The Purpose,Styles,Conventions and Techniques of Music Videos
Music videos have changed over the years changing their styles and purposes of them.Bands and Artist started to make music videos through out the years as they became more popular and being a good way to brand them and advertise there music.New technology also allowed the quality of music video change and include more effects and ideas.A Hard days night was released in 1964 by the Beetles which was one of the first music videos that changed the purpose of music videos by including a narrative and showing the band like they have never seen before.In stead of showing just the Beetles performing in this video it shows the band together running from fans ,having fun and showing that they are just normal group of lads.This video shows of each individual band members personality's showing they are good fun and fans and the audience of the video can see the band in a new perspective.This video would help brand the band to the public by showing there a normal group of lads which people could refer them selves to and identify them and showing there real people.This video is very clever because through out the video is the band getting chased by fans which shows how successful they are and were at the time and this would happen at the time because of how popular they were.The close up shots in this video are cleverly used to show the happy expressions of the band members face which makes the band look positive and good fun which is what people liked ,but it also shown the artists as icons by giving there faces an image.This technique is used through out the video which is branding the band showing of there styles through there costumes and the style of there hair.The purpose of this video was for a start of a film which was called A Hard days night but people took the concept of this and the new music video era was born because Now the Artist or band could now be branded as well as there music which could make them more well known and successful.
Top of the Pops
In the 1960's television was becoming very popular because family's and the public could afford to have one and they started to be introduced to every one all over the world.More channels were being created and in 1964 Top of the pops was born were the top artists in the charts would perform there songs.Television open a new door for how music was viewed and listened to and was a great way for Artist to promote and play there work and for them to be branded.Abba released Mamma Mia in 1975. In this music video it shows the band performing shown by a wide range of shots such as close ups, mid shots and master shots. The music video only showed the band performing but during the 1970s most music videos were like this to put on early TV. During the early seventies most videos would show off each of the band members to promote them and to sell them to the public and also because now TV was starting to become a world phenomenom. Music videos were starting to be streamed on TV channels. Also these music videos were for brand awareness.
In 1975, Queen released the music video for Bohemian Rhapsody. This music video was one of the first to have major video effects and creative filming techniques and camera angles which made the video look ahead of its time. This video became very iconic for the time and is still iconic today. The band were filmed on a black background where you can only see the heads through four spotlights which became well remembered by many people. This image became the album cover and was a good way of promoting the band. The major effects in the film were fade transitions from shot to shot and duplications of the band which were in sync to the part of the song. This music video also changed the meanings of music videos because it had a narrative but it was also followed by performance elements and showing the band perform on a stage. This music video really helped promote the band and became one of Queens most successful videos still known today.
1980s
In 1986 an American Hip Hop group was born called NWA who were from a poverty place in America called Compton.NWA members were involved in gang crime and were victims of police brutality and cruelty because of there ethnicity and background.The purpose of this music video was different to other music videos because it was not just about promoting the group it was also use to send a message and to express what they have to put up with,what they experienced and them standing up and raising awareness of police brutality.brutality were one of the first voices of the streets of america and they originated gangster rap and hip hop.In this Music video Straight out of Compton is set in the streets of Compton showing footage of crime ,poverty and police brutality.There is a number of different shots such as master shots,mid shots,pan shots and high angle shots to set the scene of Compton showing the reality and the every day to day life of Compton.This music video is very fictional compared to other videos showing things that were actually happening and how the group felt about them .At the start of the music video there is a line of dialogue when it say "you are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge"which sums up the hole narrative of the song and music video showing the reality of the streets.This video was also was directing at the police by them giving a voice representing the African american community and saying how they are not scared and they hatred towards the police.In some of the shots of shows NWA walking in front of a massive group walking through the streets of Compton showing that they are the people of Compton voice.
The Music video for Michael Jackson's Thriller realised in 1992 and directed by John Landis raised the bar for Music videos and for music around the world which boosted and promote the music industry making it more popular then ever.Unlike normal Music videos MJ changed music videos by creating short films out of his songs such as thriller which lasts for over 15 minutes which is longer then the average 3 to 5 minutes.A famous director from Hollywood Elmer Bernstein Who had previously worked with Landis on An American Werewolf in London worked on the video to make it scary and a horror film. A lot of effort was given when making this video compared to previous music videos creating a new way of directors to get known for there iconic and successful video.Also in the video they had a famous Hollywood actor Vincent price who was well known for horror films do a voice over which added effect making the video even scarier and better.
In the music video the special effects at the time were at a very high standard through the transformation of Michael into a wear wolf and into a zombie which was used to scare the viewers giving the video Horror features and conventions.Also the mise en scene used in then video was very clever such as the locations such as the grave yard to create a Horror atmosphere and the costumes and make up of the backing dancers who looked like zombies and also on Michael when he transforms .The choreography of the dances in the music videos are very famous and are repeated all round the world.One of the things people remember Michael is his great dancing and moves such as the most famous move the moon walk and choreography pieces in his music video such as Thriller.On MTV Michael's videos were played over and over again because the viewers loved his iconic and well constructed music videos which helped promote his albums.The thriller album became the most successful album ever as it still is today.
In 1986 Walk This Way music video was released which broke down the racial borders between races. In this music video and song, this is iconic because it is rock music and hip hop which are merged together into a duet. This song was originally from Aerosmith in the 1980s but in 1986 Run-D.M.C. did a cover with Aerosmith in. This was iconic because these two genres were completely different and were not thought to work together. Also in this video, it shows both races performing together which broke down the racial barriers. In the video there is a wall seperating both groups singing different covers of the song. Aerosmith break the wall which then Run-D.M.C. come through after the singing battle shown by shot reverse shot. They then perform together at the end on a massive stage. This was one of the many videos that broke down the racial barriers on TV and the music industry. Run-D.M.C. were not just a regular rap group, they rapped to rock music when in this video shown they shocked people because of this. This shows that music videos in the late eighties as videos were made to show meaning but also to be iconic for being different and creative.
MTV
Tv was rapidly becoming popular and accessible by everyone in the late seventies and eighties once colour tv was introduced and more channels were created. Like Top of the Pops, MTV was created in 1981. MTV was a new way for artists to show a glimpse of their music video. The structure of music videos would be 90 seconds of footage which would hook you in to the video and then there would be a filter which is replaying footage which would be blended in for the rest of the video. Because TV was consumed by a lot of people, it was a great way for artists to promote their work and themselves where lots of viewers would see and talk about what they have seen on TV.
The first music video to be played on MTV was "Video killed the radio star" by the Buggles which was released especially for MTV. The song is about how the video generation will "kill" radio which many people thought it would. This proves how the era was becoming so popular and consumed that it was taking over media types and ways to view music. Technology had improved during the eighties and the special effects in this music video would blow people away and amaze people because of how it was futuristic for the time. People could now also record the video using video tapes and players which they could then watch the music video over and over again. From then on this changed the meaning of music videos because people wanted them to be iconic and ahead of their time so they would be talked about and well know through TV.
In 1997, Daft Punk released 'Around the World" which became number one in the dance charts. This song was very famous and well down also for the music video. The music video was directed by Michel Gondry. It was his first attempt at bringing organised dancing to his music videos. The dancing was choreographed by Blanca Li who got very famous for how they composed it. In the video, there were five groups of characters representing each different instrument in the song. The platform they were on represented a vinyl record. Four robots walking in a circle which represented the robotic singing voice; four tall athletes wearing tracksuits with small bobble heads which were walking up the stairs representing the base guitar; four skeletons representing the guitar line; four women who were dressed as synchronised swimmers representing high pitch keyboard; and four mummies dancing representing the drum machine. All these were in synch to each of their individual instruments. Music videos such as this changed because famous directors and choreographers wanted to create iconic art out of the music videos which would be well known and famous and also to raise their own profiles.
Johnny Cash Hurt was released in 2002 and was nominated for a Grammy for best music video.This video was different because it reflected Johnny Cash's life and career and was a retrospective view of events and feelings. It was directed by Mark Romanek and they used old film footage that they found of Johnny Cash. They used this to show his journey and to make the video moving emotionally. There were close ups showing his performance element and the expression of how he is hurt in his face.
Viral Music Videos
New social media sites such as Facebook,Twitter,YouTube and many more different sites has created a new digital age by taking the world on-line.Videos can now be shared all around the world on the social media sites. When the videos become popular and shared and viewed around each of the sites, they become viral because they have been viewed many times and are being talked about. they become well known across the world.
