The music video has become a huge part of the music world in the past 30 years but it dates back to 1926 where there was the invention of the "talkies". This was the first time images were being used to accompany sound. They were typically six minutes in duration, and featured Art Deco-style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing. By the early 1930s, the talkies were a global phenomenon. In the United States, they helped secure Hollywood's position as one of the world's most powerful cultural/commercial systems. The 1940's then saw the next breakthrough in music video when the "soundies" were released. They were three-minute musical films, produced in New York, Chicago, and Hollywood and often contained short dance sequences. The films were displayed on the Panoram, which was a coin-operated film jukebox, in nightclubs, bars, restaurants, factory lounges, and amusement centers. In the late 1950s the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists to accompany their songs.
There was a breakthrough in 1964 when The Beatles featured in their first feature video which was in black and white. They continued to make more video's for their future releases and really had a huge impact on the music industry with other artists producing videos themselves. Top of the Pops began playing music videos in the late 1970s, although the BBC placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week. In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Music videos now started to be more than experimental films and started to have more of a storyline to the video that linked back to the song. In 1983, the most successful and influential music video of all time was released — the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller". The video set new standards for production, having cost $500,000 to film. In December 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. 2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video faster and easier. In 2010, Lady Gaga's music video "Bad Romance" made headlines by becoming the most-viewed video on YouTube, music-related or otherwise, with 130 million views; it had over 350 million views by the early 2011. It in turn was beaten later in the year by the video for Justin Bieber's song "Baby", which had over 500 million views by the early 2011. The music video industry has grown loads in recent years and it's interesting to see how this will continue to grow...
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Promotion
The promotion of artists has grown rapidly over the past years and a lot of it has come down to the internet. People all over the world are using the internet everyday and you will always see adverts of music artists in some form. Websites such as Youtube, Facebook and Myspace are always advertising to promote the artists. A lot of artists use a new music video to promote their latest single and to try and get a lot of people talking about there video, they often try to do something controversial which helps promote the song. They also use music video's to promote their new look and create a star image.
Extension of income/power
Star power is how the artists choose to represent themselves to their fans and the public. There are three forms of star power which are Economic Power, Artistic Power and Ideological Power. A really good example of economic power would be 50 Cent as in almost every video he is seen with money, jewellery, cars and woman. This is him portraying to the audience that he has power from the earnings he's made. However, an example of artistic power would be Lady Gaga as she has control over her image. She makes herself unique by not following fashion but instead, setting it herself. Finally, ideological power would be Bono from U2 as he will try to influence the audience into seeing the caring protagonist that he is.
Producers' Strategies
Myspace can be a huge influence on helping or kick starting an artists' career. Lily Allen was spotted on Myspace and has since released 2 albums and got into the UK chart. Youtube is also another place where you can be spotted as you can upload your own video's for other people to see. Justin Bieber was found on Youtube and is now a global superstar earning millions. Music Video's also started to replace live performances on shows such as Top of the Pops if the artist couldn't turn up, they'd just play the music video instead.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Task
1. What similarities do you observe in the videos you have looked at?
2. How is your chosen genre different from another?
3. Can you define in your own words the audience type for this genre?
In both video's, there are similarities between them both. One is that, throughout the video you have the artist just singing towards the camera. Another is that there is no scenery and are both shot in a basic studio. Both video's have flashing lights and share the same shot types, they both use long shots and cut to medium shots.
2. How is your chosen genre different from another?
3. Can you define in your own words the audience type for this genre?
In both video's, there are similarities between them both. One is that, throughout the video you have the artist just singing towards the camera. Another is that there is no scenery and are both shot in a basic studio. Both video's have flashing lights and share the same shot types, they both use long shots and cut to medium shots.
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