Task 2A: Hip-Hop Conventions

Location/Settings

In Chris Brown music video, you can see the whole music video is set in an abandoned graffiti car park. As this is an hip-hop music video, graffiti is often included as one of hip-hop's four elements alongside with rapping, b-boying (break-dancing) and DJ-ing. Nowadays, hip-hop music videos usually include artists performing in narrative setting such as clubs, parties, mansions, beach, luxurious foreign country etc. The general message nowadays in hip videos is let’s go out, go to a party, get drunk/high/whatever and have lots of sex.

Costumes

The majority of the time the artists were surrounded with a crowd of people wearing clothing that give them the look of ghetto/thug/street look etc. Clothing such as bagging clothing, low slung jean, trainers, tracksuit etc. This type of clothing is very common convention in Hop-Hop genre, it connotes a sense of 'crew/gang'. The baggy clothing is sort of old school nowadays, the clothing was the common convention of hip hop genre in the 90s. Two examples, N.W.A. ~ Straight Outta Compton and Kendrick Lamar ~ Alright.

Props

Props such as flashy cars and designer brands are seen most hip-hop music videos, this is very common convention in hip-hop music videos. They use this to show off their 'wealthy' side, showing off expensive things signify their financial status etc. There's usually a lot of references in hip-hop music videos. For example, 50 Cent ~ Window Shopper, 50 Cent and his friends were rich enough to buy overpriced items, such as $400 cheeseburgers, and a $16 million yacht. You could also see flashy cars and couple stacks of money.



Camera

There is a lot of low angled camera shot being used in hip-hop music videos which is very common in the hip-hop industry. They used low-angled shot because it give the artist power and in control as they look down on the audience and the audience will feel to look up and respect them. Track away is another shot type used commonly in the hip-hop industry, it's when the camera is moving away from the subject while the subject is coming toward to the camera. This effect of this movement is similar to Low angle, Track away can creates the effect as if the camera operator is running away from the artist which make them look powerful, aggressive and dominant. There's always close ups in many hip-hop music videos which is another dominant camera shot used in hip-hop industry, it implies they’re important enough to have a frame to themselves. They do this in order to establish /sell the artist. For example, Jay-Z & Kanye West ~ Otis. In Chris Brown's music video, there is a long shot of the dance routine, Chris Brown is in the centre, which catches the eye and the audience's attention to the artist, this shows he is the main leader of the group. This long shot also showcase his dancing abilities which idolized by his target audience which will result more fame/publicity and bigger mass demographic.

Voyeurism 

Throughout Chris Brown's music video, the female character roles were side-lined, although at 2:33 there is one girl who is dancing provocatively while being surrounded by males. This show voyeurism, this is very common in hop-hop music videos. The reason why they show voyeurism is because the main audience for hip hop is male, voyeurism in hip-hop music video ensures they keep viewers and attract new people into their audience. Men usually have all the power in hip-hop music videos. Women are usually shown as lust and interchangeable etc. Here is another good example of voyeurism in hip-hop videos (French Montana ~ No Shopping ft. Drake).

Editing

Usually in hip-hop music videos, the editing pace are usually fast, the cutting to the beat match the pace of the music. Cutting to the beat is when the images cut or transition on the beats or on significant beats in the music. This is usually used during performance scenes. They are used to engage with the viewers and to emphasize the lyrics, they're also used to create a sense of hyper-reality and a dynamic visual style. For example, A$AP ROCKY - F**kin' Problems ft. Drake, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar and Drake ~ Headlines.

Task 2b(i):Goodwin Analysis of Conventions

(Fifth Harmony ~ Work From Home)

1. Music videos demonstrate particular genre characteristic stage performance for heavy ,metal bands and dance genre is dance routines for girls or boys.

This music videos consist of 5 alluring woman in a construction site surrounded by shirtless men and wearing outfits inspired by construction equipment. The girls are later seen doing choreographed dance routines during the choruses and different construction activities during their individual solos. Work From Home is a song about sex. This song's genre is more of electro-pop.

You could tell the genre is Pop because pop's music videos are usually performance-based through choreographed dance. I would say this music video is a performance music video because it featured the band/artists and you can see them lip-syncing to the soundtrack and it is not usual to see lip-syncing in narrative or conceptual music videos. 

5. There is frequently Voyeurism - reference to notion of looking(screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

There is voyeurism in this video as you can see the artists/band twerking and their outfits are arousing however, it is not just voyeurism of the female form. There is also voyeurism of the male form as you can see shirtless men who are muscular. This show some hypocrisy in the music industry because it’s okay for men to be looked at, but when it’s women. there’s usually criticisms. They use voyeursim in their music videos because it to sell their image and appeal to wider audience and to show how women are portrayed through sex appeal.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. (Rihanna - Stay ft. Mikky Ekko)

This music video has a lots of close ups of the artists which is conventional in performance music videos as record labels demand close ups of the artists/band in order to sell the artist, develop their image and keep their face relevant. 

Image is important to show to the audience because their image will portray their personality and style, and who they are, their individual uniqueness. What an artist wears, their attitude. Their music tell a story about them and help creates their unique/fake image. Their unique/fake image would help them gained more audience and revenue as some of their viewers may look up to the artists or relate to the artists. An example, Rihanna - Stay ft. Mikky Ekko.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). (Big Sean - Play No Games ft. Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign)

Intertextuality is the way in which one media text is referenced in another that producers think the audience will get the reference. There many reasons why they used intertextuality in music videos, for example, other artists of the younger generation could be playing tribute to older stars or they could be a reference to motivate you or a reference to other songs they like etc. Intertextuality could be lyrical reference or visual reference or both. Intertextuality are very common in Hip-Hop or Parodies of an movie or music video, for example, parodies usually make fun out of famous particular stars or movies. Another reason they may be used in song/music video is to help the song flow more and give it a deeper meaning.

An example of this, Big Sean - Play No Games ft. Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign. The music video is heavily inspired after the classic popular 1992 TV sitcom, Martin. The music video also features appearances from Martin Lawrence (the main character from Martin) and Reginald Ballard (another character from Martin who nick-named Bruh-Man).



You could see the music video is heavily inspired by Martin, you could see Martin's theme song below, it is very similar and old school especially the intro of the music video. 

7. They are hyper-real, 'reality' and visual experiences are played with: distorted, disorientating, exaggerated, surreal, a jumble of representation. (Kid Cudi ~ Day 'N' Nite)

This music video is hyperrealism, it uses real visual images and animated effect, they were both combined into one video. This video is made surreal due to the pop art style music video and the way Kid Cudi is in an animated, fantasy world, but the artist remains real while everything else is switching between animated and reality.

The music video shows Kid Cudi walking around in Los Angeles doing bunch of activities such as getting a slice of pizza, grocery shopping, or visiting a bar. While the artist doing those activities, you could see the graphic colours effect overlaying on top of the video to transform the scenes into animated fantasy world etc. This is exaggerated/hyper-real because it is not realistic at all. 

The purpose of surrealism music videos is to create a sense of hyper-reality and appeal to their target audience and make their music video successful as it is different compared to most music videos. Most surrealism music videos are unusual and original. This has over 60 million views. This way can help the artist create bigger fan-base and generate revenue.

Budgets: Range of Budgets for Music Videos (Task 1B)

When making a music video you will get a budget and that is slit into a number of things that you need to consider which can limit or allow you to be as creative as possible to create an image for yourself as an artist or for your artist that you are trying to sell. Not only that but you want this video to promote the song/track that the video is for. The budget depends on what your concept is: the locations, props etc.

Low Budget

$22,000: Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

In this video Kendrick as you can see is in an urban location which happens to be where he is from and grew up, in Compton, California. This song is a mix of G-funk and Hip-hop that sets the mood in your head to be jolly and happy which is what you see in this video. This was shown by the dancing/choreography in the video and him being surrounded by his peers and the attractive females around him which create Hyper-reality.

As you can see in the music video, there are not much visual effects going on and majority of the video is edited rhythmically, this means they didn't have to spend much money on special/visual effect etc. There was not a lot of props used in this video because he is not trying to show himself as being a person who is very interested in material things like big jewellery, flashy cars, the newest and most expensive brands etc. But instead he is showing us where he is come from and how he has become a king and still keeping humble.

This video is a single camera production that looks like they were using the camera hand held at some points in the video so they wouldn't of had to buy things like drones etc.

In conclusion this video is in the lower end in terms of budget because of the simplicity of the concept.

$35k - $50k: Future ft. The Weekend - Low Life

This video is still on the lower end of the video production price because you can still see that the concept is still simple and is not using a lot of props.

The song is called Low Life and they have used that theme in the video by shooting the majority of it in like an abandoned warehouse of some sort where low life's in the context they are using it in tend to dwell. Using this location would of needed a sum of money which puts it on top of the Kendrick video. In the video, you see a lot of different lighting effects one of the reasons is because how dark the location would of been also they use a lot of low key lighting to find the artist face also referring to being a low life.

High Budget

Higher end budgets have a better creative idea for the audiences which will make the music video more interesting and enjoyable for viewers. Higher end budgets consist of complex visual effects and more expensive locations.

The budgets for music videos are there to cover the costs of creating the video such as storyboards, props, location fees and more. The lower the budget the less amount
of money is used to create visual effects which help to engage the audience.

100k: Rihanna

An example music video created on budgets of 100k would be the song stay by the artist Rihanna. The genre of the song is R&B. The genre R&B generally used a higher budget for the productions music videos as the want to create a more powerful visual effects for the audiences.

The video includes both artists, who both take apart in the narrative of the video. In order of this the music video is able to seems more realistic and relatable to viewers,
inferring that they can feel
engage to the artist and get an understanding from the visual effects. The use of the budget enables the music video to be effective to promoting the artist. The editing of the video helps to create a mood including camera shots such as close
ups and mid shots, making the audience get the sense of the video being based on the artist emotions.
Therefore the audience feel more interactive with the artist feelings a connection with them during the video.

200k: Beyonce

The higher range for budget on music videos are likely to get more viewers that may repeatedly watch the video. The music video for single ladies became popular mostly to the target audience of women mainly cos of the meaning of the song talking about single ladies also the fact the artist was a female. The choreography of the video became very popular to viewers where everyone would copy the dance and doing exactly as the artist did in the video making the video seem more enjoyable to viewing and entertaining as well as a well known dance track which went viral to audiences around the world.

Promotion Techniques: How Music Videos are Monetized? (Task 1B)

Method A: YouTube

Method B: Product Placement

YouTube:

There are many ways to monetize a music video, using YouTube is one of them. YouTube is global and world wide, meaning that when a music video is put on there, then anyone can see it.  By placing it on YouTube, it immediately makes the video global and when it gains further popularity, it will become viral.

As the video becomes viral, it makes more money, the more views that the video gets, the more money it gains in profit. If the song has an advert before it, this means that the song will make $2 for every thousand views it gets.

For example, when taking a successful viral music video, such as 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams.

This is the amount of views the video gained.
The artist will only receive 10% of the total earning and the remaining 90% will be for the label that funded the song.

This is also the case for Indie music videos. They are owned and funded by a label and therefore must pay them.

                                                        This is not the case for Self Producers, as they have made and funded for the video themselves, they will keep 100% of all earning and profits made.

Product Placement:
Product Placement is another way of broadcasting and advertising/ presenting an artists music video via promotional mediums, these are mediums such as Television, billboards in the street, YouTube (As already mentioned) and also apps on tablets and phone etc..

It is also a way of advertising other products within a music video, for instance, using a brand of something, such as headphones, this advertises the brand and the product, the label may be paid by the company of the product to use their product in the video.

• Monetization:

Refers to the giving of permission to authorise advertisement to be present in your music videos in which you will be charged for. An example is YouTube, YouTube charges advertiser for the advertisement while they share the fees with you, this allows you to make more money in your pocket. however it has some bad points to it as if you add adverts to your video it's more likely to steal, distract and make your consumers sway away from your video causing you to lose consumers and money.
So if you decide to have adverts present in your music video your likely to make $2 per 1,000 views on YouTube.

examples:

 

This music video by PSY - Gangnam style went viral due to the song and accompanying music video that gather a huge amount of views. This what you have to do to find out how much the record label he is signed to earned and how much the artist himself earned: 

2,646,913,867 divide 1,000 x 2 = 5,293,827.734

(this sum shows how much the Universal music group the label he's was signed to earned from the YouTube views while on the other hand the artist PSY will get 10% of that cut.

This is all because the visual side of the music video is more appreciated more than the actual song as music has become devalued.

In this image it shows an ad (advertising google) that appeared when i started watching the video which like I said will cost $2 per 1,000 views.
Because YouTube is worldwide it allows music videos when uploaded to be seen all over the world giving the video a wide/broad audience gaining the music video and the artist more awareness and popularity. Therefore the more known and viral the video goes it makes more money for the record label and the artist gaining more money in there pockets.

• Product Placement: 

Product Placement is designed to sell and promote the products of the individual companies in which is usually embedded into a music video. Product placement is basically seen everywhere not just in music videos but on TV, billboards, newspapers, magazines etc. Its known as an advertising technique used by companies to insure the promotion of their own products allowing more awareness of that product.
However there is also another type of Product Placement called:

• Paid Product Placement:

Paid product Placement is when your are given an incentive (money) for you to mention that companies product or brand into your music video, TV show, film etc...

An example of Product Placement:

In this music video the product placement= is beats which has clearly been placed to advertise the beats pill xl

An example of Paid Product Placement:

In the beginning you have the artist talking about her new Sony phone and giving hints to how good it is or some interesting features it has to it.

Monetizing Music Videos

Which the birth of the internet and video streaming services, monetising music videos has become even more easier to gain money from videos. YouTube is one of the key platforms to promote music videos and monetise them. This is because YouTube is a global video streaming platform where things can and have easily go.

Product placement is often used to monetise music videos, this is where big company (such as beats) may pay the artist to have their product in the music video, for example beats headphones is a Miley Cyrus video. This is done because they know that the video will generally bring in big views and it is a good chance to subtly promote their product without being too full on and having to spend mass amounts of money on actual adverts.

It creates more awareness of the product meaning that is not only used in music videos but other media outlets/platforms as well such as news papers, billboards and TV adverts.

In general, monetisation is granting permission for an advertisement to be shown in a music video whether it's a independent or major video. YouTube plays a key factor in this because money can be generated through viewers. For example every 1000 views, equates to $2 if your video has advertisements.

Also annotations are used as a form of pop ups in YouTube videos to advertise certain products or events. These are most commonly used to advertise products because they can easily be accessed and directly take you to the actual product.

This is why viral videos are often most successful because they generate views and often have annotations to link them to the artists product, so they have two different sources of income from the video.
An example of this would be Pharrell Happy as it went viral and had 886,126,725 views and also had product placement from beats in the video.

Post 2003's Era: History of Music Videos (Task 1A)

Rihanna ~ If It's Lovin' That You Want

Rhianna is portrayed as someone who had a soft and innocent image. In the music video her image at the time is portrayed as herself doing a live performance in a tropical type setting e.g. the beach. This elucidates on the fact that she comes from the Caribbean or a tropical county. This reflected on her image because it uses a sense of hyper reality. Furthermore, in this music video from this image you can see that she is representing where she is from hence why she is wearing they type of clothes that you would wear e.g. from the islands of Barbados.

This type of styling would appeal to an audience that enjoy listening to up beat tempo songs and instruments that would be played in reggae songs and R&B. This was a type of performance video that shows Rihanna being very expressive.

Lady Gaga ~ Marry The Night

Lady gaga made a song called 'Marry the night in 2011 and the reason why it is different to other videos is because the narrative is longer than the actual song. The narrative is 8 minutes long talking about her life and the song is 5 minutes 50 seconds. This is very different because a lot of artist tent to not talk about their personal life, they tend to present a fake image to their audience and to give the audience what they want to see. This proves that time has changed because the artist focuses more on their music video. The music video has become more important than the actual song and the song has become the soundtrack of the music video. This video has conventions such as lip-syncing, choreography, abstract and it has hyper-reality. The reason why it is hypo reality is because hospitals are not like that in reality. The reason why this music video is abstract and unusual is because it has a lot of unusual scenes that doesn't relate with the song and also at the end she is in red not showing her face, surrounded by fire. This music video is a performance, the artist doesn't want to just present herself as a pop star, she wants to show that she is artistic and an actor.

Rihanna ~ Disturbia

The lyrically the song reflect moods and emotion that surround anxiety and confusion. The songs starts with a fade to create suspension as it is like a horror story which creates tension and could create isolation as the location looks abandoned and she is mental hospital because every scene is different in her actions and costume to show that she has split personality disorder.

This can challenge how society see women because she is experimenting with her personality which could she is not her at the times but someone else to show insecurity and issues to make relationships which could it make it hard to trust anyone.

In one of the scenes she is seen imprisoned wearing lenses that make look as if her eyes have rolled into the back of her head. Rihanna stays in the prison with two men watching on her from the both sides. Other scenes include sitting on a throne chair and singing the song, while two strange women are around her.
This could suggest that her safe is at risk and she may self risk if she is not watched at all times.
The beat is up-tempo because it suggests that the song is happening so quickly because every seconds she is a different personality; the time signature 4/4 represents it is fast paced which no breaks and every verse is different to show how she lives in the prison.

The genre is electro-pop and dance pop which represents the style of the song but it doesn't suit the video.

PSY ~ Gangnam Style

What was important/innovative?

The thing that was innovative within this modern music video of Gangnam Style by Korean-Pop artist PSY is that he was promoting himself instead of the visuals representation of the video because when this video came out in 2012, it was going viral through social media and it had spread worldwide mainly due to the dancing that the artist was doing so people would copy the same dance when the song did come on but not only that, it allowed people to get to know the genre of Korean-Pop more than did because they were little known about it until this video blew up onto the internet.

How it is recognized as a music video?

This is very recognizable music video because it fits with the genre conventions of the song which is Korean-Pop which there was lip-syncing within this music video but the visual representation is not telling no narrative or story being told at all as he is promoting himself and dancing which it is showing that he is having fun rather than being creative. There is a use of editing and effects where for example: when it was about to go the hook of the song, its use of editing was used which was cutting of the beat around 1.06 to 1.10 and 2.25 to 2.30 minutes within the video.

What technological or cultural change happened during this time?

In the post-2003 era within the history of music videos, the artists would be able to make music videos and able to put on video-sharing website like for example: YouTube. Although the reason why is that the artist does this because it is one of the ways to make more money by promoting the single of the song so they can carry on making money through going on tour or sell merchandise through the use of synergy but today, the money that is being devalued by people as they are interested in the visual representation of the video rather than the actual song that was used as a backing track.

1990s to 2000s: History of Music Videos (Task 1A)

Lucas ~ Lucas With The Lid Off

This music video was released in 1994 close to the mid 90's. What was innovative about the music video is that it is the first music video that was shot in one take you could tell that it was shot in one take because he ran out of breath in some scenes.

This is recognizable as a music video because it has hyper reality to create a fake representation to give the audience the impression that he can travel through time. Intertextuality was included in the music video since you can see the lip-syncing artist through the television.

The technological change in the 1990's is when music videos were becoming more and more expensive and this is when rock, and the use of abstract art and intertextuality in order to cater to the audience. Multi-channels also came into existence so that music videos can also be played from it.

Beastie Boys ~ Sabotage

What was innovative/ Important?
this was a ground breaking music video which was released in the year 1994, they were faking the opening sequence of a TV show which was popular at the time called sabotage which is actually related to the title of the song, Also we do not see the artist throughout the whole video either lip syncing or performing to the song. What was innovative about this music video was that it was the first of its kind to have this sort of inter textuallity where the music video is actually paying homage to the actually TV show.

How was it recognized as a music video?
It can be seen as a music video because it conveys the conventions of a music video such as using inter textuallity as it makes reference to a TV show and also there is a a bit of hyper reality going on as usually a cops day life wont really be like what was in the music video and to some extent the music video cut to the beat of the song.

What Technological/ cultural Change happened in this time?
Music videos at this time started to use more artist form of making their videos bending more towards the use of abstract art in their videos while others used things such as TV shows and movies that were already famous in other to appeal not only to their target audience but also to the movies target audience.

Britney Spears ~ ...Baby One More Time



Music videos were first invented in the early years 1930’s. Visuals were not a new thing for people as there were many films realized by this time. A music video is a short film or a video that can sometimes have a narrative, a music video is used to go with the song. One of the very first music videos that were invented featured singer Bessie Smith in a two- reel short film. This mainly a performance with the artist and a live band. Which has then been used in the post modern era(1980's till now). Another music video that involves a performance is Nat King Cole Frim Fram sauce. This also involes sexuliation of women due to the fact in the video it focuses on the ladies legs. Compared to today this is a mild version of what we see in music videos.

This is reflected into the music videos that were made in the 1990's to the 2000's. For instance in this video of Britney Spears in her biggest hit 'Baby hit me one more time' it is a young girl wearing clothes that would be deemed as being overly sexualized at the time would make this music video very controversial due to the fact that you would not see young girls dressed in provocative clothing in the hallways dancing. This also gives us a sense of Hyper- reality as this is something that typically happens in a school.

Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine



The boy is mind is a composition between Brandy and Monica that was release in 1998. I't an innovative by its unique use of mise en scene. It features two different girls fighting over a guy and uses a wall in the middle of the scene to divide them. This symbolises their two houses and helps the person watching to see the two different lives of these girls that share the same man. It also helps to create realism by showing things in real time. This, therefore, make the video more reliable to us at home. This is furthered by the fact that the girls are having a conversation with each other and at one point it even shows them having a telephone conversation that coheres with the lyrics.

It is considered a typical music video because although it features a story, this story only progresses slightly and is more leaned towards the performance of the girls who are singing in their houses. They also use other conventions of music videos. For example, the two singers are lip syncing which is commonly used. However, to make a change the lyrics at some point turn into diegetic when they begin to talk on the phone.

Despite the video being quite contemporary, music videos have still changed hugely since then. In terms of the camera work, this consists mostly one shots which, although cut to the beat, goes at a slower pace to what would have been these days. Another thing changed is the mise en scene and the clothing. The props in the scene have clearly been updated as technology had updated with time. In terms of the clothing. The girls are wearing a lot less revealing clothes in comparison to music videos now days which aim to sexualise the characters in order to sell the music.

They have made a lot of progress from earlier on. There are some transitions such as wipes and fades which help create excitement in the video. Also, about half way through the video, there features a lot of canted angles which haven't been done a lot. Another thing they have played around with in the beginning of the video is depth of field. One of the girls are positioned in front of the couch but behind the fish bowl and we can see clearly the change from the three different places in the room. This makes it more realistic for the views.

1970s to 1980s: History of Music Videos (Task 1A)

Prince ~ I Wanna Be Your Lover

Videos are started to be considered too salacious. this is because music video makes were under the impression that sex sells, this was favourable as these videos were not expensive to producer but could generate a lot of attention. This was the case for Prince - I Wanna Be Your Lover. This music video still follows conventions, with used of lips synching , the artist performing the song with their band.

David Bowie ~ Life On Mars (1971)



This video is effective due to the fact that it is a basic lip sync but the shots and effective props can create conventions for example, his appearance is associated with his stage persona called "Ziggy Stardust" which was Bowie's way of showing Iconography towards his fans so they could act like him and dress like him.

The Buggles ~ Video Killed the radio star (1981)

This music video was the first ever music video to be played on MTV. The name of the song is self explanatory in the sense that music videos actually ruined the radio star, Artists weren't being credited for the way their music sounded but for the way there music video looked. for example Radio was dying out and the only way to gain popularity was to create a music video and become a Movie star for your music. MTV was the first ever music television channel we had ever heard about and this music video is so innovative due to the fact that it was the first video to be aired on MTV. One of the most well known Cultural and technological changes that happened during the 1970-1980s period of music videos was MTV. MTV (Music Television) launched in 1981. The launch of MTV spurred the evolution of music videos in the 80s. Artists started to include narratives/stories and eye-catching visual effects in their videos. The birth of MTV also allowed Artists and musicians to create their own "Star image", A fake persona that the audience could relate to or aspire to be. MTV became a platform that paved the way for more unconventional music videos.

Michael Jackson ~ Thriller (1983)

In 1983, Michael Jackson, Epic Records and Vestron Video, released the music video for thriller. The video itself, had a running time of 13 minutes and was loosely based on the horror film "An American Werewolf in London". Michael Jackson's Thriller video was unprecedented. This was because it was the first ever music video (By a mainstream artist) to create and use the concept of a short film. The video uses conventions of a normal music video. For example there is lip syncing and the artist is performing in the video.

The Police: Every Breath You Take (1983)

This music video is one of the many recognisable music videos in the 1980s.The video was released in 1983, It has a total of 299 million views. As the lyrics sound romantic, the song is somewhat disturbing. “Every breath you take I’ll be watching you”. This song is about a hooking stalker. It is always interpreted because of the way it sounds but people do not choose to listen to the lyrics properly. The main artist in the band, Sting wrote this song after divorcing his wife. He personally things the song is “a nasty little song”, “evil” and “about jealousy and surveillance and ownership”. P Diddy sampled this song and named it as I’ll Be Missing You. He wrote this song for the late The Notorious B.I.G Wallace, who was murdered in 1997. In the music video for The Police, it is hyper-reality because the music lives within the ash tray. There are effects such as fade ins, and outs and it is in black and white. There is also lip-syncing, for the majority of the video because it is a live performance where you see the band playing instruments and one of the members, Sting singing the song.