Planning-What we have learned from 'Music Videos'?

Since the 1920's when the first early music videos were released there main aims were to keep the viewer interested, they use various techniques to achieve this one is keeping the video fairly short and by using controversial content within the video.

Almost every music video is 3-5minuets long this keeps the viewer interested and involved anything longer than this means the viewer is likely to get bored and tune out, therefore video is normally compressed if it is any larger. They keep the videos short also so the producers can play as many music video as possible in an allocated time. Since the development of music videos they've learnt that viewers now are passive therefore aren't 100% focused on the video. Due to producers being aware of this they use controversial images, rapid cuts, slow motion, celebrities. Due to music videos following the pattern of being 3-5minuets long they don't have time to develop characters, instead we build up stereotypes and characters follow plots in accordance to the song. Music videos tell a story by editing clips together, these clips make little sense on there own.

By Taylor Goodwin

Planning-The History of Music Video

A music video is a distinctive art form used to promote an artists work/album as well as to keep its fans entertained. Music videos increase an artists profits and fan base by grabbing the audience with both visual and auditory entertainment.

Music videos are designed to challenge the culture of the age. Early music videos (1920's - 1930's) known as "Soundies"  first did this by introducing black people as stars e.g Louis Armstrong and by also having women starring in them singing and dancing.

As time changes so does the culture and therefore music videos are constantly changing the subject that they are challenging. This is shown during the 1970's (known as the glam rock era) where bands/singers such as David Bowie and Queen challenged the idea of homosexuality. In the video "I want to break free" by Queen (shown below) you can see how the idea of homosexuality was delivered to the audience.

The 1970's is a significant example of how music videos caused a change in culture and as homosexuality became more accepted in society the ideas that artists where challenging changed.

Another influential artist is michael jackson who challenged racism in society. The video "black or white" sent a message to society which had an impact on a lot of people. 

As you can probably see from the video above a music video does not have a particular form. A music video can be anything the artist wants. Nowadays many music follow some sort of storyline with some having an intro (such as the music video above) as well as an ending clip. A very good example of a music video taking this form is "thriller" by michael jackson. 

George Campbell

Planning-1990s

The 90s was a decade of technology. It was the age of computers and email, one of the most revolutionary aspects of the 20th century. It was also a time of great authors, unforgettable movies, and revolutionary music.

The 1990s were a decade of many diverse scenes in music, however they are perhaps best known for gangster rap, R&B, teen pop, electronic dance music, embracing drug use and violence rather then singing against it. And also for being the decade that new forms of hip pop such as Rap, and electronics music became mainstream.

Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic provided a template for modern gangsta rap. As you can see within the music video, and the lyric the idea of violence towards other is seen as "cool" to the listeners of the time. In contrast with the hip pop rap of the the 80s where everyone was angry and against the violence and drug use within city life where as the 90s artist are embracing the idea.

Due to the success of Death Row Records, West coast rap dominated hip hop during the early 1990s. By the end of the 1990s attention turned back towards the East Coast, and more 2000s styled glam started coming in, along with dirty south and crunk, with artists such as Mannie Fresh, Cam'ron, DMX, Ja Rule andJay-Z.

With the explosive growth of computers music technology and consequent reduction in the cost of equipment in the early 1990s, it became possible for a wider number of musicians to produce electronic music. The popularity of house, techno and rave in the early part of the decade leads to the boom of the more commercial Eurodance genre.

The 1990s also saw the development and refinement of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), which borrowed from forms such as techno, drum and bass, and acid housemusic and introduced more abstract elements, including heavy use of digital signal processing. Among the most commercially successful products in the 1990s of these scenes were European acts such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.

Charlie Quirke

Planning-MTV (1980's)

MTV is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of MTV was to be music television which played music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These videos where put on-air by personalities known as VJs, or video jockeys. The original slogans of the channel were "You'll never look at music the same way again," and "On cable. In stereo."

Although the original MTV channel no longer plays music videos 24/7, several newer channels do so, including MTV Hits and MTV Jam. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star". The second video shown was Pat Benatar's, "You Better Run." Between music videos the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR to play the next video so there was brief intervals between videos of just a blank screen whereas nowadays you would see commercials between videos.

MTV was the beginning of the modern idea of music videos. Music videos were for the first time available on cable TV for anyone to watch kicking off their popularity. Because of this, artists began to compete with each other for who had the best music video and who can reach the number 1 in the charts of that time.

Stuart Deller

Planning-Glam Rock (1970's)

The Glam Rock era also known as the glitter age existed in the 1970's artist from this music age include the likes of Queen and David Bowie. Rockstars from this era pushed the boundaries of sexuality by exploiting homosexuality and promoting this in there videos. Many other rockstars would wear outrageous clothes have heavy makeup and unique hairstyles, this not only showed the changing of a new music age but influenced the formation of the gothic rock we have today.

Noddy Holder to the left shows how unique style was during the 70's from the all in one tartan check outfit to the crazy hear style.

As you can see David Bowie was an iconic artist from this time, during this video he wears female clothes and to anyone watching this video will notice how he is exploiting being a homosexual. This was very rebellious at this time as many kids will look up to these artists and follow in there footsteps. This was also frowned upon by many older generations as being a homosexual isn't as widely accepted as in todays society. 

By Taylor Goodwin.

Planning-drug Influences (1960s)

The rock and roll lifestyle was popularly associated with sex and drugs. many rock and roll's early stars were known as hard drinking, hard living characters. During the 1960s the lifestyle of many stars became more politicly known, aided by the growth of the underground rock press.

Drugs were often part of the lifestyle of music at the time. In the 1960s, psychedelic music arose; some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs as enhancements to the listening experience. Jerry Garcia of the rock band grateful dead said "For some people, taking LSD and going to Grateful Dead show functions like a rite of passage.... we don't have a product to sell; but we do have a mechanism that works."

Rock musicians were early adopters of hippie fashion and introduced such styles as the Nehru jacket; bands such as the Beatles had custom-made clothing that influenced much of 1960s style. As rock music genres became more segmented, what an artist wore became as important as the music itself in defining the artist's intent and relationship to the audience. The Glam rock of the 1970s brought fashion to new heights of importance in rock music with the "glitter" image of artists like T. Rex and Alice Cooper being widely influential. Some artists who had been active in the late 1960s such as David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop also adopted a glam-influenced look. In the late 1970s,Disco acts helped bring flashy urban styles to the mainstream, while New Wave groups began wearing mock-conservative attire (including suit jackets and skinny ties) in an attempt to be as unlike mainstream rockers (who still favored blue jeans and hippie-influenced clothes) as possible.

Stuart Deller

Planning-Scopitones (late 1950s)

Based on technology developed during World War II, color 16 mm film clips with a magnetic soundtrack were designed to be shown in a specially designed jukebox. The first Scopitones were made in France, among them Serge Gainsbourg's Le poinçonneur des Lilas (filmed in 1958 in the Porte des Lilas Métro station), Johnny Hallyday's "Noir c'est noir" (a cover of Los Bravos' "Black Is Black") and the "Hully Gully" showing a dance around the edge of a French swimming pool.

Scopitones spread to West Germany, where the Kessler Sisters burst out of twin steamer trunks to sing "Quando Quando" on the dim screen that surmounted the jukebox. Scopitone went on to appear in bars inEngland, including a coffee bar in Swanage where Telstar was a favourite. By 1964, approximately 500 machines were installed in the USA.

The biggest musical stars of the 1960s were never released on the Scopitone. Several well-known acts of the 1960s appear in Scopitone films, however, ranging from the earlier part of the decade The Exciters ("Tell Him") and Neil Sedaka ("Calendar Girl") to Procol Harum ("A Whiter Shade of Pale") later on. In one Scopitone recording, Dionne Warwick lay on a white shag rug with an offstage fan urging her to sing "Walk On By". Another had Nancy Sinatra and a troupe of go-go girls shimmy to "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". Inspired by burlesque, blonde bombshell Joi Lansing performed "Web of Love" and "The Silencer", and Julie Londonsang "Daddy" against a backdrop of strippers. The artifice of such scenes led Susan Sontag to identify Scopitone films as "part of the canon of Camp" in her 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp'."

By the end of the 1960s, the popularity of the Scopitone had faded. The last film for a Scopitone was made at the end of 1978. However, in 2006 the French singer Mareva Galanter released several videos which mimic the Scopitone style. Galenta's album Ukuyéyé features several songs in the French Yé-yé style. She also recently hosted a weekly French television program called "Do you do you Scopitone" on the Paris Première channel.







Charlie Quirke

Planning-The Soundies (1920s and 1930s)

The soundies are early music videos that became popular in the 1920s to 1930s . In this era; known as the jazz Era, experimentations with live music and silent films began to develop the music video we know today.

A "soundie" was filmed on a live stage with a band and generally dancers. Then were then were shown in jukeboxes in clubs, bars and restaurants. They featured famous musicians of the time such as Louis armstrong and Duke Ellington.

These music videos were controversial for this time as it saw black people as the stars of some of the videos as well as women dancing and singing. At this time this was virtually unknown.

As you can see from the example of a "soundie" above it meets all of the conventions of the criteria for a soundie. The most controversial thing about the soundie shown above is that it features a black woman as the star. It meets all of the conventions because it has black stars, women dancing and singing as well as live music.

George Campbell

Our Project

This year we have been asked to produce a promotion package for the release of an album. We have to include a music video (3-5 minutes), a website homepage for the band, a digipak for the album's release and we also have to do a radio advertisement. We will be documenting the whole project through posts within this blog.

George Campbell & Stuart Deller