The Purpose of Music Videos
Although there was no definitive first music video, the introduction of the talkies on the early 20's helped kick start the idea of putting music and film together. A film that is often referred to as an early music video is the St. Louis by Bessie Smith that was released in 1929. The film shows Smith singing the song in a bar as she is accompanied by locals who sing with her. The film was shown in movie theatres. The film included an introduction to the song like a story much like in music videos today.
The band that is very often said to have produced the very first music video is Queen with their 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody. This is definitely not the case and there is plenty of evidence to prove otherwise;
In 1964 The Beatles released a movie called 'A Hard Days Night' the opening sequence of this movie was filmed as part of the narrative showing the band being chased by hundreds of fans onto a train with the song 'A Hard Days Night' playing as a backing track. This didn't mean to be filmed specifically as a music video but has since been cropped out of the movie and used for that purpose. Other songs such as 'Can't Buy Me Love' were also cropped out of the film and used as music videos.
In 1967, Bob Dylan was filming biographical documentary 'Don't Look Back' in which he filmed a video for the song 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. The video was simple with Dylan holding up large pieces of card with the last word from each line of the song on them. He stood in front of the camera dropping the cards in time with the lyrics. The idea for the video was thought up by Dylan.Much like 'A Hard Days Night' The video was never meant as a music video but just as another part of the documentary. parodies...
These videos started the idea that music videos didn't have to be performed, artists could get creative with what they wanted to show their audience.
The Beatles went on to shoot a video for their song 'Strawberry Fields Forever' at the start of 1967. Their song 'Penny Lane' was released at around the same time and was also accompanied by a music video. These are often referred to as the first conceptual music videos made to promote a band or album.
On January 1st 1964, Top of the Pops was aired by the BBC for the first time in the UK with artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones performing during this episode.
BBC Radio1 would not air for another 3 years so this quickly became the best way for artists to get their music heard by a mass amount of people. The show would ask artists that were climbing the charts to play on the show. The show ran for 42 years and the first music video to be played on the show was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in November of 1975. The song had lots of parts to it and proved far too complicated to mime on air. Another factor in the making of the video was that the band would be touring at the time of the songs release and wouldn't be able to get to the TOTP studio in Manchester. This turned out to be a huge publicity triumph. The video was a major hit with viewers and because the presence of the band was not needed, the song could be aired over and over again. The show ran the song for months meaning that a huge amount of people heard and fell in love with it and the band.the success of the Bohemian Rhapsody video started a trend with other artists and bands who were touring at the time of a new single release. They knew that if they didn't play on the show, they wouldn't get the chance to be heard by that many people again any time soon so music videos were sent in to TOTP on film so they could be shown in replacement of them actually being there.
With the release of Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975, music video changed forever. The song had so many overlapping parts that it was impossible to perform live without it being obvious the artists were lip syncing and looking foolish. The music video came from the idea of bringing the bands album cover to life and only took 3 hours to film. Most of the special effects were achieved with the camera during filming.
Bohemian Rhapsody was the beginning of the modern music video. The first music video that was put onto video instead of film was Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie. Much like Bohemian Rhapsody, this video was far from professional and started with Bowie's idea to dress up like a clown on a beach. The ideas snowballed and soon the video was made. Along with the video for Fade to Grey, Ashes to Ashes gave way to the start of the new romantics era which attracted artists like Adam Ant.
The idea of taking on a roll for a music video has carried on through the years. Artists like Robbie Williams taking the idea for Millennium from James Bond and even Beyonce and Lady GaGa creating a Kill Bill style music video for their song Telephone. The ultimate pretender though, would turn out to be Madonna, who has never played a similar role twice in her music videos.
By the beginning of the 1980's music videos had become a big part of a lot of artists careers. It became the norm to release a single with a music video and with so many videos to be shown and not enough air time coming from a weekly pop show a change had to be made.
Former Monkees band member Mike Nesmith had the idea for a channel dedicated to playing music videos all day every day. This idea wasn't well received until Nesmith approached Warner American Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC) who was paying for a broadcast feed that they had nothing to put on. They agreed to give Nesmith and his idea a chance. The channel ran a show called Pop Clips which was a huge success and convinced corporate bosses that a 24 hour music station was worth investing in and on 1st August 1981, MTV was launched showing he video for 'Video Killed the Radio Star' as it's first ever music video aired. After a niche artsy start, MTV became more mainstream after realising that it needed to air a wide range of music to receive the viewing figures it needed.
Although music videos were making it easier for artists to get themselves out there and reach an audience they would never have reached otherwise, there were some detrimental effects. "MTV has changed music so people have to look good before they're given the chance to sound good [...] There's an awful lot of records that became hits because of what someone looks like instead of the song" - Phil Collins. Artists like Duran Duran were often disappointed to find that the first thing they were asked about during interviews was their music videos and not the music itself.
By the mid 80's people were taking the next steps in music video with bands like Dire Straights releasing animated videos to go with their music. Animated music videos soon took off with videos for songs like Take on Me and Sledgehammer.
Other artists had taken in a step further though. In December 1983 Michael Jackson's album 'Thriller' was released. The album has become the best selling album of all time and included songs like 'Beat It' which was accompanied by a revolutionary music video which started the idea of dance battles in music videos.
The music video that has had perhaps the biggest impact though, is the video for 'Thriller'.
MJ had the idea of recreating the Teen Wolf movie in music video form and liked the thought of dressing up and trying something a bit scary without having to take himself too seriously. John Landis, the director thought it would be interesting to take this idea one step further and turn the music video into a mini movie. The pair were very excited about this idea but Michael's label weren't prepared to pay for the video to be made. This meant that in order for the video to be made, Michael and John would have to come up with the money themselves. They sold a documentary named 'The Making of Thriller' and were able to come up with the money they needed for the video. It was a huge success and even saw the tune rise back up the charts and triple in sales after it had been falling previously. This is the hit that proved music videos could make money and made the idea of making a music video even more mainstream.
Music videos soon became an easy way to fame and it seemed the best way to get your music noticed was to make a music video that people were going to talk about. In order to do this, artists started incorporating nudity into their videos. Artists like Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Duran Duran used nudity and anarchy in their videos for 'Relax' and 'The Wild Boys'
Someone who is also known for over sexualising their videos is Madonna. She knew that this would get her videos a lot of interest. Bands like Blink 182 and Michael Jackson have also followed suit.
It didn't take long for artists like Bob Geldof to realise that they could use publicity from music videos for a good cause. In 1984 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' was released and the music video for the song is the what was filmed during the recording of the song.
In 1982, 'black' music wasn't being shown on MTV. Videos were being made and people wanted to see them but they weren't being aired. This was because the music industry thought Rap was a passing fad and that MTV's core demographic of white viewers were into rock and not rap. This couldn't have been further from the truth and rap stuck around. Rock and rap have even overlapped over the years with bands like Kid Rock introducing a cross over genre. Rap stars like Eminem and Dr Dre have also proved that rap is here to stay, and that white rappers are more than welcome within the genre. Other white rappers such as Macklemore and The Beastie Boys are proving this too.
The boundaries of music video have been pushed over the years and with the arrival of YouTube in 2005, its becoming easier and easier for artists to get their material out into the world. With the rise of social media, artists are now able to publicise themselves and their music videos easily and effectively.
Glossary
Styles:
Popular Music Genres
The definition of genre according to oxforddictionaries.com is 'A style or category of art, music or literature'
Popular Music Genres are the styles of music that attract the largest audiences.
There are websites that track music going into the charts as well as albums that are popular and popular music within specific genres.
A blog post published in October of 2012 shows a list of 30 of the most popular genres of music based upon sales of albums as well as singles and also includes compilation albums and downloads. The blog post states that within the top 10 genres of music lie pop, country, disco and rock.
In-concert footage is a style that shows the artist performing at concerts in the video. The style isn't used very often in music videos but one example of this style is Taylor Swifts 'Red' music video This video is completely made up of concert footage. Another example of this type of style is the music video for 'Radio Ga Ga' by Queen. In this video, the band performed in front of thousands of fans whom they dressed in the same costume and asked them to carry out a simple clapping sequence. This isn't technically concert footage but has the same feel and was staged to look as though the thousands of fans were the bands followers.
'As Live' footage is used often by rock musicians. This style can be used in many different ways
Animation
A lot of music videos are live action and feature the artists themselves either performing the song or acting as part of a story. There are other ways to make music videos though, and animation is one of them. According to the Oxford Dictionary, animation is 'The technique of photographing drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.' There are a number of reasons why artists chose to produce animated music videos ranging from wanting to broaden the boundaries when making the video to not wanting to be recognisable. Just The Way You Are' and Daft Punk's 'One More Time'
Bands like Daft Punk and Slipknot adopt masks when they are performing because they simply don't want their personal lives interfering with their music lives. Some examples of animated music videos include Bruno Mars' '
Interpretative
Interpretative music videos are very different to videos that have an obvious storyline or narrative. These videos are open to the audiences interpretation and allow for them to use their imagination to decipher what is going on within the music video. An interpretative music video that has bee released recently is 'Elastic Heart' by Sia. The video caused an outrage on social media with people saying they thought it was advertising paedophilia. This obviously was not the case but the way that some audiences interpreted it in that way.
Narrative
Narrative is when a story is told through a music video. These videos are often longer than the song its self and will have a set up at the beginning or a bit at the end to conclude the narrative or sometimes both. Sam Smith's 'I'm Not The Only One' is an example of a narrative video as it follows the story of a woman who has realised her husband is cheating on her.
Surrealist
Surrealism is a creative way of expressing ideas and thoughts. Surrealist music videos don't often have a story line and don't follow many codes or conventions of traditional music videos. Surrealist music videos can often be about dreams or drugs. Surrealist videos often use animation and special effects to create scenes that couldn't possibly be real. Chris Cunningham is a master of surreal music videos. With videos like 'Come to Daddy' and 'All is Full of Love'
Parody
The definition of the word parody according to the Oxford Dictionary is 'An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect' A lot of music videos are parodied these days with artists like Taylor Swift and One Direction. In these videos, the creator is targeting the artist as well as the song. Maybe the most famous parodies come from Weird Al Yankovic who, instead of making fun of the artists, uses the melody to get his own opinions and ideas across. 'Word Crimes' is an example of this. He uses the music from Robin Thickes 'Blurred Lines' to talk about how bad grammar annoys him. His videos are a big mix of animation, kinetic typography and live action. In some of his videos he has taken on the codes and conventions of the music he's parodying. An example of this is in the 'Amish Paradise' video where he used contrasted lighting, slow motion and close up shots of him singing.
Referencing
Referencing is when a music video uses something that has been in a film or another music video or even a book or a big event. Using something an audience can relate to and reference back to can mean a very successful music video. A music video can include small references bigger references. A music video that ha a couple of small references is Taylor Swifts 'Blank Space' One of the shots in this music video references the film Mean Girls as there are holes cut into the guys shirt which is something that happens to one of the girls in the film. The scene in Mean Girls is quite famous and easily recognisable. There is also a reference to the film twilight in the video with a shot of Swift holding an apple in both hands. This is very similar to the cover of the book. Music videos like 'California Love' by Tupac and Dr. Dre and 'Telephone' by Lady GaGa and Beyonce contain bigger and more obvious references. 'California Love' is a reference to the Mad Max films and Telephone references films like Pulp Fiction with the scenes in the diner, Kill Bill with the Pussy Wagon and Thelma and Louise with the idea of 2 woman on the run from the law.
Homage
Unlike parodies, homage videos are more like tributes to a person, video or film that has influenced the artist. 30 Seconds to Mars' music video for 'The Kill' is a homage to the film 'The Shining' with references to the type writer, the twins, and obviously the hotel from the film
Iggy Azaleas 'Fancy' is a homage to the film 'Clueless'. The costumes within the music video make this obvious as well as some of the scenes that are re-enactments of the scenes in the film.
Conventions:
Allusion
Allusion is the term used to describe a subtle reference towards something. This can be a place, person or event. Allusions in music videos are often used to expand an audiences understanding of a song. An example of a music video that uses allusion is Beyonce's 'Pretty Hurts' The video is set around a beauty pageant with images including a slim girl tugging at her skin as though she thinks she is fat, the artist working out tirelessly and still not being happy with what the scales read and leaning over a toilet. The artist also wears a sash that reads 'Mrs 3rd ward' at multiple points in the video. These are all references to eating disorders and other issues with self image, and support lyrics like 'Pretty hurts, we shine a light on whatever's worst', 'Blonder hair, flat chest. TV says bigger is better. South beach, sugar free, Vogue says thinner is better' and 'The pains inside, and nobody frees you from your body' Although the artist never actually mentions any words directly associated with eating disorders, the audience are constantly aware of what the song stands for because of these visual and lyrical references.
Techniques:
Cutting to Beat
When a music video uses this technique, it means that the images will cut and change to the beat of the song. There are a lot of different ways that this can be done. Some examples of music videos that use this technique include Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and The Nights by Avicii both of these songs are very recent releases which shows that techniques like this are classics that will always have a good effect. A variation of this technique is Daft Punks Around the World music video. The dancers move to the beat instead of editing the actual image to the beat. This achieves the same effect but in a creative way.
Effects
Effects are used in a lot of music videos. Although effects have changed and developed, they have been used in music videos for decades. An example of a music video that used effects years ago is David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes. The video uses lots of lighting effects to give the video a darker feel. Bowie himself said that he was determined to change the colour of the water and sky to black without distorting any ones face. Another example is Sledghammer by Peter Gabriel which uses stop motion to create a make believe world as if seeing inside the artists head. An example of a modern music video using heavy effects would be
Miming and Lip Sync
Miming and lip syncing are the terms used when an artist moves their mouth to the lyrics in a song as if they are singing but they aren't. There is a track playing that will have a version of the artist singing on it and the artist makes it look as though they are singing live.
Multi-Image
Kodaline's video for 'The One' is a good example of multi-image. The song uses the technique to show how the lives of two people come together briefly at certain points. Showing their separate lives in each side of the screen and bringing the separate screens into one at the end of the video where they meet properly for the first time. This kind of technique shows an entire love story in under 4 minutes and allows the audience to relate to the characters in the video. The use of split screen almost drives the audience to will them to get together as they do in the end.
Another music video that uses multi-image is 'Sugar Water' by Cibo Matto. The video shows 2 woman's days. At the start of the video the image on the left shows the woman's day going forward and the image on the right is going backwards. Half way through the video, much like in the Kodaline video, the woman's paths cross and they switch sides of the screen. The woman's days play out again but in an opposite way to before. The audience discovers at the end of the video that both the woman live in the same building.
Camera Movements
Camera movements include tracking, dolly and pan shots. A tracking shot would consist of a camera being rigged onto a dolly behind the subject and following as it moves. This type of movement is used a lot in love songs, often showing the subjects partner walking towards them.
Dolly shots are used to move the camera from left to right. This is different from a pan shot because the camera is not stationary like it is for a pan. This type of shot might be used in a similar way as a tracking shot. Pan shots are often horizontal but can also be vertical. Vertical pan shots are sometimes used at the end of videos where the camera pans up from the artist to show the sun or sky. This gives a defined ending to music videos and is pleasing for the audience to watch.
Another way that cameras are moved in music videos is by using a crane, A lot of artists will use crane shots or even shots taken from a helicopter. This gives music videos an 'epic' look and is used mostly by rock, pop and hip-hop artists.
Camera Angles
There are lot of different types of camera angles. Different angles are used for different types of music. Hip-hop famously uses low angled shots looking up at the artist to show status. Rock videos will usually use long shots. Rock bands often make performance music videos and using a long shot ensures the audience are able to see the whole band. Rock videos also use high angle shots frequently.
If someone is shooting a video for a power ballad, they are likely to use close up, straight on angle of their face and mouth, this helps the audience to connect with the artist.
ideas development; Ideas development is something that the company and client will do together. These days there are often a lot of people involved in idea development but back when music videos started, an idea could be turned into a full script and storyboard within hours and would only involve the artist and director/producer.
treatments; A treatment is the run down that comes after ideas development. It is like a reference sheet for the client to look at and has all if the panning for the project on it.
proposals; A company might make a proposal to a client if they feel that something isn't going to work or there isn't the right budget for something that the client wants to happen. If a company is working with a very strict brief, they will be requires to make proposals to their client to change the brief if needs be.
storyboard; A story board is a run down of shot types, angles, and durations as well as sound, dialogue and illustrated pictures of what is going to be on screen. Storyboards help everything to run smoothly as everyone can see what the video is supposed to look like.
scheduling; Scheduling is very important in any project. Making sure everyone knows where they need to be, when and for how long is crucial for making sure a project runs smoothly. Shooting times, shooting dates, locations, and even lunch breaks are scheduled on a professional project.
health and safety; Health and safety assessments must be done at the beginning of every day during a shoot. Trip hazards, fire hazards, heights, breakages, spillages and so much more all need to be taken into consideration before shooting begins. This is to ensure that no time is wasted during the day and also for insurance purposes
The band that is very often said to have produced the very first music video is Queen with their 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody. This is definitely not the case and there is plenty of evidence to prove otherwise;In 1964 The Beatles released a movie called 'A Hard Days Night' the opening sequence of this movie was filmed as part of the narrative showing the band being chased by hundreds of fans onto a train with the song 'A Hard Days Night' playing as a backing track. This didn't mean to be filmed specifically as a music video but has since been cropped out of the movie and used for that purpose. Other songs such as 'Can't Buy Me Love' were also cropped out of the film and used as music videos.
These videos started the idea that music videos didn't have to be performed, artists could get creative with what they wanted to show their audience.
The Beatles went on to shoot a video for their song 'Strawberry Fields Forever' at the start of 1967. Their song 'Penny Lane' was released at around the same time and was also accompanied by a music video. These are often referred to as the first conceptual music videos made to promote a band or album.On January 1st 1964, Top of the Pops was aired by the BBC for the first time in the UK with artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones performing during this episode.
BBC Radio1 would not air for another 3 years so this quickly became the best way for artists to get their music heard by a mass amount of people. The show would ask artists that were climbing the charts to play on the show. The show ran for 42 years and the first music video to be played on the show was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in November of 1975. The song had lots of parts to it and proved far too complicated to mime on air. Another factor in the making of the video was that the band would be touring at the time of the songs release and wouldn't be able to get to the TOTP studio in Manchester. This turned out to be a huge publicity triumph. The video was a major hit with viewers and because the presence of the band was not needed, the song could be aired over and over again. The show ran the song for months meaning that a huge amount of people heard and fell in love with it and the band.the success of the Bohemian Rhapsody video started a trend with other artists and bands who were touring at the time of a new single release. They knew that if they didn't play on the show, they wouldn't get the chance to be heard by that many people again any time soon so music videos were sent in to TOTP on film so they could be shown in replacement of them actually being there.With the release of Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975, music video changed forever. The song had so many overlapping parts that it was impossible to perform live without it being obvious the artists were lip syncing and looking foolish. The music video came from the idea of bringing the bands album cover to life and only took 3 hours to film. Most of the special effects were achieved with the camera during filming.
Bohemian Rhapsody was the beginning of the modern music video. The first music video that was put onto video instead of film was Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie. Much like Bohemian Rhapsody, this video was far from professional and started with Bowie's idea to dress up like a clown on a beach. The ideas snowballed and soon the video was made. Along with the video for Fade to Grey, Ashes to Ashes gave way to the start of the new romantics era which attracted artists like Adam Ant.The idea of taking on a roll for a music video has carried on through the years. Artists like Robbie Williams taking the idea for Millennium from James Bond and even Beyonce and Lady GaGa creating a Kill Bill style music video for their song Telephone. The ultimate pretender though, would turn out to be Madonna, who has never played a similar role twice in her music videos.
By the beginning of the 1980's music videos had become a big part of a lot of artists careers. It became the norm to release a single with a music video and with so many videos to be shown and not enough air time coming from a weekly pop show a change had to be made.
Former Monkees band member Mike Nesmith had the idea for a channel dedicated to playing music videos all day every day. This idea wasn't well received until Nesmith approached Warner American Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC) who was paying for a broadcast feed that they had nothing to put on. They agreed to give Nesmith and his idea a chance. The channel ran a show called Pop Clips which was a huge success and convinced corporate bosses that a 24 hour music station was worth investing in and on 1st August 1981, MTV was launched showing he video for 'Video Killed the Radio Star' as it's first ever music video aired. After a niche artsy start, MTV became more mainstream after realising that it needed to air a wide range of music to receive the viewing figures it needed.
By the mid 80's people were taking the next steps in music video with bands like Dire Straights releasing animated videos to go with their music. Animated music videos soon took off with videos for songs like Take on Me and Sledgehammer.Other artists had taken in a step further though. In December 1983 Michael Jackson's album 'Thriller' was released. The album has become the best selling album of all time and included songs like 'Beat It' which was accompanied by a revolutionary music video which started the idea of dance battles in music videos.
The music video that has had perhaps the biggest impact though, is the video for 'Thriller'.
MJ had the idea of recreating the Teen Wolf movie in music video form and liked the thought of dressing up and trying something a bit scary without having to take himself too seriously. John Landis, the director thought it would be interesting to take this idea one step further and turn the music video into a mini movie. The pair were very excited about this idea but Michael's label weren't prepared to pay for the video to be made. This meant that in order for the video to be made, Michael and John would have to come up with the money themselves. They sold a documentary named 'The Making of Thriller' and were able to come up with the money they needed for the video. It was a huge success and even saw the tune rise back up the charts and triple in sales after it had been falling previously. This is the hit that proved music videos could make money and made the idea of making a music video even more mainstream.
Music videos soon became an easy way to fame and it seemed the best way to get your music noticed was to make a music video that people were going to talk about. In order to do this, artists started incorporating nudity into their videos. Artists like Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Duran Duran used nudity and anarchy in their videos for 'Relax' and 'The Wild Boys'
Someone who is also known for over sexualising their videos is Madonna. She knew that this would get her videos a lot of interest. Bands like Blink 182 and Michael Jackson have also followed suit.
It didn't take long for artists like Bob Geldof to realise that they could use publicity from music videos for a good cause. In 1984 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' was released and the music video for the song is the what was filmed during the recording of the song.
In 1982, 'black' music wasn't being shown on MTV. Videos were being made and people wanted to see them but they weren't being aired. This was because the music industry thought Rap was a passing fad and that MTV's core demographic of white viewers were into rock and not rap. This couldn't have been further from the truth and rap stuck around. Rock and rap have even overlapped over the years with bands like Kid Rock introducing a cross over genre. Rap stars like Eminem and Dr Dre have also proved that rap is here to stay, and that white rappers are more than welcome within the genre. Other white rappers such as Macklemore and The Beastie Boys are proving this too.
The boundaries of music video have been pushed over the years and with the arrival of YouTube in 2005, its becoming easier and easier for artists to get their material out into the world. With the rise of social media, artists are now able to publicise themselves and their music videos easily and effectively.
Glossary
Styles:
Popular Music Genres
The definition of genre according to oxforddictionaries.com is 'A style or category of art, music or literature'
Popular Music Genres are the styles of music that attract the largest audiences.
There are websites that track music going into the charts as well as albums that are popular and popular music within specific genres.
A blog post published in October of 2012 shows a list of 30 of the most popular genres of music based upon sales of albums as well as singles and also includes compilation albums and downloads. The blog post states that within the top 10 genres of music lie pop, country, disco and rock.
In-concert
and ‘As Live’ Footage
In-concert footage is a style that shows the artist performing at concerts in the video. The style isn't used very often in music videos but one example of this style is Taylor Swifts 'Red' music video This video is completely made up of concert footage. Another example of this type of style is the music video for 'Radio Ga Ga' by Queen. In this video, the band performed in front of thousands of fans whom they dressed in the same costume and asked them to carry out a simple clapping sequence. This isn't technically concert footage but has the same feel and was staged to look as though the thousands of fans were the bands followers.'As Live' footage is used often by rock musicians. This style can be used in many different ways
AnimationA lot of music videos are live action and feature the artists themselves either performing the song or acting as part of a story. There are other ways to make music videos though, and animation is one of them. According to the Oxford Dictionary, animation is 'The technique of photographing drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.' There are a number of reasons why artists chose to produce animated music videos ranging from wanting to broaden the boundaries when making the video to not wanting to be recognisable. Just The Way You Are' and Daft Punk's 'One More Time'
Bands like Daft Punk and Slipknot adopt masks when they are performing because they simply don't want their personal lives interfering with their music lives. Some examples of animated music videos include Bruno Mars' '
InterpretativeInterpretative music videos are very different to videos that have an obvious storyline or narrative. These videos are open to the audiences interpretation and allow for them to use their imagination to decipher what is going on within the music video. An interpretative music video that has bee released recently is 'Elastic Heart' by Sia. The video caused an outrage on social media with people saying they thought it was advertising paedophilia. This obviously was not the case but the way that some audiences interpreted it in that way.
Narrative
Narrative is when a story is told through a music video. These videos are often longer than the song its self and will have a set up at the beginning or a bit at the end to conclude the narrative or sometimes both. Sam Smith's 'I'm Not The Only One' is an example of a narrative video as it follows the story of a woman who has realised her husband is cheating on her.
Impressionist
Impressionist music videos are more artsy and reflect the impressionism art movement.
Impressionist music videos are more artsy and reflect the impressionism art movement.
Surrealism is a creative way of expressing ideas and thoughts. Surrealist music videos don't often have a story line and don't follow many codes or conventions of traditional music videos. Surrealist music videos can often be about dreams or drugs. Surrealist videos often use animation and special effects to create scenes that couldn't possibly be real. Chris Cunningham is a master of surreal music videos. With videos like 'Come to Daddy' and 'All is Full of Love'
Pastiche
Pastiche means to imitate. This could be an imitation of a time period, or another artist and their work. Katy Perry's 'Thinking of You' is a pastiche music video, set in the 40's.
Pastiche means to imitate. This could be an imitation of a time period, or another artist and their work. Katy Perry's 'Thinking of You' is a pastiche music video, set in the 40's.
ParodyThe definition of the word parody according to the Oxford Dictionary is 'An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect' A lot of music videos are parodied these days with artists like Taylor Swift and One Direction. In these videos, the creator is targeting the artist as well as the song. Maybe the most famous parodies come from Weird Al Yankovic who, instead of making fun of the artists, uses the melody to get his own opinions and ideas across. 'Word Crimes' is an example of this. He uses the music from Robin Thickes 'Blurred Lines' to talk about how bad grammar annoys him. His videos are a big mix of animation, kinetic typography and live action. In some of his videos he has taken on the codes and conventions of the music he's parodying. An example of this is in the 'Amish Paradise' video where he used contrasted lighting, slow motion and close up shots of him singing.
ReferencingReferencing is when a music video uses something that has been in a film or another music video or even a book or a big event. Using something an audience can relate to and reference back to can mean a very successful music video. A music video can include small references bigger references. A music video that ha a couple of small references is Taylor Swifts 'Blank Space' One of the shots in this music video references the film Mean Girls as there are holes cut into the guys shirt which is something that happens to one of the girls in the film. The scene in Mean Girls is quite famous and easily recognisable. There is also a reference to the film twilight in the video with a shot of Swift holding an apple in both hands. This is very similar to the cover of the book. Music videos like 'California Love' by Tupac and Dr. Dre and 'Telephone' by Lady GaGa and Beyonce contain bigger and more obvious references. 'California Love' is a reference to the Mad Max films and Telephone references films like Pulp Fiction with the scenes in the diner, Kill Bill with the Pussy Wagon and Thelma and Louise with the idea of 2 woman on the run from the law.
HomageUnlike parodies, homage videos are more like tributes to a person, video or film that has influenced the artist. 30 Seconds to Mars' music video for 'The Kill' is a homage to the film 'The Shining' with references to the type writer, the twins, and obviously the hotel from the film
Iggy Azaleas 'Fancy' is a homage to the film 'Clueless'. The costumes within the music video make this obvious as well as some of the scenes that are re-enactments of the scenes in the film.
Conventions:
Lyric Interpretation
Music videos that use lyric interpretation show the audience what the artist is singing about. This kind of music this technique is used in most often is love songs or ballads with a narrative. An example of using lyric interpretation within a music video is Taylor Swifts 'Story of Us' at 1:33 minutes into the video, the artist sings the lyrics 'How'd we end up this way, you see me nervously pulling at my clothes and trying to look busy' these lyrics are accompanied by these images.
Music videos that use lyric interpretation show the audience what the artist is singing about. This kind of music this technique is used in most often is love songs or ballads with a narrative. An example of using lyric interpretation within a music video is Taylor Swifts 'Story of Us' at 1:33 minutes into the video, the artist sings the lyrics 'How'd we end up this way, you see me nervously pulling at my clothes and trying to look busy' these lyrics are accompanied by these images.
Another song that uses lyric interpretation is 'Concrete Angel' by Martina McBride. The lyrics 'She walks to school with a lunch she packed' are sung as these images are shown.
Extending or Consolidating Song’s Meaning
emphasising the lyrics
emphasising the lyrics
AllusionAllusion is the term used to describe a subtle reference towards something. This can be a place, person or event. Allusions in music videos are often used to expand an audiences understanding of a song. An example of a music video that uses allusion is Beyonce's 'Pretty Hurts' The video is set around a beauty pageant with images including a slim girl tugging at her skin as though she thinks she is fat, the artist working out tirelessly and still not being happy with what the scales read and leaning over a toilet. The artist also wears a sash that reads 'Mrs 3rd ward' at multiple points in the video. These are all references to eating disorders and other issues with self image, and support lyrics like 'Pretty hurts, we shine a light on whatever's worst', 'Blonder hair, flat chest. TV says bigger is better. South beach, sugar free, Vogue says thinner is better' and 'The pains inside, and nobody frees you from your body' Although the artist never actually mentions any words directly associated with eating disorders, the audience are constantly aware of what the song stands for because of these visual and lyrical references.
Links to Other Artists
Eminem's 'We Made You' has several links to various artists including Jessica Simpson, Amy Winehouse, John Mayer and Elvis along with other media personalities. The video shows Eminem and other actors dressed as these artists and celebrities. The song pokes fun at most of these people. The actress playing Jessica Simpson is quite overweight and Amy Winehouse's teeth are particularly grim for example. There are links to Elvis' 'Jail House Rock' music video as well as John Mayer's tendency to use black and white for his videos.
Eminem's 'We Made You' has several links to various artists including Jessica Simpson, Amy Winehouse, John Mayer and Elvis along with other media personalities. The video shows Eminem and other actors dressed as these artists and celebrities. The song pokes fun at most of these people. The actress playing Jessica Simpson is quite overweight and Amy Winehouse's teeth are particularly grim for example. There are links to Elvis' 'Jail House Rock' music video as well as John Mayer's tendency to use black and white for his videos.
Techniques:
Cutting to Beat
When a music video uses this technique, it means that the images will cut and change to the beat of the song. There are a lot of different ways that this can be done. Some examples of music videos that use this technique include Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and The Nights by Avicii both of these songs are very recent releases which shows that techniques like this are classics that will always have a good effect. A variation of this technique is Daft Punks Around the World music video. The dancers move to the beat instead of editing the actual image to the beat. This achieves the same effect but in a creative way.
Effects
Effects are used in a lot of music videos. Although effects have changed and developed, they have been used in music videos for decades. An example of a music video that used effects years ago is David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes. The video uses lots of lighting effects to give the video a darker feel. Bowie himself said that he was determined to change the colour of the water and sky to black without distorting any ones face. Another example is Sledghammer by Peter Gabriel which uses stop motion to create a make believe world as if seeing inside the artists head. An example of a modern music video using heavy effects would be
Miming and Lip Sync
Miming and lip syncing are the terms used when an artist moves their mouth to the lyrics in a song as if they are singing but they aren't. There is a track playing that will have a version of the artist singing on it and the artist makes it look as though they are singing live.
Multi-Image
Kodaline's video for 'The One' is a good example of multi-image. The song uses the technique to show how the lives of two people come together briefly at certain points. Showing their separate lives in each side of the screen and bringing the separate screens into one at the end of the video where they meet properly for the first time. This kind of technique shows an entire love story in under 4 minutes and allows the audience to relate to the characters in the video. The use of split screen almost drives the audience to will them to get together as they do in the end.
Another music video that uses multi-image is 'Sugar Water' by Cibo Matto. The video shows 2 woman's days. At the start of the video the image on the left shows the woman's day going forward and the image on the right is going backwards. Half way through the video, much like in the Kodaline video, the woman's paths cross and they switch sides of the screen. The woman's days play out again but in an opposite way to before. The audience discovers at the end of the video that both the woman live in the same building.
Camera Movements
Camera movements include tracking, dolly and pan shots. A tracking shot would consist of a camera being rigged onto a dolly behind the subject and following as it moves. This type of movement is used a lot in love songs, often showing the subjects partner walking towards them.
Dolly shots are used to move the camera from left to right. This is different from a pan shot because the camera is not stationary like it is for a pan. This type of shot might be used in a similar way as a tracking shot. Pan shots are often horizontal but can also be vertical. Vertical pan shots are sometimes used at the end of videos where the camera pans up from the artist to show the sun or sky. This gives a defined ending to music videos and is pleasing for the audience to watch.
Another way that cameras are moved in music videos is by using a crane, A lot of artists will use crane shots or even shots taken from a helicopter. This gives music videos an 'epic' look and is used mostly by rock, pop and hip-hop artists.
Camera Angles
There are lot of different types of camera angles. Different angles are used for different types of music. Hip-hop famously uses low angled shots looking up at the artist to show status. Rock videos will usually use long shots. Rock bands often make performance music videos and using a long shot ensures the audience are able to see the whole band. Rock videos also use high angle shots frequently.
If someone is shooting a video for a power ballad, they are likely to use close up, straight on angle of their face and mouth, this helps the audience to connect with the artist.
- Codes and conventions: Codes and conventions can be technical or symbolic. The technical side includes camera angles as well as the style and pace of the video. The symbolic side includes facial expressions, and mise-en-scene. There are certain codes and conventions that all genres of music adhere to. This doesn't mean that every single music video will include these codes and conventions but more that it is relative to the genre and makes it recognisable to the audience.
Music videos for rappers and hip hop artists typically feature the following; lower angled shots, this is to show the audience that the artist is the one the audience should be watching and looking up to. The angle makes the artist look bigger and more powerful. A lot of rap and hip hop music is about power and who is the best so this convention fits perfectly with the genre. Woman wearing 'sexy' or barely any clothing, much like the low camera angles, this is to show the audience that the artist has power. It also shows that the artist can have whoever they like 'Look at all these gorgeous girls who want to be with ME.' These girls also have huge sex appeal. The kind of audience that rap and hip hop music typically attracts are young men in the teems or twenties. Having all these beautiful woman in a music video can mean lots of views from the target audience. Expensive cars and jewellery etc. Much like the 'sexy' girls, having expensive props in a music video shows that the artist has a lot of money and is able to afford any kind of product they want. Also like the girls, the objects have some what of a sex appeal. Like I said, the target audience for this kind of music is young men, for these men, seeing all these expensive cars and other props is a way to escape from reality for the duration of the video and some audiences will even aspire to own some of the props one day.
Boy bands, on the other hand, are more likely to include close up shots with lots of 'eye contact', this creates an intimacy between the artists and the audience. the target audience for boy bands is the complete opposite to the target audience for rap and hip hop artists. Young girls between the ages of 7 to 20 are often more into boy bands, and often times will develop a crush on their favourite member. Creating intimacy with the shots that are used in their music videos will ensure more views as every girl swoons over their favourite artist. Making 'eye contact' with the camera/audience gives close up shots an even stronger effect as it can make the audience feel as though the band is addressing them directly.Slow motion sequences, often included in rom-coms, slow motion sequences can add romance or drama to a scene. Boy bands will slow some of their scenes down to appear more romantic. The boys having fun together, showing the band having a good time together makes the audience feel as though they are part of something special, like the best friendship group they could every possibly belong to. Showing the band having a good time together means that the audience will have a good time watching the video.
Information: In order to make more money, artists will sometimes release material for the public to indulge in. Some artists will have behind the scenes, or making of videos on their youtube channels, while others, like Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, will release their own movie documentaries letting their fans in to their personal lives. This gives the artist the opportunity to 'show their fans who they really are.' Making fans feel as though they have a connection to the artist is good for record and album sales.
Other information that artists release includes tour dates, album release dates, single release dates etc. Creating a hype around an artists upcoming releases or events means more people will hear about it through word of mouth and, again, means more money for the artist.
Current practice relating to: popular file formats; when moving image was first developed everything was recorded and shown on film. This involved capturing a series of pictures in concession onto a strip of film and then playing the film through a projector. The first music videos were captured and shown on film. As technology progressed with the introduction of video, the music industry took note and followed suite. Like I have mentioned before, some people argue that the first ever music video was 'Ashes to Ashes' by David Bowie as it was the first music video to actually be filmed on video. Although technology was progressing, some directors thought that shooting videos on film gave them a rustic effect.
After video came digital recording. This made it a lot easier for videos to be edited after filming. Being able to edit digitally rather than chopping and cutting film and video manually meant that a lot more could be done in the way of effects.
.MOV is a bigger file format and is often used if you want to make sure your video doesn't lose quality if it's shown on a bigger screen.
MPEG 4 is a lot smaller but can still keep it's quality when shown on a bigger screen. Although this is good, the need for music videos to be shown on bigger screens is becoming less and less. Living in the YouTube age, a lot of music videos will be played on a smartphone, tablet or computer and so doesn't need to be too capable of keeping it's quality. The standard format for these youtube videos are 25 frames per second, 1080p. Filming in 1080p ensures that if the video were to be played on a bigger screen, like MPEG 4 and .MOVs, it would keep it's quality.
Legal issues: privacy; libel; copyright; (Link to separate blog post) - Production practices:
ideas development; Ideas development is something that the company and client will do together. These days there are often a lot of people involved in idea development but back when music videos started, an idea could be turned into a full script and storyboard within hours and would only involve the artist and director/producer.
treatments; A treatment is the run down that comes after ideas development. It is like a reference sheet for the client to look at and has all if the panning for the project on it.
proposals; A company might make a proposal to a client if they feel that something isn't going to work or there isn't the right budget for something that the client wants to happen. If a company is working with a very strict brief, they will be requires to make proposals to their client to change the brief if needs be.
storyboard; A story board is a run down of shot types, angles, and durations as well as sound, dialogue and illustrated pictures of what is going to be on screen. Storyboards help everything to run smoothly as everyone can see what the video is supposed to look like.
scheduling; Scheduling is very important in any project. Making sure everyone knows where they need to be, when and for how long is crucial for making sure a project runs smoothly. Shooting times, shooting dates, locations, and even lunch breaks are scheduled on a professional project.
health and safety; Health and safety assessments must be done at the beginning of every day during a shoot. Trip hazards, fire hazards, heights, breakages, spillages and so much more all need to be taken into consideration before shooting begins. This is to ensure that no time is wasted during the day and also for insurance purposes
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