A music video is a short film combined
with a song, which would promote and market the artist’s song. Only in the
1980s did music videos become popular as this was when MTV based their format
around this medium. In 1981 the first ever music video that they played was The
Buggles’ Video killed a radio star. However music videos have been going before
the 80s as, it is said that the first ever proper music video was in 1975 by
Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody. Artists have been making more money from their
music video due to YouTube, where the company records can upload their video
for free to a potential millions. The most viewed music video on YouTube is PSY
Gangnam style with 2,011,015,956 views. Since the 1980s music videos have
changed drastically, due to the recent update with technology this means that
the director and artists have been able to make their ideas come to life more
as they now have the technology, for example CGI. In recent times music videos
have become increasingly popular, as now they are seen to be part of the
artists product and not just the advertising/ promoting the song, this is shown
as now it has become popular to release a lyric video before the music video
comes out, to help promote the video, which means that the audience have more ways
of watching and listening to their music. This can be seen as recent music
videos have drastically changed over time that if you compare them to prior
videos that they are unrecognisable.
The first
music video that I looked at was Like a Virgin by Madonna that came out in
1984. The genre of the song is Dance-Pop, which was normal for the 80s as that
was the type of music that was main stream. It became her first number one on
the Billboard Hot 100. The music video was directed by Mary Lambert. It was set
in Venice (Italy) and in New York. It was nominated
for Best Choreography at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
The video features Madonna wearing outrageous clothes, which were her look,
while she danced in a gondola through canals. Throughout the video there are
various shots of Madonna singing with a lion, and her lover is a lion, which
makes the video very unusual and unique. For the time period that Madonna came
around, she was seen to be original and crazy due to the clothes that she wore
and her attitude. All her old music videos the audience gets the sense of her
attitude and the fact that she was different from every other artist. This song
was seen to be very controversial as the people at the time thought it was very
inappropriate that she was singing “like a virgin touched for the very first
time” this then gave her that image or quite edgy which is then shown again in
Papa Don’t Preach.
This can be linked to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the
five key aspects of a music video as her videos include the ideas of the beats
and music, narrative and performance, star image, relation of visuals, and
technical aspects of the video. If we
then compare it with a more recent music video for example, Lady Gaga’s Edge of
glory which came out in 2011 which is also Dance-Pop. This was directed by
herself and the Haus of Gaga (which is just her production team). This video
features Lady Gaga dancing in minimal clothing in a street. Both artists were
very “out there” for their time and both feature the basics of the five key aspects of a music video. For example the stars image is
seen throw out, and both are performances.
This shows that music videos have not changed that
drastically as they still have the same concept, for example a lot of them have
chorography and back up dancers. The only thing that is different is the
artist’s ideas of how they did it as it will be their identification and how
society has progressed for it to be up to date.
From society progressing and music videos keeping up,
it will mean that there will be videos that will be unrecognisable to older
videos. For example Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze has become more acceptable now to
an extreme level then to what it was before. For example Blurred Lines by Robin
Thicke, which was released in March 2013, with a genre of
R&B/Disco/Soul. It was directed by
Diane Martel. The music video entails the Robin Thicke singing with girls
dancing around him in minimal clothing. This shows that as a society we see
this to be acceptable and entertaining as it has 319,022,464 views on YouTube,
and has been in the charts for over ten weeks.
This video makes women look as objects, as they are dancing round the
men and the camera work focuses on the curves, and it makes them look like a
possession by the way that T.I is brushing her hair, and the way that Robin
Thicke is whispering in their ear, which suggests that this video is very
geared towards sex. If you then link this back to the lyrics of the song the
video fits perfectly as he is singing taking advantage of a girl even when she
says no. When the audience heard the song they kicked a fuss about the lyrics
of the song and how inappropriate it is, yet they did not mention how bad the
video is as well, suggesting that people have now come to accept this.
If you then compare this to, Addicted to Love by Robert
Palmer in 1985. The genre is Pop Rock and directed by Terence Donovan. This was
considered as one of the most iconic music video for the Era. The video
features Robert Palmer performing with abstract bands, which are a group of
pale skinned models with heavy makeup, dark hair and acting very seductive.
This video was considered as very provocative and sexual. This included a lot
of male gaze as the models look very robotic, while the camera focused on parts
of the body that are desirable to the male audience. Linking it back to the lyrics of the song it
does fit together, however the video is not as bad as lyrics as it talks about
sex. The different levels of sexuality between these too videos are crazy
considering that there is only thirty years between the societies to develop to
consider that this is ok. This is where the effect theory comes in, as it shows
how media
can affect society and how society affects the media, making it acceptable that
all ages can be exposed to videos like Blurred Lines, making it the norm. Also
the Hyperdermic Syringe Model is often linked to the idea that the media inject
messages into the audience who are seen as passive. These two videos support
this model as it suggests if the media create images/messages that were seen as
inappropriate then the audience who are passive will be used to it and it would
now become normal, which means that society has been affected by the media as
they have now progressed to something different. As a result supports the
statement that music videos have become unrecognisable.
Lastly the Uses & Gratifications show that the
types of genres need to satisfy certain needs, as if they do not then how will
the audience know what is going on, and understand what genre of music it is.
As a result it means that music videos can be closely linked together through
genre. A genre which is very distinctive
is rock. For example old music videos like AC/DC Back In Black which came out
in 1981, this video was a very basic performance with just a couple of lights.
Then if you compare it to Guns N Roses Paradise City which came out in 1987,
this was still a performance but at an area. Here you can see how they have
progressed as Guns N Roses had more to their video like it being edited in
black and white and they had extra shots of the crowd who they played to which
made the video look more rock, because you saw the fashion they were wearing
and how they were dancing. From the
space of six years you can see how the videos have progressed to meet the needs
but they are not unrecognisable. If you then look at more recent videos like
Sleeping With Sirens If You Can’t Hang, which came out 2011. This again is a
performance based, but it just has more to it for example the water on the
instruments to make it look cool and the camera is better quality than in the
previous videos. Then a video from Don Bronco which came out in 2013, is
exactly the same as the previous three but just modernised as this video has
different types of lighting and better quality sound. This shows that music
videos have not changed so much that they are unrecognisable, they just have
developed to make them better and to meet the wants/needs of their audience.
Overall in my opinion I disagree with the male gaze
theory, as women look at men in the same way as men look women, it’s just that
women who want to expose their body on music videos are open to it, as they
believe it comes from their artistic side to want the song actually means to them.
For example Miley Cyrus with Wrecking Ball, the audience believe that it was
ridiculous and they did not get the video, but to Miley Cyrus it showed how she
felt at the time, and what the song means to her, by the fact when she broke up
with her boyfriend that she was “stripped naked”. I agree with Andrew Goodwin’s theory as I do
think that most music videos all are based around the same basic concepts but
just different stories and inspirations. For a music video to be successful and
understandable to the target audience they will need to include, the music
itself- where they study the lyric and what it is to the artist, narrative and
performance- where they decide if it will be a story or performance, most
recent music videos are performances where they have different shots of them
singing, while previous videos there were more stories for example A-Ha Take me
on, where it is a story about people who jump into a comic, however there have
been more narrative music videos in the genre of Electro and Drum ’n’ Base, as
they need to make the video more interesting. This could show that music videos
have not changed drastically as there are still videos that can be related to
older videos. The Star image- this is the artist identification and if they do
not get this right then their audience would not remember them, which could
lead to the video being unsuccessful. Technical aspects- is important to all
videos as it is what holds the video together and if the editing isn’t at a
high level them the video may not be a hit as their audience will not like it,
as it does not look professional.
Relation of visuals- without illustration and amplify then the video may
not make sense to the viewer.
I agree with the Effect Theory as people are affecting
by the media of a mass communication level, as videos can be watched all around
the world where they can influence people to dress or act in a way. Lastly I agree with the Use &
Gratifications, as if they did not please their target audience then it would
not promote the song and might not make money, therefore, they need to make
them happy but it also depends on the artist and directors views.
To conclude I think that music videos have not changed
drastically over time and now are unrecognisable from their historical counterparts,
because I think it depends on what the artist wants to do as it is them trying
to get what they want across to their audience, and their impression. Some of
their ideas could have been inspiration from previous videos which they have
developed into their own, showing that there are hints of old music videos, for
example Blink 182 put their own spin on The Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way.
As music videos have become increasingly popular it means that they need to
compete and make their video different and memorable as possible as it can have
an impression on their chosen audience.
This means that there may not be hints of historical counterparts as
they need to be different and unrecognisable to stand out. Also from society
developing with new technology and new ideas, it means that the artist video
can be as extravagant as possible, making them different.
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