To carry out my music video product I had to write a copyright letter and send it to the record label that the artist Lupe Fiasco belongs to. I had to keep formal language constant throughout the letter. The letter also had a clear structure to it in order for it to be easily read and understood.
Contact details for Sony Music Entertainment:
The contact details included an address that we had used on our copyright letter, and a telephone number that we could use. After sending and E-mail to Sony Music Entertainment we did not hear from the company yet.
Creating a copyright letter is essential in the planning and production section of our project. Without consent from the record label, our work would go against copyright laws and would therefore be illegal. Asking for permission allows us to be safe and be on legal terms with our music video product.
In our groups we planned our artist’s star image in order to
ensure that we followed conventions of the genre, and making sure that we
appealed to our target audience through the way our artist was represented.
Our artists star image is categorised into different aspects to gain a better
understanding of our artist.
I believe that the following attitudes and characteristics
are conventional to the R&B genre, therefore this is how my artists would
be represented:
Confident in the lyrics and what the artists him/herself is
trying to convey
Being arrogant and sure about the lyrics
Smart/casual not too much emphasis in costume and the way
they look
The following morals and values are conventional to the R&B genre, therefore this is how my artist would be represented in relation to their morals and values and i would keep this persistant in my music video:
Love and relationships
Their personal image
Having an interest in the opposite sex
The media's perception of the artists star image should also be conventional to the R&B genre, therefore this is how our artist would be percieved by the media:
As a role model to the target audience
The target audience would aspire to be like the star, and aim to prioritise the same beliefs and interests
Being respected by the audience
Theories to apply:
Both Goodwin and Dyer are .the theorists that i would apply. Both theorists concentrate on the 'star image' which would be relevant for us to portray within our artist because we would want our artist to be someone that the audience can relate to and aspire to be like. We would do this through various close ups.
Examples of artists that have influenced my artist representation:
When analysinbg artists such as Will.i.am and Usher we could find a number of relation from them to our actual artist.
Will.i.am: Will.i.am is a well respected and well known artist in the R&B genre. throughout his music videos he is associated with the conventional morals and values such as love, and having a consistant image that is clear and consistent Therefore Will.i.am is a prime example of an artist that has influenced our artists representation.
Usher: Usher is well known for his love songs and interest in women in his music videos. Having this romantic nature has allowed him to appeal both to a wide range of females and males within the audience of the R&B genre. The main theme of our music video being love & relationships enabled us to relate to Usher directly as he is how we would want our artist to be like.
Morals and attitudes of artist: Our artist would prioritise love and relationships and how it would have a pivotal role in his life, this would be conveyed through the lyrics and the stance of the artist in the music video. Image would also be essential as the artist would not want to lose the identity of being classy and respected.
Costume: The main theme of the costume would be smart and casual. The artist would wear a slouchy beanie, with skinny fitted jeans and high top shoes to elaborate on the romantic nature of the artist as well as the song.
Lighting: Low-key and natural lighting would be used on the artist. Low-key lighting would be used when to emphasise on negative aspect of the lyrics - breakups.
Body language and facial expression: Both the male and female characters would be really close together. Facial expressions from both characters would be devastation and upset as there would be scenes where the female would be crying. Some scenes would consist of reserved body language from both characters as they would be alone.
In the groups we were assigned too we had to come up with
three music video ideas and analysing the advantages and disadvantages. We done
this to to determine which idea would be most suitable to use for our music
video. We all had varying ideas for what song to use because of our interests
and differing choices of music we listen to. We all contributed in voicing our
opinions on the song that each group member had picked.
Idea 1:
Artists: Rudimental
Song title: Powerless
Genre: Drum and Bass
Video structure: Performance/narrative based. A story.
Video content: The main idea behind the music video would be
a young female girl that is helpless in love, and she is heartbroken from her lover.
There would be a mixture of slow and fast paced editing depending on the pace
of the music. The slower part of the song would consist of close up shots and
extreme close ups on the young females face to capture the emotion. As the song
gradually starts to get faster there would be more action going on in the music
video. The female would be running away and trying to ‘escape’ from her love.
Advantages:
Feeling and emotions of the characters could easily be shown
through the pace of music
Could appeal to a large audience.
A realistic situation and common theme of ‘love’ is likely
to be successful.
Disadvantages:
Would be hard to represent a real life situation.
Quick transition from slow paced to fast based would be hard
to pull off and could be time consuming.
Acting needs to be good
Idea 2:
Artist: The Streets
Song title: Blinded by the lights
Genre: Pop
Video structure: Narrative/performance based
Video content: The artist would be a white male in their
late teens portraying his specific lifestyle in the slums of London. The urban
setting would be used and at night. The struggle of the life of the male would
be conveyed when he starts taking drugs and drinking alcohol. A busy main road
in London would be conventional with traffic and cars being evident which shows
him as being lost with having no motive in life and turning to drugs as a last
resort. He would be alone to convey loneliness and him having no support from
anyone.
Advantages:
The link between
lyrics and visuals could easily be made
Location would be easy to obtain
Lifestyle could be easy to portray
Disadvantages:
Themes such as drug use could cause controversy
The music video would only appeal to a limited niche
audience
The song is a bit too long which could be hard to make a
music video to.
Idea 3:
Artist/s: Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian
Song title: Battle scars
Genre: R&B
Video structure: Performance/Narrative based
Video content: The video would consist of two young lovers
having problems within their relationship. Essentially, the love life of the
couple is not going so well and they are in battle to fix that in order to keep
each other. Both characters would be shown as heartbroken with scenes showing
how their relationship was in the past, and as the song goes on how their
relationship has declined in the present and has come to the point of ‘breaking’
The music video would also go against Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as the female
would not be represented in a sexual way and both the male and female would be
conveyed at equal terms with each other.
Advantages:
R&B genre is
popular and has a large target audience
Theme of ‘love and relationships’ would appeal to a wider
audience
We as teenagers could relate to the song and have a wide
range of ideas to include in the music video
Disadvantages:
Could be hard to find two characters willing to perform
The mise en scene of objects to use in the music video could
be hard to obtain
Discussing different ideas allowed us to be aware of each
other’s viewpoints and the strengths in our ideas would contribute to the making of our music
video. We are also able to see what idea would be better than what idea, and
eliminating any ideas that would be challenging or not suitable to commit to.
In
order to gain a sufficient understand of what the audience’s viewpoints and demands
from an R&B music video I carried out a questionnaire that consisted of 21 questions and then then put the feedback into graph form.
The purpose of doing this was to make me understand clearly what makes a
target audience enjoy and listen to the genre of my choice (R&B). I would then
be able to use this information and decide on what I should use and what I should
not use when producing my music video
product.
Questionnaire:
Feedback:
What is this graph
showing?
This graph shows that 16 people answered yes to enjoying R&B
music and 4 answered no out of the 20
people I asked.
How has this helped
you make decisions about your product?
I knew that R&B is a popular genre that people would
enjoy listening to.
What is this graph
showing?
How important the Star image of an R8B artist is to the
audience. 18 people answered yes,
whereas only 2 had answered no.
How has this helped
you make decisions on your product?
We would put more emphasis on the star image of our artist
and how they would be portrayed to the audience.
What is this graph
showing?
The four main star images that could be evident in a R&B
music video. 10 people had said the
artist should have a sexy star image, 4 said cool, also 4 said controversial
and 2 said political.
How has this helped
you make decisions about your product?
A conventional artist in the R&B genre would have a ‘sexy’
star image in which they prioritise their image and looks in the music video.
This also appeals to the audience of the R&B genre.
What is this graph
showing?
The different types of costume that could be included in the
music video. The majority of 9 had said casual clothing, 4 had said smart,
likewise 4 said urban and 3 had said hipster.
How has this helped
you make decisions about your product?
The audience would expect more of a casual clothing, however
the outcome was quiet broad as some opinions had been varied.
What is this graph showing?
8 people had picked both the love
and relationships themes whereas 3 picked fighting and 1 picked other.
How has this helped you make decisions about your product?
We should include both the love
and relationship theme to appeal and satisfy to the target audience as they
both are equal in importance.
What is this graph
showing?
The house location and urban setting being the most popular
with 8 people answering yes, and the studio and bar location got 2 people
saying yes each.
How has this helped
you making decisions about your product?
It is important to have different locations throughout the music
video, and the urban and house setting would for sure be a part of our music
video.
What is this graph showing?
This graph shows 17 people would
not expect to see instruments in an R&B video, whereas 3 people would.
How has this helped you make decisions about your product?
Including instruments would not be conventional to include
in a R&B video and would go against what the audience would expect in our
music video.
What is this graph
showing?
Low-key lighting is the most suitable to use in a R&B
music video as 11 people picked low-key.
5 had picked high-key, 3 had picked flashing and 1 had picked strobe.
How has this helped
you make decisions about your product?
Low-key lighting should be used in our music video and maybe
aspects of some high-key lighting too. There shouldn’t be other lighting
effects such as flashing or strobe.
What is this graph
showing?
12 people had said that two-three characters should be
performing, 7 had said four and above should be performing and only one had
said zero to one.
How has this helped
you make decisions about your product?
We can now determine roughly the amount of characters that
we would need to use in our music video and two to three would most likely be
what we would use.
What is this graph
showing?
9 people prioritising the lyrics over and visuals and 11
people prioritising the visuals over the lyrics.
How has this helped
you make decisions about your product?
We would have to build a relationship between the lyrics and
visuals as we can see both elements are really important to the audience.
From the questionnaire and feedback that I carried out and obtained I could now produce my music video according to the information I gathered. This would be a major contributing factor to the success of my music video because I would meet the demands of the target audience. I have taken all the feedback into account and would take it into serious consideration in producing my music video.
In Richard Dyers theory, the term ‘Star’ refers to the set
of meaning constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer
to a large and loyal audience. There are series of meanings constructed around
performance and music to promote the star to a large audience.
Richard Dyer is an English academic, as of 2006 he is a
Professor of Film Studies in Kings College London.
His suggestions include:
The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the
consumer.
The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary
for the consumer.
The star must have distinct ideologies views and ideals
Have values that are personal to them
Financial backing
Difference between performer and pop star:
Star performer: Image constructed to an audience
Pop star: May/may not be famous, just performs music
Pop performers are described as pop stars. Promoted to this
status by their management. A true pop star does have a lasting significance
and has ‘brand awareness’ amongst a wider marker over a period of time.
Dyer identified four key elements to recognise a star: Stars as constructions – Stars are constructed, artificial
images. Helps if their image contains a USP. The X-factor shows the
construction process of how a individual/band is groomed and coached.
Why might pop stars have an advantage over film stars in
their image?
More ownership over what they do, whereas actors have a director,
script which is more structured than a pop star. Could lead to losing a fan
base, works against pop stars.
Industry and audience – Stars are manufactured to make
money. Pop stars, whatever their nature, are quite clearly the product of their
record company and they must be sold. There is always someone fresh to choose
from. Another way is to produce a star with long lasting appeal, who once their
brand is established, can cater to a fan audience for decades. Synergy is a way in which the artist could be promoted. Differing formats could be used and interacted with to gain a greater reaction from the public. Beyonce being a prime example, as she released her new perfume brand 'Beyonce Heat' which would enhance her popularity with the audience, and ultimately contribute to her success and the industry success.
Ideology and culture – Stars represent cultural values and
attitudes, and promote a certain ideology. Audience interests in these values
enhances their ‘star quality’ and create a star persona. Social network gives
pop stars the opportunity to establish their own values outside their music
expressing political ideologies such as George Michael ‘ Shoot the dog ‘
Character and personality – The star is a construct but a construct that has a foundation of realism. Stars provide audiences with a
focus for ideas of ‘ what people are supposed to be like’ Stars may support
hegemony by conforming to it by being thin and beautiful or providing a
different perspective and being overweight and still loveable. For example Adele, as psychically she is not a role model or at a perfect weight but still is loveable because of her singing and personality.
Conclusion:
Dyers theory is a significant theory in outlining the
importance of star image of an artist. In my music video I would concentrate
more heavily on the ideology and culture element of Dyers star theory. This
would convey my star in a more clear way and the viewers could have more of a
insight in his personality and beliefs of the star.
There are different theories around music videos that I would
be discussing throughout this post.
Popular star image is the masses being able to relate to and the genre
usually being pop that relates to our lifestyle .
Popular culture describe the lifestyle and tastes of the
majority of young people. It is consumed by non-elite and non-bourgeoisie
groups such as the working class. The focus and ideas are mainly targeted at
the mainstream culture. They have been influenced by mass media and are
products of the early 20’s. An example being Britney Spears.
Antonio Gramsci and the theory of Hegemony
Hegemony is the leadership or dominance especially by one
country of social group. The term hegemony describes domination of a culturally
diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate our culture. The control of
the media can influence things such as what gets aired or cancelled and the
degree to which as television station covers or does not cover certain news
stories. Results in the audience to all think the same and not challenging the culturally
dominant ideologies. This had been challenged through people being able to
self-publish music, videos etc. Rather than being under the control of
mainstream co corporations and this increases the independence of individuals
within the music industry as well. In addition this is easier to access by
consumers. All of these aspects reduced the ‘hegemony’ of large corporations.
Frankfurt School
Frankfurt School believes that popular music is the end
product of a production line where everything sounds similar. An industry that
exploits the mass population for profit and social control in the hope that they
accept a certain ideology about the world they are living in. The music industry promotes absorption,
everything about these pop start becomes a commodity, they are clothes, image,
like and dislikes etc. Which implies that the pop stars lifestyles has been
bought into.
Theador Adorno
Adorno argues that Capitalists fed people with the products
of a ‘culture industry’ which he believed was the opposite of True Art. All music
products are commodities to be sold to an audience who believe they are
consuming true emotion. Popular music is usually divided into genres of music
such as Rock, Pop, Rap, Heavy Metal and Reggae etc. However, all popular music
is standardised which are interchangeable from one song to another, and they
all sing about the same types of lifestyle. The effects of standardisation are
often hidden by ‘frills’ that are put within a song to disguise that it sounds
the same. Distinguishes between popular music and serious music. Serious music,
( classical and avant-garde) plays to the pleasures of the imagination offering
engagement, popular music makes everyone think the same. ‘Popular music’ is conveyed
as being false, unnatural and immature. Whereas ‘Serious music ‘ is deep,
meaningful and natural.
Birmingham School
Birmingham Schoolwas a cultural theory. One of the most
famous and influential forms of cultural studies initially under the influence
of cultural Marxism, emerged with the centre for contemporary cultural studies
in Birmingham. Considered as a more modern school of throughout that challenged
some of what the ‘Frankfurt School’ and Adorno suggested about ‘Popular Culture’
They evaluated the effects and interpretations of popular culture
representations on their audience. Audiences are not as passive as suggested,
there is some engagement by the consumers about what they like and don’t like. The
Birmingham school went against ‘Hemogens’ and defended the right of individuals
to have more of a mouth-piece in their preference.
Dick Hebdige
Hebdige suggests that Adorno’s ideas are very pessimistic
and dismissive of mass audiences as passive and easily manipulated. Consumption
is an active process in which different audiences have different readings into
the same cultural products. The audience are free to resist the power of large
products to consume. Often then the audience constructing themselves as
distinct from mainstream culture = subcultures. Major companies will try and
cater for this too and create products that subcultures will consume. The
audiences then have to decide whether to consume these products or whether to
resist them further. Audiences are therefore more active in popular culture
consumption.
All the theories about Popular Culture are unique in their
own aspect and offers a broad viewpoint.
However the Birmingham school is most appealing as it suggest that consumers have
more of a say in what they prefer which I believe is true. Moreover, it is more
of a modern theory that has developed further the other theories.
Censorship
is the act of altering words, statements or visuals in order to conform with
and abide by the rules and laws of society. Censorship could be done in several
ways which are, by editing,censoring, banning or restricting. This enables
a safer viewing experience to the viewer and censorship allows a wider range of
audiences from different age groups can enjoy and watch music videos.
Explicit content is the actual music video and visuals being
censored. It is the visuals that the audience can see that can be offensive or
not suitable to a younger audience.
Explicit lyrics however, is only the wording that could cause
offensive to the audience. The words and phrases that are used by the
artist/band that may be found offensive or just not suitable for a younger
audience, only to mature and older audiences.
What gets censored in music videos:
Violence
Offensive language
Nudity
Sexual nature
Homosexuality
Religion
Racism
Race
Culture
Class
True events
Drug abuse
Controversy to the press (politics)
Corrupt the young
Maroon 5 – This love music video has lyrics and visuals that
are censored. It was too and controversial and arroused debate amongst many so it had to be censored. The extend of nudity and sexual nature being too explicit. Originally a younger
target audience would be associated with Maroon 5 , but this music video is
clearly not suitable for a young audience to watch.
Eminem Superman - This music video has explicit lyrics and visuals throughout. The
theme is of the music video is of sexual nature. Nudity and swearing is
frequent during the initial music video. The tone that is set throughout the
music video is sexually arousing. It would be really inappropriate for a young
audience to be exposed to a music video of this kind.
Lyrics and radio censorship
Radio stations have various techniques of editing and
censoring music that is being played.
Repeating – Having the last word said twice instead of the
censored word
Blanking – The entire word is not heard but music is still
heard
Disc scratching – Using a scratch sound of a DJ to cover the
word
Bleeping – Putting a ‘bleep’ sound over the word
Advantages of censorship in music videos:
Protecting the public and children
Keeps the music industry clean and gives a good image
Shields the moral of society
Disadvantages of censorship in music videos:
Takes away the emotion and initial purpose of the song
Takes away the meaning of the song.
Could be used to control people
Prevents ideas from being free
No place in a democratic nation (freedom of speech)
In my opinion, I believe that music videos should not be
censored as it takes away the main purpose that the artist/band is trying to
portray. I also believe that harmful or explicit content should be kept away
from younger audiences.
In conclusion, I am now aware of what gets censored in music
videos and I would have to consider this as my music video may require
censorship of some form. My genre R&B and the topic of love that I would be
using may be offensive to some. Therefore I need to make sure my music video is
safe for all audiences to watch.
Audiences in relations to music videos are the group of
people who take part in watching a music video. It is important to know about
audiences so that you are aware of what groups are more likely to listen to
your music video.
Audiences are categorised into differing sections. Audiences
could be categories based on:
Age
Gender
Race
Class
Income
As shown in the example, audiences being categorised into
class and wealth are split into groups of six.
Categorising audiences can have varying advantages and
disadvantages.
Advantages:
You can make your content suit what the audience are
interested in
You have an idea of what people are interested in
You are aware of the sort of production they would buy, based
on how much money they have to spend
The information may be used for advertising
Disadvantages:
It doesn’t consider that people are different, despite having
a similar job
It doesn’t consider people interests, just their income and
status
It categorises people that may not be true
Different genres have varying different audiences. The
majority of the viewers for the hip hop genre would consist of the ‘E’ category
and maybe some the ‘D’ category. This could appeal to these people as they
would aspire to have the cars, money and girls portrayed in the music videos. For
example the music video for Cash out – Cashin’ out The artist Cash Out is shown
with chains around his neck riding a fancy car and the lyrics about making a
lot of money and having a lot of girls. All these themes seem admirable to the
young and unemployed audience. This wouldn’t appeal to higher categories as
this would be irrelevant to them as they would have money and wealth.
On the other hand the Classical music genre has a completely
different target audience. The 'A' category are groups of people that would associate themselves with the classical music genre which consists of
sophisticated lawyers, doctors and other professionals. In the music video from Johann Sebastian Bach. We can see them wearing suits and smart clothing which the target audience can relate to within
their profession. Lower categories would not find the tone of music and content
not appealing as they would find it bizarre.
Audience research: Measuring an audience is very important to
all media institutions. Research is done at all stages of production of a media
text and once produced audience will be continually monitored.
Audience engagement: This describes how an audience interacts
with a media text. Different people react in different ways to the same text.
(Links to Hebdiges theory)
Audience expectations: These are what the audience thinks
about an artist and their music, for example audiences expect certain aspects
from different genres. Such as the eight characteristics from Goodwins theory
of music videos.
Audience foreknowledge: This is what the audience knows about
a music artist and their song/video.
Audience identification: This is how an audience relates to
an artist. (Dyers star theory)
Audience placement: this is how the media producers, target a
particular audience and make them feel that the music video is specially ‘for
them’
This information on audiences has helped me develop ideas for
my own music video. I now am aware of how
the different audiences are categorised, and what appeals to each specific
category. My music video would be targeted mainly to audiences of the E
category as the content in every aspect would be conventional to the
unemployed, casual workers and students.
Star image is the way in which an artist is represented to
the audience. The most effective way to do this is through music videos and to
a wider, international audience.
How can music videos help to boost and artists career?
Music videos contribute to the popularity of the artist/band
New audiences and viewers could be gained
Financially boost the artist
Could re-invent the image
Portray the ideologies through the music videos
Michael Jackson case study
Michael Jackson in
the 1970’s
Target audience: Family, children.
Appearance: Really young, beginning of his career mainly
influences by his older family members. Big afro innocent child look.
Dance: Simple
dance moves, nothing fancy, ordinary in conforming with the rest of the
‘Jackson 5’
Values: Not much
as he was a child, relaxed.
Michael Jackson in
the 1980’s
Target audience:
Teenagers, mid 20’s
Appearance:
Causal, conventional to his age at the time, following fashion.
Dance: Complex
dance routines, really high in popularity. For example Thriller
Values: Confident,
attract opposite sex, love and relationships
Michael Jackson in
the 1990’s
Target audience: Mid 20’s and 30’s
Appearance: Giving
a peaceful and positive image through music videos,
Dance: Carrying
out his conventional dance moves
Values: Confident, positive star image external to music
videos as well
Michael Jackson in
the 00’s
Target audience: Older target audience mainly 30’s and
above.
Appearance:
Aiming to re-create his star image because of scandals against him
Dance: Not many
dance routines like the past, reserved.
Values: Peaceful,
trying to give out a positive image and covering up his private life faults.
Miley Cyrus Star image:
She had a cute and ordinary teenage star image in her early
career in the early 2000’s with a really young target audience. However as she
got older her star image completely changed in the way she portrayed herself in
her music videos. This had caused confusion and conflict between her fans and target
audience, some had conformed with her in the way she was, most of her initial target audience had been completely
lost and she gained a new one as her real personality had
been illustrated.
The Star Image theory could be categorised into different
sections.
Sexual Star Image – The artist/bands’ music video is based
to exploit their sexuality and their sexual nature, or to feel comfortable with
their sexuality.
Political Star Image – To express their political views
Moral Star image – To express their personal opinions on
issues that they believe are important.
Social Star Image – Music videos to represent a type of
lifestyle or ideology.
Conclusion:
In my research into Star Image I have understood what Star
image is, and the importance of it in the career of an artist/band. I have also
developed my knowledge on successful artists and their star image throughout
the years of their career. I plan to represent my star as having a social star
image in which the music video would show the character as representing a specific
lifestyle or ideology.
Subcultres are groups who are united through common values, systems and tastes. These are split up into specific groups such as clothes, music politics etc. They tend to go against popular mainstream culture. As hebdige suggests, subcultures create their own smaller culture and do not conform with the majority of people and rebel against common values and systems.
Subcultures are a large part of the music industry in which they grow out of mainstream genres such as Rock. The 'Rock' genre is favoured by the punk subculture as they can relate to the type of music by who they are and how the represent themselves. Subcultures play a significant role in music and shouldnt be ignored as they have a unique nature and they offer a different perspective in the music industry.
Hebdige & McCraken are specifialists on subcultures and they have viewpoints about the topic.
McCraken suggests that the post modern world is full of diversity, and people have so many different and diverse ideas about music videos and that this is still growing. McCraken outlines the fact that dynamism and creativity plays a big role in this. If we look at the array of values and ideologies then we cant say all subcultres come from one culture.
Hebdige suggests that conforming to music is a process that differs from person to person. Social background is a contributing factor to this. People can read into different aspects of the same song. People are not part of the 'mass culture'
Subcultures and our history:
In the 1950's Rock and Rollers and beatniks were the main subcultures in society. In the 1960's surfers, rude-boys, mods, hippies and bikers had emerged. In the 1970's there had been skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glow rockers, funkers and punks. In the 1980's heavy metal, goths and the hip hop culture.. The 1990's and beyond can be described as not following a distinct culture.
In my music video I would be aiming to target popular mainstream culture and not a particular sub-culture. This is because targeting a sub-culture would limit the success of my music video and it would not appeal to a wider audience. I would want my music video to be viewed by a larger audience rather than a limited audience.
There is no doubt that the
popularity of music videos have increased in modern day music videos, in
relation to traditional music videos. Modern day music videos are important
because it has a big influence on the success of the music and also the artist.
It also works as a marketing tool and builds a larger fan base to the artist
and band. Music videos gradually built up to fulfil this throughout the years.
There are notable revolutionary
key dates that occur in the history of Music videos. The article from ‘The
Guardian’ goes through the key dates.
In 1900 ‘Buddy Bolden ‘ invents
the Jazz genre. The Buddy Bolden band’s line up of their ensemble was a cornet,
trombone, two clarinets, guitar and double bass this had approximated the
classic instrumentation of later traditional Jazz band.
1975 – ‘Queen’ herald the modern
age of music videos.
1992 – Hip hop cinema is born
with the release of Ernest Dickerson’s ‘Juice
Key events in our time-line in the history of music videos
1929 – Bessie Smith – This cannot be regarded as a music
video as there is limited editing and does not follow the conventions of a
music video. In the 1920’s many films were accompanied by moving images,
especially animations. These are not music videos, just basic editing of images
to films which was a part of film during this period. The work of Bessie Smith
is an example of this.
1940 – Disney ‘Fantasia’ Was an animated film about
classical music. Tony Bennett - 1956 was filmed walking in Hyde Park London for
his song ‘ Stranger in paradise ‘ 1964 – The Beatles Set out basic visual vocal
for today’s music videos. 1966 TOTP - Artists had to create competitive videos
to compete for air time on TOTP. However, TOTP had a limit on the number of
music videos it showed, as it was mainly performance based. 1968 – The Monkees
had their own TV show music was played and shown through their show.
1975 – Queen ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ set up the modern music
video era. They were the first to create a video specifically for that song to
be played on TV. Bohemian Rhapsody was the first made on the video format. Describing this as the ‘first music video’
would be accurate as long as it isn’t confused with the ‘first promo film. 1970-1980
Key development of the modern music video was the editing process. HQ video
tape recorders and portable video camera enables pop acts to produce
promotional videos quickly and cheaply, rather than film which was expensive. MTV in 1981 launched the first video to be aired
and this was Buggles ‘ video killed the radio star’
The 1980’s included
sophisticated effects in videos and added a storyline. In 1984 Michael Jacksons
Thriller made a short film as a music video. This took the music video format
to another level. Mid 1980’s –MTV and musical success. This time period grew to
play a central role in popular music marketing. Such as Madonna’s success
because of her skilful and seductive appeal in her music videos. MTV’s ‘Golden
era’ was unparalleled the success of a new album in popular culture, as others
could view it as the death of the artist.
How has music videos changed over time?
Music videos changed dramatically as history of music videos
had commenced. Music videos has developed to becoming essential in the success
of the artist/band. The audience did not really
pay much attention to the quality of the music video however especially in the
90’s and 20th century music videos grew in significance in the
audience perspective. Music videos differ depending on the genre. For example
music videos for the hip hop genre enabled the lyrics of the music to have a
relation with the visuals in the music video.
Therefore enhanced the popularity and fan base of the Hip Hop genre. The
developments in technology made music videos more attractive to watch and
enhanced the quality and effort put into music videos.
Conclusion
It is important to know about the music industry because it
makes us aware of how much music videos have developed during the years and how
they became so important in the music industry. Some of the ideas I have
gathered is how to determine a music video.
Examples in history such as Tony Bennett and Fantasia by Walt Disney
could be regarded as great works but not necessarily music videos. This enabled
me to understand what the conventions of a music video is which I would include
in the process of my own music video.
