What is a music video - Miss Miller

The style of this music video is both concept and narrative based, with the purpose of appealing to a wide range of audience. By attracting a wide audience the music video helps to self promote the artists featured within the music video as it makes them further recognisable towards the public which helps build a relationship between the audience and the artists as they can connect them to their music.
The target audience of this music video consists of both males and females of whom like the RnB music genre as it follows the codes and conventions of the music genre therefore making it appealing to the targeted audience. These codes and conventions include the mise-en-scene of costume which is seen to be the stereotypical dress code of an RnB artist in which the audience can make a visual link between the artist and the music genre, then further promoting the artists within the music industry.

A music video is a short film or video that is used to accompany a piece of music. Music videos are primarily used to market and promote the sale of music recordings, however some bands or artists may choose to create one for purely artistic purposes. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980's, when MTV based their format around them.Within this post I will be analysing the music video for 'Same girl' by the R&B artists 'R-Kelly' and 'Usher'.

Throughout the 'Same girl' music video there are clear indications to what the purpose of the music video is. The music video withholds the purpose of all of the three categories narrative, performance and concept. Part 1:55 of the video shows the mise-en-scene with evidence of editing through the use of a split screen of both artists featuring in the music video. The use of this split screen allows the audience to have a visual image of both artists which makes the narrative being played out more memorable to them. Furthermore this music video purposely links the lyrics of the song to the video. This can be shown at 4:35 with another split screen showing two identical twin girls also mistaken for the "same girl". The use of the split screen here gives a visual image of the lyrics of the song for the audience as the song quotes "we've been messing with the same girl" which therefore gives the audience an understanding behind the meaning of the lyrics and the song through the narrative/concept being shown on the music video.

The style of the music video is based on the genre of R&B. Throughout the music video generic conventions of R&B are shown. This includes the general use of materialistic objects that the artist tends to own. This is evident within this music video at 2:00-2:05 with the use the micro-element with a long shot of Usher in a sports car and one of R-Kelly in a private jet. The use of this long shot attracts the particular target audience who like the style of R&B therefore making them want to buy into the artists lifestyle which in this music video appears to be lavish and also revolves around materialistic items. This is conventional to that particular target audience as it allows them to build a relationship with the artist/s and helps them to identify the artist/s through their expensive lifestyle. This micro-element is used   to appeal to the target audience by promoting the artists within the music industry and connect them to the RnB genre by conveying the conventions typically associated and stereotyped with that music genre.

The codes and conventions of the particular music genre of R&B - for men- include the mise-en-scene of jewellery. Unlike males in hip hop, RnB stars wear subtle jewellery like a watch, chain and earring - where as in hip hop they would wear bundles of jewellery. This is carried out by the 'Same girl' music video as both Usher and R-Kelly are seen to be wearing jewellery which consist of earrings a watch a ring and a chain. Jewellery is the most conventional piece of clothing in both R&B and Hip-Hop genres. In every R&B video you see, some sort of jewellery, whether that be a watch, a necklace, or an earring, the artist will have some form of jewellery, which shows wealth and status in society. By using the micro-element of costume - jewellery- within this music video it enables the target audience to associate the artist with the music genre in a visual aspect as well as building a relationship between the artist and the audience as the audience can aspire to the lifestyle of the artist/s therefore promoting the artists as icons.











Another generic convention of RnB music videos for males are tattoos. A lot of RnB male artists have tattoos a majority of the time they are on their chest if not they are on their arms. They also tend to have multiple tattoos, it will not just be one. Tattoos are a big part of R&B culture again, with the majority having lots of tattoos all visible to the public. This could be used to show creativity and independence from other artists. Even if two artists sound similar, the tattoos and personalities they have could set them apart from each other so much that they wouldn't be seen as similar anymore. However, this is challenged by this music video as no tattoos are visible to the audience so can be therefore seen to be challenging the stereotype of RnB stars to be covered in ink therefore making the video more memorable to the target audience as it's not rare within the RnB genre.
Furthermore RnB male artists generally hold the convention of being topless within their music videos. This is because a lot of male RnB artists target market are young teenage girls. However this has adapted over the years as the majority of R&B music videos nowadays have male artists dressed in smart/casual clothing. This could be to represent class or status in society. This convention has been carried out within the 'same girl' music video as both 'Usher' and 'R-Kelly' are seen to be wearing either casual clothing or smart suits which gives out a more sophisticated feel to the RnB genre.

The style of this music video is both concept and narrative based, with the purpose of appealing to a wide range of audience. By attracting a wide audience the music video helps to self promote the artists featured within the music video as it makes them further recognisable towards the public which helps build a relationship between the audience and the artists as they can connect them to their music.

The target audience of this music video consists of both males and females of whom like the RnB music genre as it follows the codes and conventions of the music genre therefore making it appealing to the targeted audience. These codes and conventions include the mise-en-scene of costume which is seen to be the stereotypical dress code of an RnB artist in which the audience can make a visual link between the artist and the music genre, then further promoting the artists within the music industry.