Music video essasy By Caitlin Marsland-Barker
The concept of music videos was used around as early as the 1920’s, better known as ‘visual music’. Throughout the years, technology to create these videos has become more advanced, giving us the chance to create more elaborate videos than the simple animations from the 1920’s. In the last few decades we’ve been introduced to computer software and editing technology that allows us to be able to use green screens, just like in the films, and intricate editing software that allows us to create sequences that would never have existed a few decades before. With these advancements we’ve witnessed classics, such as Queen’s bohemian rhapsody, which was considered a huge step forward in the industry due to it’s use of visual effects, or Red hot chilli pepper’s californication, which included CGI that was considered to be outstanding at the time of release. The reason music videos are used across a wide range of different reasons is because of the promotional side of them, which helps them promote their music and also earn them money with downloads and views. With the help of music channels and television programs, it gives the artist a better chance of recognition and media attention. MTV was and still is a great platform for artists and bands to spread their videos worldwide, collaborating with the channel to create media uproar with unique and advanced music videos that would bring both the channel and musician money. One example of a collaboration between MTV and an artist is the Dire Straits with the music video for ‘Money For Nothing’. This collaboration created a music video that featured CGI, considered revolutionary in the industry. Due to the funding from MTV, this meant they’d be featured on their channel, causing a boom in money for both the band and the channel, due to people wanting to see this ‘innovative’ type music video that had never been attempted before. The video was directed by Steven Barron, who also directed ‘Take On Me’ by a-ha, which explains the almost surreal feel that the video holds, as well as the use of ground-breaking technology and techniques. When looking at ‘Elastic Heart’ by SIA, we can see that the music video is automatically interpretative. We know this due to the unique style of dancing and lack of connection between the song’s lyrics and music video. This music video is a widely known video of this generation, due to the use of its surreal situation and use of interpretive dance. The use of this in the music video was to create a sort of hype about both SIA and the song, also involving Hollywood actor LaBeouf. This video caused a stir with the public due to the controversial interpretation of paedophilia, which is portrayed between Shia and the young dancer, Maddie Ziegler. The music video is surreal due to the entire situation being more of a feeling from our imagination rather than an actual situation where it’s rather unrealistic because we often find ourselves in a situation where we feel ‘caged’ and stuck, but at the same time we have a lot of space available to us, yet not enough for us to escape. The use of surrealism in this video helps portray the meaning behind the song without making an obvious statement, instead giving us a chance to come to that conclusion by ourselves. The way the video was publicised was also a very smart promotion strategy, since the way it was created made it easy for people to parody. People like Bart Barker created parodies
that then went on to make his viewers view the video first hand, since they needed to understand where the parody was coming from. By doing this, it created an extra 15 million YouTube views for the video, causing it to receive more than 475 million views on YouTube. This also meant a huge increase of income for the artist, which is beneficial in a promotional way. This also helps out YouTube, since the website is a well-known viewing platform which gains money through situations like this, meaning that the collaboration earns both SIA and YouTube a comfortable income. As well as it being featured on YouTube, it also ties in with one of the biggest film franchises of the 21 st century; Hunger Games. The song featured on the films soundtrack, which meant there would be a wide range of publicity for the song since it’s a worldwide film, meaning people would look the song up and then come across the video. This is a good way of spreading the video, since it then becomes a worldwide video, and can even make its way onto news programs and other sources of media. This music video doesn’t use the help of computers or lip syncing, causing the simplicity of it to make a huge statement; creating a real situation in an unreal way. Usually artists would use techniques, such as CGI, to improve their video and create attention to their video, but SIA took the more simplistic route to make viewers focus on the song and figure out how the lyrics link with the video. This strategy is a smart marketing technique, since people will ask each other to try and come up with a good interpretation on the song, spreading it and hopefully managing to earn more money once people start to download both the video and the song itself. The video doesn’t stick to the usual conventions of a pop song video, since the setting dark and off-putting; the complete opposite to what a pop video would be like. This is another reason why it sparked interest with the public, since it didn’t stick with the usual stereotypical bright colours party situation. The dancing is also something which doesn’t fit in with its usual pop genera. Instead of including catchy dances, the dance is interpretive and emotional, which adds to the rawness of the video. Another example of an interpretive music video is ‘Black hole sun ‘by Soundgarden. This music video features the use of both CGI and green screen, two techniques that were a revelation at the time. By using these techniques, it gave them more of a chance making it onto TV, since it was a unique at the time. The music video features appearances from the band, performing the song in a field, as well as a sequence of surreal situations, including a fat woman on a vibrating fat belt whilst applying red lipstick liberally all over her face, whilst a muscled man does push ups in her living room. This helped create a buzz about the music video, since the abstract nature of the video was something to cause controversy and peak interest in both fans and those around. However, throughout the song there’s a black hole that can be seen in the sky, meaning that there is almost a connection between the video and song, which means there is a hint of illustrative technique in this video. Older music videos, such as thriller, are still considered some of the best cinematography of its time. The video caused a huge stir when released, since the video consisted of an elaborate backstory and never before seen dance sequences which saw the whole word in a
dance craze. When the video 13 minuet long video came out in 1983, people rushed to watch it. Michael Jackson was already at his prime at the time, so the video was a must watch. What made the video stand out was its use of special effects make up, creating grotesque zombies that, at the time, made viewers uncomfortable and nauseous. It was something that people had never seen in a music video, only in the movies. As well as the unique style of dancing, it became a very popular music video. The music video was a parody of 1950’s horror films, which Michael wanted to make into a short story to truly depict the feel of a 50’s horror film. This fits in with the usual pop video with the narrative and dancing, since most pop videos are found to have some sort of story behind it with dancing that viewers can try replicate. The fact that there’s a correlation between the video and the song also makes it narrative, yet it’s also surreal due to the use of the living dead. Lip syncing can also be seen in the video, another thing that’s usually associated with pop videos. Although the video itself is quite sated, it doesn’t stop it from fitting the stereotypical criteria of an average pop video. What does set it aside from other videos, however, is how advanced it was for its time. Videos had yet to do something this unique and outstanding, meaning this was and still is considered one of the most iconic music videos of all times. The cost of production was $1,000,000, which now would amount to $2,613,465. For the amount of production and effort that went into the video, the amount spent was more than reasonable at the time. The video also has a total of 286,919,011 YouTube views and counting, which is also another source of income, due to the collaboration between the company and the artist. MTV also helped the video at the time, since it was one of the only viewing platforms at the time. There was no YouTube around this time, so the collaboration between MTV and Michael Jackson was a great way for the two to earn money, as well as help Jackson get his video to stream across the world. Thriller is still a video that people reference, even to this day. The video is so iconic that even with advanced cinematic technology; people can still use it as their influence for their videos. The dance routine is also something still used today, being danced, or at least attempted, in clubs and parties. This is also a good publicity strategy because it’s still being talked about and referenced years after release. The media coverage of the video was also another way of publicising it, which happened after the release. The video was all over the Television, being talked about in teen magazines and even in newspapers. It did exactly what it wanted to do; cause an upraise of discussion on it. There was also no real set demographic, meaning that everyone from tween girls, to grown adults were watching it; meaning that the sales of the song would also increase due to the wide age range listening to the song. The music video for ‘kiss you’ by One Direction is known for its humorous portrayal of a parody video. The video includes similar scenes to Elvis’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’, as well comical versions of photo shoots and film sets; even inspiration from the beach boys and The Beatles. The video had a good response, since one direction are a popular pop boyband who were at their peak at the time of release. The video includes many stereotypical things that most pop videos usually include, such as lip-syncing and brightly coloured settings. The playfulness of the video also adds to the pop background, also making it more appealing for the young age demographic, since boy bands are usually aimed towards tweens and young adult females. Their boyish charms are also exaggerated in the video to make it appeal more to the female population, since that’s who their main target audience is. There’s also easy to
learn dance moves which are easy for the viewers to imitate, which is one way of creating publicity for the video. Since the bands were already big, there was a huge countdown to when it was released online. This was good for them since it meant that there was already talk about the music video before it was even released. As soon as it was released there was a flood of reaction videos that were being uploaded to YouTube, causing an even bigger flood of promotion for the video, since people reacting to it made people want to see the original video to see what all the fuss was about. The band considered the fans greatly when making the video, even adding in a fan reference to Harry’s alleged four nipples, which he is seen covering up towards the end of the video. The reason this was done was because it meant that more fans would be encouraged to purchase the video, boosting their music sales and earning them a bigger income. The video earned itself 10.4 million views in 24-hours, with the help of teasers that earned 38 million views each. The video uses techniques, such as green screen, to help keep their cost of location down and also create the more humorous side of the video. There’s a playful element to the video, which also gives the impression that their performances are also playful and enjoyable to watch, which also would increase their sales in tour tickets. By having the video air on MTV, it also helped them reach out to a wider audience, as well as the chance of earning awards for their music video through MTV, something seen as a big thing at this time. The music video is also directed by Vaughan Arnell, who also directed John Newman’s video for ‘Love me Again’, which also explains the playful and charming nature that the video holds. His videos are usually full of action and exciting, which can be seen in the music video. ‘All the small things’ by Blink-182 is another example of a parody, yet there’s more of a controversial side to it. The video portrays different musician’s music videos in the style of Blink-182. The portrayals can either be seen as a light hearted joke, or an attack on the artists, depending how you view it; causing it to be a controversial video. The video generally parodies boy bands, such as N sync and Backstreet Boys, as well as current artists at the time, like Britney spears and her music video for ‘Sometimes’. The genera of music is pop punk, yet the video fits more to a pop video, since the settings are more poppy than they are rock. Since they’re parodying pop videos this is expected, since if they had gone for a more fitting video for their genera then the set would have been darker, with a more grunge feeling to the video, like their other music video ‘I Miss You’. Instead we’re faced with bright slink clothing, beach locations and funny dance routines. The video is obviously a parody, since there’s an insulting twist on it, which is why it cannot be classed as homage. The exaggerated actions that they show also suggest that they’re joking about the artist and their music. This music video is also seen as an iconic music video for parodies, due to how obvious the parody is.
Taylor swift’s ‘22’ is an example of a music video created to fit its genera. All the stereotypical features of a pop music video are featured, including pool side parties, perfect friendships and preppy attitudes. The reason that this has been done is to appeal to her younger target audience, since they’re the ones who are unable to attend her concerts, yet can buy her music. Her use of pretty, yet affordable, clothes also gives the target audience
the idea that they can be like her, which creates more publicity and also helps boost her bank account. The music video itself tries to be realistic, yet it’s almost surreal due to how perfect and unattainable the actual situation is. The cliché side of it also creates talk between people, since the video is quite bubblegum pop, which means it appeals more to the younger audience, something the older audience would find it hard to enjoy and possibly relate to. The problem with this is that it means there could be a loss in income, but it’s also a smart move since there’s already an income coming in from the older audience with tour tickets sales, so by creating a more tween like video, she’s able to collect a profit from both her audiences. Going back to older, more classic music videos, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video was a revelation of its time. At the time, music videos didn’t use many outstanding or eye catching effects, so when Queen released this music video it shook the music video industry. The use of cross-fading and close ups created a never before seen video which cased a stir between people, creating more publicity for both the video and the band. Compared to today’s technology, this technique would see dated and substandard. However, back then this was seen as a huge achievement. Even though the video is dated, it still has the same pop music video components. One example is their use of lip-syncing. However, this could be contradicted, since their setting is dark and mysterious, something that would fit better to a rock music video. The music video only took £4500 to make, which is nothing compared to other music videos that take thousands, yet was quite a lot of money back then. However, the money was easily earned back due to the rise in sales after the music video. Since people enjoyed the music video so much, it influenced them to buy the single, increasing their profit. The use of music videos has changed throughout the years, from illustrating instrumentals, to helping promote artists and singles. With music videos, musicians are able to appeal to wide audiences and also create collaborations between viewing platforms such as YouTube and MTV. Music videos have become more advanced with CGI and filming techniques, creating movie quality pieces, with narratives that help audience create a deeper connection with the music.