History of Music Videos

Abba

ABBA became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1975 to 1982. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at the Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest, and were the most successful group ever to take part in the competition. This is an example of performance advertising, 

Queen

Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. The band members consisted of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , Roger Taylor and John Deacon. Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, One of their top hits and best videos is Bohemian Rhapsody. This was the first of their many amazing videos and honestly its one of my favorite songs to listen to as its such a classic song, also who can help but head bang to it? This video experimented with lots of  effects creating a deeper sound in the recording, it as one of the first bands to start off using videos and continued to make many more amazing videos, i.e Break Free

Top Of The Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly starting on the 1st January 1964. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, and then to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. cancelled in 2006 there are occasionally repeats of episodes around Christmas and other holidays.

MTV

Music Television or as its more commonly known MTV is an American basic cable and satellite television channel. The channel itself is headquartered in New York City, and is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. Launched on August 1, 1981, the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos. The network's current target audience is teenagers and young adults. MTV's influence on its audience, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of debate for years.

Michael Jackson

The Jackson's go back to the 60s/70s and started off as The Jackson 5 with hit singles "Rockin' Robin", "I'll Be There" and "ABC. In this time they only had performances, and no music videos the T.V performances were the music videos of the time. As the majority of musical performers would only be on television that is how they grew in popularity.

Later on when he split from The Jackson 5 in 1984 even though he began his solo career he started being known as the King of Pop for his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicised personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. He made many songs and easily shot up to the top of the charts. With songs such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Black or White", "Man In The Mirror" and "Thriller". Thriller being one of the most well known of his videos and hit singles. Thriller was so long of a music video that it was actually shown at cinemas, this was a hit sensation and the starting point of the director John Landis, who is now known for films such as American Werewolf In London.

At fourteen minutes the video is substantially longer than the song, which ties together a narrative featuring Jackson and actress Ola Ray in a setting heavily inspired by horror films of the 1950s. In the video's most iconic scene, Jackson leads other actors costumed as zombies in a choreographed dance routine. Though it garnered some criticism for its occult theme and violent imagery even though at the start of the video  the video was immediately popular and received high critical acclaim, being nominated for six MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 and winning three.

Madonna

Madonna has been a headstone in changing the music industry due to the fact that she changed her brand or more commonly re-branded herself every two years. She achieved popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Madonna is known for reinventing both her music and image, and for maintaining her autonomy within the recording industry. The responses to Madonna's excessively provocative videos have been predictably contradictory. The media and public reaction towards her most-discussed songs such as "Papa Don't Preach", "Like a Prayer", or "Justify My Love" had to do with the music videos created to promote the songs and their impact, rather than the songs themselves. Most critics think that artistically, Madonna's song writing is often overshadowed by her striking pop videos.
For example critics noted that Madonna was subtly reversing the usual role of male as the dominant sex in a lot of her videos, thus leading the feminist movement of the time. This symbolism and imagery was probably the most prevalent in the music video for "Like a Prayer". The video included scenes of an African-American church choir, Madonna being attracted to a statue of a black saint, and singing in front of burning crosses. This mix of the sacred and the profane upset many religious people who viewed it.

Purpose of music videos

Videos in this era now are created for publicity of the artists and to be made viral. Viral meaning an image or video, in this case, that is circulated rapidly and widely on the Internet. this is generally using social media such as Twitter or Facebook, or on music streaming pages such as Vimeo. An example of this is the video of born free by M.I.A. This video was banned at one point on You Tube due to the shocking images shown in it. Unlike videos back in the 60's, 70's or 80's the video was not made for the purpose of accompanying the song. Instead as a viewer you  could say the video was made to send a political message about the inequalities of the society we live in. This is shown in the video with gingers, however I assume that this group was used as the X in the equation of social injustice that are easily identified by hair colour. This video was directed by Romaine Gavras, Romaine Gavras is best known globally for directing M.I.A.'s controversial video for "Born Free". His films and music videos often portray a gritty and realistic setting juxtaposed with flashy high energy content. This video could like to many social issues for example in this era or in the seventies like the IRA riots.

Contemporary style, conventions and purposes of music videos

Music videos in the 21st century now have less narrative like the first music videos did and more selling point aspects in it. For example the over sexualisation and exploitation of women, as some examples there's "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and "Wiggle " by Jason Derulo. However there is examples of self-sexualisation for example in "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj or "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. This sexualisation is used as a marketing technique throughout all of the media, however its most commonly used .

Robin Thicke's song "Blurred Lines"  is an example of the first more sexualised music video. this struck a massive nerve in the media due to its extremely controversial themes and subtext. Labelled as a song with chauvinistic themes and messages, it instantly got a lot of hate from feminist movements and almost all media pages. Though personally I think its a good song most others strongly disagree due to the fact that the video discriminates women. The purpose of most music videos like this are usually controversial on purpose because it boosts the artists publicity, it sells better because although its a sad fact sex sells and most musical artist's managers know this.


Nicki Minaj's song "Anaconda" Is an example of the self-sexualisation of the artist. Again this shows how the artists managers know that sex sells. Again though I really enjoy this song a lot of people think that her apparel in the video is rude and or vulgar, which personally I think is ridiculous because seriously music videos don't run with a narrative anymore they just are for the purpose to go viral which this song and video did. The sad thing about music videos now is the fact that the majority of the time the videos have little to none narrative.

Bibliograpy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unfzfe8f9NI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_%28band%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_%28entertainer%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_Pops
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fzeNUqQbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs

October feedback

You have made some notes about the history of film editing but has a lot of research to present if she is to reach pass criteria.  The principles of video editing must be outlined using examples from your own work.

Maisie began the course late and is making a concerted effort to catch up.  She works well within the lesson and has shown an interest in the subject.

Deadline of Friday 16^th October to get two assignments completed, neither of which are pass standard as yet.

It is essential that you carry on work outside of the lesson in extended learning activities.

Development and principles of film and video editing

Thomas Edison (Kinetoscope, 1888)


Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope which was an early motion picture device that was designed for films that had to be viewed by one individual at a time through a peep-hole viewer window at the top. Although it is not a movie projector it created the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of film bearing a sequence of images over a light source with a high speed shutter. It was largely developed by William Dickson between 1889 and 1892. Dickson and his team later on devised the Kinetograph which was a motion picture camera for in-house experiments and eventually, commercial  Kinetoscope presentations.






Lumiere Brothers (Arrival of a train, 1895)

A 50 second silent, black and white short film, showing a steam train coming into a station in France. It consists of a single, unedited shot illustrating an aspect of everyday life. There are no intentional camera movements and consists of one continuous real-time shot. As this short film was one of the first times moving pictures were shown to large audiences, urban legend says that the audience viewing the film ran out screaming as they believed a real train was coming towards them. 

This is an example of in camera editing as the camera had to start and stop recording for each shot and this formed the film.



Sergei Eisenstein and Montage editing
Born on Jan 23, 1898 in Riga, Latvia, Sergei Mikhaylovich Eisenstein was to become one of the most world-renowned filmmakers of the first half of the 20th century. Eisenstein was of Jewish descent through his paternal grandparents.Eisenstein's first film, the revolutionary "Strike," was produced in 1924. He proposed a new editing form, the "montage of attractions". In which independent from the action, would be presented not in chronological sequence but in whatever way would create the maximum psychological Impact. This first really appeared in the film 'Strike' in 1925. this was a series of fast edits that shows the audience whats going on in a short about of time and then montage has been adapted and used all over the media industry. A montage is the technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film that juxtapose each other to form a single film.


Montage Clip

In this clip we used our knowledge of Eisenstien's montage of attractions to create this clip.The clip above is my montage edit. I had done this as a comedy style montage more than a serious montage in comparison to other more serious montages i.e. the rocky montage. I have made this to show that i understand the principle of montage editing and telling a story without dialogue just visuals and fast cuts. In the rocky montage you see him training, in my montage we also did training, but we added comedy to it by making the character in it a weakling.

Apocalypse Now and Manipulation of diegetic time and space

The clip above is opening scene of Apocalypse Now. Manipulation of Diagetic Time and Space is either a dream sequence or a flash back.In this opening its a flash back, the main character is lying on a bed remembering Destroying a forest in Vietnam. There is a 'Trigger' for this and that is the ceiling fan in the room that he is in, linked in with the helicopter blades spinning. A brief Synopsis of the film: In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

We decided to do a dream sequence of a person falling asleep that is revising for an exam and he dreams about being late for the exam and when he gets to the room he sees himself asleep at the desk.This taught me a lot about this editing style because i got the to learn about continuity editing at the same time

City Of God and fast paced editing 

The film is very quickly edited to show the face paced life in Rio De Janeiro. The new age audience who would watch this would have short attention spans therefore this quick pace editing accommodates to the target audience.

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket (Alexandre Rodriguez) is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood. José "Zé" Pequeno (Leandro Firmino da Hora) is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his fame as a turf war erupts with his rival, "Knockout Ned" (Seu Jorge). The film was shot on location in Rio's poorest neighborhoods.


Bibliography  
http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/the-art-of-film-and-videos-editing-part-3/
http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/montage.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montage_%28filmmaking%29
Grammar of the film language. By Daniel Arijon

Apocalypse Now Notes

Apocalypse Now Notes

Director: Francis Ford Coppola 

Synopsis:In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.