Music video Question - ( David Guetta & Massive attack)

Q) Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist(s).
David Guetta - Titanium ft. Sia

The artists of this music video are David Guetta and Sia. However, they are not shown during the video. One young boy was used to focus all the audience’s attention on and present the message of the video through watching the boy use his inner strength. The message being presented through the artist’s music is inner strength and being strong in ourselves. The lyrics use many different literary elements to portray the message of the song such as metaphors, imagery, and symbolism. The meaning of this song is to be strong even when the world is throwing its worse at you. When bad things happen we must stand strong and not fall. As the song states, we must be "Titanium" which means to be strong hearted and strong willed.

The first lyrics in the song talk about ignoring people who will shout at us and yell at us to put us down. The song uses symbolism that extends throughout the whole song. The song uses guns and bullets as a metaphor to the hateful words that people will say to us. In the chorus Sia, the vocalist of the song, sings about being bullet proof. This means that we should not worry about what people say about us. When we are shot down with bullets, all the bullets ricochet, or bounce off. In verse two, the song talks about how people can continue to shoot us down but it’s not us who will be hurt more if we stand our ground. This song has a very empowering message to give to those who are bullied by people who continue to spew out hateful words and comments from their mouths. Although the song's style of pop, techno music might draw a person away from the meaningful words, it has a very strong moral that more people should learn about.

The artist’s lyrics promote them in a way that the audience would see a different side to hese artists. The artists are presenting lyrics which are giving the audience a strong message which is different to their usual music lyrics. The lyrics are very powerful which suggests that David Guetta and Sia are not just all about making music that the audience will like they care about giving the audience a strong powerful message. The artists are promoted in the way that they want to not just be music artists but they also want to be inspiring to their audience. This music video would be very inspiring to a large majority of the audience. The audience being inspired by David Guetta and sia’s music and lyrics would encourage them to listen to more music by the artists. Therefore, this suggests that using the Titanium video to inspire the audience may be a way of promoting themselves to attract a larger audience. They may be wanting to become more popular within the music industry and being inspirational towards their audience would give them an advantage in attracting a larger audience. 

Massive Attack – Unfinished sympathy

All the members of Massive Attack are in the music video however not clearly noticeable with the setting of the music video. All of the band are being represented as normal people who have been brought up around street life. They show this through the setting they have used in the music video. The main singer is filmed whilst she is walking down the streets which presents to the audience a wide angled view of what the street life is like. The band members walking down the street during the music video shows that they are involving themselves in that community with pride, they are not judging anyone living in that poorer community. They are not avoiding that area like most middle and higher class people would. This shows the audience that the artists of Massive Attack do not care about status and they believe everyone is equal. An example of this from the music video would be that they are not wearing flashy designer clothes compared to most other music videos when artists are typically more bothered about their appearance more than the lyrics and the message they are implying to their audience. The band are just wearing ordinary clothes like they are ordinary people and they don’t need to look the part to achieve a higher status.

We then see in the music video Daddy G holding his sons hand. This represents the artists as people who are loving and caring people who are close with their family members. This also shows that as a family they are not ashamed to walk down their hometown streets. The lead singer Shara Nelson also uses a lot of facial expressions when she is singing which implies to the audience that they are very passionate about their lyrics and the message they are putting across. The facial expressions Shara uses implies that she actually cares about what she is saying. The lyrics mean something to her and the band making it more personal. The audience would appreciate the band even more as they are sharing a song that is personal to them. This gives meaning to their music and represents the artists as people who are not all about the fame.