APPLYING ‘CHRISTIAN METZ’ (LANGUAGE & CINEMA - 1974)
MODEL OF
GENRE DEVELOPMENT TO ‘MUSIC VIDEOS’
[ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW ON A WORD DOCUMENT, ADD IMAGES AND
HAND IN FOR ASSESSMENT]
MUSIC VIDEOS:
(1) THE EXPERIMENTAL: Visser/Musicals/Beatles/Queen
(2) THE CLASSIC: Thriller/Beat it/Duran
Duran (Early 80’s/MTV)
(3) THE PARODY: Weird Al Jankovic: Eat
it/Amish Paradise
(4) THE DECONSTRUCTION: Robert
Palmer: Addicted to love/Shania Twain: Man I feel like a woman
EXPLANATION OF 4 PHASES
(1)
By EXPERIMENTAL
we mean the phase of filmmaking which explored
and experimented with how to film a band or artist whilst
they are performing
A.
First
recording of a person singing to camera
World's First Music Video - Gus Visser and his Singing Duck (1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwQ6v_nYPMs
Q: Analyse how the clip has been framed?
What is the context is of the clip? What is happening in the clip?
This clip has been framed in a still medium shot throughout the
whole piece which means that it would be just a single camera set up which is
still good for its time. The context would be that the singer, Gus Visser is
telling a story in a comedic tone, which might have been considered funny at
the time. The clip itself is just Visser standing and performing the song with
his duck.
B.
Musical
Films: Gentlemen prefer Blondes/Diamonds are a girl’s best friend
Musical films
were another important precursor
to music video, "Diamonds Are a
Girl's Best Friend" from the film Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes (1953). The performance is filmed mostly in a long shot with
pans left and right and tracking towards the artist – mostly a long take, no or
little cuts.
C.
A
Hard Day’s Night (1964) Directed By Richard Lester
Q: What camera angles, shots, movement & position, are still
used today from the ‘Hard Day’s Night’ Performance music videos?
-
A pan shot as
one of the musician is moving to the left the camera follows
-
A crane shot
( but nowadays we mostly use drone shots)
-
A close up
shot on the drum kit when you start to hear the drum beat kick in
-
A pan – but
this time it is a vertical pan
-
A medium shot
on the guitarist
-
Establishing
shot – showing the area of the studio
-
Two shot –
Showing the artists
Richard Lester helped formalise and establish the codes and
conventions of how to film a band;
1.
Close ups of
lead singer,
2.
Cutaways of
instruments being played,
3.
Filming band
together and separately,
4.
Cutting to
the beat of the song, on the beat transitions/cuts
5.
Filming a
live performance with multiple cameras.
------------------
(2)
By CLASSIC we mean the phase of music videos which established
the conventions in its most successful & defining period (The 1980’s)
A.
Michael
Jackson: Beat It/Thriller
B.
The Buggles:
Video killed the Radio Star (1st August 1981 – First ever MTV
broadcast)
Q: Discuss what the appeal was of MTV in the 1980’s? Analyse in
relation to Thriller/Video killed the radio star
(Think in
terms of pop culture at that time, TV as a medium, importance to record sale etc.)
MTV was founded in 1981 and was prized on giving people the
amazing sound of rock music. However shifted its focus to popular music artists
like Michael Jackson. Thriller was a great opportunity for MTV as it was a
memorable and quirky video. Which at the time was important for sales and views
on the TV channel. Back then TV music was a new thing and quickly “Killing the
radio star”. However back in the 80s MTV didn’t show hardly any of MJ music
because of his colour however they said that they only showing rock music.
With “Video killed the radio
star” it was a new step in the music world as it was one of the first times
that music videos were played on tv so the music got to loads more people saw it. The sales Video Killed the Radio Star was a huge commercial success, reaching
number one on 16 different national charts. In
the Buggles' home country, the song made its debut on the UK Singles Chart in the top 40 at
number 24, on the issue dated 29 September 1979. The next week, the track entered into
the chart's top ten at number six, before
topping the chart on the week of 20 October. This made MTV show that people like what
they do, and because they and made quite a lot of money off it.
(3) By PARODY we mean
videos that have mimicked famous music videos in some comical way
A.
Weird Al
Jankovic: Eat it (Parody of Beat it)/Amish Paradise (Coolio/Gangster Paradise)
----------------------
(4) By DECONSTRUCTION we
mean videos which have taken the generic elements of another music video and
amalgamated them into something else (homage)
One of the best-known examples of DECONSTRUTION is Madonna's 1985 video for "Material Girl"
(directed by Mary Lambert) which was closely modelled on Jack Cole's staging of
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best
Friend" from the film Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes.
Q: Discuss what elements of the Marilyn Monroe
musical scene are borrowed by Madonna? Think in terms of the Similarities of
Mise en scene: location, setting, costumes, props, body language etc.
In
the two scenes you have Marilyn and Madonna wearing similar pink dresses. The colour pink represents
caring, compassion and love. These would mean that in the two different musical scenes show
that both of the main women want to find love. Also the red backgrounds are
also similar maybe to also represent love in the two videos. The Dancing can
also be scene in the video as it some parts both of the women are be carried or
dragged around. The red love hearts are also a big indicator that Madonna’s
video is borrowing from the original Marilyn Monroe video.
Other things or moments that I spotted in both videos are:
-
The men in
their suits
-
The dancing
-
And the
jewels both Madonna and Marilyn are wearing in the videos.
Also
Robert Palmers: Addicted to Love was deconstructed by Shania Twain’s: Man I
feel like a woman
No comments:
Post a Comment