Unit 29 Music Video Production
Music videos are short films which accompany a song. They are now mostly used as a marketing device to boost sales for music artists. The first music videos were created in the 1920s but they came into prominence in the early 1980s mostly thanks to the works of the American television channel, MTV. Music videos are able to earn money for music artists as they entertain different kinds of audiences and these audiences pay to see the music videos.
One of the first examples of a music video was made by the blues singer, Bessie Smith. Her first video included images of Bessie Smith with her husband Clarence Williams. The song, 'Baby, won’t you please come home', included images of her husband coming home. The next music she recorded was her song, 'St Louis blues', which featured in the movie with the same title.
The first official music video was the song Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan. In this video there is a person holding a number of cards which have lyrics to the song. The person holding the cards drops it one by one after the singer, Bob Dylan, sings that part of the lyrics. The person dropping the cards is usually out of sync with the singer making the video unusual.
Another example of a famous music video is Queen ‘We will rock you’. This is one of the most well known songs around the world due to the fact that it is played across most sporting stadiums. The video includes a close up of all four members of the group queen. There are also instruments placed in the video but they are rarely used. This is maybe why the song is so successful in sporting cultures, as no instruments need to be played while singing the song. All four members of queen stomp their feet and clap their hands in synchronisation and then the lead singer, Freddie mercury, sings the song. The last 30 seconds of the song include the guitarist, Brian May, performing a guitar solo which is played until the end of the song. The video makes the audience feel as if the band are playing to them as there is no story to the music video and the members of the band mostly look towards the camera. The members of the band are wearing colourful looking clothes and they are also wearing a lot of layers of clothes. This is because it was snowing during the video which also shows the professionalism of the band as they carried on with the shoot.
The music video of, thriller by Micheal Jackson, was regarded as one of the best ever music videos. The music video is originally 14 minutes long however there have been many shortened versions made. The video starts with the singer, Micheal Jackson talking to his girlfriend until he becomes a werewolf type of creature. It is then shown that the first bit is a movie but when the real characters are walking home, the character of Micheal Jackson then becomes a zombie. This is part of the video where it becomes a song and the rest of the video consists of Micheal Jackson dancing along with singing while his girlfriend has ran off screaming. There are also back up dancers who dance in synchronisation with the singer and also are dressed as zombies. The main reason as to why this video is one of the most successful music videos ever is because of the singers very good dancing throughout the video. Also the lighting in the video is very good and since the video is supposed to be at night, there is shown to be fog around. There is also sounds from different animals throughout the video. The video won many awards and was hugely popular with the fans around the world. The video also included a voiceover from Vincent Price. The song was supposed to be a halloween song and was brilliantly narrated by Vincent Price who kept people entertained with his voice and evil laugh at the end of the song. The album thriller was the best selling album in the United States. This shows how an entertaining video which is popular with fans is able to earn money for music artists. This is an example of a pastiche music video as it mocks one of the news stories of around the time of the video was set in.
Narrative video
Another type of music video is narrative music videos. A narrative music video is one of the types of music video and it includes a story in the video. This means that the video has to have a beginning, middle and end. An example of this is a music video made by the singer Katy Perry. The video is called ‘the one that got away’. This song is about the singer and her relationship with an ex-boyfriend. The video is played along with the song and it shows the couple throughout different stages of the relationship including the part where it ends. The video starts with the singer at an old age and is having a flashback about the relationship and thinking about how she lost her boyfriend. The singer uses the music video to portray her feelings as it shows her happy and then sad. At the end of the video it shows her boyfriend dying after having a car accident and it shows the singer at an old age going to the scene where he died. The song is a sad song as it does not have a happy ending. When it shows the singer at an old age, the mood is dark and the colours shown are dull. This is done to show the mood of the character which is sad. Also when they are showing the flashback scenes they show a brighter mood as they are supposed to be happier times. There are many different camera angles used in the music video. These include extreme close ups, medium shots and wide shots. This is done to get a better understanding of the emotions the characters are feeling throughout the video.
A performance music video is where the artists perform the song in the video. There is no story in the video. They are sometimes performing the song to an audience like in a concert. This is sometimes good as it allows the people watching the music video the chance to feel as if they are in the concert and they are able to feel the atmosphere in the concert. An example of a performance based music video is the song by the Beatles called ‘help’. The music video includes all four members of the Beatles looking towards a camera. They are all sitting in a line and on stools. The leader of the group, John Lennon, is sitting in the front with an instrument which is a guitar and another member of the group, ringo star, is sitting in the back holding an umbrella. All members of the group are singing along with the song. Most of the members are holding guitars while singing along. the music video is in black and white as it is an old song.
Another type of music video is a concept based video. A concept based music video is where the music video has a message to the viewers. This can be a political message or a message from a company. An example of a concept music video is Micheal Jackson, black or white. This video was released by Micheal Jackson to send a message about the racism in the world to the public. The video includes a lot of different races and different cultures. This is shown in the video when the singer travels from an African culture to a Indian culture. The message of the video is that it does not matter if a person is black or white as everyone is equal. This is shown at the end of the video, when the camera shows a close up of different people who transform from white to black while singing the main words of the song. The mood of the song is generally happy as it is supposed to raise public awareness of a important issue. This shows how this video is a concept music video as it is portraying a message to the public.
Top of the pops is a british television show that was shown on BBC. There was many host of the show and the most popular was Jimmy Saville who opened the very first show on new years day 1964. Due to the popularity of top of the pops, another show was opened called top of the pops 2. In this show, it featured artisits performing their songs live to an audience and video cameras.
David Fincher is an american music and movie director. He is well known for the movies, fight club and seven. He has also directed some famous artists in their music videos. He has directed Madonna, Aerosmith and the rolling stones. He earned back to back MTV awards for best direction. He also won a grammy for the rolling stones song, love is strong. One of the famous music videos directed by David Ficher was Freedom! '90 by George Michael. This video includes different models lip synching the song but also includes the singer in the video. The video is dark and there are instances of things on fire and things exploding in the video. This was done by the director to distance the singer from his previous performances as the things on fire included a jacket which he always wore while singing. The song was a bit of a success reaching number 28 in the UK and reaching number 8 in the US charts.
Another music director is Colin Tilley. Colin Tilley was born in 1988 and is an award winning music director who has written music and directed many famous stars including Chris Brown, Niki Minaj and Justin Timberlake. He is a frequent director of Chris Brown and has directed him in his most famous song, beautiful people. He won the 2011 BET award for Chris browns look at me. One of the most well known music videos directed by Colin Tilley is, Down on me by Jeremih and ft 50 cent. The video begins with a woman dancing in a club and then Jeremih is seen singing and then 50 cent also raps in a bar. The video ends with both artists looking at the camera until it fades away. The song peaked in the UK charts at number 30 and in the US at number 4.
Record labels
A record label makes and sells video and audio recordings. They can do it on various things such as CDs, LPs and cassettes. Some record labels spend a lot of time searching for an individual who has talent in music. Some of the best record labels have launched the careers of artists such as eminem, dr dre, jay z and rihanna.
One successful record label is the island def jam records. This was started by Rick Rubin and its first release was by the punk rock group called horse. The company has since focused on releasing hip hop, rap music. They signed some controversial rap artists in the late 1980s and have been successful ever since. Jay Z was once president of this record label and bought up stars such as rihanna, ne-yo and kanye west. This shows how this label launched the careers of these artists. One music video released by the island of def jam records was mama said knock you out by LL Cool J. This video had the artist inside a boxing ring singing a song into a microphone which was lowered into the ring. It also shows images of people getting knocked out when the chorus line is said.
Another sucessful record label is aftermath. This record label was founded by dr dre and current artists such as eminem, 50 cent and kendrick lamar are currently signed to the label. Former artists include busta rhymes, game and eve. It was founded in 1996 after dr dre left death row records after a dispute. An example of a music video released by aftermath records was forget about dre by dr dre and eminem. This video was released by dr dre and his protege, eminem who has become one of the leading stars in music. This video includes the two rappers rapping to the camera and also causing mayhem in different areas such as drink driving.
