Tuesday, 27 September 2016

TASK 1a

Bessie Smith ~ St. Louis Blues (1929)




What was innovative/important?
This music video is important because this is one of the earliest music videos as music videos began around the 1930s. It was shown in theatre in 1932. This music video was from a American two-reel short film, St. Louis Blues, which starred Bessie Smith as it is based on her song.


How is it recognizable as a music video?
Even though it's a short film, you can see a live performance of a band which make the music video into a performance-based music video, likely in a restaurant or a bar as you can see waiters walking around and the bartender serving alcoholic beverages at the bar etc. You can see the artist lip-syncing to the lyrics, you could also see the audience lip-syncing as well. No dialogue. As this is one of the earliest music video, it is one of the first music video to do lip-syncing. They used camera shots such as, long shot and medium close up.

What technological or cultural change happened during this time?

At the time, this music video only could be seen in theatre/cinema back in 1932. We are now able to access almost any music almost anywhere now (2016), that shows how much technology has changed. This music video is very different to modern day music videos because it is in black and white, you can tell it is old.

Batcat ~ Jetpack (1932) 



What was innovation/ important about this music video?
Batcat was band that recorded instruments such electric guitars - jetpack 1932 was innovation because it was the first video ever made where television was invented in the 1925. Also the video was famous for their experiment with electromagnetism. Also the music video was animation and was first aircraft. This was recorded produced by gramophone. Jetpack composes, records, and performs the guitar dominated instrumental music known as surf or surf rock, that was a music industry phenomenon of the early 1960s. Although it had retained a following, especially in Southern California, surf experienced a world-wide revival in the 1990s. This means that they perform live as was also known surf rock. In that time surf rock was quite popular. In the music video you see you see footage from out of space but however the band which was shown few time throughout the music video.

How is this recognisable as a music video?

This is recognisable as a music video because it was relatable to a genre which is surf rock even though there was no lip syncing there was story behind it which is space and aircrafts. It shows footage of different shots relating to the music also the music video has effects and uses close ups. It shows that it is a music video has no dialog and shows animation and music stick over it. During the video at 2:15 it has some text which is advertising space making young ages see this and what to experience it.

What technological or cultural change happened during this time?

There were various changes happen during this period of time for example in the 1932 they were more music video being made. Also lip syncing is being is being more occurred and live performance are being as a music video. However, music we develop over time as we go down the 1930-1960s music videos were in colour.

Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend (1953)


This video incorporates colour and settings. They use a piece from the film and turn it into a music video, this is done to highlight her performing the song. 20 years later we can see that this has inspired Madonna as she made her own music called Material Girl. This is very significant as it was inter-textual for future music videos. Also there are performers dancing, this also means it is a music video because it incorporates choreography. one thing I find really interesting is that, they took out it out from a film and made it seem like it was a brand new music video, it was almost as if they were experimenting. They also used different types of shots, we can see that close up is used here multiple times to state the fact that the music video all evolves around Marilyn.

Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin' (1966)


It was one of the first music videos to actually feature colour. There are many ways this video is different, it uses sexualisation a lot more as it focuses on their legs and all the other women in the background. This also has a very good dance and rhythm to the video. This is one of the first music videos to actually spark an era of female sexualised themes.

It has a very interesting video as it is set in a studio with just a group of girls dancing but follows a genre specific theme it uses Mise En scene to its effect and it also uses a wide range of dance themes and expressions. This dance sequence is known as a Choreography which really translates to a dance sequence that draws in the viewer in fact Choreography is probably one of the most effective uses in music videos as it allows the artist to get publicly noticed due to the dance.

Mise En Scene is not recognized on the set but the costume design for the girls is much sexualized in other words Voyeurism. Voyeurism is how people are sexually themed and presented in front of the audience.

One huge costume design in this is the boots, the boots are the main theme of this music video this is what made it successful in the first place. They use this to give off a not only sexy but a cool vibe which gives the audience something to enjoy as they view the music video. 



1970s and 1980s











The Buggles: Video killed the radio star (1981) Jordan



What was innovative/important?
This music video was the first ever music video to be played on MTV. The name of the song is self explanatory in the sense that music videos actually ruined the radio star, Artists werent being credited for the way their music sounded but for the way there music video looked. for example Radio was dying out and the only way to gain popularity was to create a music video and become a Movie star for your music.

How is it recognizable as a music video?
The launch of MTV spurred the evolution of music videos in the 80s. Artists started to include narratives/stories and eye-catching visual effects in their videos. The birth of MTV also allowed Artists and musicians to create their own "Star image", A fake persona that the audience could relate to or aspire to be. MTV became a platform that paved the way for more unconventional music videos.

What technological or cultural change happened during this time?
MTV was the first ever music television channel we had ever heard about and this music video is so innotive due to the fact that it was the first video to be aired on MTV. One of the most well known Cultural and technological changes that happened during the 1970-1980s period of music videos was MTV. MTV (Music Television) launched in 1981. 






Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983)

in 1983, Michael Jackson, Epic Records and Vestron Video, released the music video for thriller. The video itself, had a running time of 13 mins and was loosely based on the horror film   "An American Werewolf in London". Micheal Jackson's Thriller video was unprecedented. This was because it was the first ever music video (By a mainstream artist) to create and use the concept of a short film. The video uses conventions of a normal music video. For example there is lip syncing and the artist is performing in the video. 








The Police: Every breath you take (1983)






This music video is one of the many recognisable music videos in the 1980s.
The video was released in 1983, It has a total of 299 million views. As the lyrics sound romantic, the song is somewhat disturbing. “Every breath you take I’ll be watching you”. This song is about a hooking stalker. It is always interpreted because of the way it sounds but people do not choose to listen to the lyrics properly. The main artist in the band, Sting wrote this song after divorcing his wife. He personally things the song is “a nasty little song”, “evil” and “about jealousy and surveillance and ownership”. P Diddy sampled this song and named it as I’ll Be Missing You. He wrote this song for the late The Notorious B.I.G Wallace, who was murdered in 1997. In the music video for The Police, it is hyper-reality because the music lives within the ash tray. There are effects such as fade ins, and outs and it is in black and white. There is also lip-syncing, for the majority of the video because it is a live performance where you see the band playing instruments and one of the members, Sting singing the song. 



1990s to 2000



This music video was released in 1994 close to the mid 90's. What was innovative about the music video is that it is the first music video that was shot in one take you could tell that it was shot in one take because he ran out of breath in some scenes.

This is recognizable as a music video because it has hyper reality to create a fake representation to give the audience the impression that he can travel through time. Intertextuality was included in the music video since you can see the lip-syncing artist through the television.

The technological change in the 1990's is when music videos were becoming more and more expensive and this is when rock, and the use of abstract art and intertextuality in order to cater to the audience. Multi-channels also came into existence so that music videos can also be played from it.



What was innovative/ Important?
this was a ground breaking music video which was released in the year 1994, they were faking the opening sequence of a TV show which was popular at the time called sabotage which is actually related to the title of the song, Also we do not see the artist throughout the whole video either lip syncing or performing to the song. What was innovative about this music video was that it was the first of its kind to have this sort of inter textuallity where the music video is actually paying homage to the actually TV show.

How was it recognized as a music video?
It can be seen as a music video because it conveys the conventions of a music video such as using inter textuallity as it makes reference to a TV show and also there is a a bit of hyper reality going on as usually a cops day life wont really be like what was in the music video and to some extent the music video cut to the beat of the song.

What Technological/ cultural Change happened in this time?
Music videos at this time started to use more artist form of making their videos bending more towards the use of abstract art in their videos while others used things such as TV shows and movies that were already famous in other to appeal not only to their target audience but also to the movies target audience.



Music videos were first invented in the early years 1930’s. Visuals were not a new thing for people as there were many films realized by this time. A music video is a short film or a video that can sometimes have a narrative, a music video is used to go with the song. One of the very first music videos that were invented featured singer Bessie Smith in a two- reel short film. This mainly a performance with the artist and a live band. Which has then been used in the post modern era(1980's till now). Another music video that involves a performance is Nat King Cole Frim Fram sauce. This also involes sexuliation of women due to the fact in the video it focuses on the ladies legs. Compared to today this is a mild version of what we see in music videos.   

This is reflected into the music videos that were made in the 1990's to the 2000's. For instance in this video of Britney Spears in her biggest hit 'Baby hit me one more time' it is a young girl wearing clothes that would be deemed as being overly sexualized at the time would make this music video very controversial due to the fact that you would not see young girls dressed in provocative clothing in the hallways dancing. This also gives us a sense of Hyper- reality as this is something that typically happens in a school.




The boy is mind is a composition between Brandy and Monica that was release in 1998. I't an innovative by its unique use of mise en scene. It features two different girls fighting over a guy and uses a wall in the middle of the scene to divide them. This symbolises their two houses and helps the person watching to see the two different lives of these girls that share the same man. It also helps to create realism by showing things in real time. This, therefore, make the video more reliable to us at home. This is furthered by the fact that the girls are having a conversation with each other and at one point it even shows them having a telephone conversation that coheres with the lyrics.

It is considered a typical music video because although it features a story, this story only progresses slightly and is more leaned towards the performance of the girls who are singing in their houses. They also use other conventions of music videos. For example, the two singers are lip syncing which is commonly used. However, to make a change the lyrics at some point turn into diegetic when they begin to talk on the phone.

Despite the video being quite contemporary, music videos have still changed hugely since then. In terms of the camera work, this consists mostly one shots which, although cut to the beat, goes at a slower pace to what would have been these days. Another thing changed is the mise en scene and the clothing. The props in the scene have clearly been updated as technology had updated with time. In terms of the clothing. The girls are wearing a lot less revealing clothes in comparison to music videos now days which aim to sexualise  the characters in order to sell the music.  

They have made a lot of progress from earlier on. There are some transitions such as wipes and fades which help create excitement in the video. Also, about half way through the video, there features a lot of canted angles which haven't been done a lot. Another thing they have played around with in the beginning of the video is depth of field. One of the girls are positioned in front of the couch but behind the fish bowl and we can see clearly the change from the three different places in the room. This makes it more realistic for the views.
'If its lovin that you want'- 2005

Rhianna is portrayed as someone who had a soft and innocent image. In the music video her image at the time is portrayed as herself doing a live performance in a tropical type setting e.g. the beach. This elucidates on the fact that she comes from the Caribbean or a tropical county. This reflected on her image because it uses a sense of hyper reality. Furthermore, in this music video from this image you can see that she is representing where she is from hence why she is wearing they type of clothes that you would wear e.g. from the islands of Barbados.
This type of styling would appeal to an audience that enjoy listening to up beat tempo songs and instruments that would be played in reggae songs and R&B. This was a type of performance video that shows Rhianna being very expressive.



Tamaria

Lady gaga made a song called 'Marry the night in 2011 and the reason why it is different to other videos is because the narrative is longer than the actual song. The narrative is 8 minutes long talking about her life and the song is 5 minutes 50 seconds. This is very different because a lot of artist tent to not talk about their personal life, they tend to present a fake image to their audience and to give the audience what they want to see. This proves that time has changed because the artist focuses more on their music video. The music video has become more important than the actual song and the song has become the soundtrack of the music video. This video has conventions such as lip-syncing, choreography, abstract and it has hyporeality. The reason why it is hypo reality is because hospitals are not like that in reality. The reason why this music video is abstract and unusual is because it has a lot of unusual scenes that doesn't relate with the song and also at the end she is in red not showing her face, surrounded by fire. This music video is a performance, the artist doesn't want to just present herself as a pop star, she wants to show that she is artistic and an actor.



Roopa

The lyrically the song reflect moods and emotion that surround anxiety and confusion. The songs starts with a fade to create suspension as it is like a horror story which creates tension and could create isolation as the location looks abandoned and she is mental hospital because every scene is different in her actions and costume to show that she has split personality disorder.

This can challenge how society see women because she is experimenting with her personality which could she is not her at the times but someone else to show insecurity and issues to make relationships which could it make it hard to trust anyone.
 
In one of the scenes she is seen imprisoned wearing lenses that make look as if her eyes have rolled into the back of her head. Rihanna stays in the prison with two men watching on her from the both sides. Other scenes include sitting on a throne chair and singing the song, while two strange women are around her.
This could suggest that her safe is at risk and she may self risk if she is not watched at all times.
The beat is uptempo because it suggests that the song is happening so quickly because every seconds she is a different personality; the time signature 4/4 represents it is fast paced which no breaks and every verse is different to show how she lives in the prison.

the genre is electro-pop and dance pop which represents the style of the song but it doesn't suit the video.




PSY-Gangnam Style (2012)



What was important/innovative?

The thing that was innovative within this modern music video of Gangnam Style by Korean-Pop artist PSY is that he was promoting himself instead of the visuals representation of the video because when this video came out in 2012, it was going viral through social media and it had spread worldwide mainly due to the dancing that the artist was doing so people would copy the same dance when the song did come on but not only that, it allowed people to get to know the genre of Korean-Pop more than did because they were little known about it until this video blew up onto the internet.

How it is recognized as a music video?

This is very recognizable music video because it fits with the genre conventions of the song which is Korean-Pop which there was lip-syncing within this music video but the visual representation is not telling no narrative or story being told at all as he is promoting himself and dancing which it is showing that he is having fun rather than being creative.There is a use of editing and effects where for example: when it was about to go the hook of the song, its use of editing was used which was cutting of the beat around 1.06 to 1.10 and 2.25 to 2.30 minutes within the video.

What technological or cultural change happened during this time?

In the post-2003 era within the history of music videos, the artists would be able to make music videos and able to put on video-sharing website like for example: YouTube. Although the reason why is that the artist does this because it is one of the ways to make more money by promoting the single of the song so they can carry on making money through going on tour or sell merchandise but today, the money that is being devalued by people as they are interested in the visual representation of the video rather than the actual song that was used as a backing track .


Budget of music videos

 the prices of music videos can vary for example they could cost as little £20 or as much as £500k, the reason i say £20 is because Ed Sheeran's debut track"A Team" cost only £20 to create and that money was used to purchase a crack pipe and a pair of fishnets.if we compare this to a video such as " Gangnam Style" we can see that the budget for Gangnam style was alot bigger.when considering budget you have to think about these things:
  • Props
  • Locations 
  • Crew
  • Food
  • Cast
  • Equipment
  • Editing
Here below are some examples of music videos with the Budget it took to create it:
  • £25k


  • £35-£50k


  • £50-£75k


  • £100k


  • £150k


  • £200k



  • £250-£300k


  • £500k+


https://www.indigoprod.com/nyc-video-production-blog/2013/08/how-much-does-it-cost-to-make-a-music-video/ 



Monetisation
Monetisation is when you as an artist or a content creator can have a partnership with a YouTube network and they can monetize videos on your channel so you can gain money off of revenue. for example you can get a company to sponsor you and they will place an advertisement before your video and you can claim a percentage of revenue made of off the advertisement. the rate of pay for monetisation can be £1.50 for every 1000 views you gain. so for example the music video "Gangnam Style with 2,642,546,333 views made over $8 million in revenue, this video went viral due to wacky lyrics and dancing

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