MUSIC VIDEOS - Generic Features

QUESTION TYPE: Discuss the way that generic conventions are used to promote the artist in the two music videos you have studied.

In our response we need to demonstrate:
A critical response to the question.
Understanding/knowledge of the history of music videos.
Wider understanding/knowledge of the genre.
Specific and detailed references to the texts we have studied.

EARLY HISTORY
While music videos predate MTV, using the founding of the channel as the start of the 'history' of music videos is not without precedent. So, we might think of music videos as beginning in 1981, and then rising in popularity as a form of entertainment and marketing ever since.

The first music video to be shown on MTV was the aptly (?) titled, 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. This was followed by 'You Better Run,' by Pat Benatar, and  'She Won't Dance With Me' by Rod Stewart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvSbQB6-UdY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHKHjtup3Qk

• All three are performance videos - All feature bands playing their instruments
• All feature Lip Syncing to the song - Direct Mode of Address - Passionate (Fun) performance
• All feature close ups of lead singer

• The Buggles - Unusual Costume
• Pat Benatar - Fashion Conscious - Aspirational?

• Dynamic use of camera and editing - Hand Held, Tracking Shots, Jump Cuts, Skewed Angles
• Pace of editing matches music
• Range of VFX - Superimposition etc.

• The Buggles - Narrative  - Ambiguous/Symbolic/Expressionistic

Within a decade of the inception of MTV, the world of music videos had become so diverse that identifying specific generic features might seem almost impossible. Mainstream artists like Michael Jackson, with his 1983 music video to 'Thriller' demonstrated that music videos could cross the line between feature film and simple performance video. Along with Madonna's, 'Material Girl' (and many other later music videos by Madonna), it brought intertextuality into the mainstream and also blurred the lines between the artists identity and the representation of them within the videos. In 1987, Prince's video to 'Sign o' the Times' demonstrated that even artists who were famous for their performance prowess could promote a song without appearing on screen, indeed without any representations of people at all. MTV even created an award in 1989 acknowledging the postmodern nature of music videos. This was won by R.E.M. with their music video to 'Orange Crush.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p-lDYPR2P8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EdxM72EZ94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSmOcmk7uQ


EXAMPLE ESSAY:
Structure:
1 - Describe a generic feature/s based on history/wider knowledge of music videos
     (Establish an element of representation, Establish an element of narrative etc.)
2 - Establish a connection to one of the music videos you have studied
3 - Support your discussion with a specific and detailed example
4 - Connect that back to the purpose of the question

While music videos predate MTV, using the early videos that appeared on the channel as a way to establish the generic conventions seems to be reasonable. The first three music video to be shown were, 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles, 'You Better Run,' by Pat Benatar, and 'She Won't Dance With Me' by Rod Stewart. All three feature performance of the song using direct mode of address, with a backing band playing their instruments. These conventions promote the artist by allowing audience members (fans) to watch them perform when they might never get to see them live. In addition, it establishes the performance prowess of the artist, usually featuring them performing in a passionate or fun way, as appropriate to the song. This generic convention occurs in the video to Corrine Bailey Rae’s (CBR) ‘Stop Where You Are.’ There is a recurring shot of her performing direct to camera, forming direct mode of address with the audience. The variety of mid shots and medium close ups of this performance help to focus the audience on the passion of her performance and the use of low angle and the halo effect created by back lighting may also be intended to connote ideas of saintliness of divinity, or at the very least promote something aspirational about her as both person and performer. Early music videos also feature dynamic editing (jump cuts etc.), moving camera and more unusual camera angles, in particular Dutch tilts. These conventions can also be seen in ‘Stop Where You Are’ but they exist only in the telling of the symbolic narrative aspect of the video rather than during the more static shots of her performing. We could argue that this recent music video take a more mature approach to the representation of their artists, and that it uses the conventions of dynamic camera work and editing as a tool for story telling rather than a flashy device to engage a younger target audience.

Another generic convention seen in ‘Stop Where You Are’ is the use of intercutting between narrative features and performance. While this is seen in ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ it was certainly less prevalent in earlier music videos featured on MTV. However, as music videos became popular within their own right this narrative element began to feature more often. Popular music videos, like Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and Madonna’s ‘Material Girl,’ combined extended narratives with performance. This is featured in ‘Stop Where You Are,’ but the narrative that is presented is less obviously filmic and is instead used to create value alignment with CBR's audience. One set piece sees a homeless woman seemingly ignored by a white collar worker. The framing of her using deep shadow focuses the audience on her anger as she is ignored. This cuts to a high key lit shot of the white collar worker returning to offer her a hot drink before sitting down beside her. Their equality is established by the use of a medium close up that shows them both sitting on the same level. This narrative seems to promote Corinne Bailey Rae by suggesting value alignment with the more inclusive left wing morality of her target audience. Here then, we may be seeing a tendency for the generic codes to be less focused on promoting the artist purely as a personality, but instead suggesting socio-political value alignment with the audience.

Both Michael Jackson and Madonna’s videos also feature a growing propensity for intertextuality, which would become a very common feature within music videos, foregrounding the video as a piece of art rather than just a performance piece. By the late 1980s, MTV had established an award for 'Best Postmodern Video,' which was won in 1989 by the music video to R.E.M.'s 'Orange Crush,' essentially a short art film featuring the song as background music. This promoted the artist by suggesting that their artistry extends beyond music as a form and that perhaps they are aligned with the art of film making. In the music video to David Guetta’s Titanium’ we see this feature fully displayed, with the music video having an extended narrative that intertextually references numerous TV and Film shows with the familiar trope of the child gaining super powers in small town America. As well as promoting the artist by suggesting his alignment with other forms of art it also suggests empathy with some of the teenage audience’s sense of alienation from mainstream ideology. This is especially visible in the long tracking shots through the school in the opening of the video. The actor is framed in the middle of the shot and the mise en scene clarifies both the chaos of the situation and also the familiarity of the school environment. The next shot then follows the young actor as he passes by a doorway in which a teacher is framed by the door and is clearly afraid of the boy. This may promote the artist by suggesting alignment with the younger audience’s sense of angst and alienation from both the familiar institutional world of school and with the adult world in general.