We have decided to construct a female mainstream pop artist aged 17, called Rosie Dixon. She will have come into the limelight initially from British Talent Show, The X Factor.(For our model posing as Rosie, we will use Hannah Froggett).
One of the reasons she probably got so far in the competition and gained popularity from an audience is her sob story: her mum and dad are divorced and she lives with her single dad because her mum is addicted to drugs. She used to sing with her twin brother, but he unfortunately died a few years earlier.
(Rosie on the X factor)
Target Audience
Our target audience will be white working class teenage girls, because firstly it is this audience that play a big part in raising sales in the music industry, and also because our artist would be successful if her target audience can relate to her or inspire to be like her. Later on however, when she gets older and this market can't relate to her just as much, we will sexualise her image more to broaden the target audience by making her appeal to males also.
(Rosie Dixon)
Props
Our artist Rosie Dixon will have a prop that will cause her to get popularity from sympathy. She will have a bracelet that she always wears, which will have apparently been given to her by her brother before he died. This could inspire girls to all go out and buy bracelets that look similar to associate themselves with her - merchandise opportunity!
Costume and Hair
Our artist needs to be able to fit in with the mainstream culture for her audience to be able to associate with her, and this needs to come mostly from her image as well as her music. We will construct her image to be the 'hipster' fashion, because this is what a lot of her target audience tend to be like currently, and if the latest fashion changes, we can always reconstruct her image, which is a popular idea amongst other artists in the industry.
This involves items of clothing including patterned leggings (galaxy style is popular), denim or camouflage jackets, flowery skirts or denim shorts, creepers or vans, and crop tops or denim shirts or oversized jumpers and tank tops. Hipsters also tend to wear large 'nerd' glasses and beanie hats, along with bright or exaggerated lipstick, or flowers in their hair.
In terms of hair, the hipster style is usually loose and wavy, or big and backcombed, and bright in colour such as blonde or light brown, with often dip-dyes of more extreme colours like pink or green.
Another hairstyle that is popular is a pale-washed colour for the full head of hair. Hairstyles are often a big factor in the way an audience may inspire to want to be like someone, where popular artists usually have fans that get their hairstyle because that hairstyle is associated with them. For example, 'the bieber flick', Rihanna's bright red hair, or Cheryl Cole's purply-brown loose hair. This worked well alongside Chery's advert for L'Oreal to promote her hair almost as a separate product. Our artist therefore will have loose long blonde hair, which can be dip-dyed to create a more unique style at a later date if she needs to gain more popularity in terms of her image.
Music Video Concept and Song Cover Rosie's first music video will be a promo video that relates to her life, in order for her audience to 'get to know her' and to build up a better relationship between the audience and artist. It will start off in black and white, where the song will start off slow, and this will represent Rosie's depressing past, which will make the audience sympathetic and connect with the artist, especially those who can relate to her from her past situations. In this part of the video she walks across a bridge to represent her entering her new life and also 'water under the bridge'. She notices a door, which is in colour, to show her bright opportunity which she can now embrace, which she walks through. The later end of the video will be in colour, with loads of bright background and costume, with Rosie wearing butterfly wings, to represent her recovery 'flying away' into her new perfect life of happiness and fame. This portrays a message of 'everything will be okay in the end' which is usually inspirational with the target audience through other artists, and therefore Rosie will also use this concept, with her own story, to gain popularity and be inspirational to many teenage girls.The whole video will be done in typical public working class settings, like a car park, or a shopping centre, because this way our artist looks like a 'normal' person that can appeal and relate to the target audience with places they are familiar with.
Dancers will also be used, which firstly represent that Rosie Dixon could act as a collective with her audience, as if she admires involvement with her fans, but also dance routines make successful music videos because they grasp audience attention, and with the use of unique dance moves, a certain 'dance' can then be associated with the video and make the video memorable, to gain our artist more popularity into the mainstream musical culture. Examples of this are from artists like Beyonce, or on a more extreme less relevant note, Psy's Gangnam Style.
Here are our sketches for the music video:
As it is her first video, Rosie Dixon will do a cover of a song as opposed to her own song, so it is something that an audience are already familiar with, and so can connect with her from the beginning, and also they can use it as a talking point, comparing it to the real version, which already brings publicity to Rosie within her audience, and within the media. We have chosen for this to be a cover of Katy Perry's 'Firework' because this is a song that has been popular with the target audience already, and is also a very good song to represent the message that Rosie Dixon is trying to portray in her music video. This means that the use of colour and fireworks can be an essential element in the music video in the last part of the video where it represents her brand new life, as a climax to the song. We have chosen to use this as the cover, because the voice suits the image of Rosie that we are trying to create, and we thought that it would work well alongside the depressing earlier part of the video, where the later part of the video would sound closer to Katy Perry's version because it is more upbeat and sounds happier, to show a significant difference between a depressing past and a happy ending. This version, because it sounds different to the original, will be more modern and therefore more popular in the current industry.
'Firework Cover' by Charlotte Wakefield
'Firework' by Katy Perry
Press and Publicity
At first we will make sure there is positive press about Rosie Dixon, to make her look popular, innocent, successful and have a good relationship with an audience. This includes things like the good things she might do, like making friends with other respectable celebrities and making her look promising for the fashion columns of magazines to promote herself and identity. In terms of personal promotion, she could go on chat shows and radio shows and have emotional talks about her past and how much she loves her new life to make an audience feel empathetic and deidcated to her. She will also have her own Facebook and Twitter pages where she will post all of her succesful things and connect with her fans. Here she can also advertise tour dates and upcoming single releases in terms of marketing, which can also be done on television adverts and magazine inserts, because she is aimed at a mainstream culture target audience. Her album will be called 'Recovery' to represent her life, and her tour will also be called this, as well as the official tour poster having the same artwork as the album cover, to promote the album, or for the album itself to promote the tour.
Facebook Page
Here is Rosie Dixon's Facebook page where fans can interact with her and find out what she is up to, which also acts as a central place for marketing (e.g. to promote her album).
Website
Here is Rosie Dixon's official website containing everything about her for her fans to use.
When her popularity starts to go, possibly as a publicity stunt she could date a successful male celebrity such as Louis from One Direction, to gain her positive media attention, and also more attention from her target audience again, who is the same target audience as the person she is dating. Positive media attention can also come from things like Rosie meeting inspirational people who the audience relate with, or bringing out her own perfume or clothing line.
If all else fails, then negative puplicity will have to be used to gain the media attention again if popularity drops, because that is what the media is most interested in and gains the most interest from audiences and acts as a topic of conversation. Here the tabloids could take embarassing pictures of her like throwing up at a club, or cheating on Louis with another man, or taking drugs and being compared to her mother.
(embarrassing paparazzi photo of Rosie throwing up)
Inspirations
We have constructed our mainstream artist from inspirations of existing very popular artists that we have compared, to create a sense of overall image and costume and music sound that is popular to our audience and the music industry today, which would make our artist more likely to be successful. We have looked at the backgrounds of artists too, in order to create a story behind out artist - this includes the idea that she grew up having a rough life and had to try hard to get where she is now, and the idea that she went on a talent show to give her that chance. Overall, this leads to inspiration from artists such as Rita Ora, Amelia Lily, Lucy Spraggen, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus and Jessie J, brought together to create one new artist.
References As we worked on this as a group, here are the other group member's blogs:
In this video, Adele has really emphasised a more modern technique of music videos, where other than ideas such as performance or narrative, it is the emotion of the song that it is important to portray in a video to the audience. She uses this to connect with the audience, which is one of the main elements of this video. The majority of the video involves close up shots of Adele walking and singing into the camera, to create a close relationship to the audience through eye contact. This creates an effect that either she is singing the song to the audience, or that although she is trying to reach out to the person the song is about, she is asking for the audience to empathise with her. The close-ups also show Adele's expressions, which further show the emotions of the song - sadness and depression, because it is about a break-up, which is made obvious when the man walks away from Adele at the end, directly linking the video to the lyrics. The emotion is also shown by the establishing panning shots that identify the setting, which looks like the stereotypical film setting where romantic couples may take walks together, however here Adele is alone. The whole thing is in black and white, to represent the sadness of this situation, to further give across the message to the audience. The setting is also a normal every-day setting which the general public will be familiar with, and Adele is just in normal everyday clothes. This is important because it means the audience don't see her as a famous artist, but just as a normal person who they can associate with, especially if they also can relate to the song, and makes them more likely to sympathise with Adele's situation and feel empathetic. This connection gives Adele as an artist popularity, and promotes her album as well as just the song because each song on this particular album is about her break up. There isn't much editing because the majority of the video is done in one take with just a lot of panning involved. The shots of Adele are mostly straight and not angled, to make the audience feel like they are on the same level as her. The editing that is used, is an overlay of Adele's face over the background, to show her emotion of the setting without her boyfriend by her side, and to make it seem like the situation has made her feel like she is 'fading into the background' to make the audience feel sorry for her. The pace of Adele's walking fits with the pace of the song to keep it consistant, and because it is quite slow, represents the slow recovery from the break up, and the ability to slowly move on. The concept of 'moving on' from this circumstance, is where the whole point of the video comes from, where all of the way through it is she walking, as if walking into a new life, which mirrors the lyrics 'never mind I'll find someone like you, I wish nothing but the best for you too'.
Psy - Gangnam Style (2012)
'Gangnam Style', a Korean pop song by Psy, is by far one of the most famous videos worldwide of the modern era. It uses many of the modern day concepts involved with music videos including narrative, humour, dance routine and irony. It is a light hearted song, even if it does have sexual references, and this is represented by the bright colours that all of the figures in the video are wearing, as well as the colourful settings. The settings are materialistic, such as posh hotels, saunas, stables or car parks with expensive cars in, to show the wealth and fame Psy tries to portray his identity as. This is also shown in the beginning shot where he is laid on a beach with a cocktail, wearing shades, and the use of sexualised women in the yoga scene. The girl in the video plays his love interest, and together they have quite a cheesy relationship, shown by things like the slow motion walk towards each other, but this fits well with the lyrics and the overall comedy element of the song. A lot of the video is confusing and makes not a lot of sense as to why certain things happen, but this makes the video memorable for the audience and makes them want to watch it over and over again, as well as keeping to the comedy element. The editing pace is quite fast to keep with the energetic beat of the music, which means there are more sharp cuts for transitions as opposed to cross-fades. The most iconic part of the music video, is the dance routine. It is ironic because modern artists who create dance routines, like Beyonce, tend to be young females for sex appeal, but in this it is a slightly older male, trying to attract attention from a wider audience. The dance moves are unlike anything ever seen before in the music industry which makes the audience automatically associate the moves with the song, which has created many fans all over the world using these dance moves to dance to the song ever time they hear it, showing that dance routines as part of a music video still live on from their early appearances about 50 years previously.
One Direction - Kiss You (2013)
One Direction are the latest most famous boy band on the scene, and alike to many other boybands, this video is all about them in their early stages of being a boy band. The video has no reference to the song at all, other than the last line saying 'and let me kiss you' where one of the members kisses another in the video, which could imply something about their sexuality. This is also shown by one scene where they are all dressed as sailors with their arms around each other. There are a lot of scenes where it shows one direction having photoshoots and music videos filmed, to show that they are a rising success as a group, which is one of the reasons why the lyrics may not relate to the video - if you have a successful fanbase then it doesn't matter if the video has much relevance, just as long as you are continuing to promote yourself in it. There are a lot of close ups of the boys faces, to show their emotions of happiness at being famous, and also to give their young girl fanbase a chance of admiring them. There is the element of cross reference to film used in this video, by the title credits to the song at the beginning and end. There is also a reference to historical music videos - Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock, where the group are all dressed in prison uniforms outside a similar set, which could represent how previous music videos in the industry have still had a major impact on music videos today.
Busted were a boyband who made a massive breakthrough with the song 'year 3000', mostly because of its video. The song itself tried not to use concepts already thought of before for the themes of popular songs, such as love, fame and rebellion - it used the theme of 'the future', and so incorporated this into the video by using the cartoons to represent the future. This represents how so far there is nothing in the real world that we can use to represent the future world, and also that with future technology the world might become so surreal it is almost like a cartoon. Improvements in technology meant that the cartoon elements of the video could actually be used as the set, rather than just separate scenes like in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', which also shows how budgets for music videos are continuing to increase. This video uses a wide range of music video elements, including the concept of narrative in music, where Busted start off at home, go forward in time in a time machine and then perform on stage in the future. This also means that the performance aspect of music videos still remains a well used and popular theme from when music videos originally started being made. The time machine is a car that is very much like the one from 'Back to the Future', and 'the neighbour' who created it in the video is dressed to look like Emmett Brown from 'Back to the Future' also, showing how this music video cross references with film, which allows the audience to relate to it and recognise it. This technique is also shown in the reference to Michael Jackson in the lyrics where a cartoon animation of Michael then appears in the video, showing a cross reference within the actual music industry too. The 'real world' set at the beginning is in a typical teenage boys bedroom, and Busted are dressed in clothes typical to teenage boys of the time, exaggerated by mid-shots and close-ups, which shows how they are trying to get the attention of their teenage target audience, where boys can relate to them or girls may get to 'have a crush' on them. This is also represented in a 'future' scene, where a group of girls dressed in a sexualised manner take their tops off at the sight of Busted. This also promotes the band, by suggesting boys should want to be like them, and girls should want to admire them. Every action done in the video fits directly with the lyrics on cue, showing that the link between music and video is still an important aspect of music videos to make sense to the audience.
Beyonce - Crazy in Love (2003)
'Crazy in Love' is Beyonce's debut single after the break-up of 'Destiny's Child' and therefore acts as a promo video for herself and her music as a solo artist. The lyrics celebrate the evolution of women and 'girl power', possibly influenced from more feminism, and how a romantic obsession can lead to a woman acting out of character, which is what the video then tries to portray. Throughout the whole video, in terms of mis-en-scene, Beyonce is wearing revealing clothing and performs provocative dancing, to represent the sexuality and passion at the start of a love inflicted relationship, which related directly to the lyrics. She also does this to show herself off as an artist and to present herself to her audience, which could be seen as the media portraying her as sexually attractive, to appeal to the male audience, as well as females. A lot of hip hop genre music does in fact show women in this light, but usually from male singers as a way of making themselves look powerful by using women as 'sex objects', however Beyonce in this video makes herself look powerful and dominant in terms of sexuality, as if she cant get what she wants when it comes to relationships and won't be used by men, which then makes her appealing and inspirational to her female audience. This is also shown by the way she dances around Jay-Z, as if she is controlling him, and then she kicks the valve off the fire hydrant to further show her power. This is also represented by a lot of low angle shots of her and close-ups to show her importance. The mock photoshoot scene in this video presents her as famous and materialistic, as well as the scene of her in a silk and fur coat, so her audience can inspire to be like her, which gains popularity one way for Beyonce, however she juxtaposes this with scenes of her dancing in the streets in a cap and full length trousers, or wearing simple denim shorts and vest top, to show she is connected with her audience and is also just like them, so the audience can relate to her also, which further gains her popularity as an artist. The dance routines in this video are also an important aspect, because they capture audience attention and keep the interest in the video. They also show how dance routines in music videos have rapidly evolved, from simple steps to the beat of music in the 60's to add variation in videos, to very energetic and almost sexual performances to date, to which audiences enjoy. From this, Beyonce became very famous for her dance routines, and further created videos such as 'Single Ladies' which was all one dance routine in one take, which became one of her most successful songs ever, because of how the audience could associate certain dance moves with just one simple video.
Mika - Happy Ending (2007)
'Happy Ending' by Mika is a song from his debut album 'Life in Cartoon Motion', and therefore acts as a promo for this album, but also, as a fairly new artist, a promo for himself as a singer as well. The song is about a sad break-up, but also about how life changes and time goes by, which doesn't actually link to the video directly, where Mika is shown to be at first in bed, and then he gets lifted up by a pink balloon into the sky whilst certain things in his bedroom 'sing' with him. The reason for the difference is so the video can be slightly unusual or controversial, which then makes it memorable for the audience. The 'weirdness' of the video represent's Mika's personality, where he tries to create an unusual identity for himself which stands out against other artists, similar to the ideas of artist's like Lady Gaga. The set is of Mika's apparent bedroom, to which it starts with Mika waking up to his alarm. This is a very usual set up to that of his target audience, which is his way to connect to them and for them to relate to him, which then gives Mika popularity. When Mika is lifted up by the pink balloon from his bed, the audience can assume he has fallen back to sleep and is now in a dream state, which is why weird things start happening like random gloved hands resembling singing faces, which is then confirmed by the end of the video with the sound of the alarm clock again. This represents how we as humans like to escape reality, when life changes and it becomes tough, but life goes on and therefore dreams is a way we can escape, which does then have some link to the lyrics. This is also represented by the white balloons showing all the times Mika felt different emotions.
'Vogue' is a song by Madonna about the actual fashion magazine company 'Vogue', which is what this video links the lyrics to, from the use of models and fashion shows with judges within the video. Although videos are usually done in colour, this video has been edited to black and white, with lighting effects to create a bigger contrast, to show how in the media everything literally has a 'black and white' or positive/negative view, there isn't much in between. This is because the media creates a society of people to either all do one thing or all not do something, where in the music industry, this could be to create a society that mostly listens to mainstream music and discourages other types of music, or in the fashion industry which this music video relates to, a society is created where most people wear similar clothes because they are seen as fashionable, or how you shouldn't wear certain clothes because society will judge you. The black and white effect can also then relate to being an outcast - trying to break the mould of following the crowd, which fits the idea of relation directly to the lyrics, in this case 'it's everywhere you go, you try everything you can to escape'. Another music video element being used here is a dance routine - there are dancers who have a very specific routine which then an audience may remember and associate the song with, especially considering the dancers are mostly men, where in previous videos dancers are usually women, to make this video stand out from others and seem more memorable. In more terms of mis-en-scene the set is very much linked to the theme of the video, such as the catwalk stage, which shows how music videos have moved quite far away from the idea of performance on a regular stage, and moved more into the ideas of representing actual songs. Madonna is wearing expensive looking clothes in a posh looking studio, as well as the models wearing posh, formal suits and doing elegant gestures and body language, which links in with the materialistic themes of more modern music videos - showing off the life of being a music star which an audience can aspire to be like, as well as promoting the main theme of the song which is 'fashion' and could relate to how designer fashion brands which are considered the most 'fashionable' of clothing can only be afforded by wealthier people. Some of Madonna's clothes in this video are also quite revealing, which shows how in the music industry girls are becoming more sexualised to appeal to a wider audience, as if they have to 'sell themselves sexually' to promote themselves as an artist, which from this point has increased as an idea rapidly within music. A lot of mid shots and long shots of Madonna are used to reveal this clothing and image to the audience. Low angle shots are also used on Madonna and other models to show that fashion and wealth are superior in our society according to industries like Vogue, almost to intimidate people into thinking they have to be fashionable and wealthy to be a better person which we can't escape, which is the message Madonna here is trying to portray. The editing speed fits with the beat of the music, to show how industry in media is very free-flowing but organised, and in some cases where the beat is fast, the editing is fast, to show how also in these industries such as Vogue, the atmosphere is busy and also can control the minds of society to an extent.
The Beastie Boys - Sabotage (1994)
'Sabotage' is a music video which acts as a parody to old American 'cop shows' on television, with the Beastie Boys as the stars of the programme. It builds on the ideas of narrative in music videos, to the extent where in itself it is just a summarised version of something which requires narrative as its main focal point - television programmes. This idea is so that it stands out as a music video because it uses elements from other media products to bring about its success - cross media convergence. Another use for this video is to promote the boy band, by actually introducing each member in title credits (fitting also with the theme of a television show) so the audience can identify them and know each member individually as a way of advertisement for the Beastie Boys as well as just their song and video. In terms of mis-en-scene they use the stereotypical conventions of police television shows in a mocking manner, such as the large fake mustaches and the idea of the police hanging around eating doughnuts, as both a humorous element and something the audience can associate with from things they have seen before, which makes the video memorable. The editing speed is very fast paced to mirror the fast paced chase scenes in typical American 'cop shows' to which the Beastie Boys here are chasing criminals, put together with a variety of camera shots to make the scenes more dramatic, including close ups to show emotions and mid shots to show clothing. In this video however, the 'police' don't exactly do their job right, by for example just throwing a criminal out of the car, or letting one fall to his death, which fits with the idea that music videos link to the song in some way - in this case, the idea of 'sabotage'.
Spice Girls - Wannabe (1996)
Since girl groups like Bananarama, the Spice Girls with this promo video really began to set off the theme of 'girl power' within music videos for the female audience to associate with, and to reach out to this specific target audience. This idea became popular, inspiring girl groups like Atomic Kitten and Sugababes, right through to modern groups like The Saturdays and Stooshe, and even solo artists like Beyonce and Britney Spears. This started mostly from political and sociological movements of feminism. This theme is portrayed in this video by the way the Spice Girls act - they are confident, and cause mayhem in a building full of upper class people with more of an elegant nature compared to their fun attitude, and different sexualised style of dress including short skirts and crop tops. This represents how they are trying to be different and connect with the social class of their audience, as well as sell themselves as artists with their sexualised identity, which is also shown in the way they dance. Another element that promotes them as artists is the way they include and introduce each member of the group individually as a different identity. Each member dresses and acts a different way, and when a member gets the chance to individually sing, the camera pans to a mid shot of the member so their identity and image is fully revealed. This means that they can connect to a wider audience where a member of society can 'choose' a member they are most associated with, or they find is their 'favourite'. The song is sung in second person, addressing 'you' in the lyrics, and so another way of addressing the audience is the way they look directly at the camera and sing to the camera, as if the song is about the person watching it. A few low-angle shots are used to make the group look superior to everyone else in the room, especially when the group are around male characters, to further represent the message of 'girl power' in this promo video. The set has been carefully thought about as well, where normally music artists up to this point use sets and stages for their videos, the Spice Girls used an actual venue after walking in from the street, to show how they don't just exist in the music world, that they are part of the real world too and try to show that the things they sing about connect to real life situations, which is another technique to connect to their audience.
This music video really began to bring the materialistic view of the music industry through into music videos; it shows the kind of life music stars stereotypically have. This is portrayed mostly by the mis-en-scene: Duran Duran are in an expensive looking location somewhere exotic, and they are wearing posh suits and seem to have their own yacht. This also shows how music videos are now beginning to get higher and higher budgets in order to make them, because they are becoming more popular, especially since the release of music television channel MTV. The use of girls in bikinis or in not much clothing also shows a big change from how things used to be, from where it was immoral for a girl to not be seen covered up to an extent, to this point where they are becoming more sexualised and used to represent that the life of popstars involves a lot of women as sex objects, or simply that 'all girls' fancy the latest boy band, or at least that is what the media try to portray. Low angle shots are used to make the band seem superior, in terms of wealth, popularity and lifestyle, which although cannot make a wider audience relate to them, it can make a wider audience be amazed by them and want to be like them, in order to gain further popularity. In terms of editing, special effects have been used, but they have improved from previous music videos to look more relevant and realistic - they have been planned more effectively. These effects include split screens, or different types and shapes of framing of the video clip. This could also show the change in technology when it comes to editing videos, with a better range of effects to choose from and deal with. The length of the clips and editing speed is quite slow, along with a lot of cross fades instead of quick cuts for transitions, to represent the 'laid back' lifestyle of celebrities in the music industry that the media wants to suggest. The camera quality has also dramatically improved compared to previous videos, to further show changes in technology and changes in the budgets of music videos.
Michael Jackson - Thriller (1983)
Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is probably one of the most famous and iconic music videos, and also dance routines, and is one of the most successful songs in history, where every part of it has kept people still talking about it and continuing to watch it to the present day. The reason for this is because of its unusual breakthrough in the presentation of music videos - being one of the longest music videos ever to be made at almost 14 minutes long, it was made as a mini-movie. This means that dialogue (diagetic sound) was involved as well as the actual song, as well as acting, and an actual narrative, including elements of Tordorov's theory of equilibrium and elements of Propp's character theory. This marked the start of the idea of a full narrative that is the often the main idea of more modern music videos. The whole video acts as a parody of horror movies of its time, such as stereotypical zombie films or werewolf films, as well as romance films. In terms of mis-en-scene, the set is very dark in terms of lighting, and very isolated, as well as put with eerie sounds, to give the audience a feeling of fear, to fit with the parody of horror films, and special effects make up has been used on actors to make them look like zombies, which is something else that hasn't really been experimented with before this point within music videos. Michael Jackson is wearing an unusual bright red outfit to make him stand out as the star of the video, and to also keep him memorable and associated with his own video, which is also quite expensive looking, to represent him as a celebrity, however the working class setting whilst doing normal things like taking a girl on a date to the cinema, allow him to connect more to his audience and makes the video more for people to associate with. The use of the sequence where Michael is dancing with zombies still keeps the element of performance in the video, which shows that the music aspect of it is still important, and with the unique moves within the dance, makes the video a memorable one where people are still continuing to associate those particular moves with that particular song to this date. There are a lot of long shots on the dance routine so the audience can see the overall effect that the dancers create, put with some mid shots of the zombies so the audience can see their appearance. Close ups are used on Michael to show he is the most important figure involved with this song and video, and also on his assumed girlfriend to show the emotions on her face as a reaction to the video that the audience can relate to, involving emotions like fear and confusion. High angle shots are also used on her to make her look vulnerable when she is scared, and low angle shots on Michael and the zombies to show they are the powerful source of her fear, which is very typical of horror themed videos. At first there is a slow editing pace when Michael and his girlfriend are together walking away from the cinema, when they are relaxed and happy to represent their laid back emotions, but then there is a fast editing pace when the zombies are around to represent the panic and frantic terror that is going on in the mind of the female character which will then allow the audience to feel this way too. In terms of the special effects, which are mostly involved in make-up and costume, although it worked well, it is a child of its time, where special effects have rapidly improved since then due to changes in technology, but it is useful in showing the starting point for this idea w ithin music videos which keeps it as a classic example.
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer (1986)
'Sledgehammer' by Peter Gabriel is a very memorable music video from the 80's because it was the first music video to really use stop-motion images as opposed to actual video footage. The whole video involved Peter Gabriel laid down as other things were being manipulated around him. Although the actual idea of the presentation of the video was completely new, it built on the recent concept of narrative, where the objects around him made a chronological narrative sequence, even if it didn't tell an exact story. It also largely expands on the idea of having a video that is directly related to the lyrics, where all of the objects in the video are used along with what Peter Gabriel is singing, for example a train is on the set when he sings of a train, or a sledgehammer is used in the chorus. In terms of mis-en-scene the singer here is not only involved in the set of the music video, but he is the set of the music video, shown by for example his face being painted to blend in with the background, or objects moving around him as a base, which could represent how in the music industry, a whole fanbase or buisness can revolve around one famous person. Even though it was made from images instead o video, the camera quality, as well as the ability to put together stop motion to cleverly mime the words, shows how technology has further improved in terms of music videos. The camera angle is pretty much the same the whole way through, in order for the video to work effectively.
Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' was released at the beginning of the 70's, before different themes and narrative's began to become popular such as in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' at the end of the 70's. However in terms of the style of music video, it had made progress from the 60's, in terms of quality and special effects. Although it was still in the idea of a 'performance' for the music video, technology had progressed to better quality cameras and sound to make the video clearer, and to the use of green-screens for background effect. Here Black Sabbath have introduced effects like flashing colour filters over the set, and the projection of the image of a girl into the background of the set, probably the woman that is mentioned in the first part of the song. This is to represent the paranoia and insanity of the mind that is talked about in the song, which also shows the progressive link from simple performance videos to videos that link with lyrics. Another special effect used is the use of multiple imagery of the band, one shot in particular of the guitarist, where a clip of the guitarist has been 'cut out' and layered over another clip of the guitarist, which shows how it has not been traditionally filmed in one-take, and how the director has tried to experiment more with effects and to also match the lyrics - to make it look as if something is not quite right. There are also a wider variety of camera shots compared to earlier videos, such as more close ups of the singer to represent the running theme in the music industry as the singer being the front-man of a band - the most important. Long shots and mid shots are also used to show the identity and appearance of the band, for the audience to relate to, put together with low angle shots to make the band look superior and 'cool', as if to get the audience to want to associate themselves with Black Sabbath and listen to them again and again.
David Bowie - Life on Mars? (1971)
The 70's were where the idea of music videos really began to take off, where the idea of just a filmed performance was thought to be not as visually exciting. David Bowie, for example, in Life On Mars? used a blank white studio room as a set, as opposed to a stage, whilst miming the lyrics. Within the video, Bowie introduces the idea identity when it comes to music - the representation of the artist is recognised as important for the music industry. In terms of mis-en-scene, he has created an image for himself that is unique and controversial, with brightly coloured hair and make-up, making him stand out against the blank white background, to make him seem important and the main focus of the video, and furthermore to represent how music stars are the main focus of fame and popular culture. His image is completely different compared to those in music videos in previous years, to make him stand out and seem different from the rest, making this a promo video not only for the song, but for himself. With the video being in a very bright studio, with a better quality camera, with the use of many camera angles, shots and editing transitions, it shows how technology started improving, and also how larger budgets are being used for music videos and so this technology can be used for this purpose. However, the whole video is in one setting, with no costume changes and still no idea of narrative, or many audience-grasping techniques (apart from Bowie's appearance), making the whole thing very simplistic, which shows how budgets are yet to be set even higher and more special effects and technology used for music videos are yet to be discovered.
Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
'The Wall' by Pink Floyd was one of the first forms of music videos to have a proper theme or story to it, that matched to the lyrics. There are two parts to the video - firstly the 'real life' shots of schoolchildren rebelling, to mirror the lyrics 'we don't need no education' put with high angle shots and low angle shots to make teachers seem inferior and students superior, with fast editing pace to fit with increasing adrenaline from the students as they fought back against education. Secondly there were cartoon sequences among the shots, mostly of what appears to be a disturbing looking teacher, doing things like putting students into a mincer, alongside the lyrics 'hey teacher, leave those kids alone'. These clips within the video represent the meaning of the song that Pink Floyd are trying to portray - that education is not important because at school, students feel harassed and under pressure by teachers. In the cartoon animations, it shows a wall that has been built, which curves around to show ambush or the thought of being surrounded. The wall itself represents alienation, which further represents the feelings of the schoolchildren, and therefore the idea that they are surrounded by the thought of being outcasts - a message Pink Floyd have decided to send out in order to connect to their audience further through video as well as the song. These clips are put with the lyrics 'another brick in the wall' to show how people generally are not important alienated as an individual, but many put together can form something strong and purposeful (a wall), like a campaign for certain views. These ideas are political and sociological, which is a major step in the music industry to have music videos that represent the society around us and to portray messages, which gave way to the rise in anarchy portrayed in music. This meant more of a connection with certain audiences could be made. On a smaller scale, back to the idea of education, in the animation of this video, the teachers turn into hammers, to represent the building of the wall - that it is them that cause alienation to people through their power of education over people, and through labelling. This video shows how music started to become not just a source of entertainment, but a way of expressing opinion. The animation within the music video also gave way to new ideas including more special effects and sequences to be experimented with in later music videos, something unusual that hadn't been used much before. The lack of actually showing the band in the video also created new ideas about what was important within the music industry, where in this sort of era the promotion of political opinion and also entertainment, mattered more to success than the identity of the people singing about it. It became such a success that it was made into a film.
This video is an example of how music videos began to look from the movement from many of the black and white videos of the 1950's, and towards the more modern ideas of videos in the 1970's. The video is in full colour, where there has even been experimentation of bright colours of the set to fit with the light nature of the song. The use of the set in this way still gives across the theme of 'performance', where Stevie Wonder is still 'performing' his song to the audience watching the clip, however has moved away from the typical stage performance with the full band and a microphone such as in early music videos like Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog' in the 50's, but is evidence to show how historically, themes such as narrative, costume change, props and other forms of mis-en-scene hadn't been thought of in as much detail yet in terms of music videos. Although there isn't a scene change at all, there now has a lot of different shots, such as long shots, mid shots and close-ups, to break up the video from just a still one-take performance, and to create more variety for the audience to view. Because the video is very simplistic, the use of dancers also is used to attract audience attention and add more of an entertainment element into music videos - from this point onwards, dance routines began to get more and more popular. The dancing is quite basic compared to the dancing involved in modern music videos, but its simplistic style fits well to the beat of the music, and to the smooth, motown genre of the song, which shows how already at this point music videos may have had a lot of planning. The quality of the camera shoot reflects the technology of its time, where the video isn't of the highest quality compared to new videos, and shows a good starting point for the progression of the quality and budget of music videos. The lack of experimenting with camera angles also points to the overall incomplexity of the start of music videos, from the 1960's.
Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop (1964)
This music video is taken from the artist's TV show, where television shows and televised performances were really the only source of music videos in the 1960's. The video is in black and white, which shows how the earliest music videos could not all have the privilege of being in colour due to the technology available at the time. As the video is part of Millie's TV show, the video acted as a promo video for Millie Small as an artist, which is also shown by the way she is at first in shadow, to then be revealed by a spotlight as the singer, making her seem an important figure. The whole video seems to be done in one take, with no editing cuts or range of camera angles, which firstly shows the lack of technology that could be used to make music videos early on, but also the lack of media planning that went into music videos early on, before director's considered much about making the audience feel a certain way. The main camera shot involved is a mid-shot, so the audience can see the majority of Millie, and so are more able to relate to her and concentrate on her as a singular artist, as if she is an important 'star'. The camera pans around, following Millie as she walks, to further represent this, as well as the fact that when other figures are introduced to the video - the dancers - they are only seen in darkness. The dancers are there to add more entertainment value to the video, as dance routines from this era were the start of a popular trend in music videos, to keep the audience's attention. The pace of the camera and the dancing fits with the pace of the song, and the average looking clothes that almost fully cover Millie, giving her an innocent look, also fit with the light hearted nature of the song. This also shows how historically women weren't as sexualised, especially in music videos, compared to today, because it was seen as more immoral, or it could show how director's had different ideas about how a woman had to look for a 'sex appeal'.
The Seekers - Georgy Girl (1968)
This video is from The Seekers farewell tour, which shows how in early music videos, not much thought or planning was used, especially considering there wasn't much budget for media projects like that. This is also shown by the technology used, where the video is in black and white, and the quality of the camera is minimal. It contains the typical conventions of early music videos, where it is based on musical performance as opposed to modern themes like narrative or materialism. There isn't a massive range of camera angles, but there is a variety of shots to show different elements of the band. For example, there are long shots and mid shots to show the identity and image of the band, and then edited alongside close up shots of the singer, which is a traditional concept that has stayed through to the modern era, where the singer is represented as the 'frontman' for a band who captures the audience's attention most. There are a few crossfades in the transitions, which shows how effects and editing may have started to be taken into account by then end of the 60's, to keep the interest of the audience, and to fit with the beat of the music. The figures in the band are dressed in sensible suits for the men, and the woman is in a full dress, which shows how under-sexualised musical artists seemed to be in this decade, yet also represents the wealth that they have - the start of the materialistic ideas of music.
