Music Video

Weekly Production Log 9

This week my group and I have filmed some more shots in my house, these scenes are showing me lip-syncing the lyrics and remembering all my good times with my ex-boyfriend (Selim).

Weekly Production Log 8

This week was our first week of filming after having experimented with different people to cast in the music video, we have decided on Selim being one of the characters (the boyfriend) and Aimee being the other (the girlfriend). Our choice was based on competence and acting skills, when interviewing Aimee we out found many things about her which made assured us that she was a good choice for the main character in the music. For example, she had taken up drama in secondary school, which meant that her acting skills where of a good standard, it also meant that she was confident in front of the camera, which we needed her to be. With Selim, our choice was based on his past experiences in making his chocolate advert and news package, where we thought that his acting skills really shone threw. As we have filmed the first few shots of our music video scenes, our next steps would be to edit the footage we have and arrange the when the re-shooting will be. 

Good and Bad Music Video Techniques

Cutting to the Beat
Good example: Kerry Hilson- Lose Control ft. Nelly 

Cutting to the beat is an editing technique done to synchronise the scene in line with the music. It is done by cutting each shot with a beat in the music. Many music videos are more likely to use this editing technique, because it is in a music video where you're going to find music with beats etc. I have found this example of a music video , which I think best displays what cutting to the beat is. The cuts happen in line with the beat, and it is done very effectively. For instance, the first couple of shots cut very quickly to the beat of the song which also runs quickly, this is a good way of introducing the song and getting your audience engaged instantly. At 1:28 as the music builds up and the beat is fastening again there are a number of cuts which almost look like cutaways, back and forth from one set/location to another. The effect this has on the audience is they get to keep up with the song lyrics and at the same time building the tension, which makes them think what is going to happen next. The director would have chosen to do this in order to enhance on the music , because without having this there would be no point of having the music playing in the background. In music videos where it is acoustics and the artist is singing without any background music, we have less cuts because there is no beat to flow with the cut.  This technique is good for getting your audience excited about the song and the more cuts you have the more energized your audience will feel about the song. Music videos are popular with young adolescents or teenagers because of the style of editing. The 'MTV Era' helps us understand how we as young people have become used to quick pace editing and cuts, and this is primarily why we enjoy these music videos as a pose to an older audience.When my group and I make our music video we will ensure this is included and is executed well so that we can satisfy our audience and keep our music video rich of vibes. 

Bad example: Mariah Carey- All I want for Christmas

This is a bad example using the technique of cutting to the beat, the video that is part of an album called 'Merry Christmas' was released in 1994. I think this is a bad example of cutting to the beat for various reasons, the number one being that what the song is about and how it is edited are two different stories. Christmas is a festive season celebrated by millions of people and is supposed to be enjoyed thoroughly as it only happens once a year, however this video doesn't reflect this at all. Firstly, the song begins with a slow tempo and as it builds up the shots change slowly with a transition between each one. Although, this is acceptable I think it could have started with a much more enthusiastic way, perhaps if the artist is dancing rather than standing in one place or showing random shots don't make sense to the viewer. When we here the beat kick in at 0:54 there are no shots that cut alongside it, but rather something which looks like fireworks, again although this may have a particular meaning, there could have been a good use for this technique. Furthermore, some of the shots last for too long which makes the beat pass and so it cannot sync with each shot as it changes, this is what makes it lag and lack emphasis on the beats which in this song are quite fun and jolly. 

Camera Language: 


Good example: The Veronicas- Untouched 

Camera language is one of the most important aspects of any production. In the music industry, getting the perfect shots angles and movements when making a music video is what can make the distinction between a really professional music video, and an inadequate one. The video above is from the duo 'The Veronicas' called 'Untouched', which shows good use of camera language throughout. From the start we see that the director and cinematographer have clearly given thought into the shots & angles used. For example, this is portrayed at 0:14, when the camera is following people at a medium-wide shot showing them walking into the party. This shot 'sets the scene' for the audience as, before this shot there were only 2-3 second shots showing random things which the audience will not understand the relevance of. Next, at 0:19 we see a close-up showing presumably one of the band members plugging in a wire into her electric guitar. Thus, this also again sets the scene comfortably for our audience, and now they will be aware that there will be somewhat of a performance which will take place. At 0:34, we eventually see the duo band lip-syncing to the lyrics, shown through a close-up shot. Now that the audience know there is a performance by a band, they can now see who the band is. 1:11 displays for us the entire room, including the crowd/audience member who are at the foreground of this long-shot. Hence the reason why this music video is a good example of effective use of camera language. Other camera language techniques include, angles. One example showing a low angled shot is at 1:50 where the character acting as one of the twins' boyfriend, is looking for her, this low-angle gives the audience the impression that the party is quite crowded and by placing the camera at a low point as a pose to a high point, almost puts the audience in the room with the crowd of people.  

Bad example: Glen Campbell- Rhinestone Cowboy  

The next music video I will look at is 'Glen Campbell- Rhinestone Cowboy' . This is a bad example of this technique, because there isn't much variation of camera language in the entire video.  To start the first shot we see is a medium long-shot of the artist lip-syncing the lyrics whilst walking along a path. This occurs at 0:11 and continues for 42 seconds until 0:53, for an audience of this particular music video, this shot may not seem very long. However, to me personally, I would find it quite boring and too long to watch, which will disengage me from wanting to carry on watching. Again, the high-angle at 0:56 , showing the artist on a horse isn't effective as it is a medium long-shot, and the audience are not able to see the artists lips while he is lip-syncing the lyrics. Although we see few techniques of camera movement, one of which happens at, 1:12 showing the artist singing, it is only seen a bit throughout the entire video and even went it is used, not done very well.

Special effects:

Good example: Labrinth - Earthquake 

This is a good example of a special effects video, as the entire video is focused on the choreography and the special effects that plays an important role with it.  This video was released in 2012 and is a dance pop genre. The style  of this music video isn't clear right from the start but it looks to me like a cross between performative and surreal, this is because the artist is constantly dancing around the set and around the camera, also there are certain shots which make it surreal such as the car robot transforming into his name across the screen at 0:20. This may symbolise something to do with the artists wealth, because it isn't every day that you find cars transforming into something else, which obviously shows that it must cost a fortune. The first ever use of special effects dates back to the 1800's, and has since developed in use and cost. It's clear from the video that most of the work went into the editing and getting the special effects to look perfect 

Bad example: B.O.B - Nothin' On You ft Bruno Mars 

For my bad example I am going to be analyzing the song 'Nothin' On You' by B.O.B and Bruno Mars. This video in my opinion uses special effects in a way which I don't works or at least suits the lyrics and what they mean. Firstly, the very fist scene shows us various girls' faces that come in cut sections of their facial features, which then come together to form a full persons face. This is at 0:02 and goes on until 0:20 and the lyrics during that time are talking about the beautiful girls around the world, this is ok as it is in line with what the artist is saying. However, as it continues on until the chorus comes again we just see the artist B.O.B rapping whilst walking on a street, this isn't suited to what he is saying or what the song is about, also the stop motion being the papers that are built up shot by shot make his walking along the street look awkward and not very natural. Although the director would have chosen to do the music video in this particular technique for a reason, I still feel it could have worked better with another technique, perhaps a green screen and a variety of shots to give the audience. 

Number of shots:
Good example: The All-American Rejects- Move Along

This is an alternative/Indie genre music video by 'All-American Rejects' and was released in 2005. Prima facie, this is a good example that shows a variety of shots types. Firstly, by 0:23 there are already 11 shots shown, that each last for about 2-3 seconds. This obviously engages the viewer a lot as the cuts are frequent and each shot shows something different. At 0:47 the number of shots last 1 second each and change at a very fast speed, and show the artist wearing many different outfits in each shot, this allows the audience to see a chain or story which is created from the shots being so short and changing so quickly. This is also effective in showing the artist in various situations, for example, him wearing a doctors outfit, a workman's outfit, at the dinner table eating dinner, at the beach and so on. This is fun for an audience to watch as it keeps them watching the video without getting bored of only watching one shot, especially as each shot changes as the artist says the next word of the lyrics.

Bad example: London Grammer- NightCall 

This music video by London Grammer called 'Night Call' is a bad example of number of shots. This is because there is only one shot throughout the entire music video. It is expected of contemporary music videos to engage and audience through the way the music video is shot / lit / edited so that the audience do not get disinterested. However, here this was not effectively executed in any way, as the single shot showing camera movement doesn't put enough emphasis on the song or the lyrics and what they mean. This is why I would say that if there were a good number of shots in this music video, perhaps showing the artist through an close-up then showing her band's instruments through an extreme close-up would make this more engaging for me as a viewer. 

Lip Syncing
Good example: Adele - Rolling in the deep

Some advantages of the use of lip sync is that it is a more professional way of miming lyrics. It can also allow a better connection with viewers to be created (i.e. the Miley Cyrus music video can be more relatable to teenage girls.) However Lip Sync can fail on live stage causing the audience to be less interested, this could potentially lead to the failure of an artist as it can be judged that the artist is not as good as they make out. The example I have above is of Adele, in her music video called ''rolling in the deep''. This shows good use of lip-syncing throughout as the artist is effectively saying every word of the lyrics which makes it seem as though she's singing the song whilst being filmed. This is seen at 0:05 where she first starts singing and we see her lip-syncing the first line of the song really well. 

Bad example: Logic Inception

This music video, called 'Logic Inception' is a bad example of lip syncing to the lyrics. This is because the artist is not properly pronouncing the words, and is not articulate when he is singing. This clearly shown when the artist first starts singing at the point 0:22 where he is sitting in a car supposedly lip syncing the lyric. It is apparent to anyone watching that he is not singing live but rather lip syncing , or at least trying to. This goes against the point of this technique which is supposed to make the artist look like they're singing the song naturally live. 

An audience would be distracted by this poor display of lip syncing and their attention would be drawn to it more than the actual song or the music video as a whole. 

Green Screen

Green screens are used quite a bit in the music industry when making music videos. This is often because it is a technique which engages the audience and allows the director to have much more freedom and diversity with each shot. The first example I will analyse is 'The Climb by Miley Cyrus', where there has been a good use of green screen. Firstly, the first shot at 0.02 shows a green screen where the background is a long path which the artist is walking across. It is clear that this path is not real, but this is what makes the use of the green screen work. Had this been a regular real path, I reckon the audience will get bored and think that the music video is not professional. Again at 0.17 the artist is walking and the camera is at a low angle show the background of the green screen being blue clouds, this shot is also successful as the audience are taken through the journey of the artist as she sings about her 'dream'. An audience member will relate to this because presumably everyone has dreams and this shot is in some ways an encouragement to those people hoping to reach their dreams. The use of clouds in this particular shot is symbolic of what we'd expect as it goes with the theme/ story of the music video(dreams and clouds at night).

The song 'Elektronik Supersonik' by Zlad also includes a green screen, however not very good use of it. This is first seen at 0:22 where we see the green screen background is so bad that it goes over the artists, revealing to the audience that there is a green screen. This is possibly due to the quality of the green screen used or the editing used. However an audience will ignore this and will not think about factors such as the budget that went into the production but rather the final product and how bad it is or isn't. It is easy to say that the song itself does not help the overall music video and in fact adds to the nuisance. Another reason why this green screen did not work is because the idea behind them wearing such costumes, showing that they are astronauts, and by using a green screen they can display this further by playing around with the background to show plants, starts, galaxies and other various things found in space. 

Styles of Music Videos

Narrative                                                      

There are so many types of music videos out there that are composed in different ways. One way it can be put together is through a narrative structure. This type of music video tells a story throughout the production and this mainly done through the lyrics, with images and short shots that correspond with what is being said. This type of music video is particularly effective in capturing the attention of the viewing audience because it is natural for anyone to be attentive during a tale or story whilst being shown images. To add, the lyrics of most narrative music video's are effective because of the message or idea they create. Being visual in a music video is very important so the quick shots of images help make the story an art piece. The example I'll be looking at for this style is by the artist Eminem called 'When I'm Gone'. 

At the beginning of the video we see a group session taking place, with some people smoking and drinking. Amongst them is the main character Eminem, who is called up to talk about his life, this is the point where the music starts. The narrative is solely about how a father pays little attention to his children and more on his job. The beat starts promptly at the point 1:13 when the artist starts to rap, this shows some effectiveness on the audience because before there was a calmness about him and the room was quiet, which means his emotions were building up to this point. To add, looking at the artists clothing he is wearing a cap with a hoodie, this adds to the mise-scene in the sense that his words are relatable to the cloths he is wearing. If he were to wear a suit and tie, it would not make sense to the audience and make him look out of place. Another thing I've pick up is his facial expressions and expressive hand gestures, these again emphasis the way Eminem is feeling and his thoughts are put into a visual context. 
We know this is a narrative music video because of the various locations we see, for instance, as there are cutaways here and there we see him in what appears to be a house with his daughter. Again, this puts everything that is being vocalized into perspective for the audience. The audience may personally identify with this situation at the point 1:33 where the girl is trying to get her fathers attention but he is too busy thinking of things like work. 
Later on in the video at the point 3:47 we see Eminem wearing a suit looking smart even though he is performing at a concert. This is obviously not the way we are used to seeing artists when they're at their concert, so the audience are immediately questioning why he has done this. Is he trying to tell us that his job is being an artist and therefore wearing a suit shows that he is going to 'work'? Or perhaps that he is not satisfying his family in being a man with a 'proper job' so needs to wear the suit in order to show this? These are all questions us as the audience are going to be asking ourselves.  

This is another example of a narrative music video and is by the artist 'Rihanna singing Take a Bow'. We know it's a narrative music video because she is telling us an anecdote about a scenario that once happened to her similar to the video above. The mise-en-scene is totally relatable to the mood and feel of the lyrics, for instance, her clothing is mostly dark or fairly dark which denotes her lack of feeling or emotion to the situation. This is something the audience could personally identify with because its an issue which is in most cases probable. At 1:00 she is seen with red lipstick on which to me suggests that she is dangerous and is looking for revenge, shortly after she puts on shades which again tells me that shes going to be up to something and is almost covering for herself. The audience may socially interact at this because this is generally how girls react to things which go wrong in relationships. The editing is another aspect which adds to this video. We see that as she says ''but its over now''  at 3:30 it cuts to her setting the man's cloths on fire, this helps the video flow more naturally and allows the audience to absorb and interpret the lyrics easily. Unlike the Eminem video here there is limited locations that we're shown, I think the reason being is to keep the audience concentrated on the story but also as the tempo is quite slow again unlike the video above, it is made to match

Performative                                                                                    

A performance music video shows the artist engaging with the song and not paying any attention to the actual video. It is made purely to promote the artist and show them with a live audience in order to show the way they act and communicate with the audience. Also, these performance-based music videos are made so that the artist can be more popular in the audience and general public, the way they do this is by performing with full concentration and once people hear it they will spread the news and thus giving the artist popularity.

The first example I am going to be looking at is from the band 'High School Musical' singing and performing 'We're all in this together'. The audience here are the supporters of the basketball club and are sitting in the chairs behind the band. One striking convention which jumps out at me is the camerawork, this is done effectively so that we feel as though we're there performing with the band. As the camera pans quickly from my person to the next as they all dance, its hard to keep concentrated on one person, this gives the audience energy to get up and dance. 

Not all performance music videos are performed or made with a crowd/audience, some like this one are considered performances except there is no crowd.

 This is another example of a performance music video where the artist/band is performing in front of a crowd.

It is by Mark Ronson performing 'Valerie', which is a Amy Winehouse original. Right from the start we are seeing the relationship the artists have with the crowd is engaging and fun. This is a key part to a performance video-showing how the live audience react to the artist as they perform. This performance video is different to the one above because it involves a live audience. The lighting could impact a video and its general feel, here there is almost no lighting except the floodlights behind the band. This gives the room a different energy and makes it almost seem like we're in a night club. 

Conceptual                                                     

A concept based music video is a music video where the lyrics doesn't have to match what is on the screen and there is no clear idea or message. This allows the audience to interpret the lyrics how they want to in a subjective way. The song 'Level's' by Avicii is definitely a conceptual song as the lyrics don't match with what we see on screen, also the lack of lyrics makes it more open to interpretations. 

The concept behind this video is perhaps not so obvious to the audience, from looking at the colour pallet there are quite dull colours such as browns and greys which reflect the characters need of escapism from work, hence the dancing. The rock he is pushing at 1:21 could symbolise the workload he has to get done being too much to handle, possibly reflecting the normal everyday working man. The audience could pick up on this and relate to his situation as they too may have experienced this. At 1:21 again there is a transition which is a white fade out in a circle which helps to move the audience on to the next shot nicely as it is a smooth transition. Although there may not particularly be a concept behind this the audience are free to have their personal interpretation of it.

Animated                                                    

 

Another type of music video is an animated one. Although the clue is in the name there are many purposes to an animated music video and why an artist may choose to make one.This is a song called 'On the bright side' by Never Shout Never who are an American rock band. This is clearly a 2D animated music video, and the overriding message is that in every situation you should look on the bright side. To begin, this style of music video is mainly made for several purposes, some being the flexibility the artist gets, the limitless creativity and the stretch of imagination. All these make the audience get a gratification of escapism and a freedom to think out of the box. Technology developments have allowed animators to become ever more creative with what they can do in terms or animating. With the introduction of software's such as; Adobe Flash, Macromedia Flash 2D and Blender for animating, making it financially easier for music video directors to make a video.  One convention which I think is effective in this video is the editing with the subtitles that are shown on screen throughout, I think this makes the song easier to follow and gives the audience a turn to sing along which makes it more engaging. 

Interpretative                                                                                                                                       

An interpretative music video is one where the artist is singing the lyrics and what they say matches with what is happening on screen. These are quite common and often this type of style is generally seen in almost every music video with a combination of the other styles. The first video I will analyse is by Owl City called 'Fireflies', this video is a very good example of an interpretative style. Firstly, although the video is set in one location this style is still satisfied, the artist begins singing and soon after makes references to objects in the room. Just before he sings '...if ten million fireflies...' at the point 0:29 there is a sudden cut to a screen that is auto typing what he says as he says it. This is clearly the lyrics matching what is shown and the audience don't have to concentrate on just his singing but also what they're shown. Again at 1:16 as he says '..teach me how to dance..'' we're shown a robot dancing, this could be that he is making a comparison between the robot and himself, and by the fireflies 'teaching him how to dance he feels like a robot taking order. These are interpretations that the audience are going to take into account. 1:24 he makes a reference to the disco ball hanging from the ceiling by a thread, this puts his lyrics into a visual picture and allows the audience to remember what he says and not just let it go by, considering he is singing at a fast pace. Almost to the end of the video at 2:33 he makes a reference to the fireflies being in a jar, and again we are shown them, and although the song doesn't particularly mean anything it is clear that the fireflies must mean something to the artist. By keeping them in a jar indicates that they are sacred and should be treasured not let out to escape.  

One of the conventions which repeatedly occurs in this video is the camera work, or shot types, which are either close ups or extreme close ups. I think that this is the case because most of the references made have something to do with the toys scattered around the room and so we will need to see them up close in order for us to know that the lyrics match what we're shown. 

 Another music video showing the style of interpretative is 'Rude- by MAGIC!'. From the first couple of shots (from 0.03) we can see the artist interpreting the lyrics. From the shots showing the artist getting out of bed and going into his car, in sync with the lyrics ''Saturday morning , jumped out of bed and put on my best suit, got in my car..''. In addition, at 0.27 when the artist is singing ''can I have your daughter for the rest of my life, say yes say yes because I need to know'' he is seen saying this to the father of the daughter, which also shows good interpretation of the lyrics.

Surreal                                                                         

Surreal music videos usually have  an abstract idea behind them, which doesn't necessarily have to make sense or have a clear message. The purpose is to allow the artist to express themselves liberally and have no fear of any boundaries. The first video I will analyse is Katy Perry's 'E.T', which features Kanye West. What makes this video surreal is the theme/Genre running through, which links to supernatural, mystical beings. This is demonstrated first at the point 0:35 where we see a spaceship coming down from the sky, of course this isn't an everyday thing and there are many ideologies on space and the so-called 'third kind' (Aliens). The audience are not going to be able to relate to this clearly as it is not a scientifically 'real' thing.
One aspect of this video which also adds to the surrealism of it is the technology used to emphasis on things like the editing and voice of both artist. This is evident at the point 0:47 when Kanye is rapping and the pitch of his voice is stretch to the point of exaggeration. Again at 1:16 there is an extraterrestrial being floating in the air, which slightly reminds us of the alien in the film E.T, therefore we could say that this video contains some intertextuality and given the name is E.T the audience are able to get satisfaction that they know and recognize the name because of the movie. 

The next video is by the artist Robbie Williams and the song is called 'Candy'. This is also a surreal video because here the artist has a halo above his head and is able to have superhero powers. This isn't something that anyone can ever do so is surreal. At 0:30 Robbie is seen making people fall over by pushing his hands towards their direction, meaning his halo has given him this ability. Also, he does this to make space for the women he is following around. I think that this is a two way street in terms of interpretation, the audience might read that men are saviors for women and other may think that women have such an effect on men that they'd go out of their way to comfort them. For the men watching this video they would wish that they could have this power so that they too can impress a girl. However, Robbie isn't so heroic because at 0:33 he pushes over an old man and punches an old lady, showing him to be aggressive which isn't the type of guy women would want. The surreal halo paints many pictures for the audience throughout this video. 

Purposes of Music Videos

Promotional 

Promoting the artist is a key thing when making a music video because they are who people want to see. However, sometimes an artists appearance/personality or style may die out and the record label in charge of them must find other ways to grab people's attention. The examples I am going to be analysing is from the artist 'Katy Perry' who has changed her style of music videos and music category completely. 

Katy grew up with both parents being pastors and very strict on religion, she also listened to gospel music and early in her career she would sing gospel songs such as 'By the Grace of God' and  'Spiritual'. Everyone who is a keen fan would have remembered her before, now however her fame has hit the ceiling because of her dramatic change in things such as her style of music videos, and her image. I reckon that the record label whom she is signed with have lured her to this direction in order to make her stand out amongst the other artists, for example in the song 'By the Grace of God' the beginning of the song differs completely to the song below called 'I kissed a Girl', this being more of a quicker tempo than the other more humble song. I think her audience would definitely this change because they would be familiar with her music. Secondly, the song 'I Kissed a Girl' shows elements of Katy's admittance to her change where the first words are ''this was never the way I planned, no this is not my intention'', this suggests that although it may have other meanings behind it which relate more the specific song, there is a right to say she is slightly regretful of her change. Also, if we look at Katy's image before and after, we see a clear difference, for instance their is less clothing more heavier make up and seuxualised behaviour- something that her parents wouldn't approve of. 

Extension of Outlets

Youtube

In order for a music video to be published and increase it popularity and playability there needs to be outlets in place where the music is available for the public to listen to or download. Outlets are a popular way for the artist to expose their song to the public and get their name popular amongst their audience (fans). One outlet where you are able to listen and download music is iTunes which is part of  

DVD's

the Apple company. A company like Youtube will pay artists in accordance of the views they get on their videos, which promotes the artist. DVD's are the most obvious way of selling your music, which allows the artist to again promote themselves, it is also very good because it means that the audience's attention is all on one artist increasing the playability of the music. Other outlets such as spotify and iTunes which allow for downloading are useful for audience members because it is likely that if they liked the music video they would want to see it live at a

concert, and it they downloaded an MP3 format they'd want to watch the music video so will watch it on Youtube, which increases the extension of income for companies like Youtube.  MTV is another outlet which is a cable TV channel and broadcasts music videos, their main target audience is young adults and teenagers. This is because the majority of the videos aired there appeal to this demographic, mainly because of the 'MTV era'. This is where the editing of music videos have become so cut to the beat that each shot lasts about 3-4 seconds not lasting very long, also the quantity of shots. 

Major/Indie/Unsigned Record labels

Record labels are another part of a music videos purpose, because without them artists are unable to produce high quality music video's, the artist(s) will usually be signed to a record lable who will produce their music videos/pay for world tours and concerts etc. Their one aim is to promote the artist in as many ways as they can in order to gain for themselves, this being money from the ticket sales of concerts or merchandise. 

Major

Major record labels are the main source for all artists who want to make successful videos that are high quality. Some of the major record labels include; Warner music group, Universal music group, Sony music etc. It is these companies who have the right money for artists upcoming and old who want their audience to listen to their music, as well as the artist these companies want to make money for themselves in order to continue with their business.  For example, an artist who is signed to Sony Music group is the American singer and songwriter, Beyonce. Sony will pay for her millions of dollars to make a  music video, then will pay for her publicity that being in magazines, adverts, on the side of buses etc. Some benefits to a major label to the artist is obviously the funding which contributes to the marketing and production. Another pro is its influence on the industry which stems from the size of people working within on record label. One con is the turnover that can happen, where they may agree to sign an artist but then it quickly gets dropped. 

Independent 

There are also independent record labels who although may sound wealthy from the name which suggests something  'private', are almost no match for the major record labels, this is simply because of the money gap between the two. Although there will be signed artists on these indie labels it is likely that their video popularity wouldn't be as major as the major labels could offer. However some benefits to the artist in being signed by an indie label is they can have more personal relationships with the team, because they tend to have smaller artist rosters, which allows you to get more freedom is deciding on your video. Another benefit is the contracts which are more artist friendly, giving them more money for their work through larger percentage of revenue than given by the major labels. On the other hand, some downfalls is the lack of people within these labels which mean that they have less influence within the industry. 

Synergy 

Beyonce and Pepsi

'Synergy' simply means the collaboration and cooperation of two institutes who work together to promote/support one another, wanting to produce a greater effect than the one they'd have had they worked individually. Usually this collaboration is done for the audience/ public's sake because it is them that these companies are reaching out to. Collaborations range from major brands such as Pepsi working with well known celebrities like Beyonce, movie stars like George Clooney and coffee companies Nespresso but the one I will be discussing its benefits is from the band Nickelback using synergy in their music video called 'Hero' which features scenes from the 2013 Spiderman movie. This video clearly shows synergy because right before we even see the band, the spiderman flies past the camera leading us towards where the band are stood which nicely starts the video off for us. The collaboration makes sense because the song is called 'Hero' and Spiderman is a 'heroic' character, or is known as one of the superheros, so it is easily relatable to the song and the movie itself. The fans of the movie will enjoy watching short clips from the movie whilst listening to the song, making them want to buy the song and listen to it again separately. Similarly, fans of the band will want to listen to them perform but once they see the various clips from the movie will want to book tickets to the cinema to watch the full thing. Therefore, synergy is an effective way of boosting two companies popularity/revenue/gross etc, here both will benefit from their simple collaboration with each other.    

George Clooney and Nespresso

This example with George Clooney and Nespresso may not follow the same understanding as the example above because he is not promoting any movie he's been in. The synergy here works where the Nespresso company want to extend their shoppers of the coffee and the coffee machines so the fans of the actor will watch the advert and want to buy this product because their favourite actor is trying it. Therefore, the Nespresso company will benefit more than the actor in this case but his fans will also want to watch the next movie he's in.

Extension of Income
Many institutes pay their artists to publish their music online or even offline, this is also connected to the outlets like Spotify, Youtube, iTunes etc.

In order for a music video to be published and increase it popularity and playability there needs to be outlets in place where the music is available for the public to listen to or download. Outlets are a popular way for the artist to expose their song to the public and get their name popular amongst their audience (fans). One outlet where you are able to listen and download music is iTunes which is part of  

the Apple company. A company like Youtube will pay artists in accordance of the views they get on their videos, which promotes the artist. DVD's are the most obvious way of selling your music, which allows the artist to again promote themselves, it is also very good because it means that the audience's attention is all on one artist increasing the playability of the music. Other outlets such as spotify and iTunes which allow for downloading are useful for audience members because it is likely that if they liked the music video they would want to see it live at a concert, and it they downloaded an MP3 format they'd want to watch the music video so will watch it on Youtube, which increases the extension of income for companies like Youtube.

Copyright Laws on Illegal Downloads

''The penalties for copyright offences depend on seriousness, but at the higher end of the scale it can lead to an appearance before a magistrate where the sanction for distributing unauthorised files is a fine of up to £5,000 or six months' imprisonment.''-The Independent Newspaper 

People have grown more desperate to have artists music as soon as possible, even if it means getting it the illegal way. Copyright laws have been around since 1790 and have ever since been reformed many times so that they are up-to date with modern technology such as the outlets above. The governments plans on controlling illegal downloading is as stated above which is the current law on pirating, however the minister of culture , communications and creative Industries ,  Ed Vaizey, wants to impose ideas for stricter charges on those who engage in  illegal downloading of music videos.