History of Music Videos

A music video is a short piece of film which goes along side a piece of music, usually a song, and is used to represent the song and artist. In modern times, music videos are mainly used as a marketing tool to advertise the song to their target audience in order to increase the sales and views of the song and music video.

In the early 1900s music scores began to be played alongside scenes in movies, and this is where the popularity for music videos began. An example of this is Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 film Alexander Nevsky, which had battle scenes which had been choreographed to a score by Sergei Prokofiev, this has been seen by some as the first ever music video.
But this basic idea of a music video could be found even early in history, as early as 1911 with Alexander Scriabin's symphony Prometheus - Poem of Fire for orchestra and 'light organ'. In addition, in the 1920s Oskar Fischingers animated films were accompanied by orchestra scores, which could be considered as an early interpretation of a music video.
In the late 1920s Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called Saint Louis Blues which featured a dramatic performance to the hit song.

In the 1940s another early idea of music videos could be seen in one-song films called 'Soundies' , these were short musical films, usually about three minutes long, they usually just showed a band on a movie-stand bandstand. Soundies were usually of Jazz musicians but there were also some for comedians, torch singers and dancers.

The very first musical films made for television were called the Snader Telescriptions. They were used for TV fillers and were mainly of conventional pop performers, but some were also made for blues, jazz and country performers.
In the 1960s a new kind of technology from France came around, as the Aeriel photography adapted to create a modern visual dukebox, known as the Scopitone. These mainly showed clips of the band just playing their instruments, but when it became more popular in the US more vivid quality.

Modern music videos also started in the 60s with The Beatles first major motion picture, A Hard Day's Night, in 1964, this included musical segments which are similar of music videos today. Later that year they then began filming short promotional films for their songs which were aired on TV. This then became a common thing for performers to do as many others, such as The Beach Boys, began doing this and filming their own promotional films.

The first music video of the modern era was in 1979 by Michael Nesmith who made short films for Saturday Night Live. Two years later he released Elephant Parts which was the first video album and also the first music video to win a Grammy.

Due to the Information Technology era starting in the 1990s music videos were becoming as popular as the songs themselves. It also became very easy to distribute these music videos over the Internet, this lead to many fan created videos being created in the late 90s and into the current century.

MTV was the first TV channel with the main purpose of just airing music videos it was set up by a spin-off company of the American Express Group, and it was an experimental satellite channel broadcasting 24 hours of music videos. The first music video to ever appear on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star. MTV also helped music progress throughout the years by eventually showing music videos containing black artists and dancers.

 

In the present day, music videos are a very important part of today's society, and artists who don't have music videos are almost nonexistent now. Artists use msuic videos to entertain their target audience and to allow the audience to gain a relationship with them. There are now hundreds of music channels all showing different genres of music, and it is now extremelly easy for the public to gain access to music videos with the help of the Internet and websites such as Youtube.

Lyrics of 'Stay Awake' by Example

'If we don't kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation.

If we don't kid ourselves will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why

Did we take it too far, take it too far

Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland

Lose a hundred grand, will they understand

It was all to stay awake for the longest

March on, always after us

Lost troops, half the class of us

You man ain't seen the last of us

Stick around, yeah like elastoplast

Not half mast, raise the flagkick the sand,

To let you know that we're coming and we're nasty man.

Don't need sleeping beauty,

No, it's what you do to me

Come midnight and daybreak,

yes please gotta find me a namesake,

we got faith but don't need bibles

take the micheal, hear my recital

i hold the title, quite vital

 we get high on the opposite of nital

It was all to stay awake for the longest,

and, it was wrong

it was wrong, but it felt so right

See you at the finish line,

See you at the finish line

If you got the heart to join us
If we don't kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation.

If we don't kid ourselves will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why

Did we take it too far, take it too far

Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland

Lose a hundred grand, will they understand

It was all to stay awake for the longest

March on, always after us

Lost troops, half the class of us

You man ain't seen the last of us

Stick around, yeah like elastoplast

Not half mast, raise the flagkick the sand,

To let you know that we're coming and we're nasty man.

Don't need sleeping beauty,

No, it's what you do to me

Come midnight and daybreak,

yes please gotta find me a namesake,

we got faith but, don't need bibles

take the micheal, hear my recital

i hold the title, quite vital

we get high on the opposite of nital
 

We just grow, if it's late

Then we'll show, we don't wait

We just grow, if you hate

we don't show, we don't wait

We just grow, if it's late

Then we'll show, we don't wait

We just grow

If we don't kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation.

If we don't kid ourselves will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why

Did we take it too far, take it too far

Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland

Lose a hundred grand, will they understand

It was all to stay awake for the longest'

These are the lyrics to Example's song 'Stay Awake' and we will be creating a music video for this song. The lyrics could have many different interpretations, but I feel that Example's lyrics are about how our generations are changing and how our younger generation are now the leaders of the world, this can be seen in the lyrics 'we''l be the leaders of a messed up generation'. As the song continues we then get the feeling that Example is suggesting that drugs and politics are corrupting the younger generation and leaving them carrying on in a fake world and ignoring the true problems that lie in front of them, this can be seen in the lyrics 'take it too far, did we chase the rabbit into wonderland?' as he is telling the audience that things have gone too far that we are now leading a world of fantasy, as he is referring to the famous fairytale 'Alice in Wonderland' which is known for its crazy, strange and colourful made up world.

We want our visuals to strongly relate with the lyrics, as we want our audience to be able to understand the song better and we also want to make it relevant and entertaining. During our music video we would like to have someone act as 'Example' by singing the song to the camera through a lot of the video. We also want to have lots of teenagers in the other clips to make up a crazy party atmosphere, which will represent the misguided younger generation which is referred to in Examples lyrics.
We would also like for the visuals to relate to the sound as well. So, for example, when the music is slow at the beginning of the music video we will use slow paced editing, but as the music picks up throughout the rest of the video we will use fast pace editing in order for it to correspond with the dance music video conventions and the sound of the music.

http://www.lyricinterpretations.com/Example/Stay-Awake

Analysis of Digipak

A digipak is the packaging of a CD/album including the front and back covers. The way the digipak looks is important as it gives the customer an  idea of what the artist will be like, as the digipak represents the artist and their music.

This is David Guettas digipak for his album 'One More Love', the images, colours and layout on this digipak is very important as it represents his music and him as an artist. From this digipak Guetta is represented as a lively pop/dance artist as the back two covers use bright colours. However, the front cover has a black and white image of  David Guetta himself, so the lack of colour could show his serious approach to his music, and the contrast with this dark image to the colourful back cover could show the difference types of moods and themes in his songs on this album.
On the back covers the colous red, yellow, purple and white are used which are all very bright colours which could be linked to the club and rave scene. The white background with these bright colours on top of it could be seen as paint splatters, which would strongly relate with the rave scene as it is strongly associated with bright colours and UV paints. So overall the use of colours help promote a dance vibe and environment which are conventions of the dance music genre.

White is the background colour of the digpack, and the colour white connotes positivity, perfection and light, this links with the dance theme as the connotation of light reflects the dance and rave scene atmosphere and the connotation of perfection could represent how Guetta worked hard on his album to make it perfect.
Another main colour used is yellow which connotes fun, happiness and energy, which again strongly relates to the dance gemre. This is similar to the colour orange and red, which also both reflect the dance music genre.

Analysis of magazine adverts

7) style of language

8) How does the advert promote the artist?

9) How does it promote the music genre?

10) How does it attract the target audience 

This is an advert from a magazine promoting Example's latest arena tour in the UK. This particular advert represents Example as a non conventional dance artist due to the use of mainly dark colours,  when other dance artist who promote their work use many bright colours such as yellow, orange and pink. The top half of the advert shows a picture of Example from his latest album 'Playing In The Shadows', which is the album in which the tour is promoting. The picture strongly relates to the albums title as half of Examples face is literally covered by a shadow. Although the picture in this advert is the same as the album cover, which could be seen as not very creative, it could also work in Examples favour, as this image has become somewhat iconic to his fan base and target audience due to its wide use to promote Example and his music.

The main colours used in this advert are black and white, however there are some hints of colour with the large yellow banner showing Examples name and then the hints of red which are used to clearly show the readers of the advert that an extra date has been added to his tour. The use of the main colours black and white relate to the shadow over half of his face as it connotes the idea that Examples new album and tour will contain content which shows both sides of Examples personality, the dark side and the light side. But the use of the yellow and red will draw the target audience in as the bright colours stand out clearly on the dark background. Also the red colour which highlights the information that an extra date has been added to the tour will intrigue those who may have already seen the advert which was released previously to the extra date being added, so the use of this extra bold colour will persuade these people to look at Example's advert again.

By putting Examples name in a large font, in a yellow rectangular box it draws the readers attention straight to his name, which is the focus of the whole poster. Also, the fact that it is in the centre of the poster also forces the reader to look at the poster, and then persuades them to read further down the poster. Below Examples bold name is slightly smaller writing which reads 'Wretch 32', this is Examples  main support act for his tour. So the choice to put this acts name in slightly smaller writing is important, as it is a key detail to the target audience, as it may help them decide whether or not they may want to come to the tour. However, although the font of 'Wretch 32' is smaller than Examples, it is not smaller than the other details, such as the actual tour dates, this is because the acts name 'Wretch 32' is a persuasive detail which will make the audience want to attend Examples tour. Whereas the tour dates are just extra information that the audience will need to know but will not necessarily affect their decision to come to see Examples tour.

This is an advert from a magazine promoting a similar artist to Example, Tinie Tempah. Similarly to Examples tour advert, Tinie Tempah also uses mainly dark coloyrs which is unconventional to most dance genre advertisments, as they usually contain bright colours to represent the dance and party atmosphere that is associated with dance music.
Although the advert uses mainly dark colours it does connote a rave atmosphere, as the use of the bright white light in front of Tinie Tempah's image looks like strobe lights which you would find in a club or a rave, which links to the dance genre. The layout of Tinie Tempah's advert is similar to Examples in regards to the picture of the artist being on the top half of the advert with the tour dates and information below it.
The most noticable writing on this advert is Tinie Tempah's name, which is written in large bold white writing, this will automatically draw the readers attention to see whos tour this advert is advertising. Below this writing is the name of the tour, which is 'The Disc-overy Tour', this is written in a larger font than the other writing on the advert to make it stand out, but not as big as the artists name. Also the way Tinie Tempah has decided to spell his tours name is interesting as the word discovery has been split into two words 'disc-overy' which could represent the fact that on this tour he will be showcasing his new album which his fans with the be 'discovering'.  Also, the picture of Tinie Tempah on this advert links to the tour name as he appears to be looking into something which is glowing, so he is discovering whatever is inside the thing he is holding.
On the right hand side of the advert, below Tinuie Tempah's name, are the names of his support acts. The support acts names are written in a much smaller font than Tempah's, but they are also written in the particular artists iconic way. For example 'Chiddy Bang' is written in the same style as it is on his own adverts and albums.
The advert represents Tinie Tempah as a rapper who's music is likely to be played in raves and clubs which shows that it will be dance music with a strong base. This would attract his target audience as the bright light and word 'discovery' will intrigue them to find out what they will be discovering about his new tour.

Research into chosen music genre

We have chosen to use the song 'Stay Awake' by Example for our music video, and the genre of this song is Dance.

Two music artists that are similar to Example are; Tinie Tempah and Calvin Harris. This is because both of these artists songs can be placed under the music genre 'dance', like Example. Although all three artists produce songs of the same genre, they do have their distinct differences such as the sound effects used in their songs, their voices and many other things.
The song by Tinie Tempah that sounds the most similar to 'Stay Awake' by Example is 'Pass Out', as both songs have the dance genre characteristics of a strong beat and rhythm which will allow people to dance to their music.
'Feel So Close' by Calvin Harris also sounds similar to 'Stay Awake', although Calvin Harris always sings rather than rap, the backing music is very similar due to the strong dance beats, and the sound effects used in each song are very similar.

Analysis of 'Feel So Close' by Calvin Harris

The opening shot of Calvin Harris' music video for 'Feel So Close' is a long shot of the songs title graffitied onto a rock in bright colours, which already relates to the dance music genre as the dance genre is usually associated with fun and bright settings. We are then shown shots of Calvin Harris driving an old pick up truck, this will appeal to the target audience as they will want to see the artist himself in the music video so they can know more about him and his lifestyle.
There is then a series of shots showing radios and speakers being tuned and carried outside, this relates with the dance genre as the music is regularly played on the radio and in clubs where big speaker are used to play the songs loudly. The music then begins to play as a close up shot shows a girl turning up a radio, and the actors all begin to start dancing with smiles on their faces. This corresponds with the dance genre conventions and it is seen as a fun and lively type of music which will make people happy and want to dance.
The begining of the song is edited with a slow pace, which is unusual for dance videos, but is very similar to Example's music video for 'Stay Awake'. But when the pace of the song begins to pick up, the actors in the music video begin to get more lively as they reach their destinations, such as an empty area outside and a club. Also, we are then shown a series of quick paced shots which appear in time with the beat. Also the song title and lyrics begin to be reflected in the music videos visulas, as people begin to find someone they love and 'feel so close' to. For example, a couple begin to kiss, some friends meet up with a group of girls and then a girl who was sitting on her own meets a boy who she then starts talking to.
As the chorus kicks in for the second time, a young girl who is shown several times begins to dance in the middle of a road, but as she begins to spin the shot changes into her wearing a ballerina costume, which shows thsi girls strong connection with music. So the song title 'feel so close' might be about any relationship, be it with a person or music. So this girl feels so close to the music that she begions to improvise a dance.
By the end of the music video everyone seems to have had a good time dancing and listening to music, which relates with the music genre, and many people are in new relationships, which again relates to the songs title. Also the video is both performance and concept based which is a common theme to dance genre music videos.

Analysis of 'Pass Out' by Tinie Tempah

The opening shot of 'Pass Out' by Tinie Tempah is a close up of him looking down at the floor and then slowly rising his head in time with the beat until he is looking straight at the camera. The whole music video and his latest album cover and posters have been given a futuristic and sci-fi look, so around Tinie Tempah's head in this close up is a ring which looks like the ring around the planet Saturn. We are then shown an extreme close up of his lips singing the song, which makes the music video partially performance based.
We are then shown a link between the sound and visuals, as we see several shots of Tinie Tempah rapping which change in time to the beat, all of these shots use different camer frames, ranging form extreme close ups to long shots.
A close up of a speaker is shown vibratin g to the beat of the song, and this is a common characteristic of dance music videos as we also saw speakers in Calvin Harris' 'Feel So Close' music video.
As Tinie Tempah returns to rapping the song, certain words that he says appear on the screen in a bright blue font, and at one point his name comes up in this font but with blue chains making it dangle in mid air, this relates to rappers,a s many rappers are seen wearing expensive jewlerry, such as chains, to show of their luxury lifestyle.
During this music video Tempah has another artists featuring throughout it, and both of them are wearing sunglasses even though they are in a dark room. But there are many shots showing bright white lights, which could reflect the lights in clubs and raves, so the fact that they are wearing these sunglasses amkes the audience believe that those lights are very bright, and also that they may just be wearing these sunglasses to shwo off their lifestyle.

Furtheer on through the music video, the speaker is shown again, but this time it has black glitter over it, so when the sounds comes through the speaker it makes the glitter fly in the air, giving the shot a very cool and futuristic look. Also Tempah's outfit keeps on changing form a blain black jeans and jacket to a plain balck sequioned t-shirt,whcih links with the glitter on the speaker. By using the colour black the most throughout the whole music video, it makes it a very unconventional music video, but the use of some of the lighting and his flashing sunglasses gives the effect that they are in a nightclub or rave.
Instead of the words he raps coming up in a blue font like previously in the music video, the word 'Famous' is now made out of matches which he then sets alight, the bright could therefore link to the bright lights used which look like the lights used in clubs. Also, the flame has been edited to light up each letter in time with the beat of the song which gives it a dancing effect.
At the end of the music video more people join in dancing and jumping with Tempah, and we are shown close ups of galss being smashed and more colours, so during the climax of the song the music video is thrown into more chaos representing the scene in a club.


Dance Music Genre
From analysing those two dance music videos, I can see that some common themes used were; having slow paced editing at the begining of the music video, and then using fast paced editing through the rest of the video, showing speakers, and having people dancing and jumping to the music.
By looking at these two dance genre music videos it has given me an idea as to what dance genre conventions I should use in my own dance music video to 'Stay Awke' by Example.

For our own dance music video we will try and use some of these characteristics I have found, for example we will try and use the common theme of the slow paced editing at the begining of the music video when the songs beat is slow, and then use fast pace editing as the pace picks up. We also paln to have a party scene in our music video so we plan to include the convention of having people dancing and jumping in our musci video. By doing some research into dance genre music videos I hope it will help me make our music video more dance orientated, so that our target audience can identify straight away that it is a dance music video and we also hope that by using these conventions it will enteratin our target audience more.

Research into chosen artist

My chosen artist for our music video is Example; he creates music of the dance genre, so I decided to chose him as our artist because we thought it would enable us to create a fun and lively music video. Example is a mainstream artist, meaning many people will have heard of him and his music. I was inspired to create a music video with his music in mind as the changing rhythms and beats of his music would allow our music video to be both a concept and narrative based, as the song changes from a slow pace to a fast pace meaning when the fast pace sets in we can have a party atmosphere making it a more concept based video. Also the lyrics in his songs often talk about the younger generation, so I thought it would make it possible for us to link the visuals with the lyrics, making our music video even more entertaining for the target audience.

Example is an English singer and rapper who creates music under the genres of electro house and dance. Examples real name is Elliot Gleave, so he created his stage name from his initials 'E.G.'. He is currently signed to Mercury Records which is a subsidiary label of Ministry of Sound. He released his first album whilst signed to The Beats record label, called 'What We Made' in 2007. He then released his second album in 2010, called 'Won't Go Quietly', this album was very successful selling 60,000 copies in only 4 months, and eventually reached number 4 on the UK Albums chart. His third album was even more successful than the second, it was released in 2011 and entitled 'Playing in the Shadows'. It reached number 1 in the UK Albums Charts and was soon followed by a sold out tour. The second single to be released from this album was called 'Stay Awake' and reached number 1 in the charts. As well as releasing all of his solo singles, he has also collaborated with many famous singers and rappers, including; Professor Green, Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris and The Wanted.
Example has also been nominated for many awards and won the Popjustice £20 Music Prize in 2010.

Analysis of Example Music Videos

Stay Awake

 

'Stay Awake' is the second single from Examples third album, this music video is narrative and concept based with strong links between the lyrics and visuals. The target audience for this song and music video is teenagers who like dance music, the music video will entertain this target audience as it includes a party like atmosphere which the audience will be able to relate with easily. The first shot we see is of a white background with a large symbol of the letter 'E' which is usually associated with him, as it is his logo. We are then shown a shot of example standing next to this symbol which shows us that they are the same size and also reinforces the idea that the 'e' stands for his stage name 'Example'.

Once the music and lyrics kick in we are shown a close up of Example singing to the camera the words 'If we don't kill ourselves, we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation'. We are then shown a series of shots of different teenagers, all based on different stereotypes of teenagers, looking at the camera and standing or sitting still. The teenagers postures and facial expressions make them appear to be troubled and deep in thought.

We are then shown a shot which links to Goodwin's theory as there is a strong relationship between the lyrics and visuals as when Example sings the lyrics 'Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland?' we are shown a long shot of the back of a girl with a rabbit hat on walking in the woods on her own.

As the tempo of the song begins to pick up we are shown the girl dressed in a rabbit hat again, but this time she is dancing towards what looks like a colourful party in the woods.
As well as having a link between the lyrics and visuals, there is also a link between the music and visuals, as when there is a fast clapping noise in the music, the shot alternates between a shot of the party atmosphere and a shot of Example singing, this makes the music video flow well as it shows there is a true link between the content of the music video and the actual song.
In the next series of shots we are shown plenty of shots of teenagers with tattoos, piercings and revealing clothing. This links to the message in Examples lyrics, which is questioning whether our younger generation has messed up and taken things to far, such as drink, drugs and partying. This idea is also expressed when we are shown a shot of many teenagers dancing in the back of a pick up truck drinking and also spilling their drink everywhere.

Throughout the rest of the video we are just shown many shots of Example singing and rapping to the camera and also plenty of shots of teenagers dancing and partying in different places. Many of these teenagers are dressed in fancy dress and in bright colours. this further adds to the party atmosphere which will appeal to the songs target audience.
During the climax of the song the speed of the shots is slowed down as Example jumps in the air and a group of teenagers run towards each other with coloured flour in their hands. As the beat drops the pace of the footage returns to normal and the teenagers throw the coloured powder at each other which creates a very colourful and vivid shot. The last shot is of a teenage boy standing in front of the screen covered in bright blue powder. He appears to be on his own which reflects the idea that as well as it being the end of the song, it is also the end of the party.

Analysis of Example - Changed The Way You Kiss Me

Example's music video for the song 'Changed the way you kiss me' is mainly performance based with some concept based footage in it. This dance music video will excite and entertain Example's target audience as they will enjoy seeing the performance based footage and this may persuade them to see him live.
Like most of examples lyrics, these ones have a deep meaning that can sometimes be hidden by the up beat music track. The lyrics are about a man who is afraid of committing to the relationship he is in as he just wanted a short fling with the girl, but now the girl has started to change the way she kisses him to be more passionate so he knows she is falling in love with him. This fact scares the man so he now wants to get out of the relationship but finds this difficult.

The music video begins with Example getting ready and preparing himself for his performance on stage. There are many close ups used so we can see his facial expression which appears to be anxious and in deep thought, this relates to Goodwin's theory as there is a clear relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The whole of this music video is in black and white, and this effect is very good at creating a more intense atmosphere, as the black and white effect could represent a dark cloud or shadow that is hanging over Example's head as he decides what to do about the relationship he is in.
We see some shots of Example singing the lyrics of the song and then when the beat kicks in we are shown a shot of a crowd of people jumping up and down to the song, so this is a clear link between the music and the visuals which is another aspect of Goodwin's theory.

The rest of the music video mainly shows Example and his band performing on stage and the jumping audience and the energetic dancing Example gives the video a lively and more dramatic effect as it looks like they are all jumping up and down to the beat. We also see close ups of the hands of these people in the audience and this close up shows that they are having a good time listening to Wxample live and are really getting in to the music. This will excite the audince as they will be able to see that Example is a fun performer to see live, so this may persuade them to go and see him live at his next gig.
The editing at the begining of the music video is slow paced, but as the beat drops the editing becomes fast pace and this represents the musics pace. This fast paced editing makes the music video look more lively and fun. As the beat slows down again the editing becomes slow paced again and a slow motion effect is used as the audinece jump up and down.
As he is singing about the girl there are several close ups of girls dancing in the crowd and looking in to the camera, this is part of the concept of the music video as it relates to the lyrics and represents the confident girl he is currently going out with.

Another concept based part of the music video is a close up which shows a couple kissing, this strongly relates with the lyrics and the title of the song, and this will help the audience understand the lyrics of the song.



This research which I have conducted will help me whilst planning and constructing my music video as I know know what the main features of most of Example's music videos are and I also know that most of his lyrics have a deeper meaning than most dance songs, so I will now be able to put some concept based footage into our music video that will convey this deeper meaning, and we will be able to do close ups of peoples faces with more serious expressions which will also show the mood of the song and help the target audience understand the lyrics more.