What is a music video? - Miss Miller

There are many purposes of music videos these include;

• Promote artist or song
• Short narrative
• Represent artist
• Attract target audience
• Identify artist or group
• Buy into artists lifestyle
• Show different generic conventions of genre/music video
• For audience to remember video/artist/lyrics
• Wider audience
• Show more about audience
• Requested by audience
• Build relationship with artist
• Audience to understand more about song.

I chose to analyse Hips don't lie by Shakira, which the genre is pop, throughout the video there are many of the previous stated purposes used. Firstly the majority if not all of the video is performance based as Shakira appears in almost the whole video either singing or dancing. This showcases Shakira as a talented artist, as it highlights her abilities to sing and dance which conveys a positive representation to the audience. This also links in with promoting the artist, as viewers will watch the video and become fascinated and amazed by Shakira's skills to sing and dance extremely well, therefore will continue to view the video and will be more likely to become a loyal fan. Within the video Shakira is within camera view during all of her singing parts, she is also replicating dance moves involving her hips being moved fast paced in time with the music, this is relevant to the lyrics 'Hips don't lie' which therefore shows a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as well a relationship between the music and visuals. Using this technique is very effective as it captures the audiences attention as it builds a relationship between them and the artist. This also links in with the purpose of encouraging the audience to remember the lyrics and video as the dance moves are hard to forget as they are associated with all of the visuals and promote the song title very effectively.

Within the music video, Shakira uses props and extras such as; dragons, stilts and bright colours to create a carnival atmosphere, this builds a relationship with the audience as it emphasises her Colombian ethnicity to viewers. Shakira has an image of representing her Latina culture, having highlighted this within her video it allows the audience to make a connection through association of her existing image. This encourages the audience to become more intrigued by Shakira as an individual and not just an artist, as carnivals and vibrant personalities are a stereotypical association people have with Colombian people. Shakira bringing in her personal identity into the music video also assists the audience into buying into her lifestyle, culture and background which may help build a relationship or interest them into finding out more about her and her music. If the audience have more insight into her as not just an artist but an individual they can relate to her more as an ordinary person.

Shakiras 'Hips don't lie' video also follows many pop genre conventions, these include;

• Dancing/Dance routine
• Sexualisation of women
• Fast paced editing
• Several changes in outfits

There is a lot of dancing which is the main focus of the video, as all characters who are involved within the video participate in the choreography similar to Shakira's. However the main dancer is the artist, she partakes in a lot of solo dancing which involves her shaking her hips, however she performs in group routines as well so that the audience can relate to her desire to follow a crowd. The dancing follows the convention of the pop genre, as the music is upbeat and full of energy allowing people to dance along, which stereotypically young people do when listening to this genre, as they are the target audience. The sexualisation of women is a very important convention used within this music video, as over the years this is a convention which is becoming more and more popular within the genre due to the change in trends and society. Within the genre of pop and specifically this video, it is used to attract the attention of male viewers as well as idolising towards younger females who wish to be seen in the same light as Shakira. Therefore it is an effective method to use as it attracts a majority of the audience as well as representing Shakira in personal menor, the fast paced editing is used to keep in sync with the beat of the music, this also makes it more appealing to dance to and creates a positive association for the audience.

Shakira's target audience is aimed mainly towards females primarily young however can attract slightly elder women up to the ages of 40, she targets her music towards this audience because of her strong desire to influence their image. Shakira represents herself as someone who tries to inspire girls to be sexy like herself, this is also an advantage as it lures in the male audiences as they enjoy watching her promescuous body language and facial expressions. The video appeals to both the young women and male audiences because of the continuous use of voyeuristic treatment to the female body, Shakira exposes herself to the audiences while dancing explicitly, allowing them to mimic and analyse her boyd movements.