Within Bruno Mars' music video 'That's what I like', there are two main aspects featured; lighting and animated drawings. This style of music video doesn't follow a story line but only features the artist Bruno Mars dancing a choreography that has been edited to create a more 'twitch', jumping effect to fit with the music. The concept featuring animated drawings, Bruno uses to dance around/dance with, follows the meaning of the lyrics (and making cultural references) rather than creating a linear story line. Other videos similar to this concept is Niall Horans 'This Town' lyric video and 'Riptide' by Vance Joy.

I believe that this music video is an example of something similar to the ideas I have for my own music video to the song 'Beautiful People' by Chris Brown. One thing I want to focus on in my music video, aside from any filming ideas/story plot ideas, is the contrast of light and dark as I plan on using this idea to help to create more depth in my clips. This song in particular falls under the same song category as 'Beautiful People' being R&B/ soulful, this link in style is shown by the steady up beat-ness of the song and when reaching the chorus the lyrics and tune slow down to a more soulful re-enactment of the song (creating a change in the music to allow the audience to decipher the musical change in the song).

In the editing side of this music video, the opening shot shows a lit background creating a silhouette of Bruno Mars while text appears of the title of the music video and of the artists name. 'Bruno Mars' is in gold being underlined with a red line and 'That's what I like' in a white font. The design of this has been made to look rough and messy (similar to Justin Bieber's song 'Where Are U Now'.) which intertwines with the animates white drawings that feature throughout this music video. The lights changing position are relative to the beat of the music, moving from lighting up the backdrop (where it is mute in the music video) to lighting up the room -changing from different corners due to the change of beat- when the music stars.
the effect of the lights changing on the beat of the music creates movement and a 'change of scenery' where there isn't any, it allows different depths of field in the frame.

The colours grey, black and white are most used within this music video. Although these are cold colours and represent darker and dangerous moods, the choreography and animated drawings that list under the Mise en Scene of this music video, create a happy and soulful atmosphere. At the end of the video the choreography allows Bruno to exit/walk out of the frame, this shows the audience that he is in control of the constant movement taking place on the screen.

Throughout the music video the most used general camera angle is a wide shot with a stationary camera. This shot allows the audience to see the whole of Bruno Mars' body, a clear shot of his choreography. The stationary shot also allows Bruno to move around the area easily using the space to his own ability.
Nearing the end of the music video the shot changes for the first time to a high angled close up onto Bruno who sings upwards towards the camera. This high angled shot shows Bruno's singing escalating while animated/drawn on rain falls onto him. While this section of the song becomes more dramatic, when taken out of context it is one of many repeated scenes in romance films where the man is making promises and trying to fix his mistakes to his late-misses' while standing in the rain.

Within The Weeknds music video 'Reminder', its main focus revolves around movement and explicit content. It is evident that The Weeknd is creating a link between all of his music videos by creating a signature symbol and colour for himself; the colour red and the religious cross.

At the beginning of the 'Reminder' music video it follows a linear storyline, the camera panning across 'Hollywood' and following a helicopter in the darkening sky until it lands, opening for the main singer from The Weeknd to exit. Within the editing concept, this portion of the music video has beeen edited to have a blue/ cold tint, contrasting with The Weeknds signature colour -red- lighting up the screen from the inside of the helicopter.

The camera follows at a wide, level shot behind The Weeknd (TW) into a warm lit mansion. Throughout the music video the camera angles are all similar when focusing on TW, being of a low angle facing up towards him, having connotations of power and influence.

The style of 'Reminder' is R&B, featuring a rhythmical beat and slower paced singing. This style of music is created by TW and is his signature take on the genre R&B. When the music reaches the chorus it becomes more upbeat, although this change in tempo doesn't particularly affect the shots used in the music video.
Linking onto this concept, the editing throughout the music video has a typical structure now found in the most recent R&B and Pop music videos. Within 'Reminder' the shots and clips change on the heavy/ distinct beat featuring in the song which helps to create clarity and structure in the video. The editing done in the video features allot of 'slow-motion' or overcranking and 360 degrees tilted shots. The use of overcranking is to create a more dramatic affect (which also allows an increase of judgement on the intent of the artist/actor, giving the viewers a false impression that the actor had more time to predict what was going to happen if it were applied where something negative happened) in the shot taken. In parts of the music video shots taken become quite literal to the lyrics, for example; "travel around the world" TW is shown walking towards an aeroplane. The concept of flying remains in the video after this, the aeroplane being featured multiple times and more outside shots are taken

Mise En Scene is used in 'Reminder' to help portray the signature look TW is creating throughout his album 'Star Boy'. TW's style and appearance is clearly perceived by the viewer through the contrast between light/ dark, and the colour red. TW abuses the original concept of the religious cross, linking it into violence -shown in the music video 'Star Boy', and on the back of the dark hooded gang in this music video (also being the colour red). In contrast to the overall mood created in the video, at the mansion where TW is singing at for the most part of the music video, he is shown surrounded by a warm light -thus not creating a 'gloomy' atmosphere unlike the rest of the shots.

The symbolism of red can be perceived as either romance or danger. TW uses this dominant colour throughout this music video and album. The colour is seen when TW first enters the video -exiting the helicopter (previously mentioned)- the colour of the religious cross printed on the back of the gangs jackets, party cups multiple people end up holding and the colour of the Lamborghini (appears when sung "silence of the Lambo" which is a conjugation from the title of a horror film 'The Silence of The Lambs'.

My chosen form of media for my year 13 media a level course work is music videos. Music videos all have something similar to them that when seeing them as the audience you can tell that they are music videos. Each video has a cover picture, whether is from a setting (or one of) found in the music video, showing all of the dancers, main singer or the group of artists or whether it's a lyric video and the cover is a picture of the artist face (Rita Ora- Your Song Lyric Video).

On the cover of each music video the length of time is shown at the bottom right corner along with the sign of the supporting distributor or music video collaboration company at the bottom left corner on the cover picture (i.e. 'VEVO' and 'W').

The theorist Andrew Goodwin (1992) put together a list of key features and aspects found in all music videos. The first feature Goodwin claimed to appear in music videos is the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals shown in the music video (illustrating, amplifying or contradicting). An example of this is 'Americas Suite Hearts' by Fall Out Boy; the story line doesn't work with the lyrics.

The second claim he made was that there was also a relationship between the music and the visuals (illustrating, amplifying, contradicting or cutting visuals in time with music). An example of this is shown in the music video 'Walks like Rhianna' by The Wanted, where at one point the beat to the music work with the flashing on the lights behind the artists.

Goodwin also claims that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (Stadium Performance, studio performance, location, narrative based or concept based). Examples of this theory is shown in Clean Bandits 'Symphony' and James Arthur 'Safe Inside' where the artists set-up is in a studio/stadium setting.

Goodwin express that one repeated feature is a close up of the main artist/singers face, this is due to the record companies requirements that the artist is strongly featured in the music video (artistic branding, celebrity culture, artistic portrayal or implications on looking good).  

Similar to the last point, Goodwin believes that 'star inconogrophy' is something developed in each artists music video (branding, style or brand values/unique selling points). This point can be applied to Michael Jackson's music videos, where he repeated certain dance moves and wore a particular style that is now seen has 'his movements' and 'his clothing style'.

Goodwin also identified that in every music video a concept called Voyeurism is used, this means that the audience see something that they would/ should not usually see (nudity/ near nudity/ revealing clothes, exhibitionism, an intimate location i.e. Bedroom/bathroom or frame within a frame).
Lastly, Goodwin recognised that there is intertextuality working most music videos (involving either other music videos, films or TV programmes).

"A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings."

As the quote above describes, in the modern era music videos have become a source of income and promotion for the music artist. While creating an income for the artists and producers, it is also a platform that allows the artist to express their version of the song and what it represents for them and/or if something relevant is happening at the current time of the song release and the artist is passionate about it or a support of an act occurring then it will be shown in their music video. An example of this is Sia's 'Elastic Heart' and 'The Greatest' and Beyoncé's 'Formation'.

Each music video also reflects allot about the artist, their style/taste and how they want to be perceived. In The Weeknd's videos he wears allot of black (black leather jackets) and religious symbols, showing support and and up rise against and for Christianity. The Weeknd is an example of an artist that appears in their music video, while like mentioned above, Sia prefers to tell stories through dance choreography rather than have herself acting or singing to the camera.

There are multiple ways in which artists promote their music. They have to do it in a unique way to attract the audience and to make it personal for their fans. An example of music promotion is on social platforms such as Spotify, Facebook, YouTube and more. Although these are places where there are no money income it reaches a more global audience, attracting a bigger fan base for a bigger income and interest.
In the link bellow the website talks about multiple ways of promotions such as hosting free vertical performances, creating a 'band' profile page on Facebook, make an app for your music, share on sound cloud, share music videos and interact with fans through performing st festivals, sharing merchandise etc. Allot of these innovative ideas of promotion reflect on supporting and building the  career and social media space of the upcoming artists and to create a relationship between themselves and their audience.

http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/49-ways-to-get-free-music-promotion.html

DEF: Media technological convergence is the tendency that as technology changes, different technological system sometimes evolve toward performing similar tasks.

Technological convergence has changed the way music products are marketed because of the different forms of social media and modern day audiences.

By the development of phones, not only now being used to call people, but to access the Internet, social media sites/apps, games and television. Having the development of phones and the converging of social media and phones, it allows artists to promote themselves to a bigger and more global audience which benefits the amount of income and popularity- although this couldn't be relative to music distribution in the early 21st century or the late 20th century, as music distribution was done all the same why so the comparison between being able to reach a more global audience by the Internet and by reaching a global audience through physical copies of the music and tours.

Being able to reach multiple countries around the world due to the Internet makes it easier for artists and groups to become more popular in multiple countries rather than just the original place they came from.
Groups and artists such as Elvis, The Beatles, Spice Girls, ABBA became popular due to being from either America or England, linking the two countries together and then become world known and to make their place in our music history. Music was also a new thing, with new trends appearing, these artists and groups were the bases off of how the music today was created.



DEF: The proliferation of hardware refers to the rapid increase in physical technologies which assist the production, distribution and exhibition/consumption of a film or its related products or services.

Due to the growth of technology, artists have been able to reach a world wide audience to promote their music and to have a growth in their audience. Having an easier access to a bigger audience allows artists/groups to spread a message, gain influence and become an idol which works for and against the artists/groups. With the growth of the Internet, it has also affected the reception of the audience and the power they have over responding to an artists work. 
The public have also changed with their responses to artist work. They are able to compare music and artists against one another, supporting and hating on the artists work allot quicker and with more intensity than when they didn't have the Internet. It has allowed them to become more critical of artists work, influencing artists to have a more unique dress style and voice to become more individual and impressionable. 

Artists are promoted through multiple different ways in order to share their music and to become more successful. One way in which they promote themselves is through collaborations with other famous brands (makeup) or people who are similar to them to reach a bigger audience for their own work.

Artist are promoted through the opposite sex's view (the male/female gaze) to become more popular through attracting the opposite sex. The sex appeal is evident in both male and female artists, Beyonce being seen as both an idol and extremely attractive, while Zayn is viewed as a 'tall/dark/handsome' male stereotype and having a mixture of audience supporters due to his time in 1D, his rapping and style in music.

In the modern day society, the fashion wear artist have sported has changed throughout the years due to the change in how the artists want to promote themselves and how everything has become sexualised or objectified. A clear comparison is between ABBA and Katy Perry, both artist wear clothes that are of their generation, ABBA wearing vintage/funky and newly introduced styles of clothing while Katy Perry became very experimental and became a sexual icon to.

In the current times, artist has millions of followers on multiple social accounts, easily spreading their music to reach a bigger audience. This benefits them by increasing the amount of global interest on their music sales, status and merch. While in 1975 when ABBA was at its most popular, the Internet wasn't even invented so there were allot more limited ways for the artistic group to attract a bigger audience. even without the Internet, ABBA and The Beetles became world dominating and that was because of the physical exchange of their music (through posters, vinyls/CDs, merch, videos and concerts) rather than the current use of the Internet, using the digital exchange to promote their music.