What do you think of when you think of music video?
I think of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which inevitably made a massive impact on the way we view music videos as the first feature length video with an almost movie inside. We had A-Ha and their diverse cartoon animations and Queen with interesting new light edits.
But.. how far does music video go back? We have the invention of the graamphone in 1900, the first sound film in 1927, Hollywood musicals prime time, the beginning of music channels with other branches (magazines, etc) and then MTV-Europe Awards in 1994.
The first music videos were recorded when the image was filmed separately to the audio and then they were merged together. Over time the quality improved and music videos became longer and the edits and speed became better and more enjoyable to watch.
Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Monkees, Queen, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and Madonna were all big impacts on the development and change of music video.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Research and Planning: Genre of Music
Pop:
Pop music is 'popular music' and is usually that that is in the charts and recognised as mainstream and originates from genres: DooWop, Dance, Classical and Rock and Roll.
Jazz:
'Originated from the 20th Century in African American communities in Southern United States.'
Indie:
Indie is the abbreviation from Independent music and how they have moved away from the stereotypical route of major commercial labels and contracts.
Classical:
Written in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in Europe, commonly themes of symphony, concerto and sonata.
R'n'B:
Is an abbreviation of 'rhythm and blues' and Robert Palmer defined is as 'a catchall term referring to any music that was made for and by Black Americans'.
Metal:
Developed from Rock Music in the twentieth century, mainly for United Kingdom and Sates.
Rock:
After it moved away from Rock'n'Roll it became more harsh.
Pop music is 'popular music' and is usually that that is in the charts and recognised as mainstream and originates from genres: DooWop, Dance, Classical and Rock and Roll.
Jazz:
'Originated from the 20th Century in African American communities in Southern United States.'
Indie:
Indie is the abbreviation from Independent music and how they have moved away from the stereotypical route of major commercial labels and contracts.
Classical:
Written in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in Europe, commonly themes of symphony, concerto and sonata.
R'n'B:
Is an abbreviation of 'rhythm and blues' and Robert Palmer defined is as 'a catchall term referring to any music that was made for and by Black Americans'.
Metal:
Developed from Rock Music in the twentieth century, mainly for United Kingdom and Sates.
Rock:
After it moved away from Rock'n'Roll it became more harsh.
Research and Planning: Creativity
In our lesson we looked at some lyrics of the song called 'Life is a Gun' without hearing the song or seeing the video and we had to brainstorm what we thought our own ideas could be for our version of the song, just by looking at the lyrics.
My brainstormed ideas were this:
-Set in New York
-In the past
-The band/artist standing in the middle - long shot
-Then all around and behind a sort of war/love battle scene in a blur because of the past idea. Fast speed editing
-Time moving on..seasons
-Cold and dark
-Artist/band wearing dark clothes because of the depressive lyrics
-Repetitive
-Setting in an avenue/street
-Looking lost
-Strength, time, love, war, battle are main themes
-Undone - falling apart demonstrated in a way
-'But I'm running against my will' - Walking forward begins with the same blur around him/her/them
We then listened to the song, without the video and were asked to review our ideas and see if we'd change anything. I revised my ideas and took out the artist (as it was a male soloist) wearing dark clothes and instead pictured him wearing jeans. I took out the 'but I'm running..' and decided that throughout the whole video he would be walking around playing the guitar (the instrument I could hear). There would be a clip during the video where he was sat at a park near a river with sun, more of the seasons clips would be focused on winter (because of the reference to cold). No one would notice him or see that he existed whilst walking, and all be in black and white.
We then watched the video and decided if any of our themes were similar to that of the real one. Mine were of the black and white theme of the video, but not much else.
My brainstormed ideas were this:
-Set in New York
-In the past
-The band/artist standing in the middle - long shot
-Then all around and behind a sort of war/love battle scene in a blur because of the past idea. Fast speed editing
-Time moving on..seasons
-Cold and dark
-Artist/band wearing dark clothes because of the depressive lyrics
-Repetitive
-Setting in an avenue/street
-Looking lost
-Strength, time, love, war, battle are main themes
-Undone - falling apart demonstrated in a way
-'But I'm running against my will' - Walking forward begins with the same blur around him/her/them
We then listened to the song, without the video and were asked to review our ideas and see if we'd change anything. I revised my ideas and took out the artist (as it was a male soloist) wearing dark clothes and instead pictured him wearing jeans. I took out the 'but I'm running..' and decided that throughout the whole video he would be walking around playing the guitar (the instrument I could hear). There would be a clip during the video where he was sat at a park near a river with sun, more of the seasons clips would be focused on winter (because of the reference to cold). No one would notice him or see that he existed whilst walking, and all be in black and white.
We then watched the video and decided if any of our themes were similar to that of the real one. Mine were of the black and white theme of the video, but not much else.
Research and Planning: Geri Halliwell - Raining Men
Over a few lessons we began to deconstruct the music video of Raining Men by Geri Halliwell. We made notes and then compared them with each other and as a group developed our ideas further.
We discovered that it has alot of intertexuality, which is a common concept used in music video production. The heavily used intertexuality is referenced to Fame, the musical. We looked the mise-en-scene and picked up on the fact that towards the end of the video, there was a black british taxi that was coloured in yellow to, again create the atmosphere of a New York vibe, which is where Fame was set. During the video Geri wears a cropped top with the word 'Famous' on it, also a play on the theme of 'Fame'. Throughout the whole video there are direct references to the musical, whether it be the audition process at the beginning and the group 'non-choreographed piece' of dance on the streets which is common in most musicals. A reason that there is alot of intertexuality is used in music videos nowadays is because of post modernism, which means that nothing can any longer be original as it has all been done before; the clear genre is musicals and in shown very well.
At the beginning when she begins her audition, the vinyl record stops and she falls over, although she seems to be self mocking too, this is also a very cliche theme that is recognised, she is all in black, as are the judges and their age seems to be seemingly old and the type of dance that Geri portrays does not seem to excite them very much as it is not the ideal high art culture (elitist) ballet dancing, along with the dance attire she is wearing.. however towards the end, even they begin to tap their toes and enjoy it. By rebelling and rule breaking she starts to stand out to a more popular culture.
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