I feel that 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson majorly changed music videos. The 13 minute clips was a promo but more of a cultural phenomenon. Even today years after it was released it is still a music videos that most people have seen and know of. Thriller sealed MTV's reputation as a new cultural force and got rid of racial barriers in the station's treatment of music, it also set a very high standard for other music videos to compete with. When it was first released VHS rentals and sales of it went through the roof as people were desperate to watch it. Also in 2009 when Michael Jackson passed away Thriller became the first music video to be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Film Registry. The Thriller was set to be the most expensive music video yet. It had to pay for not just the filming and effects but 10 days of dance rehearsals. Thriller to me is the biggest music video and mad the biggest change and influence to the industry.
The earliest piece of media which would be called a music video is'
St Louis Blues' Bessie Smith 1929. The blues singer Bessie was in a 2 reel film which was very short called 'Saint Louis Blues' which came out I 1929. This has a dramatized performance of the song.
Another early piece of work that could be cast as a music video is Walt Disney's animated products that were built around music. Typically classical music like Fantasia and Silly Symphonies.
In 1956 Tony Bennett was filmed walking in Hyde Park, London as his recording of 'Stranger in Paradise' played. This film was distributed in the US and UK on TV leading Bennett to claim he made the first music video.
In the 1960s a visual Jukebox was invented in France and short films were produced to play with the songs which again developed music videos further.
Probably the thing that developed music videos the most was The Beatles 'A hard day's night' in 1964. This was a film but had musical segments in it which still today set out the visual vocabulary of today's music videos. The Monkees also did the same as the Beatles in the US.
The first real and proper music video has to be Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' it started a new era of using music videos as promos and was seen as ground breaking.
By the 1980s releasing a music video to accompany a new single has become standard and the Jacksons started releasing videos that cost millions to make, the most notable being 'Can You Feel It'.
In 1981 MTV was launched and the first music video to be aired was 'Video killed the Radio Star' by Buggles. It marked the first 24 hour music video.
Music Videos also started to become more slick ands editing improved plus narratives started to form in the music videos. Michael Jackson was the first person to have a short film as their music video which included a start, middle and end.
He did this with 'Billie Jean' and continued to do this with the rest of his videos. His biggest music vidoe hit and the most expensive music video of that time was Thriller coming to an overall cost of $500,000.
Up until 2005 music videos were only really shows on Music Channels and TOTP's. In 2005 Youtube was launched which made the viewing of music videos a lot easier. In more recent years Taylor Swift has started creating music videos that have been of really high quality but has cost a vast amount of money. Awards for high quality and artistic music videos are now part of most music awards and the aim for artists to have the best music video is very high. In more recent years it has become more and more promenant that the 'sex appeal' of females and sometimes men is very noticeable in music videos now compared to older music videos.
1982 Andrew Goodwin published a book called 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' after he had done years of research into Music Videos. In the book he comes up with codes and conventions for music videos.
Goodwins Theory: 1. Music Videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics:
Hard Rock= Performance based/massive crowds
Girl/Boy Band= Dance Routine
Rap/HipHop= Throwing Signs/low angles
Gangsta Rap= Women/Bling
An example would be Nsync 'Bye Bye Bye' this is a boy band and it includes a dance routine in it.
2. There is always a relationship between lyrics and visuals either illustrative or contradicting.
An example of this would be Katy Perry's Last Friday night. There is a relation between lyrics and visuals in this music video.
3. There is always a relationship between music and visuals either illustrative of contradicting.
There is a contradiction between the music and the visuals. This whole song is about where the love is but the video is a lot of bad this happening showing a contradiction.
4. The demands of the record label will need for lots of close ups of the artist.
There are a lot of close ups of Britney in this video to show the demands of the record label.
5. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work.
6.There is a frequent reference to the notion of 'looking', filming and cameras.
7. There is often a lot of intertextual references to film, television and popular culture.
This is a shot from Iggy Azela's 'Fancy'. This is a shot of Iggy the main artist dressed very similar to the main character in Clueless and this shows a intertextual reference between the two.
Performance Music Video Performance Music Videos include shots of the artist performing either on stage or as part of the narrative of the music video. They also regularly have close ups of the artist.
An example of a Performance Music Videos would be ‘My Hero’ by the Foo Fighters. I have chosen this music video as it includes a lot of performance shots. It shows the artists as being part of the narrative.
Narrative Music Video
These music videos often tell stories
that feature the lyrics of the song in
them.
The music videos tend to have a
beginning, middle and end and are like mini films.
An example of a Narrative Music Video
would be ‘Scientist’ by Coldplay.
Despite this music video going backwards
it tells a story of a car accident.
Thematic Music Video
Common themes are used in Thematic Music
Videos. This depends on the genre of the music.
Rap music usually has themes of street
and cars whereas Heavy metal music usually has more performance shots and low
key lighting.
An example of a Thematic Music Video
would be ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyoncé.
I have chosen this music video as it
includes dance routines which are commonly associated with female artists
performance.
What makes a good music video?
I think a good music videos includes one
or more of the three aspects I have discussed; performance, narrative or
thematic.
A good music video I believe should link
to the lyrics of the song in order for it to make sense.
Also the music video should relate to the
genre of the song. For example Heavy
Metal music videos should have low key lighting and quite a ‘grungy’ and dark
look to them. Whereas a Pop song should have more bright colours and high key
lighting.
Doing a presentation on music videos allows me to understand them and gain knowledge on how they work. I now gave knowledge on the different types of music videos and this will help me with my music video and being able to understand how they work.
