What makes a successful music video?

By Libby Nicholls

1) Performance• For a music video to be truly successful it relies massively on performance.

Famous videos such as Azealia Banks or Tyler The Creator only use on e simple location; In a plain white room and a brick wall. They don’t sound exciting at all but the performance really made the video interesting to watch. The freestyle dancing and the use of props, the clothes they where and there personality get well represented in there videos making there videos the most interesting as you feel like you are watching them rather then all the irrelevant action in the background.

2) Originality/USP

• Its has to be something you don’t really come across in average music videos. This can be by using unique narratives that have never been used before such as romance dramas.

3) Good camera/Editing work

• Using a variety of angles such as extreme close ups, hand held footage and technical editing strategies such as panning and tracking the singers so it has the effect of you following the musician rather than having static, boring images that you lose interest in. Sometimes showing less of the character at the beginning of the sequence can make peoples attention get concentrated when it comes to the pure singing and performance. This can be used to its full potential especially is the choice of outfits are suitable and extravagant. Variety also bring dynamic structure to the video and keeps you excited to see what is next. If the editing is fast paced and changes on the beat it will be packed with energy and detail, this will keep viewers interested.

4) Unique mis en scene

• Artists such as Lady Gaga use unique and extravagant outfits that are really out of the norm. This is part of her character so her fans expect this, however with more mellow singers, the use of excessive outfits can make the video much more interesting as fans of the singer want to see as such as there idol as possible and see them in different positions that they are not used to.

5) Effective narrative• Not all music videos have a narrative and merely

hold a performance by freestyle movements. However some music videos such as Ed sheeran the ‘A team’ hold a story of a prostitute that sells herself for her drug addiction. This lyrics and narrative match and hold the audience to see how she deals with her life on an everyday basis and end with a new equilibrium. Others singers don’t use a narrative but use other aspects of music videos such as performance and props to keep the audience engaged.