Changing music industry

Changing music industry- MTV

MTV (or, Music Television) is an American channel, first launched in 1981, it was the first channel of its kind and has since influenced a massive growth in the number of music channels worldwide. Primarily airing only music videos, MTV has gone on to air reality TV shows such as MTV Cribs, host musical events such as MTV Unplugged and gain a number of daughter channels.  

MTV's original purpose was to play non-stop music videos for 24 hours a day, with people known as VJs (video jockeys) to choose which ones to play. They would also advertise to and inform viewers of music news such as upcoming concerts, album releases, etc.

MTV often sparked controversy in its earlier days, mimicking the Top 40 single charts 

Music Video History

History of Music Videos

There is some debate as to what the first ever music video was: some argue that 'The Jazz Singer' was the first appearance of music and visuals together on screen; some believed it to be Walt Disney's 'Fantasia'; others argued it was Bob Dylan, or The Buggles, and so on. 

Over time, the purpose of music videos has changed. Originally existing in order to promote a single's release, in recent times music videos have been used to illustrate an artist's beliefs, tell a story, provide entertainment and are also being utilised as political statements.



The birth of MTV in 1981 had a massive influence on music video culture. The first video ever to be aired on MTV was 'Video killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. This was a landmark in music video history as it was the first channel to primarily show music videos 24 hours a day.

Another milestone in music video history was Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' which was one of the first music videos to use intertextual referencing as a basis for a parody TV episode-esque video in the style of a 70s police show. There were various references to pre-existing crime-fighting shows such as S.W.A.T, Starsky and Hutch, and so on.

Music video influences

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Heads Will Roll

In coming up with ideas for my own music video, I became heavily influenced by comedy-horror style music videos of the alternative/indie genre. In particular, I found this music video to be captivating, because of the elaborate way in which the events within the music video occur. 

Wolf Alice- You're a germ

Wolf Alice's 'You're a germ' has been an influence on my ideas for my music video, as I like the references to old horror movies such as Night of the living dead, Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre I also liked the idea of having a gory concept in a music video that still managed to be funny or somewhat light-hearted. The inclusion of the band as the main characters in the music video adds satire to the concept.

Kasabian- Vlad the Impaler

Textual analysis- Santigold website

Santigold

For the analysis of a band website task, I decided to look at Santigold's website as I will be using one of her songs for my music video. I wanted to compare her website's aesthetic with her music and image. Santigold has recently released the album '99 cents', which is the current focal point for the website.

Her music videos appear as though they are pop-up windows on her website, overlapping one another in a seemingly unorganised way. The colours on her website consist of bright yellow, pinks and red, and has her album artwork as the skin of her homepage. Fitting in with the title of her album, the icons to take you to different places within the website appear to look like bargain or price stickers.

Advanced portfolio checklist

This is the checklist for my A2 portfolio, I will be referring back to this sheet throughout the year in order to make sure I'm creating posts that are relevant and that will help me achieve the highest marks that I am able to. 

Description		On Blog
RESEASRCH (For all, state how you are going to use this info and where you got the info from)	Audience: ·          How audiences are targeted (market research) ·          Appropriate audience theories (aim for different ones to AS) ·          Consuming habits (when, how, where do people normally consume these products (main and ancillary)?
	Institution: ·          History of that industry/medium. ·          Comparable products (main and ancillary) already available. ·          Key company case study ·          How is the industry regulated? ·          Production process (how made and by whom) ·          Distribution process (how distributed and by whom) ·          Marketing and promotion ·          Well known examples/producers/directors
	Conventional Features: ·          DETAILED textual analysis of at least 3 existing products (main and ancillary).
	Academic Theories: ·          A selection of appropriately chosen theories outlined and your opinion/understanding of the theory outlined. ·          Explanation of how theory will inform your planning decisions.
	Primary Research: At least one of the following… ·          Interview ·          Direct Questioning ·          Textual Analysis
	Secondary Research: At least two of the following… ·          Reference books / text books ·          Internet ·          Seminars ·          Novels ·          Magazines
PLANNING Evidence of ALL planning, no matter how rough, should be on your blog.	Who is your target audience (detailed)?
	·          Development of ideas. ·          What is your company idea? ·          Stylistic influences ·          Brand/style development ·          Pitch to imaginary company ·          Invent own company with its own backstory
	Time and equipment
	Evidence of thought/idea process (main and ancillary) ·          PRINT (layout drafts, text drafts, still image plans, shoot plans, typography, mise-en-scene, setting, colour schemes, character profiles, company/brand, costume) ·          MOVING IMAGE (storyboard, character profiles, setting/location plan, narrative/plot, soundtrack, script, drafts for graphics etc, mise-en-scene, costume)
	Test the market – test out your ideas before completing your final production pieces.
Prod-uction	Final products (main and ancillary) (original copies on disc and copies on the blog)
Evaluation	The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are: ·          In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? ·          How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? ·          What have you learned from your audience feedback? ·          How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Branching out

This week I have spent a large portion of my free time exploring the depths of music video genre. I started of with critically acclaimed music videos, which I found via NME's  '100 Greatest Music Videos'. From the list I became a bit biased and picked the music videos that I knew of already and enjoyed, or were songs or artists that I enjoyed (but I'll need to be engaged by my influences to want to be influenced by them!) it in

Backwards

I like the idea of doing a music video that shows a sequence of events happening backwards, as it contradicts the conventions of storytelling in that there is a start, a climax and a conclusion: by starting at the end, the conclusion ends up being the audience's interest in what started the sequence of events, the ending of which they're already aware of. In its simpler use, such as the use of it in filming for the Pharcyde's Drop, the backwards technique is visually interesting and can keep a person engaged for quite some time without the plot being very complex or engaging itself.

The pharcyde- drop 



Yeah yeah yeahs- sacrilege 


Alt-J- Breezeblocks

Controversy in music videos

Controversy in music videos

Initially emerging as a way of promoting singles, music videos have become a platform for artists to create or explain the background or story to the lyrics in their songs, in more recent years, music videos have come to challenge conventions by acting as artists' confessions or opinions, political statements and most notably, controversial pieces of media. 

1. The Prodigy- Smack My Bitch Up

released in the mid-90s, 'Smack My Bitch Up' caused massive controversy as a single alone. The video includes hard drug use, violence, sexual scenes and a supposed 'twist' at the end (the video is from the point of view of a woman and not a man, the safest justification). For my first textual analysis I looked at this music video, specifically because of the controversy it received upon release and continues to receive in present day. Prodigy Textual Analysis.

2. Frankie Goes to Hollywood- Relax




Released in 1983, this song and especially the music video sparked outrage among the public, mainly for its references to homosexuality (which, in the 80s, was still considered to be wrong) and its sexual themes (including BDSM).

3. Closer- Nine Inch Nails


With the song itself being highly explicit with its sacrilege and sexual lyrics, as well as swearing in every chorus, the video clearly wasn't going to be a poster for MTV. This music video includes nudity, inferences to animal cruelty, religious mockery and other stuff. It is basically a naughty video.