Section 1: Initial notes on music videos.

Music video's are always very varied so there's nothing in particular one should expect.

However, they are usually based around either on narrative, or performance. The performance aspect would usually see the artist(s) performing their song - this could be recorded in a number of settings. The most likely, however, is at a gig; but it always depends upon the genre of music and fan base they are reaching out to. A narrative based music video will tell a story through the dong. Actors may be brought in to portray the characters needed to get the message across. Sometimes the storylines seen in music videos can relate to the lyrics and fit with the theme. But other times, what is seen visually will not link to the lyrics in the song.

Music videos can also be used as a marketing device to promote the artist(s). People may enjoy the video aspect and therefore like the song or the message they are trying to get across. And therefore download the track. All of this combined can create a solid fanbase and lead onto success.

It was around the 80's that music videos became mainstream. However, The Beatles used film inserts to be played along with their music earlier than this in the 60's - which could of been seen as the original music videos. It wasn't until 1981, when the channel MTV was launched, that the music video industry became so popular. The first music video ever to be shown on there was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. It's debatable whether this is to be considered the first ever music video or The Beatles earlier attempts should be.

Over the years, music videos have been developed immensly and now use special effects frequently. Slow motion is not unusual to be seen in music videos today, along with more fancy, sophisticated, interesting camera angles. Technology has also developed - we commonly now see the use of the croma key (shots fading in and out), and the blue screen is used often to create the illusion of an intersting backdrop/setting.

Cencorship is also something to be considered. It is a job left up to the British Board of Film Classification to montior and cencor music videos in order to make them appropriate for the people expected to be viewing them. In 1991, Michael Jackson's video for 'Black and White' was cencored as he was considered to be 'touching himself' throughout. Other recent videos which have been cencored are: 'Rock DJ' - by Robbie Williams, and 'Smack My Bitch Up' - by The Prodigy.

People interested in musical theory may argue that music videos have superficially made pop music based on image. It has been considered whether or not pop songs would be enough on their own to make a meaning to the audience alone, without the visuals going along with it. Andrew Goodwin stated that "A good music video is a clip that responds to the pleasure of music, in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in a way that accentuates existing visual associations." (1992) meaning the video should be linked with the song - but not take away the song.

Content.
Music videos usually demonstrate the genre characteristics of the music, for example - pop music videos may see all boy/girl dance routines. The relationship between lyrics and visuals either contradict or illustrate the lyrics in the song - so sometimes things may appear to be completely random or out of the blue, but this is simply what the production team were going for. The relationship between music and visuals will either illustrate (show visually what is being said in the lyrics), amplify (intensify what is being said in the lyrics), or contradict what is being said in the lyrics - contradiction will seem to make no sense. The appearance of the artist(s) will be left to the responsibility of the record lable - they may wish for lots of close ups on the artist or the invention of a personal motif for them which the audience would be able to identify as theirs in more than one video. Another thing commonly seen in todays music video's is attractive members of the opposite sex (according to the artist) - this re-occurs commonly in r'n'b videos on a regular basis; usually with partial nudity. To involve the audience more, intertextual references may also be included, this technique was used in Eminem's video "Without Me" - where a number of headline stories were incorporated.

It is rare that a music video will take longer than 2 week to finish recording and editing. The idea will originially come in for a music video from different directors proposing a pitch for possible ideas - it's up to the artist/record lable to decide upon the most suitable offer for the target audience/image.