GCSE media studies: coursework assignment

James day 1/05/06

Pop video – media language and institution

Explain the importance of the pop video in promoting and marketing the work of pop stars or bands. Refer briefly to the development of genre over time.

Music videos are an important marketing tool for the music artists and their record labels, offering a huge amount of visibility that can be cheaply and swiftly put into a wide range of television programmes. An interesting or memorable video can also enhance the popularity of the song, causing it to become an even bigger success and therefore selling more copies of the song, as with AHA- Take on me. Their song sank without a trace until released with a great video, making an astounding comeback. The pop video also means that instead of having to listen for new bands on the radio or from friends, you can watch for them on the television. There are many channels now thriving from the business of pop videos, such as MTV, giving artists permanent places to be seen and heard, therefore selling more music. One of the early pop videos was bohemian rhapsody by queen, being just them on stage with some digitally added features also. But now as the genre has evolved, so has the video aspect, with special effects, famous movie directors and time and money being used. Thriller by Michael Jackson has a short movie which cost £700000 to make, but sold 50000000 copies.

205 words

Analyse the appeal of a specific pop/rock video as a marketing tool for the record company, you might like to explore: who owns the record company the artists’ record is released on; how the video was commissioned and made; how the video fits in the marketplace in which it was released; where the video has been shown.

This is a preview of the whole essay

205 words

Blur – coffee and T.V. was written and sung by the band’s guitarist Graham coxon. This video helps market the song to the targeted audience (teens), using an interesting animated milk carton. Although the song is about a lost son, and the family looking for him, it’s made less realistic and therefore less boring by substituting the milk carton for a person. Teens can relate more easily to a cartoon, and something quirky and original like this becomes a sensation fast, leaving the video and song as a must-see, must-have! This video is further aimed towards teens by showing it on modern music channels (MTV, kerrang, etc). The record is released on EMI, a record company owned by Thorn EMI, which is also interested in lighting, retail outlets, computer software and appliances. Interesting and memorable videos can be a much better marketing tool than the song can, such as coffee and T.V. where it’s a mini story, with a beginning, middle and end. You can see this as it still makes sense with no song. The video in this case made the song so popular that it was released as a single the same year it was released on album. Further proving just how a video can make all the difference in earnings for the record company. Even with the popularity of the video and song though, blur is promoted and represented with little reference to the company itself, only a mention at the beginning of the song under the name. But this doesn’t matter as long as the video is seen by lots of people. This video was a real hit because of the aspect of being free, and away from home for teens, and also the cute, everyday item with life of its own – this became a sensation across Britain.

301 words

Create a hand- drawn or photo story board for a pop video, focusing on the key moments rather than every line of the lyrics. You should imagine you have been commissioned by a record company: you could include the brief given by the company and your evaluation of the finished product, focusing on how successful a marketing tool you think your video will be.

I think that my video will be a successful marketing tool for the song it will accompany. This is because the target audience will be teens, and the video features a real- life teen scenario. It’s about the struggle of a boy trying to get a girl he likes to notice him, and eventually they ‘fall in love’. This will appeal to teens as it’s their age group shown, but also because it shows a very real situation, and brings forward one of the biggest parts of a teen’s life; dating. This will interest teens as it’s something they can relate to, and an interesting topic that could possibly help them with dating. The close- ups in the video take us almost into the mind of the character, and as we only let people we trust get that close, they make for an intimate shot. This is an attention-grabbing shot and makes you concentrate on the video. Also, split screen is used to show what each character is doing at the same time, i.e. there is one where they are passing each other, and you can see both their faces. These shots are interesting also, as you get 2 different points of view, showing the ‘first indications’ of romance in one case. The rest of the video is basically long and medium shots of the characters going about their lives, with the boy in love with this girl. This supports the lyrics, and echoes them in a visual image that will help the song tenfold by providing an interesting video. This will stick in the minds of teens for the reason that it’s part of their lives. I think this easy to understand, and relate-to love- flick video will help teens feel involved in the artists songs, therefore boosting sales.

300 words.