A music video is a short film/ video that represents the lyrics of the song. We have them for many different reasons such as; to represent the true meaning of the song. A music video can emphasise certain lyrics, and the meaning of a song through small actions or background imagery. Music videos can also be created for entertainment purposes, TOTP’s would cut to music videos when an artist wasn’t present, but this also changed the viewing style for the audience making the program more enjoyable. Many students can also use music videos to get into the industry, musicians will pay a fairly small wage for a music video, which, for students, is an easy way to get your name in the industry. A larger audience watches TV than radio nowadays, therefore by having a music video aired on MTV or another music based channel, you are reaching a larger audience, meaning more people are aware of your music making a high probability that more people will buy your music.
In 1941 Walt Disney created Fantasia- this is mostly looked at as a film as it’s about two hours long, however the footage has no speech; only music therefore is Fantasia actually a music video? We are used to music videos being around 5 minutes long but this does not mean a music video could be two hours long, like Fantasia. Some music videos also include speech, and look more like short films then music videos, the only thing making them actual music videos is obviously enough, the actual music that overlaps this “short film”.
The first couple of music videos created were:
- Jailhouse rock by Elvis Presley- 1957
- Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles – 1979 (This is the first music video to be aired on MTV).
- Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen- 1975 (First music video to offer effects- not just the band singing).
Evolution of Music Videos-
Music videos started off mostly just showing the band singing. They were very simplistic, and the shots changed slowly whereas today’s music videos have deeper meanings to them and the length of the shots change dependent on the style of music. For example, rock will have quick moving shots and pop music will have slower moving shots.
This music video was creating in the 1970’s- as you can see the camera angles are a lot different to the ones used in the music video made in the 1950’s. They are more artistic and change more often, however the video still focuses on the band rather than a storyline.
I found the background information to this music video very interesting. At the time, this song was the most expensive single ever created and it still remains the most elaborate. Bohemian Rhapsody stayed at the top of the UK singles chart for nine weeks and sold more than a million copies after being out only a year! The video was created as a sort of promotional video for the band. The initial idea of creating this video was to be played on Top Of The Pops- they felt like the song was too complex to mime therefore the video was a way of having Queen play at the show without actually being there. Queen started a trend after this idea and many artists then decided to make videos to be used instead of turning up to events. The video was directed by Bruce Gowers, and was shot in three hours for £3,500, at Queens rehearsal space.
A Brief History-
Top of the Pops (TOTP) is a music chart show created by the BBC in the 1960’s. It was aired every week showing performances from that weeks best selling music artists. The show also discussed the weeks singles chart. Traditionally, on Christmas day a TOTP’s special would run through the years best-selling singles. The show was cancelled in 2006.
MTV is a general entertainment channel owned by Viacom International Media Networks Europe. It was launched in 1997 and is still currently running. Similar to Top of the Pops, the channels aim was to provide an audience with new and local music. MTV is currently classed as an entertainment program rather than a music channel.
Codes and Conventions-
Codes are systems of putting over a meaning without using words to explain what’s going on. There are two types of codes- technical and symbolic. Technical codes are when equipment is used to tell the story such as camera angles ect. Symbolic codes shows true/ deeper meanings to what the audience actually sees. Conventions are the accepted and expected ways of doing something.- they are genre specific. Elements are the different aspects of a media product, which create a whole product when put together. Signifiers are elements which create meaning in a media product, they send specific messages to the audience- the audience mostly do not realise these messages are ever there.
Legal and regulatory constraints
The music video by Queen to ‘Body Language’ was the first music video to be banned from MTV as it was labelled too inappropriate. After watching this music video I felt like it was the correct decision to ban this Music Video however, I feel that music videos now-a-days are even worse than this but they still remain on our TV channels. In Queen’s music video MTV felt that the members of Queen and the actors in the music video were not wearing enough clothes however in many music videos now most girls will dance around in there underwear- this leads me to think that constraints for music videos could be more harsh. Rihanna’s video to S&M defiantly stands out as an inappropriate music video. The video was shortened and censored on television showing only small amounts of the video to make it somewhat appropriate, however the song itself was left still very rude and mostly uncensored, leading me to believe that the video should have been totally banned from TV rather than just cutting parts out. Young children and teenagers look up at artists as role models, so by using sex to sell their music can affect the way some fans view them, especially when young girls start dressing like some artists do or even start singing songs which are more inappropriate then children believe they are. The internet makes it hard to ban music videos completely, but sites such as YouTube have put age limits on some videos so only over 18’s can view them.
In 1990 the parental advisory sticker was introduced with the phrase ‘Explicit lyrics’ on top and ‘Parental Advisory’ on the bottom. The first album to have this sticker was the album by ‘2 Live Crew’ – ‘Banned in the USA’. In 1993 the logo was changed to have ‘Parental Advisory’ at the top of the logo and ‘Explicit Content’ underneath.
Representation throughout Music Videos
Stereotypes can be used throughout music videos whether that focuses on race, gender, or age. Beyonce’s music video to Single ladies is a positive representation of the female gender as she emphasises female equality, stating ‘If you liked it, you should have put a ring on it’ and ‘All the single ladies- put your hands up’ implying that women are inferior and don’t need to be in a relationship. Different genres contain different stereotypes and representations. Hip Hop, for example, portrays women as an item of success- if a rapper has many women it implies they have lots of money and fame. Personally, I believe women in music videos wear too less clothes, and portray themselves in a way to grab male characters attention. Slowly but surely, women have just started to wear less and less in these videos, which society see’s as a new trend, therefore once walking down the road (in summer especially), young girls copy these ‘inspirational’ singers and wear these ridiculously small clothes. It would be nice to think that the initial idea of using these ridiculous outfits in music videos, was a way for an audience to almost escape reality as, it seems obvious that you couldn’t wear most of the outfits shown in certain music videos (Mostly Lady Gaga’s videos), but nowadays celebrities have stated to actually wear these outfits out and about or when performing.
Bibliography
http://www.mhlearningsolutions.com/commonplace/index.php?q=node/3792
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=685
Kerry Hatfield 