HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEO.

 

THE HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEO - FLOW CHART.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTEMPORY vs CLASSIC

Queen : Bohemian Rhapsody (1981) -------- Rita Ora : How We Do (2012)

 

 

VS

 

 

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is entirely performance based, there is no narrative whatsoever and this is the first difference to a contemporary music video. Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the first major music videos and in this time a video was used to perform and promote the song, therefore a narrative was not generally included. Queen's video uses a lot of special effects and this would have been a major breakthrough for music videos in the 1980's, they are perhaps what makes this video so iconic to the band.

The video itself is very dark in lighting; the shot right at the beginning with the four 'floating heads' is portrayed by top-lighting to the faces. This usually gives a glamorous ecceft on the subject of the shot by creating shadows onto the nose, mouth and body, however in this group shot the band has a more sinister appearance. There are a few shots like this where the background is in complete darkness and all you see is the performer and their instrument, the brightest that the video gets must be in a shot where the band are on stage. The connotations of the video being mainly low lighting are depressing and dangerous or sinister. I think this connects with the lyrics of the song which are not particularly happy, they talk about throwing life away and wishing to have never been born.

 

This shot shows a special effect, others                                                  

include partially dissolving into different                                                            

shots so that both images can still be seen

and duplicating an image onto the page

multiple times.

 

Many of the shots are also Silhouettes, this in particular shot is narrating the lyrics which read "I see a little silhouetto of a man..." The silhouette is of Freddie Mercury as he is the main feature in this video, probably because he is the lead singer and videos more or less focus on the singer and not so much the musicians.




On the other hand, Rita Ora's video for How We Do which was released in 2011 has a different approach to the music video. Like Bohemian Rhapsody, How We Do is also performance based, however there is also an element of narrative in there which the main video cross cuts to throughout. In terms of lighting and colour, the video is much brighter and includes loud colours which connote a more light hearted storyline and denotes fun. We see Rita Ora in a number of different locations during the video, one where she is alone and it is purely performance, another where she is at a party and the last is at what looks like a studio with people throwing paint everywhere. This video also includes special effects just as Bohemian Rhapsody does, however Queen's video would probably not have a black and white effect as How We Do does because the 1980s had not long seen colour appear on screens so a black and white effect may seem like a regression. However, in the current day and age music videos include effects such as these because it is so rare now to see it.
There are also shots of the action at a UV party which is very modern, the colours are ultraviolet and so this affect on the video makes it even more lively and colourful to watch.

 

 

In conclusion, Music videos have evolved and become a lot more high-tec over the years. For example, How We Do has a better quality picture than Bohemian Rhapsody and the colours are a lot brighter. The film sets also look as if they have become higher budget too. Queen's video would have been very high budget for the time in which it was created, however in comarison to Rita Ora's video we see that it is infact very basic whereas Rita is filmed in different locations and in different costumes in almost every take.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF STILL SHOT.

I have chosen to do a textual analysis of a still from Justin Bieber's Beauty and a Beat video:

 

The Beauty and a Beat video was released in October of 2012. This video is different to many of his others because the camera is in a style which looks as if it is a handheld camera. His other videos are much more like mini movies, telling a story. Whereas this video is entirely performance based as we can see from this still shot of Justin staring at the camera singing with dancers behind him. In this image we can see that Justin Bieber is holding the camera, this handicam type view makes the shot look very informal and almost amateur. The scenery around him is a swimming pool and what looks like a bridge or platform over it which he and some girls are dancing on. The atmosphere looks like a lively party and it looks like a hot or fairly exotic country. The climate of the setting is suggested by what Justin Bieber is wearing at what looks like night time in a water park. His casual clothes expose his tattoo on the left arm which holds the camera. The fact that he has a tattoo connotes a free spirit and artistic person. It is also quite iconic as there has been a lot of exposure of his tattoos recently on social networking sites. Even Bieber's hair connotes his intentions as a musician. The iconic Bieber sweepy frringe has been ditched and he now goes for a more sophisticated quiff. This suggests that he is ready to be thought of differently, maybe taken more seriously rather than the teenage pop sensation with a high pitched voice who everyone finds adorable. Bieber seems to be urging his audience to think more about his sex appeal in this video rather than his cute factor.The girls around him are supporting this idea because they are dressed in summer/swim wear which means very little clothing is worn and quite a bit of skin is shown. As Bieber is surrounded by these dancing girls the connotations are that he is a ladies man and gets a lot of female attention. The name of the song is a parody and inter-textual reference to the Disney film Beauty and the Beast. This could connote Justin Biebers Disney connections that everyone seems to make, he has never appeared on Disney Channel yet he is constantly categorised as a 'Squeaky Clean Disney Kid' because of the image that he first promoted and his relations with other Disney Stars such as Selena Gomez.

FINAL COMPARISON

Andrew Goodwins theories include: hyperconsiousness, parody, inter-textuality, pastiche and narcissism. All three videos include aspects of these theories and still all three videos are typical of their own genre. The expectation is that POP videos will be more hyperconscious in terms of the appearance of the main artist, Carly Rae Jepsen definitely has a more polished persona than Plan B in the R&B category.
However, hyperconsciousness is not all about having a squeaky clean image, it is simply being over aware of how you are perceived. Therefore all artists in the videos seem to be hyperconscious as they all maintain a certain image and reputation for their fans and the media.
Only one video has a clear inter-textual reference, L I F E G O E S O N - Noah and the Whale, of Marylin Monroe.

 

None of the other videos contained an obvious inter-textual reference which links the audience to another medium, although you could say this one is also a pastiche as the woman has a costume and look which resembles Marylin Monroe.

We would also think that the video containing the most narcussism would be the POP video, however there are not as many close ups of Carly Rae Jepsen as there are of Plan B in the R&B video. This would suggest the artist is more narcussistic because they include more shots of themselves and are more inclined to involve themselves in the whole of the music video.

It seems the video that is classed as 'ALTERNATIVE' or 'INDIE' includes less of Goodwin's codes and conventions than the more mainstream genres. Whilst Noah and the Whale only really include inter-textuality and hyperconsciousness, Plan B's video is both hyperconscious, narcussistic and could be said to have intertextual references to a film. Carly Rae Jepsen's includes hyperconsciousness, narcussism and parody/pastiche - the most mainstream genre with the most of Goodwin's theories.

R&B

DEEPEST SHAME - PLAN B

Plan B has a certain reputation as he has been around for quite some time. People therefore have expectations for his music videos, which usually tell a story but include some performance as well. The demographic for this artist is hard to define as many of his fans would have followed him since he started almost 10 years ago, however as he brings out new songs that may appeal to a younger audience, he gains more fans and so the target audience for this video would be boys and girls from the ages of 16 upwards, most probably stopping at around 26 years old. The 'Deepest Shame' video is both narrative and performance based. The genre of the song is R&B and this video is typical of that genre, it uses special effects and is quite fast paced.The camera tracks the main character, who the song is about just as the video follows her story, and the shot usually tells the story of the lyrics. It uses montage editing, where there are a number of shots layered on top of others or a story that is quite jumbled; not necessarily showing in chronological order. There are a lot of close ups used to urge the viewer to pay attention to detail like the words painted all over the girls body. Jump cuts are used as an ellipsis in this video, such as a long shot of some people are coming out of a shop and then jumping to a mid shot of them suddenly walking down the road. Special effects such as dissolve and fade are used to transition frrom shot to shot, e.g. when the girls face dissolves into a cloud under water. The lighting and set throughout the video is quite dark which connotes pain or suffering, with warehouse-looking sets and flashing lights to make the visual aspect quite interesting, i would say this is also quite typical of R&B videos as the narrative of the song is usually quite dark. There are no credits or intertitles at the end which state who or where the video was produced.

INDIE

L I F E G O E S O N - NOAH AND THE WHALE

The genre of 'L I F E G O E S O N' is indie, unlike the other genres i have analysed, this video is mainly narrative based. However, the narritive in this video is montage editing because the storyline is quite jumbled and does not fully match the lyrics. All the performance based shots are on the chorus except for when the video concept changes and they are performing on a stage, the video is then a performance inside a performance. The lighting in this videeo is mainly quite dark, as the storyline is also quite dark, however there are moments where there is quite alot of light such as when the band are performing on stage and bright lights surround them, this denotes performance. The intertextual reference to Marilyn Monroe through the main girl's appearance connects the viewer to the story of Marilyn which a lot of people are familiar with as she is an iconic public figure. There is not a lot of movement frrom the performers as they simply sit on a sofa and sing most of the time. The camera shots used are mainly group shots with long shots, a few close ups to highlight the detail in facial expressions etc... and some shot reverse shots so show both points of view from two people in some cases. The demographic for this band and their music video is quite a wide variety of people, they are considered alternative music and therefore fall under the niche category - the longtail theory may also apply to them with help of Web 2.0 and YouTube to promote their music. The target audience would be ages 15 - 20's because the lyric content is quite explicit... not in terms of expletives but in terms of storyline however the tune is quite catchy which would attract a younger audience as it is a sort of nursery rhyme, jolly tune. There are not many special effects except maybe a green screen or CGI in some places and there are no credits at the end of the video which state who the producers are and which record label the band is with.

POP

CALL ME MAYBE - CARLY RAE JEPSEN

The genre of Call Me Maybe is Pop. The video is mainly narrative based although there are elements of performance where the artist sings to the camera. The video follows a girl who really likes her next door neighbout. Throughout the story Carly is trying to impress her neighbour and it is not until the end when she realises that he doesn't want her number, but actually her male bandmates. The unique selling point of this video, as it came out as Carly Rae Jepsen's debut single, would probably be the attractive man who features and the target audience is most likely to be teenage girls from 13-18 years old. The lighting looks quite bright and natural, this connotes light hearted and happiness.The video contains a number of different camera shots, used for multiple reasons. In particular there is a high angle shot where Carly falls off the car that she is cleaning, to show that she is a low status compared to the boy who helps her up. This could also be interpreted as a point of view shot as the boy looks down on her. Panning, close-up and group shots are also used to display detail. There are a range of takes from fast to slow. The fast takes are used mainly for more comical value such as falling off the car or looking out the window at the boy until he catches her. Slow takes, such as when Carly pulls the main subject to sit on the car are used to highten the tension and make the viewer question what is coming next. Special effects are used in this video such as green screen; for when Carly has a momentary dream about her and this attractive boy dressed as a classical romantic couple with an exotic background, and slow motion is used as he cuts the grass topless to emphasize how attractive Carly finds him. There are credits at the end which state who and where the video was made and Produced by.

Hello A2...

So, it's the beginning of the A2 course and i am glad to be back on Blogger.

Our first task is to analyse 3 music videos of different genres and compare them using Andrew Goodwin's theories;

My video's will be:

• Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepson (Pop)
• Deepest Shame - Plan B (R&B)
• L I F E G O E S O N - Noah and The Whale (Indie)