History of Music Videos - Pioneers In The Field

In order to deepen my knowledge and understanding of the music video industry I decided to do a bit of research into famous music video directors in order to see what made their videos stand out from the rest. Overall, I found that some of the most successful music videos tended to be the ones in which the directors took risks and challenged conventions of typical music videos, e.g. Lady Gaga's music video for her song Telephone that was directed by Jonas Akerlund. My research is embedded below:

Music Video Pioneers

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History of Music Videos

What is the purpose of a music video?

When did they become popular?

Music videos were introduced in 1894 when George Thomas created the first ‘illustrated song’, which later became known as the first music video. However, music videos only really came into their own in the 1980s. The birth of MTV and the later launch of VH1 catapulted music videos into the public eye and increased their popularity rapidly. In 1981 MTV launched in the USA airing ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ and thus, began the era of 24-hours-a-day music on television. This new outlet for music videos became a central role in popular music marketing and by 1983 the most successful and influential music video of all time was released – Michael Jackson’s 14 minute long music video for ‘Thriller’.

Who controlled the development of music videos in the past? Who now has control of the development of music videos?

In the past the development of music videos was largely controlled by directors and record labels. This is proven by Goodwin's theory on music video as he states that record labels demand lots of close ups of the artist; therefore, this shows that record labels have a significant amount of influence over the development of music videos.

Contrastingly, in recent years artists have been given an increasing amount of control. For example, Indie bands like Vampire Weekend can now come up with their own ideas for their music videos, which is shown by their music video for Giving Up The Gun, as they came up with the concept behind it. However, the amount of control that an artist/band has over the development of their music video largely depends on their genre music. Boy bands that belong to the Pop genre (e.g. JLS and The Wanted) conventionally have to include dance routinesin their music videos and therefore, have a limited amount of control over their videos in comparison to the record label who would have a large amount of control over it. Whereas, Indie boy bands would have a larger amount of control over the development of their music video as generally, Indie bands have a lot more control of the products that they produce because Indie music is based on a DIY ethos.

How have new technologies impacted on the relevance and importance of music videos?

Initially, two key innovations in the development of modern music videos were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use recording and editing equipment. However, more recently the introduction of the Internet, especially websites such as YouTube, and video-friendly iPods have had a huge impact on the relevance and importance of music videos.

By the mid-2000s, MTV had largely abandoned showing music videos in favour of reality

television shows (e.g. The Hills) - essentially, music videos were becoming a dying medium. But, the introduction of YouTube in 2005 largely helped to save the music video and make them more relevant audiences today, as they can now pick what music videos that they want to watch whenever they want and comment on the videos that they like or dislike.

Video-friendly iPods and iTunes have also affected the relevance and importance of music videos drastically because now audiences have the option to download their favourite music videos so that they can watch them on the go. This has had an impact because it means that music videos now push the boundaries even more in order to make people want to the extra mile and pay for them e.g. Lady Gaga's music videos are extremely popular because of their extravagance and short-film like structure.

Music Video Analysis - Razorlight 'I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got'

Razorlight are an English-Swedish Indie Rock band that formed in 2002, although they are primarily known in the UK. Their music video for I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got is a pure performance video that is in black and white. This simple, black and white, music video helps to sell the band through its use of close ups as it portrays Razorlight as being an unpretentious, simplistic, cool Indie band that, ultimately, cares about the music that they are making. The music video is embedded below:

Razorlight

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Music Video Analysis - The View 'Same Jeans'

The View are a Scottish Indie Rock band from Dundee that formed in 2005. Their music video for Same Jeans is a performance based video with a subtle hint of narrative. This type of video was probably chosen so that main focus of the video is the song, and therefore, the promotion of the song. By highlighting the importance of the song this music video reinforces one of the key principles of Indie music – that the music is the most significant element of any band.

Unfortunately, YouTube has disabled the embedding option for this music video 'by request' so I cannot embed it onto my blog, but the link to the video on YouTube is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpF51y8udgY&ob=av2e

Demands of the record label...

Goodwin’s theory states that within a music video the record label demands lots of close ups of the artist or band in order to establish the image of the band or artist. The music video for The View’s single Same Jeans follows this convention as it contains close ups of the band members throughout the video. However, similarly to One Night Only’s music video for Say You Don’t Want It, the main focus of the close ups in the video is the lead singer, Kyle Falconer.

By including lots of close ups the band’s record label encourage The View’s potential target audience to connect with the individual band members, particularly Kyle Falconer, and simultaneously establish a cool Indie image for the band.

(click image to enlarge)

Genre characteristics...

Like the majority of the music videos that I have analysed Same Jeans by The View contains many of the conventional genre characteristics that you find in most Indie Rock and Indie Pop music videos. For example, stereotypically Indie music videos include a performance element and lots of close ups of the artist that not only establish the band’s image but also show that they can play their own instruments. Moreover, many music videos, for example, Vampire Weekend’s Giving Up The Gun, include cameos. However, The View’s music video does not include any cameos, perhaps so that the audience focuses more on the song than the video.

Apart from the inclusion of cameos, all of these conventions can be found within The View’s music video. For example, for the majority of the video the band is shown performing at a gig, in which the band members are often shown playing their own instruments. This is important as one of the main principles of Indie music is the DIY ethos, so by being depicted as being able to play their own instruments The View automatically establish themselves as an Indie band. Furthermore, by incorporating lots of close ups of the band members the record label is able to reinforce their image as being an authentic Indie band through clever use of mise-en-scene.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals...

In this music video there is an illustrative relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The lyrics to Same Jeans are about an individual who has been wearing 'the same jeans for four days now' that is about to go to 'a disco in the middle of town'. These lyrics are illustrated throughout both the narrative and performance elements of the video as it is these lyrics that the whole video is based upon. For example, one of the first shots that the audience see is one of the lead singer waking up and getting out of bed already dressed in his skinny jeans, which suggests that he has been wearing his jeans for at least a couple of days and is therefore, illustrative of the lyrics. Moreover, he is also shown leaving his hotel room and walking into the middle of a 'disco' (gig) that he performs in, which is again illustrative of the lyrics.

Furthermore, he is shown wearing skinny jeans rather than any other type of jeans because skinny jeans are a distinctive fashion staple for Indie music fans and by wearing them he is reinforcing his casual, laid back, Indie band member image.

Another example of the illustrative relationship between the lyrics and visuals comes towards the end of the song when the lyrics say 'everybody's dressing up, I'm dressing down'. Whilst these lyrics are being played the visuals illustrate and amplify them because the lead singer is shown sitting in between two men in business suits whilst he is wearing his skinny jeans in the middle of what appears to be a train station.

Relationship between music and visuals...

There is an amplifying and illustrative relationship between the music and the visuals in The View's music video for Same Jeans. At the beginning of the music video the cutting pace is relatively slow in order to be illustrative of the pace of the introduction of the song; however, it steadily increases in tempo to keep up with the beat of the song. This is indicative of the editing pace for the majority of the song as it is usually illustrative of music.

Towards the end of the song the beat gets a lot more staccato and the visuals amplify this change in beat through the sudden change in the cutting pace. By changing the editing pace when the beat of the song changes it creates a sense of fludity between the music and the visuals, which makes it more enjoyable to watch. Moreover, the illustrative relationship that exists between the music and the visuals is important because it makes the storyline of the video easier to follow.

Intertextual references...

This music video does not include any intertextual references and therefore, contradicts Goodwin's theory. Like with The Kook's music video for Shine On, this could have been done so that their target audience focuses more on the song and the band rather than a distractive narrative or concept. Moreover, it also reinforces The View's anti-mainstream image because they are challenging the conventional rules of music videos.

Notion of looking/voyeurism...

As with most of the music videos that I have analysed, this music video does not contain any elements of voyeurism, as it would alienate and upset a large amount of their target audience if they were to have included it. However, it does include the notion of looking as the music video contains lots of point of view shots in which we can see the audience’s, in the music video, reaction to The View’s stage performance. By including point of view shots of the audience it creates the impression that the audience’s reaction is of vital importance to the band, which is something that their potential target audience would appreciate. Furthermore, being at a engergentic gig is something that a lot of The View's target audience can relate too.

Music Video Analysis - The Kooks 'Shine On'

The Kooks are an Indie Pop/Rock boy band from Brighton, East Sussex that formed in 2004. Their much awaited music video for their song Shine On is a performance/concept music video that portrays the fragility of love/relationships. The music video is embedded below:

Music video analysis:

The Kooks

Relationship between music and visuals video examples...