What is a music video - Miss Miller

What is a music video?

Intro

A music video is a short film normally around 3-4 minutes, which is used to enhance the song. It can be based on narrative, performance or concept. The video is based around the music and every micro element is fitted around the genres. Music videos can have different purposes. Some are to do with entertaining the audience for example, showing a story, meaning or narrative, presenting the artist well and as an idol. These purposes allow the audience to relate to the video and to build a relationship with the artist, they can start to identify the appearance and different sides to the artist. Some other purposes are for advertising and promoting the artist, to help remember the song, making it available to a wide audience and it gives a better understanding of the meaning of the song. For music videos there are three different styles which are performance, narrative and concept. Performance is when the video entertains through dance and singing, the artist is normally in these style videos performing to the camera. Narrative it for telling a story to the audience it uses the video to tell the story of its meaning or the video uses the song to enhance the story. Finally concept videos are for selling the song to the audience but selling a meaning, idea, theme or ideology. The purpose of this style it to tell the audience a message. 

Main

I am going to be analysing the video for Rihanna's Man down song. This song is from the RnB genre and it has a few different styles within the video. The purposes of this video is to; 

• Tell story or meaning. Throughout the whole video it is telling a miniature story about the murder of a man which is what Rihanna is singing about. She is telling a story about the regrets of murdering the innocent person through the song and its video.
• Entertainment. The music video has a lot of entertainment with in it because it is telling a story the audience are intrigued and enjoy the video, they want to find out the outcome of the narrative. 
• Understanding. The music video allows the audience to understand more of what the song means the video emphasises the story with in the song and make it clear what it is about. 

In the video there are different styles. The two styles used are performance and narrative. Performance is when the artist performs to the camera or a dance crew is involved, Rihanna does this 'performing to the camera' in some stages of the music video, she expresses her emotions whilst singing the song, creating the same emotions for the audience as well as a dramatic effect. The image below shows the use of microelements through a cinematography element specifically a close up. The shot shows Rihanna's facial expressions, which portray her as scared and resentful. This creates similar emotions fro the audience they become worried of her actions and want to find out the outcome of the narrative.

Also in the performance styles used there is some sections when the artist is dancing slowly with the music, this is shown in the image below. Rihanna moves around with the music in this scene whilst she is again 'performing to the camera' by singing and dancing. This gives the audience more entertainment and an image of how she is feeling, not just through the lyrics but through her body language. Mise en scene is used specifically body language to express the artists emotions, her movements are slow and subtle. The body language shows the audience some of her regret and the stress she is trying to release.

The other style used in the music video for Man Down is narrative. The narrative of the music video is that Rihanna shot a man and has to face the consequences and regret. It shows the audience her before and after life where at one stage she is happy and after the murder she is in pain and ashamed of her mistake.

Through the use of a cinematography close up, it is clear the artist is happy, she has no worries and no guilty conscience. This shows the audience her life before the shooting and how she was living a normal life. This is relatable for them and helps them to understand the changes she goes through throughout the video. This shows the narrative style as it shows the story of the artists character and expresses the song in more depth.

After the shooting it became clear of the artists regret, she is shown to be miserable. This is clear in the long shot of her on the bed. The image shows her body language and positioning of the character. She is hunched over looking down to the ground, portraying her need for protection and comfort, she is shown as scared and irritable. This image shows the narrative of the music video, and the emotions of the character being played by Rihanna. 

These two images show the main narrative focuses of the video, they show the artists two different lives, the one before the murder which consisted of happiness and freedom. And then the life after her mistake which turned onto and downwards spiral of depression where the character becomes isolated and afflicted. Her freedom gets taken away not physically not but emotionally she cant escape her own feelings, which is clear the audience.           

Man Downs music video uses many codes and conventions of the RnB genre. Rihanna plays a very conventional character in her music video, she follows the stereotypical codes of the female gender in this genre of music. The conventions are mainly shown in the performance scenes of the video where Rihanna isn't playing the role of the character but just performing the song as herself and also in the scenes before the shooting where she is living her happy normal life. The conventions often shown is through the mise en scene specifically costume and hair and make-up. Rihanna's costumes throughout this sections are quite revealing and don't consist of much, most of the time a lot of skin is on show and most tops are low cut or flaunt that particular area. In one scene Rihanna is wearing a co-ordinating outfit, which consists of a skirt and crop top, the skirt is short coming half way up her thighs and the top is low cut, back and front. This is stereotypical of the RnB genre as women in the music videos because it pleases the male audience and makes it more appealing, this is what the artist wants because they need to show themselves as being perfect in the eyes of the viewer. Another way to look at the convention of being attract through the clothing is that it can show the artist as a role model for the younger girls, they will want to aspire to look as good as them and want to attract the same attention and acknowledgment. 

Another convention used in Rihanna's music video for Man Down is the editing, specifically slow pace. A lot of RnB songs in recent years are slower and less rap sections are involved. Also in more recent years RnB genre music videos focus on the narrative style rather than performance or concept meaning the songs are normally 'slow jamz'. The editing for these types of music video is slow pace shots last for longer than a pop or house genre videos would. Because a narrative is being shown the shots are further apart and change less so the audience gain a better understanding of the story rather than fast editing which would be hard to tell a story through, due to trying to fit so much into quick changing shots. In the music video for Man down the editing it slow and instead of changing shot often different cinematography movements are used to keep it interesting. Tracking and panning elements were used a lot instead of constant changing shots. This is conventional because the editing then flows with the music, often RnB music videos consist of slow editing as it makes it easier for the audience to understand and relate to the narrative. Some slow editing used in the video Man down is during the beach scene, of some boys playing football in the shallow waters and Rihanna is sitting gin the sand singing. In this sections some shot last up 7 or 8 second which is reasonably long for a music video. This helps the audience to understand the plot of the scene and how it links with the songs lyrics. This is effective because the audience will want to continue watching the music video till the end to understand the full meaning and the outcome. 

As shown in the evidence above codes and conventions are used in the Man Down music video, they follow the stereotypical elements for the Rnb genre and help the video appeal to the audience. The conventions help the audience to understand the narratives commonly used in genres music videos, which make the relationship between them and the artist stronger because of the relations they can make. 

The target audience for Rihanna's music video for Man Down is primarily girls but boys are also interested, the age range is from 15 to 19. Most of her target audience are obsessed with her image and look up to her as a role model. In this particular music video she has given her audience what they want by keeping up her stylish image and interesting songs. Rihanna is the kind of artist who has grown so much that she can wear almost whatever she wants and she will not be judged she will again be seen as fashion icon and be seen as a role mode. The music video appeals to the target audience because they want to see the narrative used within it and how Rihanna gets involved with the product. Not only does her image appeal to the audience but also her performance and the way she portrays her music. The video uses costume and appearance to intrigue the audience, and uses different cinematography and editing elements to help with the understanding of the narrative. Having slow pace editing helps the audience to relate to the characters or artist in the video and in this case Rihanna is playing the role of the main characters facing plots involving rape, violence and poverty. The audience are interested to see how she plays the character and how she works with the music itself not just the character being played. 

Conclusion  

Whilst analysing this music video for Rihanna's Man Down I have learnt many things about the different conventions, styles and genres. Music videos all have at least one of the three styles and which are followed throughout the videos. I have learnt the difference between the performance style and the narrative style as Rihanna has used both to stretch her song to its full potential. I have learnt that the narrative style is used to help the audience gain full understanding of the songs meaning and the story behind it. And that that performance styles music videos are more about the way the artist wants the audience to see them rather than the song, performance focuses on the artists image and the promotion of them rather than the specific song. I have also learnt about the RnB genre and the conventions of its music videos. Most RnB songs are slower nowadays and that makes a difference in the set out of the video in terms of editing and cinematography. I also learnt that the target audience are extremely interested in the image of the artist, they look up to Rihanna as a role model and in the Man Down video she fulfils her audiences image of how they want her to look by wearing stylish yet unique outfits and performing in a way which they want her to come across which is confident and meaningful.  

I think music videos are extremely effective when promoting its song or creating a meaning for it. Music videos are used to make the music more interesting and help to intrigue the target audience by meeting there needs in the music industry.

For my music video i am considering a RnB genre, after analysing Rihanna's Man Down video I think the genre is a good option as the narrative style works well with the music. I am interested in creating a music video using the narrative style because i think it portrays a better meaning of the song and its lyrics it telling the story that the artist is trying to show through making to music. After this piece of research I am thinking of creating an RnB music video with performance and narrative elements.