorance she then loses her paint showing that her dishonesty has left her and she can walk free from an almost prison like state of mind. All of this large scale metaphoric meaning and artistic style gave the artist a lot of closure and a big success to the video as a whole. The album that contains the song has a very similar artistic style and for good reason so people will buy the album and therefore giving the album promotion simultaneously. The Album has now sold over 13 millions copies and has almost 1 billion views on youtube as of 2017.

Album Cover for Making Mirrors (2011)

2:36 of the music video for Somebody that i used to know.

3. Katy Perry - Swish Swish (increase in range of media for the artist)

Thirdly there is other needs for music videos such as the increase of the range of media the artist associates with, this is when an artist gets other people from the other side of the pond in the media industry to feature in the video but not the song to show that the artist has an association with those media sectors. A great example of this would be the recent song by Katy Perry called Swish Swish, this song has a countless amount of reference and hints at other popular media sectors and for good reason. The music video itself is a nod to the NBA basketball sport season in america by having the main plot being a comedic basket ball game. However, the members of the teams are many different actors (Terry Crews & Júlíus Björnsson), celebrities (Nicki Minaj & Joey Chestnut) , sportsmen (Rob Gronkowski) and famous faces from YouTube and Twitter such as Christine Sydelko, Back Pack Kid, etc. Last but not least Katy Perry had added a popular internet "meme" known as the shooting stars meme seen in the second image below. 

Katy Perry with her team (The Tigers) who are well known for their roles in the media industry, point 1:27 of the video.

All of these references and hints are there so that for the people that already know them or even appreciate them can recognise them and therefore enjoy the video and song giving the artist exposure and popularity for doing so. The song video as of  now has only been out for a month and has over 200 million views on YouTube alone.

point 2:11 of the song where Katy Perry is referencing the popular shooting stars meme.

Point 2:25 of the song where the American football player Rob Gronkowski appears.

4. Calvin Harris - Feels (income for the record company)

Also another purpose for music videos is income for the record company, this is when the artist makes a video purely for the money for the record deal's benefit. An example of this would be Calvin Harris - Feels as not only did it feature many big artist but the song itself has 2 separate music videos. It's not the first time a song has had 2 videos for it but it is definitely is the first to have both with the huge artists that are in the original song (Katy Perry, Big Sean & Pharrell Williams). The record company clearly wanted a good payout for a video with these music industry giants so making a second video for extra revenue would be fitting for a song as ambitious as this. The first video has the individual artists in their separate scenes with completely different backgrounds and styles but all having a solid theme of a sunny 80s holiday and the artist wearing bright summer clothes as seen by the floral shirts and dress at multiple times in the song 0:21 - 0:29. The second video still has a slight 80s theme but consists of all the artist now together and playing their song for an audience which we don't see but now not wearing bright colourful clothing and infront of a large red and blue digital screen of lights. The song now has 228 million views on video 1 and 14 million views on video 2 and the song is now top ten in the UK and now Calvin Harris has earned over 48 million in 2017. 

Image of Second Music Video

Image of First Music Video

5. DJ Khaled - I'm the One (synergy)

Another type of purpose for music videos would be a synergy. a synergy is when multiple people from a similar part of the media come together to aid each other with promotion. An example of this would be DJ Khaled - I'm the One. DJ Khaled is well known for getting other music artists in his songs and on occasions he joins them in making a video for the song. In this video DJ Khaled does exactly that and he joins Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo & Lil Wayne in making one of the biggest songs of 2017. The Music video is all of these artists in a very expensive luxury mansion (reportedly owned by DJ Khaled himself) dancing and singing the words of the song together. Furthermore, the video itself has a very aesthetically pleasing style with an almost dreaming colour scheme like the grass being extremely bright green and the mansion walls being perfectly clean and symmetrical. Also the artists themselves wore their brightest clothes to match with the scenery. For example Chance the rapper wore a bright orange hoodie and Quavo wore a neon blue jacket. Additionally, this is a synergy because not only does DJ Khaled benefit from having the artists in his songs and videos but the artist's themselves can benefit through him or even any of the other artists so there is a mutual exposure gain for all of these artists making or keeping them relevant in the music business. The song now has almost 600 million hits of Spotify and the video with over 700 million views on YouTube VEVO.

All the artists in the video in a group picture

1:59 of the music video for DJ Khaled - I'm the One

6. PSY - Gangnam Style (promotion for the song)

Finally music videos themselves can simply promote the song that the video is representing. This is when an artist wants a possible successful song to have a boost though making a video that can trigger a wave of popularity to increase the revenue as a result. An example of song promotion would be the video for PSY - Gangnam Style. This video became an instant success purely through the video as the artist was not well known at all before hand so he had one intention when making this video and that was globalising a knew dance move called the Gangam Style, the same name as the song. The term Gangnam is a wealthy neighbourhood in the South Korean city of Seoul where PSY grew up and the dance move involves jumping up and down with your arms crossed like your riding a horse and then swinging one arm in the air like a cowboy. The video itself is the artist performing the dance all around South Korea in various place with random people and other dancers. Also the video has a very colourful style as all the dancers are wearing bright yellows, pinks and blues. This very simple and humble video gained a lot of love over many people all over the world. This video can almost 3 BILLION views on YouTube alone and the song went double platinum in America in 2012 and is the number one song in Korea.

1.20 of Gangnam Style where PSY is dancing with other professional female dancers.

1:08 of the video where PSY is walking away from an explosion.

Reference List 

Unknown. (). Bonfire - Childish Gambino. Available: https://imvdb.com/blog/2014/01/music-video-relapse-bonfire-2011-by-childish-gambino. Last accessed 28th of September.

Unknown. (). Donald Glover. Available: http://www.complex.com/music/2017/06/its-time-for-donald-glover-to-retire-childish-gambino. Last accessed 28th of September.

Unknown. (). Somebody that I used to know. Available: http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858874763/. Last accessed 1st October.

Unknown. (). Katy Perry - Celebrity Cameos. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/katy-perry-swish-swish-video-celebrity-cameos_uk_599ea64be4b0821444c0fb7d. Last accessed 3rd of October.

Unknown. (). $48.5 Million for Calvin Harris. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2017/08/09/calvin-harris-earnings-48-5-million-in-2017/#5d59663a7312. Last accessed 3rd of October.

Unknown. (). I'm the One - DJ Khaled. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_the_One_(DJ_Khaled_song)#Music_video. Last accessed 6th of October.

UNknown. (). Gangnam Style. Available: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/gangnam-style-korean-viral-sensation-psy-video-explained-article-1.1154285. Last accessed 6th of October.