Music Videos

Music Videos and History research

Purpose- content/ themes/ lyrics

Censorship- History Representations ( Historically. Moments in time) Shows different time periods and the major events happening during the time of the music video. How has this changed over time? What do Music videos represent as "moments in time"?

Technological Innovation/ Changes- silent films + music videos
                                                            colours ( The Wizard of Oz)
                                                            special effects

Music- Tells a story with the lyrics  Entertainment. Pop music videos + Award shows for musicians (artist) Musicals ( Advertising and Marketing as well as branding)

Wikipedia Research: 

Censorship in Music Videos 

Censorship in music videos restricts certain content. The censorship of a music video can be controlled by the government. A form of censorship is radio editing. 

Censorship in pop music

For a song to be played in a radio station, particular words are censored. Some artist do produced the same music with censored versions. Some radio stations censor the music videos themselves with words such as : 

Bleep, Blanking, Re-sampling etc. 

Homework question: 

Look at past music videos and how some old music have been re-released as new music


How do music video reflect the time period or culture?

How do they depict women and men?

How has the representation of gender change ( link to censorship)?

How are different ethnicities represented?

How had Musical Theatre begin the evolution of Music videos?

How have music videos evolved into marketing or branding devices?

How are music videos marketed to different audiences?

How much influence does the artist have on it?

How much impact does music videos have on the audience?

How do music videos differ across different nations?


Who do music videos represent?

Who is the target audience? 

Who has control over music videos?

Who has the rights over a music video?

Who decides on the music video?

Who challenges music videos?


Where can people see music videos?

What countries ban music videos?


Why are music videos important to artist?

Why are music videos differ?

Why might a record company choose to show their artist in a different light?


When was the time period of the music video?


So what does the representation of a music mean to the artist?

So what does the representation of a music mean to the artist?



Examples: 

Kygo- Sexual Healing ( originally Marvin Gaye) 

Jonas Blues- Fast car ( originally Tracy Chapman) 

David Guetta ft. Skylar Grey - Bang Bang ( originally Nancy Sinatra) 

Sigala- Easy Love [ ABC] (originally Jackson 5) 

Analysis 

Kygo "Sexual Healing" music video 2013

No music video but, the has pictures of young pretty girls on the front page of the youtube video with a more upbeat tune drowning out the artist voice making the songs more about the beats and less about the singing. 

Marvin Gaye "Sexual Healing" music video 1982

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlSiASsUIs

The original version is more soothing to listen to compared to the remixed version of the song, the voice of the singer can be heard well and the instruments are just to support the artist. It features Marvin Gaye singing in a nightclub / jazz club accompanied by 4 women. Marvin as well as the four women are dressed smart. Women are represented as sex objects in this song this can be shown when Marvin looks at the doctors legs and his temperature rises, furthermore the lyrics " oh she do it right" and " when my temperatures rising I want sexual healing" and " its good for me". Lastly the lyrics " I cant wait for you to operate" and " lets make love tonight" imply that he has strong feelings.  

Jonas Blue " Fast Car" music video 2016

This remixed version of a classic song created a meaningful story through the music video. The music video told a story of a girl wanting to get out of her run down neighbourhood to move to some place better and start a better life. The lyrics " I want a ticket to anywhere, anyplace is better"suggest to the viewer that she just wants to get out of her current situation and "starting from zero got nothing to lose"  she started out with nothing so she has nothing to lose if her dreams doesn't work out the way it was planned. The "new" version of this song is more upbeat to capture the attention of modern audiences, as they prefer something that they can dance with. Blue's version of the song had changed the verse around and swapped different verses around.

Tracy Chapman " Fast Car" music video 1988

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTIB10eQnA0

Although the original version of the songs does not have a music video component, the song is has a relax feel to it with only instruments being a guitar and a drum. The artist/ singer can be heard singing the song with emotion and feeling compared to Jonas Blue version where the artist was just singing the song. The original version of the song has a longer intro compared to the 2016 rendition, also the lyrics " Had a feeling that I could be someone, be someone" is repeated twice in the original whereas in the current song had change the lyrics to " I had a feeling that I could be someone, had a feeling that I could be someone" although a subtle change it still has a impact to the song. 

David Guetta ft. Skylark Grey "Shot me down" 2014

This song does not have a music video but, has a lyrics video and in the lyric video is starts as a western pop art comic book strip featuring a cowgirl. Not only did the artist change the title of this song but, the song itself as has been turned into a pop/ party anthem song has a build up 50 seconds into the song and the musical interlude lasted 30 seconds before the next lyrics were sung. Adding additional lyrics that weren't written into the original " bang! wee! zap! pow!" before another music interlude the "newest" version of this song repeated the same lyrics for the whole song which lasted 3:12mins. 

Cher/ Nancy Sinatra " Bang Bang" 1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8UYPtRlQUY

Used in the movie "Kill Bill" this song original written by CHER and sung by Nancy Sinatra. The original version is slower and less repetitive and sounds more acoustic with only a bass guitar as an instrument. The lyrics are more meaningful and there are much more verses in the original version of the song. This song is clearly about love and the connection both had for each other. The lyrics toward the end " He didn't even say goodbye, he didn't even take the time to lie, bang bang he shot me down bang bang" describes to us the emotional pain this woman is going through as a result of her boyfriend/ husband leaving her killing himself.

Sigala " Easy Love" / "ABC" 2015

This music video involves a bunch of children in a bright colourful setting, where the children get involve in a dance battle in various locations around Los Angeles. This video however, featured a lot of asians including the two main children, who happen to be partners as the song is suggesting young love. Also, at the beginning of the video it shows how a young boy sees the world through colour and song with sunglasses her found in a box. The song itself is a remixed version of The Jackson 5 song "ABC" changing the pitch of the singers voice and repeating the lyrics 4 times. Not only has the recent remix of this song completely changed and re-postioned the lyrics, the artist has also changed the title of the song ( probably because of royalty fees) as they would have already needed to pay to use the original song even though they remixed it and used different beats. This song is very repetitive and quite boring to listen to even though their aim might have been to make it upbeat and fun to dance to, the original song by The Jackson 5 managed to achieve this without making it sound too much like techno music.