Music Video: Introduction

 Answer the questions below to complete your introduction to the Music Video topic: 

1) What are the key conventions of music video?

Performance: Singing, Dancing

Mise en scene: Costume, lighting, actors, makeup, props, setting

Celebs/Collabs/Starpower

Intertextuality 

Narrative

Fast paced camerawork or editing

2) What is intertextuality?

Intertextuality is when one piece of media references another

3) When did music videos first become a major part of the music industry?

1980's

4) What launched in 1981 and why were music videos an important part of the music industry in the 1980s and 1990s?

MTV and music videos helped further promote the songs for people to buy

5) How are music videos distributed and watched in the digital age?

Youtube or streaming services like spotify, apple music or soundcloud

Extension tasks

Read this Guardian feature asking whether YouTube is good or bad for the music industry. What is your opinion on this crucial question?

Although some say it doesn't give the artist much money, it promotes the songs or artists so that they can generate profit on other platforms like spotify or through concerts and it allows new smaller artists to breakthrough and gain popularity.

Read this Guardian feature on how videogames are now more important than music videos for breaking new artists. Do you agree videogames are now more influential than music videos?

I disagree because unless the artist already has some fame their song being in a game would give them less fame than a music video would because in order to be exposed to their music you would need to have the right platform to play the game on, be interested in the genre of the game and then you if you like the song you hear you would have to find who made it. However, Music videos are accessible to anyone with any device at any time and can also be shared easily