Music Video - I

Favourite Music Video?

Why do you like the Music Video?

History

C1900 Edison invents gramophone – Live music is

recorded on discs.

1927 First sound film “The Jazz Singer”

1930s Creation of Musicals

1939 Introduction of Panarom

1940s Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals

1950s & 1960s

Several artists and performers did live gigs on TV programs – Top of The Pops, The Monkees’ TV show, The Beatles released movie

1975 Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody

1977 Saturday Night Fever

1980 David Bowie: Ashes to Ashes

1981 Pop Clips on Nickelodeon

MTV begins broadcast via Warner satelite

1983 Michael Jackson: Thriller

1984 Music Box begins in Europe

MTV Video Music Awards launched

1985 VH1 begins

MTV taken over by Viacom

1987 MTV-Europe begins

The close relationship of music tracks & visual

material can be traced back to 1920s (Germany) &

1930s (USA) in Oscar Fischinger’s abstract

symchronizations & visual interpretations.

At the end of his works, “Get it at your local record

store” was displayed suggesting advertising for the

music track just heard by audience

Short films (8-10min) were made to shocase the

musical talents of artists such as Billie Holiday &

Bing Crosby at cinema screenings as part of

newsreels and main features

The invention of Panarom – a video jukebox placed

at bars and juke joints. Weighed about 2 tons,

contains 20-inch screen with back projection,

each machine played a reel of 8 16mm shorts.

Popular from 1939 – 1946.

1960s Scopitone was created in France. Each

machine showed 36 “play & rewind” short films in

color and allowed consumer choice by selection.

These films comprised of song & dance

performances with high level of female display.

Machine was very successful and by 1965, 1000

machines were installed in USA.

Lots of close ups of covered female parts

dominated these films. Frequently bordering into

pornography, these films prefigured the overt

sexual display of contemporary music videos

currently on TV.

As times changed, Scopitone was unable to cope

with the changing tastes of youth. By late 1960s,

Scopitone produced short films mainly of pop

artists, and reached a different audience.

Competition of TV also proved too great and the

Scopitone died out.

Music Television came about as an idea to create

promo-based program for Nickelodeon (Pop Clips).

British groups had frequent airplay due to the lack

of material from the American acts.

Growth of MTV was rapid when American artists

realised the marketing potential of music videos.

Run DMC & Aerosmith’s Walk This Way & humour of

works by MC Hammer & Coolio marked significance to

the acceptance of rap and became eligible for bigger

budgets. Hype Williams made high budget videos for

successful acts such as TLC, R Kelly & Missy Elliot,

generating record sales and led hip hop to replace rock

as the dominant music form.

Madonna set the route for future female acts with her

high profile & innovative music videos that emphasized

on image, performance, choreography and use of close

ups.

VH1 began in 1985, targeting older audience. MTV-Europe began in 1987, bringing in bigger demography and eventually opening up the rock video market to include other music genres.

MTV diversified and included lifestyle programming such as Unplugged & The Real World. Increased sales generated via Unplugged and popular culture and diversified entertainment also made way for non-white music videos.

The success of MTV as the leading innovative TV programming for youths made image as the key factor in artist promotion and by late 1980s, music promo video was a prerequisite in the promotion of music singles.

Forms & Conventions

Key aesthetic features of music video

• Relationship between lyrics & visuals

• Relationship between music & visuals

• Particular music video style & iconography for specific music genres – live performance for rock videos

• Close ups of main artist or vocalists

• Artist’s star iconography becomes the star image

• Reference to voyeurism usually for women and in terms of system of looking (binoculars, cameras, screens with screens)

• Intertextual references of other music videos, films or TV text.

Relationship between narrative & performance can also

be considered as an aesthetic feature.

Key elements of music video

Lyrics – suggests general mood or feeling or sense of subject matter. Key lines play a part in the visuals but music video, rarely, illustrates the lyrics as a whole.

Music – gives the tempo that drives the editing or editing may emphasize particular sounds from track, i.e., guitar, keyboard or drums.

Genre – following the mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles of present music videos, i.e., live performance on rock videos

Key elements of music video

Camerawork – mise-en-shot is crucial to establish the sense of space and feeling. Camera works to follow artists or talents. CU and lighting are crucial for music video (due to its advertising quality)

Editing – most common editing is fast-cut montage. Others use slow-paced editing to establish mood, usually for solo artists with a broad audience appeal (e.g. Dido & Celine Dion). Digital effects are also common, i.e., split screens, colorisation and CGI.

Intertextuality – drawing references from other texts sparks audiences’ recognition to encourage greater pleasure and flatter. Cinema, fashion & art are key reference points. Video games are fast becoming references.

Key elements of music video

Narrative & performance

Narrative in songs are often fragmented, thus storylines or linear complex fragments are usually found in music promos, giving audiences the desire to watch the videos again.

Representations are often found in music videos such as

a) Voyeurism – enjoying looking at subjects

b) Exhibitionism – subject wants to be looked at

c) Star Construction

– Image, vehicle (promo) & power (economical/artistic)

Making the video

When producing music videos, must consider

- Visual Styles

- Camera work

- Mise-en-scene

- Editing