What is a music video?

A music video is a clip used to go with a song, it tells a story of a character or even lets you buy into the artists lifestyle as well as help understand a song, it also promotes the song to a wider audience and shows different generic conventions of that genre of music. The first style of video is performance, this is focused on dancing and singing by the artist and is used stereotypically for genres such as RnB, the second style is narrative in which the audience are told a visual story which relates to the lyrics within the song and allows the audience to understand the point of the lyrics and what their true meanings are, it is almost narrated by the lyrics of the song, the third is concept, this is when the artist tries to sell the audience a certain idea or show off their glamorous life style to the audience to show how successful they are and become desired by the audience and the artist becomes an idol and role model in the public eye, this is usually seen in the rap genre, conventions of the RnB genre involve showing off their money by having lots of alcohol around them (usually in a party setting) and they have lots of women around them (presented in a voyeuristic way) as well as showing off expensive clothing/accessories and cars, making the audience envy the artist and want to be like them, making them seem like role models.

R.Kelly - Ignition remix, this belongs to R&B, the purpose of this video is to promote the artist and his lifestyle, appealing to those of a younger audience as it is the glamorous lifestyle they want to have and dream to grow up like this artist, which is the reason it is so easy for these artists to become influential role models, as young people are much more impressionable in comparison to other target audiences, the style of this video is concept, as the artist is selling an ideology of money, women, alcohol, expensive clothing, accessories, cars and partying, this allows the artist to sell their way of living to their audience, the audience then idolise the artist and the artist can build a fanbase, allow for longevity of success and lets the artist build a career. It is also performance as there is dancing and singing throughout by the artist himself and others around him, this allows the artist to show their talent to the audience and lets the audience truly appreciate the artists work and see their ability. Micro elements are used within the video, for example, for camera shots such as the low angle shot are used within the video, this shows that the artist is important and a key figure to be focused on within the video, allowing the audience to build a relationship with the artist. Editing styles such as transitions between shots, allowing the scenes to change smoothly, this allows the audience to stay engaged within the video and stay focused on it, allowing them to enjoy the video, finally, the use of MES is done through setting, a club scene is used to show the lifestyle the artist has and make the audience envious of how they live, therefore the audience look up to them and therefore build a relationship with the artist, helping them gain a fanbase and have a long, successful career. The conventions of R&B that are seen in this video are the flashy clothes and jewellery, such as the expensive jacket and gold chain worn by R.Kelly whilst singing in the club, this follows the conventions of the R&B genre as it is commonly seen that artists wear flashy clothes and jewellery, this appeals to the audience as it creates a dream for the audience in which they wish they could be like the artist also expensive cars are seen to be used on the way to the club, a limo, which represents him as having lots of money to spend, also the women wear revealing clothing, making it have a sexual feel about it (voyeuristic), this follows conventions of the genre as women are often sexualised to draw in male attention toward the video, this helps them engage into the video and enjoy it more, making the artists success more likely. Finally the setting is a club which is extremely conventional and therefore follows conventions for mens r&b songs, this is linked with partying and fun,therefore the audience want this lifestyle and idolise the artist for living their dream, helping the artist gain a fanbase and have a long successful career. These things appeal to younger audiences who dream of a life style of alcohol, women, expensive clothing and cars and constant partying, helping them dream of this lifestyle, making it seem achievable, which the audience enjoy, this also makes them take a liking toward the artist as they believe they have things in common with them, the audience feel the artist has the same aspirations as them and possibly could have had the same lifestyle as them before they made it, making it seem more realistic as a dream for the audience and therefore makes the artist seem more down to earth and relatable.

I have learnt from this video that artists cater their video toward their target audience to create a successful song and the video helps promote them as artists to certain groups of people, music videos are extremely effective and can be the difference between a successful song or a flop, for example psys 'gangnam style' would be nowhere near as successful without the video and has helped him become a well known artist around the world, I think that R&B would be a good genre to use as it is easier to create conventions within the video and there are plenty of songs to choose from which would allow us to do this, music videos in the R&B genre tend to show off desirable items and dreams of the audience to sell their music and make it seem like the music is catered toward their dream making it more personal and relatable, even though it is completely unrealistic, music videos are extremely effective and allow an artist to sell themselves as a product, helping them sell current and future songs as well as help the audience understand the lyrics within the song, I will consider the R&B genre as a possibility due to the endless amount of inspiration and the easy conventions to create, also I will consider using concept as a style due to it showing simply the dreams of their audience and making it seem realistic and attainable to the audience.