What is a music video?

What is a music video?

A music video is formed of recorded music and video shots and still images to help act the lyrics to the song which boast record sales. In a music video there should be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals which link the music and moving images together. A music video is a performance of a recorded popular song, normally by a signed recording artist and usually they may have a dance sequence and visual images interpreting the lyrics. Music Videos are mainly the key to success in the music industry and chart success for most artists. Music videos demonstrate characteristics of their genre, for example a rock video stereotypically be dark and consist of low key lighting throughout and rapid editing for the beat of the song whereas a classical music video would stereotypically have high key lighting, longer shots as the rhythm in songs are calm and slower.

Peter Fraser defines a music video as:

‘a short, moving image product, shot for the express purpose of accompanying a pre-existing music track and used to encourage of sales of the music in another format.’

This is a poster for the Superbass video by Nicki Minaj, a video which is of high success; it holds all the key components of a successful music video. It has the bright colours used to attract the audience into the video and therefore lead to success of the record sales. There are lots of shots of Nicki in the video; these shots are using voyeurism through the pop music to attract both a male and female audience.

The fashion and costumes used in the video is to attract a modern and young audience, the props such as the motorbike she sits on make it easier for Nicki to reach out to an even wider audience, and the poses she does are sexual to attract male buyers and awareness.

The hair style Nicki has (bright pink) is also making a statement to increase viewers, it is a popular fashion statement which may even represent a new era and style of the 21^st century. Every artist thrives to be individual, and Nicki Minaj shows how to make a successful music video through this song Superbass.