Research - What is the function of a music video?

A music video is a videotaped performance of a popular, recorded song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images, interpreting the lyrics. Therefore the main function/purpose of the music video is to promote the single, as well as the album in which the single has come from and also to promote the artists image. For a music video to promote it has to:

sell the song in a way that the audience can remember

to provide a better understanding of the song, both visually and audibly, by 'telling a story'

And lastly, to entertain the viewer by highlighting the talents of the artist. For example there dancing, performance skills and physical appearance.

Katy Perry's new single 'Roar', I feel is a good example of the music video form, because mainly it tells a type of story through the narrative and what’s going on in the video. At the beginning of the video she plays the typical, stereotype of women in the jungle, and then she chooses to play a character that looks as if she belongs with nature. I think she is creating an image of herself to be a strong and a will powered woman. The lyrics of the song also portray that she feels this way about herself when she sings 'hear me roar louder than a lion' and 'I am a champion'.

The setting, costume and props add to the reason why I feel she is creating the strong woman image, because it's set in a jungle where this would usually be stereotyped as not a place woman would like to be, in case they chip a nail, so I think she’s letting go of that stereotype. You also see her confronting a lion, which connotes that she’s also a brave woman. Her body language throughout most of the video is upright and straight and I think overall she’s changing the image of how women are portrayed.

This video has had over seventy million views on YouTube, and has also gone viral because of many parody's that have been posted and shared, I also shared this music video myself on Facebook.