Vliv vizuální stylizace videoklipu na vnímání hudebního umělce

This bachelor’s thesis examines the influence of a music video’s visual style on the perception of a musical artist. The aim of this thesis is to design the visual elements of a music video to convey a musician’s identity and to assess their impact on the target audience’s perception of the artist’s brand image. The thesis first defines the theoretical context of a musical artist’s brand, music videos, the perception of meanings, and visual means of expression. Secondly, the brand identity of the band Juxtaposition was defined on the brand identity matrix, along with the attributes of the brand persona, which are youthfulness, authenticity, charm, diversity, openness, and independence. Based on these, visual means of expression were designed for the music video for the song “Streetcar Named Desire.” To convey youthfulness and reflect the life of a young person, dynamic and rhythmic editing, natural acting, and camera movement were designed. Authenticity was intended to be supported by real locations, natural lighting, and handheld camera work, which convince the viewer of the band’s realistic performance. The charm intended to convey an extraordinary experience with the band to the viewer was to be communicated through a rainbow effect derived from the song’s graphics, motion blur, and double exposure to enhance the “magic” of Prague at night. To reflect the diversity of the band members, the design called for the use of various costumes, split-screen shots to highlight the individual members’ differences, and a wide variety of camera angles. To convey the attribute of openness, the proposal was to focus on the protagonists’ facial expressions, with which the viewer can more easily identify, to use eye-level framing to create a sense of equality, and to have the protagonists speak directly to the camera to break the fourth wall. These attributes were taken into account in all phases of the music video’s production, and apart from the diversity attribute, where the use of a split screen was abandoned due to its lack of functionality within the overall structure of the music video, most were incorporated into the music video as proposed. Qualitative research with the band’s target audience used in-depth interviews and semantic differential scales to determine how viewers perceive the band’s image through the music video. The research results demonstrated a high degree of influence of editing dynamics, natural performance, and camera movement on the perception of the band’s youthful brand image. Real-life locations, natural lighting, and handheld camerawork influenced the perception of authenticity as intended, and viewers were able to identify with the band through them. Motion blur and double exposure also contributed to this, although they were originally designed as expressive tools to convey a sense of magic. Viewers only noticed the rainbow effect of this attribute after a second viewing. The band’s openness and friendliness were perceived by viewers primarily through close-ups of the band members’ faces and framing at eye level. Although the music video made use of a variety of shots, the aspect of diversity was the least noticed by viewers, as the final video did not incorporate the proposed split-screen effect and the differences in costumes were not apparent to viewers. Overall, respondents feel a harmony between the music, the band’s identity, and its visual representation in the music video. The band’s image has a positive effect on them, as it provides viewers with a space to share the experience of a young person’s life. The contribution of this work is the confirmation that the perception of an artist’s positive image can be influenced by the appropriate choice of expressive means in a music video, which can be useful to musicians and music video creators.