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.
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