Functions of a Music Video

When looking into music videos, you can see that music videos are made for a purpose which benefits the artist and makers; as well as providing a visual pleasure for its audiences. Functions of music videos are:

To promote:

Music Videos are a good way for an artist/artists to promote what they have to offer as musician which could help sell a single or album or just promote the artist in general , it is also a quick way to gain a mass audience as music videos are easy to gain access to and easy to play .

To entertain

Music Videos also have a lot of thought into how the company behind the artist want to provide visual pleasure and also provide the audience with entertainment and keeps them interested.

To gain a name

Memorable music videos can even help an artist pursue bigger goals in their career and can also make an artist a bigger seller, so music videos also act as a helping hand in gaining a name for an artist.

One example of a music video which I believe perfectly shows these ideas and also reveals what I think a music video should closely look like:

Jennifer Lopez – On the Floor

This video clearly shows the essence of a music video through its camerawork, editing and it mise en scene. Firstly the camera moves in time with the beat, this begins its function to entertain the audience as they are visually hooked to watch the music video and the different shots consisted within it.

Also the use of the mise en scene , where the location was really colourful which matched the energy with the people in the video also the energy within the song , also this idea of On the Floor is illustrated in what we see in the music video as Jennifer Lopez herself and others are literally on the dance floor in a vibrant club dancing .

This music video is also very entertaining due to this micro features , this allowing the audience to remember Jennifer Lopez and might also be interested in looking into her other lyrics this creating the function of gaining a name