MUSIC VIDEOS THROUGH TIME

• Music videos definitely show a progression, both in design and visuals, and the equipment

and software used to produce them, throughout the last century. It is important to

look in detail at the movement of music videos, as we have taken inspiration from the era of the 1920’s, which may alter the way that we

want to shoot and edit our music video, as we may want to deliberately create a ‘retro’ feel

to cause the nostalgia for the audience.

INTRODUCTION

• In the 1920’s, something resembling the music video appeared, this time on the big screen in 1922 with Lee De Forest's Phonofilms. On April 15, 1923, he showed a program of phonofilms at New York's Rivoli Theater.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE2TxLwcvK8• Warner Bros joined in with this new craze with their

Vitaphone films, beginning in 1926. Recording the music onto discs instead of directly onto the film (as Phonofilm had), they may've represented a step backward in terms of technology. Artistically, however, they moved years beyond their predecessor's darkened stages or curtain backdrops by situating their subjects in decorated sets.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3_RLaa4Zu8&feature=player_embedded&safe=active

THE 1920’S

• Era of the ‘soundies’ • These early versions of music videos were created in the

1940's and were shown on coin-operated juke boxes in clubs and restaurants. They were especially popular for spreading performances of African-American artists (who were blocked from performing in other public formats).

• Introduction of the subtle male gaze theory• More variation of camera shots, mid shots of different

instrumentalists • Based on performance, mostly of band, or a group of

women or men singing as a quartet/ trio etc. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bhzX1owTNw

THE 1940’S

• This was the era of the dancing culture through both society and music videos of the time.

Still in basic black and white, these music videos actually did advance as they now had a much bigger variation of

camera shots, with the introduction of the crane, and the progression from the basic mid shots, to low and high angle

shots, and close ups of certain parts of a lady’s body to insinuate that the women were being held as sexual objects

in the media’s eye and to bring the male gaze theory into full force.

We can see this clearly in the music video for ‘twist again’ by Chubby Checker’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxQZQ86jJHg

THE 1960’S

• The 1970’s saw the introduction of Rock and Roll with bands such as Led Zeppelin and artists such as Bruce Springsteen.

• However, it was Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ that was to make music video history. The expert use of effects such as the ‘kaleidoscope’ effect, and the

use of 2 images merged together in the beginning of the video were ground-breaking for the time.

• The start of ‘Top of the Pops’ was also a huge turning point in the history of music videos, as this programme now required artists and bands to create a

whole brand of themselves, and to be constantly making intertexual references to promote themselves through music videos and actual live

performances on the programme. There was suddenly a boost in individuality and originality coming from different artists and bands, through use of make up, costume, and the way that their music videos were shot, produced and

editied.• The use of colour film also boosted the production of music videos

enormously as this opened up a whole new spectrum of opportunities for different artists, and gave them huge creativity when shooting a music video.

Music videos were now not just a performance of the song; they had narrative, ambiguity and a constant underlying theme to promote and sell the

artists as one whole package- as a brand.• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ

THE 1970’S

• The 1980s saw the emergence of pop, dance music and New Wave. The 1980s are commonly associated with the usage of synthesizers, thus, synthpop music and other electronic genres featuring non-traditional instruments exploded in popularity. Also during this decade, several major electronic genres were developed, electro, techno and house.

• The 1980s saw the reinvention of Michael Jackson, the superstardom of Prince and the emergence of Madonna, Whitney Houston, & Janet

Jackson - who were all arguably the most successful musicians during this time. Their videos became a permanent fixture on MTV and gained

a worldwide mass audience. • As the field of artists became more competitive, the actual music

videos themselves started to become more controversial to try and gain higher publicity than the rest.

• This is primarily evident in Madonna's 1989 music video for her single ‘Like A Prayer’, in which she caused huge amounts of controversy for

having a black man embody Jesus in the video.• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fzeNUqQbQ

THE 1980’S

• The 1990s was a golden age for music videos. After the experimental ’80s and before YouTube sensation of the new century, music videos in the ’90s provided an outlet for ground-breaking directors to cultivate an image for an artist or song that could become as memorable as the

song itself. • MTV's ability to place a song and musician into the pop music

conversation was unparalleled at the time, and by the end of the decade that meant absurd levels of both financial and creative

commitment to music videos. Creatively, videos at the time were dominated by a handful of visionary directors and therefore saw a

surge in creativity and originality. • One prime example of this is Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2

U” where the majority of the video stays zoomed on O’Connor’s face, as her face is wracked with emotion. The video’s high point of action is

when she cries two tears. Although the video was so simple, it was considered visually stunning, and could even be seen as inspiration to

Miley Cyrus’ new music video “Wrecking Ball”.• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUiTQvT0W_0&safe=active

THE 1990’S

• In a decade more defined by fragmentation and the rise of the niche than anything else, there were no longer two or three definitive

outlets for the music video like there had been in the past. For the first time, videos often went straight to the web and were available

on countless sites with large and small audiences, and while this was happening, budgets for videos got a lot smaller too.

• This decade also saw the height of the use of the male gaze theory, with the popularity of R&B and Hip Hop music, developing its own genre specifics in the music videos for these songs. This is nearly

always focused highly around the male gaze, objectifying and sexualising women, as well as the frequent use of voyeurism in a

variety of videos across different genres.• A prime example of this is 50 Cent’s music video for the single

‘Candy Shop’, where it is clear to see the male gaze theory in full practise.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRcnnId15BA&safe=active

THE 2000’S

• We feel that studying how music videos have evolved, both in the visuals, and the equipment and software used to edit the videos

has been extremely interesting, and useful when seeing how different genres have developed genre specifics. We want to be able to create a ‘retro’ feel in our music video, and that it was actually filmed in the era of black and white ‘soundies’ (The

1940’s). It is therefore useful to look at how we can mix both this decade and the modern ‘pop’ video which has, in recent times,

become very stereotyped, normally with the aspects such as narrative, location and performance.

• It also important to look at the male gaze theory and if we would actually need to either use or subvert this aspect that is used in

many modern day videos, after being developed over the different decades. We will look at this in more detail, as we do

have an idea that we want to use this theory, however not in such an extreme and sexualised way as the R&B style of music videos

that we see in the 2000’s.

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